By Dalton Del Don
I liked Kendry Morales as a sleeper entering the year, but I certainly didn’t expect him to be this good. Over his last nine games, he has six homers with 16 RBI. The .296 batting average is hardly a surprise, but the .575 slugging percentage is. At age 26, the switch-hitting Morales should only get better. In fact, his OPS has increased during all five months this season. The Angels scored just the 10th most runs in the American League in 2008, and despite getting virtually nothing from Vladimir Guerrero and losing Mark Teixeira, the team has scored the most runs in major league baseball in 2009. The Angels signed Bobby Abreu for about $5 million this offseason. The Giants signed Edgar Renteria, who has posted a robust .633 OPS with a -2.3 UZR/150, to a two-year, $18.5 million deal. One of these things is not like the other.
Everyone knows Brian Bannister is a fan of sabermetrics, but he’s officially become the smartest man in sports, citing xFIP as his favorite method of analyzing pitchers. Even the majority of enlightened baseball writers still seem to think plain old FIP is the way to go, for some reason.
Really good article by Jeff Passan. It’s amazing how a pitch Tim Lincecum just learned how to throw basically last year has become the very best offering in all of baseball.
Asdrubal Cabrera has six multi-hit games over his past nine contests, moving his season OPS all the way to .794, which ranks in the top-10 among all MLB shortstops. A previous DL-stint has stunted his numbers some, but if you prorate his stats over 162 games, here’s what you’d get: 10 homers, 111 runs scored, 85 RBI and 22 stolen bases. Since Cabrera is also eligible at second base, he’s an underrated fantasy commodity.
Understanding you’re unlikely to get much at all in a trade, at least adding Mike MacDougal in offers can’t hurt. He’s converted 9-of-10 saves and remains entrenched as Washington’s closer, and he does sport a 2.81 ERA. Still, an 11:18 K:BB ratio over 25.2 innings is about as bad as it gets, so I might not even roster him altogether, really. The imminent damage to your ERA and WHIP is hardly worth a handful of saves. It’s coming.
Over the last two months, John Lannan has recorded a 2.81 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. That’s been accompanied by a staggering 2.67 K/9 mark. Unbelievable, really. This is another ship that must be jumped. Now.
When the bases are loaded this season, Albert Pujols is 7-for-9 with five home runs and 24 RBI. That’s a 3.144 OPS.
It really is ridiculous just how terrible Delmon Young is. He has three home runs on the year, with a 66:7 K:BB ratio over 222 at-bats. If he qualified, Young’s .624 OPS would rank second to last among all outfielders in baseball (Willy Taveras is worst with a .565 OPS). Young is also running less than ever before, successful on just two of his four SB attempts. His career, which has always been a massive disappointment, is going in the wrong direction.
Since Matt Kemp moved up to fifth in the order three games ago, he’s recorded 10 RBI. Now, I’m not sure he’d be able to knock in 540 runs if he’d have been hitting there all season, but it’s safe to say Joe Torre was a bit late in moving him up the lineup.
A 4.20 ERA and 1.30 WHIP for a 21-year-old rookie is impressive enough, but Brett Anderson has really turned it on recently, finishing July with a 1.87 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. Since May ended, he’s posted an 8.69 K/9 mark, so his future looks bright.
Here’s updated rankings for my top-25 starting pitchers:
1. Tim Lincecum
2. Dan Haren
3. Javier Vazquez
4. Roy Halladay
5. Justin Verlander
6. Zack Greinke
7. Josh Beckett
8. Felix Hernandez
9. Jon Lester
10. Chris Carpenter
11. Josh Johnson
12. Cole Hamels
13. Cliff Lee
14. Johan Santana
15. Ricky Nolasco
16. Yovani Gallardo
17. Matt Cain
18. Chad Billingsley
19. Adam Wainwright
20. Wandy Rodriguez
21. Clayton Kershaw
22. CC Sabathia
23. Roy Oswalt
24. Rich Harden
25. Joe Blanton
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