I was asked on a podcast earlier this week who were some of my biggest surprises and disappointments of the first month of the season. I won't dwell on the negatives here, though you can probably guess a few of them (
Hanley Ramirez,
Carl Crawford,
Adam Dunn,
Yovani Gallardo), but the biggest surprises that come to mind are
Lance Berkman and
Bud Norris.
I mentioned Berkman for obvious reasons, as he is currently second in the league in batting average, third in homers and second in RBI. I was also quick to mention that I see him as a sell-high, mostly because I have serious concerns about his ability to stay healthy while playing the outfield on almost an everyday basis.
However, Norris is a more interesting case. I included him on a list of under the radar starting pitchers
back in February -- and on Waiver Wired
a couple weeks back -- so this hasn't come completely out of nowhere, but the biggest surprise is that he has managed to cut down on his walks (3.03 BB/9) from last season (4.51 BB/9). Who knows if he'll be able to keep it up, but man, I have always loved his ability to miss bats.
Let's move on to the good stuff.
MIXED LEAGUESIan Stewart 3B, Rockies (Yahoo: 26 percent owned, ESPN: 26.4 percent)
Third base has been a very difficult position for fantasy owners to fill this season. We've already seen
Evan Longoria,
Ryan Zimmerman,
Pablo Sandoval,
David Freese,
Casey Blake and
Scott Rolen all go on the disabled list while
Pedro Alvarez and
Jose Bautista are currently sidelined with injuries of their own. Why not give Stewart another chance? Of course, he was demoted in April after going 2-for-26 (.077) to begin the season, but the Rockies called him up this week after
Ty Wigginton went on the DL with -- you guessed it --- an oblique injury. It's worth noting that Stewart was batting .361 with three homers over his first 46 plate appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Jose Lopez could get some looks against left-handed pitching, but Stewart's power potential is worth the gamble if you need help at the hot corner.
Angel Pagan OF, Mets (Yahoo: 41 percent owned, ESPN: 36.8 percent)
Pagan is floating nicely under the radar right now for two reasons. One, well, he's been on the disabled list for the past two weeks. And two, he was batting just .159 over his first 82 plate appearances prior to the oblique injury. His anemic batting average isn't just a matter of bad luck, either, as he was hitting infield pop ups more frequently than he did last year. Still, we shouldn't let less than 100 plate appearances scare us away, especially after he batted .290 and swiped 37 bags in 2010. The Mets are expected to activate him from the disabled list on Saturday, so I'd tuck him away where available.
Jake Peavy SP, White Sox (Yahoo: 47 percent owned, ESPN: 28.5 percent)
Here's what I like to call a fantasy lottery ticket. As you might already be aware, Peavy underwent a unique procedure last July to repair a detached lat muscle near his right shoulder. There have been some stops and starts in his rehab, including a scare a little over two weeks ago, but he appears back on track after striking out eight over 5 2/3 innings with Triple-A Charlotte last Friday. If all goes well during his rehab start Thursday, he could rejoin the White Sox as soon as next Wednesday against the Angels. Look, nobody knows what to expect here, but you could do worse than stash him and see how he fares his first time out.
Eduardo Sanchez RP, Cardinals (Yahoo: 15 percent, ESPN: 10.5 percent)
Before we get started here, let me just say that Tony La Russa doesn't give a hoot about your fantasy team. And if he did, we wouldn't have seen four different pitchers get saves over the past 10 days. It's simply anybody's guess who he will use in the ninth inning at this point. Sanchez probably didn't do himself any favors by giving up a go-ahead two-run homer to
Mike Stanton on Wednesday night, but I find it difficult to ignore his electric stuff as a late-game option. The 22-year-old right-hander has an impressive 19/5 K/BB ratio over his first 11 1/3 innings.
Mitchell Boggs and
Fernando Salas could also be in the mix here, but I'd bank on Sanchez's ability to miss bats.
