It’s time for the annual book report. You remember writing the “summer vacation” essay at the start of the school year, don’t you? You weaved a “Wonder Years”-inspired tome and tried to hire a voice-over actor to present your masterpiece to the class. You claimed to have read some great literature and visited attractions that expanded your mind and included neither animals nor waterslides.
In this entry to the FOXSports.com Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, I’m undertaking a similar task. I’m offering 10 things that I learned from watching countless games and poring through reports from the army of beat writers.
We don’t necessarily walk away with a ton of conclusions, but a number of positional battles have been decided and storylines wrapped up. I’ll begin in Texas with the story of a young pitcher working to find his path. Instead of breaking out the classic howl of Joe Cocker, I’ll get things rolling with The Rolling Stones.
1. "You can’t always get what you want ... you get what you need."
My fascination with Neftali Feliz’s role during the 2011 season is well-documented at this point. While I longed to see him in the rotation, the trade that sent Frank Francisco to Toronto left the Rangers without a proven option to back-fill the position.
I get it. I understand the baseball logic and spoke to it early in the process. So, while I was excited about the prospects of Feliz joining the rotation, I understood the need to return him to the closer role for the 2011 season. Why create holes and uncertainty unnecessarily when your team is the leader in the clubhouse for the AL West crown? I’ll admit to getting overexcited about the “audition” process and Feliz’s strong early returns. Feliz returns to the updated closer rankings next week in the No. 5 spot.
Things did get interesting in Texas on Thursday when it was announced that Tommy Hunter would be sidelined for the short-term with a groin strain. Given the early schedule, the Rangers will be able to start the season without needing to seek out another arm.
2. NL Central: Major Injuries
Fantasy owners were anticipating a battle of arms for the top of the NL Central coming into spring training. First, Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals underwent Tommy John surgery. Then, prime-time off-season acquisition of the Brewers, Zach Greinke, was revealed to have cracked ribs in an off-season basketball game. As such, Milwaukee trudges into 2011 without its ace. Look, Greinke may get back into the mix in late-April and obliterate opposing batters. The trade that brought in Sergio Mitre from New York to bolster the pitching staff leaves me skeptical.
3. Dave Duncan is no longer a magician. He’s a sorcerer.
St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan has long been tabbed as a magician for his ability to rehabilitate struggling hurlers and make them viable contributors. I’m promoting him.
Duncan’s latest project was to find a suitable replacement for the aforementioned Wainwright. Sinker-baller Kyle McClellan (68 relief appearances in 2010) was plucked from the bullpen to audition for the role. He’s returned a superb 0.53 ERA in four spring appearances.
4. The Cubs have their own version of "The Four Horsemen."
First-year manager Mike Quade brings a team with a lot of attitude and performance questions from Arizona. Much of his attention will be focused on harnessing the collective power of four men named Carlos.
• Carlos Zambrano is known for his outbursts and wild performance swings.
• Carlos Silva had been terrible this spring until his last outing. He’d pitched poorly enough that hosts on WSCR-Chicago were clamoring for his outright release, particularly in light of the Mets’ recent purge that sent Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez looking for work. Silva also famously began the spring with a dismal showing and a dugout spat with Aramis Ramirez.
• Carlos Pena brings his home run swing, huge strikeout total and fantasy-crushing batting average to town.
• Carlos Marmol strikes out a ton of batters. His huge walk rate portends to more than a few heart palpitations.
5. Strained forearms are this year’s torn labrums, narrowly beating out strained obliques.
As always, many teams will open the season without one or more of their top starters. This year, the diagnosis of a “torn labrum” has given way to the “strained forearm.” Of course, there’s always the fear that such an injury becomes an elbow issue in short order, thereby pesenting the possibility of extended downtime and even a trip to Dr. Andrews.
We’re also still monitoring a number of shoulder injuries, including those sustained by Brad Lidge and Mat Latos.
6. Brandon Beachy wins the No. 5 slot in Atlanta
Beachy was tabbed as the No. 5 starter by manager Fredi Gonzalez after pitching to a 1.80 ERA in his three spring appearances (two starts). The 25-year old right-hander allowed five hits while striking out 10 batters in 10 innings pitched. Beachy pitched to a composite 1.73 ERA in 35 minor league games last season and struck out 5.28 batters per walk issued.
Top prospect Mike Minor also shone this spring, pitching to a 0.90 ERA in his three appearances. Minor starts the season in the minor leagues, but I suspect that we’ll see him back in the mix soon.
7. Buck Schowalter is bringing some Earl Weaver-like heat to the Orioles. He may also prove more quotable than Ozzie Guillen.
Schowalter stepped into the Baltimore dugout to try and stop a 13-year streak of sub-.500 efforts. The team overhauled its lineup and brought in myriad veteran offensive options. Schowalter played the role of agitator well in a recent interview in which he lobbed barbs at Theo Epstein and Derek Jeter.
The Orioles are intriguing on paper, provided that Derrek Lee and Brian Roberts can stay healthy and contribute in line with their normal statistical output. With Mark Reynolds and Vladimir Guerrero onboard to bolster the heart of the lineup, the Orioles might just make some noise in the AL East. If nothing else, it appears that Schowalter certainly will. Will he out-quote Ozzie Guillen in Chicago?
8. Bartolo Colon has been resurrected, if only for a short time.
The Yankees dealt Sergio Mitre to the Brewers and acquired outfielder Chris Dickerson. As a result, Joe Girardi will need to make a decision between veterans Freddy Garcia and Colon. The loser of the battle slides into long relief following Mitre’s departure.
9. Mike Morse is in a position to become a household name.
Morse performed brilliantly in his 98 games played for the Nationals last season. He smashed 12 doubles and 15 home runs with 41 RBI while batting .289. He’s been on fire this spring, batting .362 (21-for-58) with three doubles, seven home runs and 15 RBI. Morse will operate from the fifth slot behind Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth. As such, he should see ample RBI opportunities and pitches to hit.
10. The closer carousel never closes.
We knew it was always open, but didn’t expect that the carousel would pick up such speed and momentum so early in the spring. Andrew Bailey, Brad Lidge, Frank Francisco and David Aardsma will all miss the start of the 2011 season. The Braves muddied the waters by declaring Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel “co-closers,” although most believe Kimbrel handles the bulk of the workload.
We do enter the season with a clear-cut closer in Texas.
