NOTES
We have a new number one, at least in the Real Rankings,
with Dagan taking over the top spot from Chad, who’s offensive prowess has been mitigated by some
pitching problems. Dagan was the top team
last week but only managed 5 wins in a tough matchup against Montezumas, which
nearly split the week before late game heroics on Sunday. Clearly though, Ring is the top team in the
league with the top pitching and second best hitting.
This is the latest we’ve gone into the season without an
active seller in three years. In 2016,
Kyle started dealing on May 3rd. In 2015, Gibby started April 28th.
But keep in mind, in both seasons they were the only dedicated seller for a
couple months, so they are both outliers. And, in reality, Jason and Brian are
only 10 and 8.5 games out of a playoff spot, respectively, with 15 weeks and
150 “games” to go. A lot can change.
I think with both Gibby and Kyle's teams, it was a mixture of injuries
and underperformance from keepers and/or early picks that convinced them it was
time to deal. Being the only seller in a starved market has a number of
advantages and there’s different approaches to take. With both Kyle and Gibby,
they managed to identify keepers they wanted and deal for them, while also picking up
hot players and dealing them off as well.
The conclusion of this week will represent the one-third
mark for the season – a good opportunity to take a hard look at the roster and
seek trade partners or make tough decisions on some of the early picks that
haven’t worked out. My leash was gone a long time ago.
Thankfully, the league decided to add a DL spot this year.
There are currently 44 injured players on roster, which averages out to 3.1 per
team! If you don’t count Brokeback, who remarkably has no DLed players at the
moment, the number spikes to 3.4 per team.
While it’s nice the player isn’t gone as long, there doesn’t seem to be
any hesitation to put a player on the DL.
The season has actually had two trades so far this season,
both including yours truly. I didn’t bother reviewing them because they weren’t
particularly interesting. Justin and I swapped Grichuk and Shelby Miller – one got
injured and one sucked, so that was a wash. And Shomphe and I swapped Eduardo
Nunez for four late rounds, as Chris sought speed and position flexibility and
I didn’t need either.
Teams sweeping categories this season: Angry 6-0 in HRs, LOC 6-0 in RBIs, and Anal
is 6-0 is S+H. Conversely, Montezumas is 0-6 in OBP, Moose is 0-6 in Ks, Angry
in 0-5-1 in HR, Napalm is 0-4-2 in QS, and One Nut is 0-5-1 in QS.
A look at the new top 20 provides many obvious names and
some that provide instant regret to those who ignored Thames productivity in
Korea, Judge’s selectivity improvements last year, Zimmerman’s health and
actual age (he’s only 32), Keuchel’s shoulder woes last year, Ervin’s propensity
for hot streaks, Reynolds’ power potential in COL with adjustments from last
year, Gallo’s potential to stick, Vargas’ past periods of outperformance when
healthy, and Conforto’s talent vs. opportunity.
1. OF Bryce Harper WAS, Thor
2. 1B Paul Goldshmidt ARI, Ring
3. OF Mike Trout LAA, Montezumas
4. 1B Freddie Freeman ATL, Napalm
5. 1B Eric Thames MIL, Donkey
6. SP Chris Sale
BOS, Angry
7. OF Aaron Judge NYY, Moose
8. 1B Ryan Zimmerman WAS, LOC
9. 1B Joey Votto CIN, Ring
10. 3B Miguel Sano MIN, Montezumas
11. 1B Mark Reynolds COL, Thor
12. SP Dallas Keuchel HOU, Donkey
13. SP Ervin Santana MIN, Thor
14. 3B Joey Gallo TEX, Moose
15. SP Max Scherzer WAS, Montezumas
16. SP Jason Vargas KC, Ring
17. OF Nelson Cruz SEA, One Nut
18. OF Michael Conforto NYM, Anal
19. SP Clayton Kershaw LAD, Brokeback
20. RP Craig Kimbrel BOS, Anal