John Lackey SP, Red Sox (Yahoo: 45 percent owned, ESPN: 35.1 percent)
Probably didn't think you'd see him here a month ago. Lackey was knocked around pretty good in his first two starts of the season, but has seemingly righted the ship by allowing just three earned runs over his past three starts combined. I'm not completely convinced he's back to form, as batters are making contact against him more often than ever before, but he's at least a solid play against an Angels team that has struggled against right-handed pitching so far this season.
Wilson Betemit 3B, Royals (Yahoo: 21 percent owned, ESPN: 32.9 percent)
Why are fantasy owners having such a tough time believing Betemit is a legitimate option? He's batting .304 with 14 homers and 58 RBI since last June 1. That's pretty darn useful. One interesting note is that he started at first base on Tuesday night, which could indicate that the Royals would like to use him in a utility role if or when third base prospect
Mike Moustakas is called up to the majors later this season. Betemit's future playing time is in doubt, but he's a perfectly respectable injury fill-in at third base.
Johnny Cueto SP, Reds (Yahoo: 41 percent owned, ESPN: 42 percent)
Another pitcher returning from injury, Cueto began the season on the disabled list due to right triceps irritation. He hasn't been perfect during his rehab stint, giving up 12 runs -- 10 earned -- on 19 hits over 14 1/3 innings, but the Reds plan to start him Sunday against the the Cubs. While Cueto's strikeout rate has declined since his rookie season in 2008, he posted a career-low 3.64 ERA over 31 starts last season. I wouldn't activate him immediately, but the 25-year-old right-hander should be owned in most mixed leagues before long.
Shopping at the five-and-dime:(Players owned in less than 10 percent of Y! and ESPN.com leagues)
Mark Melancon RP, Astros (Yahoo: 3 percent owned, ESPN: 0 percent)
Brandon Lyon blew his fourth save in eight chances Wednesday against the Reds, prompting many to wonder if the poor outing will cost him his job. Astros manager
Brad Mills wasn't quite ready to go there after the game, but Melancon is the speculative pickup for the ninth inning. The former Yankee farmhand did well in a brief stint with the Astros last season and has a 1.72 ERA and 12/6 K/BB ratio over his first 15 2/3 innings this season. Melancon averages around 92 mph on his fastball, so he doesn't overpower batters, but he gets a fair amount of strikeouts while limiting the walks and inducing plenty of groundballs. File him away before it becomes official.
Scott Sizemore 2B, Tigers (Yahoo: 5 percent owned, ESPN: 1.4 percent)
Fed up with the lack of production at second base, the Tigers sent
Will Rhymes to the minors earlier this week and called up Sizemore. You might remember that Sizemore was hyped as a fantasy sleeper last season, but he batted just .224 with three homers and 14 RBI over 143 at-bats. We're still not sure if he can hack it against big league pitching, but he certainly earned the promotion by batting .408/.495/.605 with two homers and 15 RBI over his first 92 plate appearances with Triple-A Toledo this season. He's batting second in Jim Leyland's batting order, so his speed and pop is worth watching in deeper mixed formats or in those that use a MI (middle infielder) spot.
Jason Bourgeois OF, Astros (Yahoo: 4 percent owned, ESPN: 4.2 percent)
Bourgeois has taken advantage of some recent injuries in the Astros' lineup to land very favorably on our fantasy radar. The speedy 29-year-old outfielder has nine hits, three RBI and four stolen bases over the past four games.
Carlos Lee continues to be sidelined with a hip contusion following a collision with teammate
Angel Sanchez over the weekend, so Bourgeois is well worth using in deeper mixed leagues as a short-term play.
I was asked on a podcast earlier this week who were some of my biggest surprises and disappointments of the first month of the season. I won't dwell on the negatives here, though you can probably guess a few of them (
Hanley Ramirez,
Carl Crawford,
Adam Dunn,
Yovani Gallardo), but the biggest surprises that come to mind are
Lance Berkman and
Bud Norris.
