The Scoop

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

For all the Ervin Santana home/road splits talk, Wandy Rodriguez actually puts him to shame. On the road this year, Rodriguez has a 7.45 ERA and 1.66 WHIP. At home, he posts a 1.81 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. He’s obviously more valuable in daily leagues.

Do you realize David DeJesus is on pace to score 120 runs this season? Also, Billy Butler looks awfully good hitting in the middle of that lineup. The opposite is true when he’s holding a glove, however. As bad as Kansas City is perceived, their current lineup is probably better than 75 percent of the N.L. teams.
I’ve underrated Aaron Harang long enough. He’ll always give up too many homers to post a sub-3.50 ERA, but his WHIP is solid because he limits base on balls, his strikeout rate is very strong and he pitches deep enough into games to usually finish with nice win totals. Not only was Harang the only pitcher in MLB history to lead his league in wins and Ks and not win the Cy Young award last year, he didn’t even receive a single vote.

Remember when all of those ESPN pundits picked Bobby Crosby as their MVP choice for the 2006 season? Good times. At least he had injury excuses in the past. This year, he’s stayed relatively healthy but simply can’t hit. A .272 OBP? Are you kidding me? His OPS is nearly in the 500s. Speaking of talented players failing to live up to expectations – Daniel Cabrera, you’re on deck.

I would be willing to bet Adrian Beltre’s 2004 season is one of the greatest outliers of someone’s career in the history of major league baseball. Let’s take a closer look by comparing numbers from that season with the second highest totals throughout the rest of his 10-year career: he had 23 more homers, 32 more RBI, hit .44 points higher and slugged .152 points better than his second best marks during his decade of playing. We can all thank Beltre for perpetuating the “contract-year” theory more than it’s true significance.

This just in: Chase Utley is very, very good. Since May ended, he’s batting .380 in 163 at-bats. After previously struggling a bit against lefties, Utley has posted a 1.014 OPS against southpaws this year, terrible news for the rest of the league.

A funny thing happened to Dontrelle Willis on the way to stardom – he never got there. He’s basically unusable in fantasy leagues right now. In 95 innings against right-handed hitters this season, Willis has walked 47 batters and served up 15 homers. That simply won’t get it done.

Watching Andrew Miller pitch, it’s clear he’s going to be special. Like all young hurlers, there will be ups and downs (specifically control with Miller), but he’s a highly coveted commodity in keeper leagues right now. Lefties are a combined 2-for-34 with 16 strikeouts against him. The Tigers are going to have one of the very best front ends of a starting rotation for many years to come.

If you’re not watching “Flight of the Conchords,” you’re missing out on the next great comedy. “Scott Baio is 45 and Single” is terrific as well, but for totally different reasons.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

13 responses to “The Scoop”

  1. Mr. Tintle Avatar
    Mr. Tintle

    My skin crawls when I watch those hairy, sweaty New Zealanders. I don’t know why. They just creep me out.

  2. Donald Trump Avatar
    Donald Trump

    Flight of the Conchords peaked with the hip-hop-opotamus song.

  3. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Hopes were so high for Chavez (future MVP candidate with 50-HR power) and Crosby (make us forget about Tejada) that it just sucks to watch their daily suckfests. Having Crosby and Kendall (back in the day) in the same lineup pretty much meant you went into every game handicapped. I can hardly even think about real baseball right now, as it’s just too depressing. I mean, it’s not even like Beane has any decent trading chips this time either. We’re not exactly getting Phil Hughes for Dan Johnson or anything. I’d try and get Johnny Gomes, Willy Mo, and Encarnacion from Cincy…young, cheap guys with offensive potential that aren’t appreciated by their own teams. That likely means we’ll end up with a single-A backup catcher and 35 year old reliever, but I can hope.

    The 49ers have become such a sleeper pick, they’re actually getting overrated now. It’s not like their D is going to be really good all of a sudden, and I’m always going to worry about Gore’s healthy. Drafting with people locally, I’m all but sure VD will get picked too soon.

  4. Robby Avatar
    Robby

    FoftheC peaked the first week but is still pretty damn good. Inner City Pressure is probably the best jam so far…

  5. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Both of those songs were great, but I actually liked this last Sunday’s episode the best yet.

  6. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Keith – I hear ya. Chavy and Crosby monumental disappointments. I think Dan Johnson can be solid (and cheap), but I guess with Barton coming up, moving him makes sense (although it’d be selling low). Another guy who doesn’t seem to be appreciated by his team that I’ve heard linked to the A’s is Chris Burke. Not sure where he’d fit in, however. Wily Mo and E.E. are two other busts so far, but def. have big potential.

    That’s exactly what I’m saying about the 49ers. And teams like that rarely come through. So hopefully they look bad early in the preseason so people start abandoning ship. Alex Smith really hit a wall during the 2nd half, and I know all QBs pretty much are, but he’s key for that team this year. As he goes, so will they.

    I like Nolan tho. They had something like the 23rd ranked D and 25th ranked O last year yet still almost went 8-8. That’s coaching.

  7. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    I also think losing Norv Turner is going to hurt. Some guys are just better at being coordinators than head coaches (see Martz, Mike).

  8. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Right, I forgot to mention that. Def. an important point. He isn’t a good head coach, but he’s a great coordinator and that loss will be felt. How many offenses does Alex Smith have to learn? I know he can split the atom and all, but still.

  9. Jeremy Avatar
    Jeremy

    What’s better for the future,

    Bonderman, Verlander, and Miller, with Zumaya coming in to close?
    or
    Beckett, Dice K, and Clay Buchholz, with Papelbon shutting them down?

    either way there’s some good young pitching there. btw why doesn’t Dave Dombrowski get as much credit as say Billy Beane/Theo Epstein? He drafts well, signs good free agents and makes good trades (Sheffield) and even brought Jim Leyland out of retirement…

  10. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    You can’t really go wrong between those two. Bucholz is looking quite good. I guess Zumaya needs to prove he can stay healthy for stretches, but those are def. the top two groups in the game. Good point about Dombrowski.

    Curtis Granderson might finish first in the league in extra base hits (he currently leads it) and plays a gold glove center field. And he’s probably the fourth best position player on his own team.

  11. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    Maybin (?) coming up next year too, the Tigers are set to be good for a while (though Guillen’s legs are probably going to fall off soon).

  12. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Right, exactly. Maybin’s going to be huge.

  13. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    And Porcello too.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *