Each week three of our resident Fantasy writers will answer three pertinent questions that all owners should be asking themselves. Feel free to submit your own questions for this feature and we'll tackle them in this space.
|
|
|||
| Two months into the season, who has been the single biggest disappointment in the American League? | Does Eric Chavez deserve attention once he returns to the A's? | Project out phenom Clayton Kershaw for the remainder of 2008. | |
Eric Mack |
Clearly it has to be the Indians' Travis Hafner, who has gone from a potential Fantasy MVP and a sure-fire AL-only first-rounder to scrub. On a .217-12-69-60-3 pace -- low end for a catcher or a shortstop, much less a DH -- he couldn't swing his way out of his own bed. Unfortunately, he has made his bed and his Fantasy owners are stuck lying in it. You just can't see him turning it around at this point and he has been bad for over a year now. A shoulder injury is to blame and that notoriously means certain death to a slugger's power. | No question Chavez is an intriguing flier in deeper leagues. He should already be owned in all AL-only formats that have reserves and mixed leagues with more than two DL spots. The question has never been ability with him. It is about health and we can't be sure the former All-Star third baseman can maintain it long enough to help owners in mixed leagues. Owned in only 12 percent of CBSSports.com leagues, Chavez has a higher ceiling than any other minor league hitter other than the Brewers' Matt LaPorta in the second half. | This is difficult to project because so many variables can affect the 20-year-old phenom. Jason Schmidt (shoulder) could force into a Max Scherzer role in late June. Even if he sticks in the rotation, Kershaw will be held to around 25 innings a month, meaning he likely won't pitch past five-to-six innings per start. That makes it tough for him to be a consistent winner for your Fantasy team. His talent is just so intriguing, though, so he has to be owned in all leagues for as long as he is taking turns in the Dodgers' rotation. That means more than the 78 percent of our leagues he is currently owned. Assuming his turn gets skipped at every chance possible to save innings on his untested arm, let's say: 20 starts, an 8-3 record, 3.75 ERA, 110 strikeouts in 110 innings and a 1.200 WHIP. That could make him as intriguing as a top 20 Fantasy starter. |
Michael Hurcomb |
The two AL names people express the most disappointment about are Justin Verlander and Travis Hafner. We didn't draft Verlander to go 2-7 with a 5.16 ERA, and we certainly didn't want Hafner for a .216 average and four homers. However, let's give Verlander a pass since it hasn't entirely been his fault. The Tigers offense hasn't supported him like we expected and he has shown improvement in recent starts. Hafner takes the cake because he was playing injured (shoulder) and refused to take himself out of the lineup despite hurting his team. Had he taken the time to rest and get healthy (i.e. John Lackey), it would have been best for the long run. | Absolutely. The A's took all the necessary steps to make sure Chavez (back) was 100 percent before he stepped on a major league diamond. He has been tearing up Triple-A ball (.385 average through eight games) and looks like the kid who hit 25-35 homers with ease back in the day. Chavez is a big-time injury-risk sleeper. The A's finally have lineup protection (Jack Cust, Frank Thomas, Emil Brown) and Chavez could provide a decent stat line, if he stays healthy. | As soon as Jason Schmidt (shoulder) is healthy, the Dodgers are either going to Max Scherzer the lefty (move him to the bullpen) or send him back to the minors to work on his craft. Even if Kershaw pitches well enough to keep a rotation job, L.A. has too much money ($15 million) invested in Schmidt not to have him in the rotation. Kershaw will be on call in the event of an injury or sixth starter is needed. L.A. intends to limit Kershaw's innings, so 15 starts is a safe bet. Let's say 5-7 wins, 3.90 ERA and 105 strikeouts. |
David Gonos |
Let's look at the top 10 AL players selected in the Average Draft Rankings: Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz, Grady Sizemore, Vladimir Guerrero, Justin Verlander, Josh Beckett, C.C. Sabathia, Magglio Ordonez and Erik Bedard. Of that group, only Maggs has put up numbers worth of a third round pick, although a few of the others are starting to rebound (A-Rod from injury). I'm going to go with Bedard as the biggest disappointment thus far. | This is guy that played at a high level for five-plus seasons, coming back from back surgery. The A's really don't have much in his way at third base right now (Jack Hannahan). It'll be interesting to see if his power can return, and that's a gamble I'd take in AL-only and larger mixed leagues I think. | Kershaw has a chance to be the best rookie pitcher in the majors from here on out in a down year for rookie pitchers, beating out Joba Chamberlain, Johnny Cueto, Jair Jurrjens and Greg Smith. But he's still going to be an inconsistent pitcher, like many young hurlers are. I can see him stringing a 4-0 streak together, but going 0-4 is just as possible. The 20-year-old looks like a left-handed Orel Hershiser in a Dodgers cap, but a 10-5 mark in 120 innings (20 starts), with about 105 strikeouts and a 3.80 ERA sounds about right. |
You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to dmfantasybaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Triple Play in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state.
