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Don't
Forget The Trees
The
old saying is, "don't miss the forest for the trees."
However, the trees are important, too. What the heck am I talking
about? Simply put: Trends. Don't always look at season totals when
you are shopping for players.
Since
we are roughly eight weeks into the season, for reality's sake, most
players have established themselves. In other words, you will keep
seeing the same names on any ranking list: Manny Ramirez, Barry
Bonds, Ichiro Suzuki, and Juan Gonzalez. Don't get me wrong: if you
can get those guys, be my guest. Unfortunately at this point in the
season, they are guarded more than Anna Kournikova's cell phone number.
There
is a way around this--other than resorting to trading your first
born. Look at trends like the last 30 days or the last two weeks,
though I would stick to the 30-day rankings. [A 30-day ranking is
available at most fantasy web sites or mlb.com.] A 30-day ranking
will show you a different view of who is hot, sifting out many of the
monsters that tend to jump out to a great March/April but level off
as they put their season on cruise control. Frankly, many players
start out slow, but that doesn't make them bad fan players. Also, we
are beginning to see some of the young talent that is filling in for
injuries and which will stay in the bigs even after the veteran comes
off the DL. Remember, in all cases, we are only concerned with
today--not last month or last year.
Here
are some of the gems you can find in a 30-day ranking:
OF
Preston Wilson (Flo) hitting .389 in the past 30 days, .349 overall,
with 8 HRs and 30 RBI.
OF
Lance Berkman (Hou) hitting .373, .352 overall, with 14 HRs and 38 RBI.
1B
Fred McGriff (TB) hitting .371, .307 overall, with 8 HRs and 32 RBI.
1B
Ryan Klesko (SD) hitting .352, .302 overall, with 12 HRs and
46 RBI (and 10 SB).
2B
Damion Easley (Det) hitting .365, .302 overall, with 12 HRs and 46
RBI (and 28 SB).
OF
Ben Grieve (TB) hitting .344, .265 overall, 3 HRs and 19 RBI.
Pitchers
SP
Jeff Weaver (Det), 3-1 with a 1.55 ERA (overall 4-5 with a 3.09 ERA).
SP
Matt Morris (Stl), 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA and a complete game (overall
7-3 2.47 ERA).
SP
Tony Armas (Mon), 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA (overall 5-5 3.05 ERA).
SP
Randy Wolf (Phi), 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA (overall 4-4 3.51 ERA)
SP
Jason Johnson (Bal), 3-0 with a 2.51 (overall 4-2 3.49 ERA)
SP
Kevin Tapani (CUBS), 4-0 with a 2.70 (overall 7-1 3.63 ERA)
Of
course, this is not an exhaustive list. The idea is that you need to
ferret out the diamonds in the rough.
Tip
of the Hat
Barry
Bonds is simply "en fuego," hitting .311 with 26 home runs
and 49 RBI so far on the season. He recently broke the 500-homer
barrier--a cinch for the hall of fame--moving him into 13th place on
the all-time list. That is not the best of it. Truly the most amazing
stat is 476--the number of his career stolen bases. Realistically,
Bonds will become the only player ever with 500 HRs and 500 stolen bases.
Updates
Since
I wrote about SP Tom Glavine (Atl) leading the majors in walks, he
has really focused on taking care of this issue. In his last 4
starts, Glavine has only walked 6 batters. Unfortunately, he's been
ignoring everything else, going 1-2 with a 5.43 ERA over those same 4
games. Fan Spin: don't give up yet.
Ichiro
Suzuki is the only major leaguer with a name other than his last
name on his jersey. Suzuki requested to be referred to as Ichiro and
the Mariners have changed his jersey to his first name. I guess they
listen--after you have a 23-game hitting streak. The Mariners also
have a mirror web site entirely in Japanese for all his fans in Japan.
Locker
Room is written by Michael Skordeles
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