I mentioned Berkman for obvious reasons, as he is currently second in the league in batting average, third in homers and second in RBI. I was also quick to mention that I see him as a sell-high, mostly because I have serious concerns about his ability to stay healthy while playing the outfield on almost an everyday basis.
However, Norris is a more interesting case. I included him on a list of under the radar starting pitchers
back in February -- and on Waiver Wired
a couple weeks back -- so this hasn't come completely out of nowhere, but the biggest surprise is that he has managed to cut down on his walks (3.03 BB/9) from last season (4.51 BB/9). Who knows if he'll be able to keep it up, but man, I have always loved his ability to miss bats.
Let's move on to the good stuff.
MIXED LEAGUESIan Stewart 3B, Rockies (Yahoo: 26 percent owned, ESPN: 26.4 percent)
Third base has been a very difficult position for fantasy owners to fill this season. We've already seen
Evan Longoria,
Ryan Zimmerman,
Pablo Sandoval,
David Freese,
Casey Blake and
Scott Rolen all go on the disabled list while
Pedro Alvarez and
Jose Bautista are currently sidelined with injuries of their own. Why not give Stewart another chance? Of course, he was demoted in April after going 2-for-26 (.077) to begin the season, but the Rockies called him up this week after
Ty Wigginton went on the DL with -- you guessed it --- an oblique injury. It's worth noting that Stewart was batting .361 with three homers over his first 46 plate appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Jose Lopez could get some looks against left-handed pitching, but Stewart's power potential is worth the gamble if you need help at the hot corner.
Angel Pagan OF, Mets (Yahoo: 41 percent owned, ESPN: 36.8 percent)
Pagan is floating nicely under the radar right now for two reasons. One, well, he's been on the disabled list for the past two weeks. And two, he was batting just .159 over his first 82 plate appearances prior to the oblique injury. His anemic batting average isn't just a matter of bad luck, either, as he was hitting infield pop ups more frequently than he did last year. Still, we shouldn't let less than 100 plate appearances scare us away, especially after he batted .290 and swiped 37 bags in 2010. The Mets are expected to activate him from the disabled list on Saturday, so I'd tuck him away where available.
Jake Peavy SP, White Sox (Yahoo: 47 percent owned, ESPN: 28.5 percent)
Here's what I like to call a fantasy lottery ticket. As you might already be aware, Peavy underwent a unique procedure last July to repair a detached lat muscle near his right shoulder. There have been some stops and starts in his rehab, including a scare a little over two weeks ago, but he appears back on track after striking out eight over 5 2/3 innings with Triple-A Charlotte last Friday. If all goes well during his rehab start Thursday, he could rejoin the White Sox as soon as next Wednesday against the Angels. Look, nobody knows what to expect here, but you could do worse than stash him and see how he fares his first time out.
Eduardo Sanchez RP, Cardinals (Yahoo: 15 percent, ESPN: 10.5 percent)
Before we get started here, let me just say that Tony La Russa doesn't give a hoot about your fantasy team. And if he did, we wouldn't have seen four different pitchers get saves over the past 10 days. It's simply anybody's guess who he will use in the ninth inning at this point. Sanchez probably didn't do himself any favors by giving up a go-ahead two-run homer to
Mike Stanton on Wednesday night, but I find it difficult to ignore his electric stuff as a late-game option. The 22-year-old right-hander has an impressive 19/5 K/BB ratio over his first 11 1/3 innings.
Mitchell Boggs and
Fernando Salas could also be in the mix here, but I'd bank on Sanchez's ability to miss bats.
John Lackey SP, Red Sox (Yahoo: 45 percent owned, ESPN: 35.1 percent)
Probably didn't think you'd see him here a month ago. Lackey was knocked around pretty good in his first two starts of the season, but has seemingly righted the ship by allowing just three earned runs over his past three starts combined. I'm not completely convinced he's back to form, as batters are making contact against him more often than ever before, but he's at least a solid play against an Angels team that has struggled against right-handed pitching so far this season.
