What's the Buzz? 3/7/06
So much baseball going on right now. I don't even know where to begin. The headlines are unreal....
First and foremost -- a moment for the late Kirby Puckett. Great ball player. We'll all miss him very much.
Groups B, C and D started up in the WBC and all the fantasy stars came out and shined....well for the most part anyway. The first Group D game, Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic, started us off amd it was all about the offense. David Ortiz banged out 2 HRs...typical.....if you have the opportunity to draft him, do so. But what about Adrian Beltre? He totally bombed last year after a typically phenomenal walk-year in LA. Today he mashes 2 and steals a base. I'm still not sold on him. He's only done it once....every other year is an utter disappointment. Moises Alou and Juan Encarnacion each had a pair of hits as well for D.R. Not the biggest deal in the world...Alou is old and an injury risk and Encarnacion is another one of those "didn't live up to their potential" guys. Neither should be considered anything more than an average fantasy OF. Sure, Alou has some pop, but risk/reward here. On the other side for Venzuela, really only Miguel Cabrera and (gulp) Edgardo Alfonzo showed up. Each one had multiple hits, a HR and multiple RBI. Cabrera would have had 2 but the umps took it away in the 6th. While Cabrera will continue to be a stud, Alfonzo is going to pretty much give you numbers close to his average. Honorable mention to the 3 hit Omar Vizquel...good to see you still got it. Does this mean the hitless Bobby Abreu and Victor Martinez are going to suck? Definitely not. They'll get their hits soon. On the pitching side.....ugh! Bartolo Colon and Johann Santana looked good. Miguel Batista and Carlos Zambrano did not. I think that might be a trend this year. Oh Jorge Julio....New York will not be a kind place.
The second game in this group saw Italy destroying Australia 10-0. Jason Grilli took the mound for Italy and was almost unhittable....4 2/3 with 1 hit and 7 K's. Temper your enthusiasm as I can tell you, he is not worth a roster spot on draft day. The rest of the game was Italy's offense. Fueled by major leaguers like Mike Piazza, David Dellucci, and Frank Menechino, the Italians bombarded the feeble Australian pitching. Aside from Dellucci and Piazza though, there isn't much fantasy excitement.
The first game of Group B saw a solid pitching duel between USA and Mexico. Rodrigo Lopez did well for Mexico, but I think this will hurt him in the long run. Look for him to crap out late in the first half without hope of a strong second. Jake Peavy also looked good against a mediocre Mexico team. He's solid....I'm just very wary of the early competitive pitching and the possible breakdowns of pitchers in the second half of the season (more on that in my WBC rant to follow). The bullpens looked good as USA went with a closer per inning. My favorite to watch was Joe Nathan striking out the side. Derek Lee and Chipper Jones hit solo shots for the 2 runs and all 3 Yankees (A-rod, Jeter and Damon) had hits. I'd take any one of them on my team....well...I'd have to think harder about Chipper.....very on the fence here. On Mexico, Karim Garcia had a hit, but ho-hum.....you don't want him on your roster. I don't even think he's on a MLB team anymore. Jorge Cantu (pronounced: can't do) started off 0-4. Can't wait to keep reporting on this one.
It was another slugfest as Canada escaped a near collapse against South Africa by coming back for 4 runs in the 9th inning. Corey Koskie of the Milwaukee Brewers hit a two-run home run for Canada, and Jason Bay was 2-for-5 with three runs scored and Justin Morneau had an RBI double. Bay is a no brainer but I also like healthy Morneau and a rejuvenated Koskie. The only other real fantasy info to note was Erik Bedard's start for Team Canada. His 6 K's and 2 hits in 4 shutout innings could be a promising sign; especially now that he will be working with pitching guru, Leo Mazzone.
The lone game from Group C saw another surprising pitching duel between Puerto Rico and Panama. Javier Vazquez started for P.R. and went a rocky 3 innings with 3 hits and 2 walks. Now, I know this is the beginning so I won't get too eager to make a prediction, but remember what happened in Vasquez' last AL experience. Panama's pitching held it together nicely against a star studded lineup but none of its pitchers are worthy of note in the fantasy sense. What is noteworthy is that this star studded Puerto Rican lineup that features Carlos Beltran, Ivan Rodriguez, and Javy Lopez didn't win because of its stars. Bernie Williams and Alexis Rios were the heroes today. Fantasy wise they are two players moving in opposite directions as Williams accepts a reduced role to stay a Yankee. Rios on the other hand could be a real nice pick up in a revamped Toronto lineup.
More Barry Bonds and BALCO as the Woodward and Bernstein of the Bay Area expose him in detail.....not that we didn't already know he was juicing for some time. Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada publish Game of Shawdows which details the whole BALCO scandal. Good job guys. Way to cash in again two years later. Listen....we know he was on them. We really never doubted it in the first place. But it's done and over. Let it go already. We all have that "mental asterisk" next to his HR record anyway. Fantasy wise, he'll still probably mash you 35 HRs.....high reward/moderate risk.
Mark Redman is having knee surgery; Kirk Reuter and John Flaherty are retiring; Richard Hidalgo was released by the Orioles. If any of those facts affect your pre-draft strategy, then get a new one or you're finished already.
