By Dalton Del Don
With 14 homers and six steals, Alfonso Soriano has hardly been a bust, but his on-base percentage is now below .300, and he doesn’t have a multi-hit game since May 19. He’s actually been a pretty terrible player since April ended, and it’s clear he’s not 100 percent physically. Soriano’s current .261 BABIP is a career-low, as is his shockingly bad .128 BA with RISP. There’s not much fantasy owners can do other than ride out the cold streak, and it’s doubtful his price tag will be discounted all that much if trying to acquire Soriano, but at age 33, it’s worth noting his OPS has dropped in three consecutive seasons.
Sean Rodriguez is a popular add with Howie Kendrick sent down, and while he’s certainly not a bad gamble after hitting 21 homers in 205 at-bats this year in Triple-A, expectations should be tempered. Manager Mike Scoscia may be just as likely to play Maicer Izturis at second, and if you combine last year’s stint in the majors with this year’s Triple-A stats, Rodriguez has struck out 123 times over 372 at-bats, so he’s hardly a polished product. I’d much prefer Chris Coghlan.
Dear Manny Parra: I hate your guts. That is all.
If there’s a funnier movie than “The Hangover” in 2009, I’ll be shocked.
Did Joe Torre really have Matt Kemp batting ninth Saturday? Was this just a bad joke? Because he can’t be serious. This is the same Kemp with the second best OPS on the team. Mark Loretta, meanwhile, was hitting seventh, he of the .632 OPS. During Kemp’s 234 at-bats this season, 200 of them have come from sixth or lower in the batting order.
If there’s been a better album so far in 2009 than “It’s Blitz” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I’ve yet to hear it.
Zach Duke has been a pleasant surprise, with a 3.10 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. It’s easy to forget, but he did post a 1.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over 84.2 innings as a rookie back in 2005. His command has been strong (2.03 BB/9) and he’s done a terrific job keeping the ball on the ground (1.35 G/F), but a 4.55 K/9 simply won’t cut it, making him an easy sell candidate. I doubt he’d bring much in return, and I’m not saying he’ll be a huge liability from here on out, but I would use Duke as a throw in if trying to make a bigger deal, and with his current .268 BABIP way below his career mark (.330), an ERA more along the lines of 4.0-4.5 should be expected over the rest of the season. Of course, Duke is likely to establish a career-best BABIP in 2009 with the Pirates fielding a fantastic defense, but his strand rate is also artificially high, so he’s due for a pretty severe correction if he doesn’t start missing more bats.
While what he’s doing as a 20-year-old is highly impressive, a similar profile as Duke could be written for Rick Porcello, although his groundball rate is more extreme (2.22 G/F). However, while Porcello has been lucky with his hit rate (.263), he’s been unlucky with flyballs turning into homers (17.4% F/HR), so his xFIP of 4.29 suggests his correction in ERA won’t necessarily be drastic, especially since he has room for improvement at his age. It’s disappointing to see such a low K rate (5.03 K/BB) from a pitcher with his stuff, but that dates back to his minor league days as well, and that kind of groundball rate is special.
Grammar Police: In this week’s edition, we’ll highlight the misuse of “I could care less,” when actually meant as “I could NOT care less.” You see, by saying you could care less, you are in fact stating there is a level of care there, since you could have less and all.
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