Wilson Betemit 3B, Royals (Yahoo: 21 percent owned, ESPN: 32.9 percent)
Why are fantasy owners having such a tough time believing Betemit is a legitimate option? He's batting .304 with 14 homers and 58 RBI since last June 1. That's pretty darn useful. One interesting note is that he started at first base on Tuesday night, which could indicate that the Royals would like to use him in a utility role if or when third base prospect
Mike Moustakas is called up to the majors later this season. Betemit's future playing time is in doubt, but he's a perfectly respectable injury fill-in at third base.
Johnny Cueto SP, Reds (Yahoo: 41 percent owned, ESPN: 42 percent)
Another pitcher returning from injury, Cueto began the season on the disabled list due to right triceps irritation. He hasn't been perfect during his rehab stint, giving up 12 runs -- 10 earned -- on 19 hits over 14 1/3 innings, but the Reds plan to start him Sunday against the the Cubs. While Cueto's strikeout rate has declined since his rookie season in 2008, he posted a career-low 3.64 ERA over 31 starts last season. I wouldn't activate him immediately, but the 25-year-old right-hander should be owned in most mixed leagues before long.
Shopping at the five-and-dime:(Players owned in less than 10 percent of Y! and ESPN.com leagues)
Mark Melancon RP, Astros (Yahoo: 3 percent owned, ESPN: 0 percent)
Brandon Lyon blew his fourth save in eight chances Wednesday against the Reds, prompting many to wonder if the poor outing will cost him his job. Astros manager
Brad Mills wasn't quite ready to go there after the game, but Melancon is the speculative pickup for the ninth inning. The former Yankee farmhand did well in a brief stint with the Astros last season and has a 1.72 ERA and 12/6 K/BB ratio over his first 15 2/3 innings this season. Melancon averages around 92 mph on his fastball, so he doesn't overpower batters, but he gets a fair amount of strikeouts while limiting the walks and inducing plenty of groundballs. File him away before it becomes official.
Scott Sizemore 2B, Tigers (Yahoo: 5 percent owned, ESPN: 1.4 percent)
Fed up with the lack of production at second base, the Tigers sent
Will Rhymes to the minors earlier this week and called up Sizemore. You might remember that Sizemore was hyped as a fantasy sleeper last season, but he batted just .224 with three homers and 14 RBI over 143 at-bats. We're still not sure if he can hack it against big league pitching, but he certainly earned the promotion by batting .408/.495/.605 with two homers and 15 RBI over his first 92 plate appearances with Triple-A Toledo this season. He's batting second in Jim Leyland's batting order, so his speed and pop is worth watching in deeper mixed formats or in those that use a MI (middle infielder) spot.
Jason Bourgeois OF, Astros (Yahoo: 4 percent owned, ESPN: 4.2 percent)
Bourgeois has taken advantage of some recent injuries in the Astros' lineup to land very favorably on our fantasy radar. The speedy 29-year-old outfielder has nine hits, three RBI and four stolen bases over the past four games.
Carlos Lee continues to be sidelined with a hip contusion following a collision with teammate
Angel Sanchez over the weekend, so Bourgeois is well worth using in deeper mixed leagues as a short-term play.
AL ONLYTrevor Plouffe SS, Twins (Yahoo: 0 percent owned, ESPN: 0 percent)
Twins' shortstops have combined to bat just .189 with zero homers and a .509 OPS this season. They had to do something to shake things up, so
Alexi Casilla was moved to second base this week while Plouffe was called up from the minors on Wednesday. The former 2004 first-round pick struggled in his first taste of the big leagues last season and his .255/.317/.396 batting line in the minors doesn't give much room for optimism, but he was batting .282 with six homers and 13 RBI over his first 91 plate appearances for Triple-A Rochester this season. He's at least worth a shot until
Tsuyoshi Nishioka returns from the disabled list.