Catch you next time...
First and foremost -- a moment for the late Kirby Puckett. Great ball player. We'll all miss him very much.
Groups B, C and D started up in the WBC and all the fantasy stars came out and shined....well for the most part anyway. The first Group D game, Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic, started us off amd it was all about the offense. David Ortiz banged out 2 HRs...typical.....if you have the opportunity to draft him, do so. But what about Adrian Beltre? He totally bombed last year after a typically phenomenal walk-year in LA. Today he mashes 2 and steals a base. I'm still not sold on him. He's only done it once....every other year is an utter disappointment. Moises Alou and Juan Encarnacion each had a pair of hits as well for D.R. Not the biggest deal in the world...Alou is old and an injury risk and Encarnacion is another one of those "didn't live up to their potential" guys. Neither should be considered anything more than an average fantasy OF. Sure, Alou has some pop, but risk/reward here. On the other side for Venzuela, really only Miguel Cabrera and (gulp) Edgardo Alfonzo showed up. Each one had multiple hits, a HR and multiple RBI. Cabrera would have had 2 but the umps took it away in the 6th. While Cabrera will continue to be a stud, Alfonzo is going to pretty much give you numbers close to his average. Honorable mention to the 3 hit Omar Vizquel...good to see you still got it. Does this mean the hitless Bobby Abreu and Victor Martinez are going to suck? Definitely not. They'll get their hits soon. On the pitching side.....ugh! Bartolo Colon and Johann Santana looked good. Miguel Batista and Carlos Zambrano did not. I think that might be a trend this year. Oh Jorge Julio....New York will not be a kind place.
The second game in this group saw Italy destroying Australia 10-0. Jason Grilli took the mound for Italy and was almost unhittable....4 2/3 with 1 hit and 7 K's. Temper your enthusiasm as I can tell you, he is not worth a roster spot on draft day. The rest of the game was Italy's offense. Fueled by major leaguers like Mike Piazza, David Dellucci, and Frank Menechino, the Italians bombarded the feeble Australian pitching. Aside from Dellucci and Piazza though, there isn't much fantasy excitement.
The first game of Group B saw a solid pitching duel between USA and Mexico. Rodrigo Lopez did well for Mexico, but I think this will hurt him in the long run. Look for him to crap out late in the first half without hope of a strong second. Jake Peavy also looked good against a mediocre Mexico team. He's solid....I'm just very wary of the early competitive pitching and the possible breakdowns of pitchers in the second half of the season (more on that in my WBC rant to follow). The bullpens looked good as USA went with a closer per inning. My favorite to watch was Joe Nathan striking out the side. Derek Lee and Chipper Jones hit solo shots for the 2 runs and all 3 Yankees (A-rod, Jeter and Damon) had hits. I'd take any one of them on my team....well...I'd have to think harder about Chipper.....very on the fence here. On Mexico, Karim Garcia had a hit, but ho-hum.....you don't want him on your roster. I don't even think he's on a MLB team anymore. Jorge Cantu (pronounced: can't do
It was another slugfest as Canada escaped a near collapse against South Africa by coming back for 4 runs in the 9th inning. Corey Koskie of the Milwaukee Brewers hit a two-run home run for Canada, and Jason Bay was 2-for-5 with three runs scored and Justin Morneau had an RBI double. Bay is a no brainer but I also like healthy Morneau and a rejuvenated Koskie. The only other real fantasy info to note was Erik Bedard's start for Team Canada. His 6 K's and 2 hits in 4 shutout innings could be a promising sign; especially now that he will be working with pitching guru, Leo Mazzone.
The lone game from Group C saw another surprising pitching duel between Puerto Rico and Panama. Javier Vazquez started for P.R. and went a rocky 3 innings with 3 hits and 2 walks. Now, I know this is the beginning so I won't get too eager to make a prediction, but remember what happened in Vasquez' last AL experience. Panama's pitching held it together nicely against a star studded lineup but none of its pitchers are worthy of note in the fantasy sense. What is noteworthy is that this star studded Puerto Rican lineup that features Carlos Beltran, Ivan Rodriguez, and Javy Lopez didn't win because of its stars. Bernie Williams and Alexis Rios were the heroes today. Fantasy wise they are two players moving in opposite directions as Williams accepts a reduced role to stay a Yankee. Rios on the other hand could be a real nice pick up in a revamped Toronto lineup.
More Barry Bonds and BALCO as the Woodward and Bernstein of the Bay Area expose him in detail.....not that we didn't already know he was juicing for some time. Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada publish Game of Shawdows which details the whole BALCO scandal. Good job guys. Way to cash in again two years later. Listen....we know he was on them. We really never doubted it in the first place. But it's done and over. Let it go already. We all have that "mental asterisk" next to his HR record anyway. Fantasy wise, he'll still probably mash you 35 HRs.....high reward/moderate risk.
Mark Redman is having knee surgery; Kirk Reuter and John Flaherty are retiring; Richard Hidalgo was released by the Orioles. If any of those facts affect your pre-draft strategy, then get a new one or you're finished already.
Catch you next time...
posted by Howard Bender at
9:36 PM
