The Scoop

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

Just when I start to completely write him off, Khalil Greene starts showing legit power. Over his last 19 games, Greene has clouted eight homers with 17 RBI. He strikes out way too often to ever bat much better than .250, but he is quietly on pace to finish the season with 28 bombs, 95 RBI and 89 runs. Not bad for a shortstop who plays in Petco Park.

Aaron Rowand has turned in a real solid first half, but he looks like a good sell-high guy to me. His BABIP (.345) is much higher than his career level (.316), and there’s the very real possibility of injury with the way he plays center field so aggressively.

I see your future Dick Harden, and it involves Dr. Lewis Yocum and a large knife.

Dan Uggla has 51 extra-base hits this season, one off the MLB-leader (Chase Utley). How about two second basemen occupying those top spots? Curtis Granderson has 15 triples, five more than second place (Jimmy Rollins).

In medium to deeper sized formats, you might want to take a flier on Lastings Milledge. His long-term playing time isn’t guaranteed this season, but Moises Alou’s health is always a concern, and Milledge is probably a better hitter than Shawn Green right now anyway. With his power/speed potential, Milledge could be a fantasy asset immediately, even if he’s not a big help in batting average.

Time to hand out the first half awards:

NL MVP: Prince Fielder – Leads the league in slugging percentage and homers, while ranking second in OPS and RBI. Is a big reason why the previously moribund Brewers sport the second-best record in the Senior Circuit.

NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy – Lots of worthy candidates here, as Brad Penny, Chris Young and even John Maine deserve consideration. While Peavy has Petco Park to his advantage, in the end, he’s thrown the most innings of the group and leads the league in strikeouts and WHIP.

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez – First, let’s take a look at his main competitor, Magglio Ordonez – He’s been lucky (.388 BABIP), but it’s tough to argue with a 1.050 OPS accompanied by a 37/47 K/BB ratio. Mags leads the majors in doubles (35), batting average (.367) and is second only to Barry Bonds in OBP (.446). However, A-Rod has an MLB-best 30 homers playing in an extremely difficult park on right-handed hitters, while also leading the league in total bases (212) and the AL in OPS (1.078). He has a .61 points advantage in slugging percentage over Mags and is on pace for 164 RBI (and it’s not like he has a huge lineup advantage, as he’s batted with just five more men on base this season than Ordonez has). A-Rod also contributes on the base paths more and plays the more difficult/important defensive position. If you are the type that places great importance on team position in the standings, then I can see you going the other way. But there’s no denying that A-Rod has been the best hitter in the game this season.

AL Cy Young: Dan Haren – While John Lackey, Josh Beckett, Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia have had fine seasons, this comes down to Johan Santana and Haren to me. It’s very close – Santana has 24 more strikeouts, and when you include unearned, both have allowed the same amount runs on the season. Still, Haren’s done a superior job of limiting homers with the best split-finger fastball in the game and has pitched 8.1 more innings while allowing just four more baserunners. I’ll give it to Haren now, because it’s Santana who’s likely to be taking home the hardware when it counts – over the last four seasons, he’s 40-4 after the All-Star break.


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8 responses to “The Scoop”

  1. randy Avatar
    randy

    another thought, who has higher upside this year and beyond udy gay or danny granger—————-randy

  2. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Good comp, but I’m going with Gay. If Indy trades J. O’Neal, Granger may have the advantage of less mouths to feed since it seems Memphis is adding (Milicic) not subtracting (Gasol to stay?). Still, I like Gay’s ceiling more than Granger’s. Their style of play and numbers are similar, but Gay hasn’t been in the league as long and is three years younger.

    The contributions in threes, steals and especially blocks is gravy, and if Gay is available as a Guard in your league (like he is in Yahoo), that just makes it that much better and flexible. I’d like to see Gay’s percentages improve, but remember, if it wasn’t for some questioning his desire (it appears to be fine in the NBA), he might have gone No. 1 overall last year.

  3. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Alright Dalton, normally I wait till football to pick your brain here, but tell me what you think about this trade in a keeper league (11-team, keep 10, roto): I give up Crawford for BJ Upton and Hughes. I’m kind of stacked with young pitching already (Lincecum, Gallardo, Bonderman, Felix, Kazmir, Billingsley, Rich Hill), but Upton and Hughes I find really tempting as I wait for Crawford to truly break out. We also have BB’s as a 6th offensive cat, but neither guy really walks much. Any thoughts? Can you think after Vegas?

  4. randy Avatar
    randy

    what do you think of al harrington, i keep thinking of players that cross my mind, i think harrington scares me, i want to trade artest for a lesser player that could really blossom and something, any other ideas to trade down to—————thanks

  5. randy Avatar
    randy

    and compare danny granger to harrington, who would you rather have, and any other players in that range that you like———–thanks

  6. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Keith – Well, I think that’s decent value in return for Crawford, but I’m not sure it makes sense in the context of your league/team. You already have seven players worth keeping (Hughes may be a better long-term prospect than some, but not by a huge amount), and I assume you have at least three hitters worth keeping as well, right? I like Upton a lot, MI with legit power and speed, but with that plate discipline, you are looking at a perennial .260 hitter – he’s played over his head so far this year. So, my point is, making sure you have the true superstars is the most important thing if playing for the future, since you’ll probably be able to keep a player with similar value to Hughes. Now I know Crawford has been somewhat of a disappointment, but I still value him more than Upton moving forward, and Hughes better be a pretty decent upgrade over whomever else you’d keep for you to make the deal. And no, I still can’t think.

  7. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Randy – Hate to be cliched, but Harrington is who he is. Nothing special, even in the run and gun G. State offense. He’s a pretty good source for threes, but he’s not particularly good at rebounding, assists, steals or blocks. And he’s a negative in free throws. I’m all for shopping Artest right now, but no way would I give him up for Harrington.

    I’d probably rather Granger at this point, especially in a keeper league. At this stage of Harrington’s career, a major leap isn’t too likely, while Granger still has room to grow and upside. During the last month last season, Granger averaged 17 ppg, 1.2 bpg and shot 49% from the field. Plus, he’s a much better free throw shooter. I think you could get him to throw something else in if you’re giving up Artest, however. See if you can get Kevin Durant for him, straight up. That’s a deal I’d make.

    Another player I like to make a leap is LaMarcus Aldridge. He’s been tearing it up during summer league, no longer has Z. Randolph to contend with (Oden will eventually be awesome, but he’s still raw offensively) and finished strong last season, putting up real solid numbers during March (14.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 0.9 spg, 1.6 bpg, 52%). Talk up the heart condition that ended his season prematurely last year and the heel ailment he’s currently dealing with (he should be fine) and try to get him on the cheap. He might even be center-eligible.

  8. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    If you can get Andre Iguodala for Artest, I’d do that immediately. But I doubt you could.

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