Ben Revere OF, Twins (Yahoo: 0 percent owned, ESPN: 0 percent)
Another part of the Twins' roster shakeup, Revere was called up from the minors Wednesday after outfielder
Jason Repko was placed on the disabled list. The main reason you should pay attention to Revere is for his plus-speed. The 23-year-old has stolen at least 36 bases in each of his last three seasons in the minor leagues. One potential scenario is that the Twins could continue to play him in left field once
Delmon Young returns from the disabled list, which would move
Michael Cuddyer to second base, at least until
Tsuyoshi Nishioka returns. Not saying it will happen, but the opportunity is there.
Alex White SP, Indians (Yahoo: 1 percent owned, ESPN: 0.9 percent)
I immediately kicked myself for not recommending White last week, as he yielded two runs over six innings in his major league debut while filling in for the
Carlos Carrasco against the Tigers this past Saturday. Carrasco and
Mitch Talbot are both on the comeback trail from their respective injuries, so White's initial stay in the big leagues might not be a long one, but he's at least assured another start Saturday against the Angels. The 2009 first-round pick should be filed away just in case he sticks around.
Kevin Slowey SP, Twins (Yahoo: 2 percent owned, ESPN: 0.3 percent)
This is my final Twin of the day, I promise. Slowey is expected to be activated from the disabled list for this weekend's series against the Red Sox, where he'll return in a middle relief role. That may be the case for now, but the Twins stretched him out as a starter in the minor leagues and
Nick Blackburn has looked pretty vulnerable of late. Ron Gardenhire's logic can be frustrating at times, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Slowey back in the starting rotation sometime in the next couple of weeks.
NL ONLYJay Gibbons OF, Dodgers (Yahoo: 0 percent owned, ESPN: 0 percent)
Gibbons was activated from the disabled list earlier this week after
Marcus Thames went down with a quad injury. The 34-year-old outfielder is over the vision issues that plagued him during spring training and hit safely in six out of his final seven games with Triple-A Albuquerque before getting the call from the minors.
Jerry Sands is probably still the man in left field, but he's in a bit of a funk right now, so Gibbons could steal away some playing time should he continue to struggle.
Tom Gorzelanny SP, Nationals (Yahoo: 2 percent owned, ESPN: 1.2 percent)
How is this guy not owned in more leagues? Perhaps Gorzelanny is flying under the radar by virtue of playing for the Nationals, but he has a 2.93 ERA and 23/9 K/BB ratio over his first five starts this season. Throw out his clunker in his season debut against the Mets and he looks even more impressive. Sure, Gorzy has benefitted from a low batting average on balls in play and his command isn't great historically, but he should stick on your roster for most of the year in NL-only formats.
Mike Fontenot 2B/3B/SS, Giants (Yahoo: 1 percent owned, ESPN: 0.1 percent)
Mike Fontentot, No. 3 hitter. I'm not sure how many more chances I'll get to say that in my life, so I just wanted to put it out there for posterity's sake.
Pablo Sandoval required hamate bone surgery earlier this week, which moved
Miguel Tejada over to third base and Fontenot, who is a natural second baseman, to shortstop. The return of
Mark DeRosa could change things in a hurry, but Fontenot should put up respectable numbers from either middle infield spot right now, especially against right-handed pitching.
Allen Craig OF, Cardinals (Yahoo: 1 percent owned, ESPN: 0 percent)
Craig was activated from the disabled list earlier this week following the injury to
David Freese.
Nick Punto and
Daniel Descalso will also likely see time at third base during his absence, but Craig got the start on Wednesday night, going 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Craig, 26, has a modest .265/.329/.430 batting line over his first 163 major league plate appearances, but he undoubtedly has the most offensive potential of the group. He'll be more useful once he gets eligibility at third base, but with Freese likely sidelined until late-July, that's probably not far off.