Exciting, right? Alas, no such fun in our AL-only league; he's already on somebody's farm. Boooo! :-(
Funnily enough, while they say the Royals couldn't ignore Hosmer's .439 BA, there was another prospect tearing up Triple-A pitching at a .400+ clip, and he IS in-play in our league. Second-sacker Scott Sizemore, a popular sleeper pick last spring, was hitting .408 as a Toledo Mud Hen, and the Tigers simply couldn't ignore him any longer, either. To wit, here are my moves for this week:
ADD S. Sizemore ($20) and WAIVE A. Kennedy
ADD R. Sweeney ($1) and WAIVE T. Buck
ACTIVATE K. Slowey and RES B. Jenks
Here's the book on Sizemore from RotoWire:
In his first game since being promoted from the minors, Scott Sizemore went 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI in Tuesday's win versus the Yankees.
Batting second, the 26-year-old showed that he probably should have been summoned from Triple-A Toledo prior to early May. Sizemore was off to an incredible start offensively with the Mud Hens, batting .408/.495/.605 with two homers and 15 RBI over his first 92 plate appearances before getting the call to the bigs. He's well worth owning in AL-only leagues and could have mixed league relevance eventually if he continues to rake.
Still, I (almost?) wish I had an injury in the middle infield. Deciding to risk cutting ties with Adam Kennedy was harder than you might think. I mean, he has no upside whatsoever, but when he plays, he's productive, period. And inasmuch as he comes into every season as a nearly-forgotten back-up, he always seems to end up with 100+ games and decent stats (14 SB last year with Washington; 11 HR the year before with Oakland).
Back to Sizemore. I actually had him (and Lars Anderson) at the end of last year and tried to keep him on my farm this spring, but our rookie rules wouldn't allow it. Using T. Nishioka as a comp, I placed my bid at $20. Nishioka went for $21 this spring, which shocked me. But when you consider starting AL middle infielders are pretty much all locked up in this league, there's gonna be a feeding frenzy for fresh meat. At $20 for Sizemore, I'm being aggressive with my FAAB (as I promised myself I would before the season started) but the bid isn't so high that keeping him for next year at that position isn't out of the question. Again, having legit starters come available mid-season is a rarity in this league. We'll see what the other bids are soon.
Ryan Sweeney for Travis Buck is a hilarious, pathetic straight-up trade with myself -- one of Oakland's marginal 5th OFs for another. I guess in a league this deep, there's one on every team. Last year, my extra OF was Darnell McDonald, so it can work out nicely in the right circumstances. But my hopes for Sweeney aren't high; just don't kill me on the BA, OK kid?
Jenks, I was particularly proud of stealing in the waning moments of our 5-hour auction for a mere $3. I figured even if he didn't sniff a save, he'd help in the K, WHIP, ERA categories. That's what his historical stats told me anyway. Now he seems to have Eric Gagne Disease: Sometimes closers just can't go back to being set-up men. But I don't think that's the case here. Jenks said he discovered a mechanical flaw in his delivery just before he was sent to the DL with a phantom injury. He'll work out the kinks in Pawtucket and be back soon, I'm sure.
Slowey, I actually like. Another end-of-auction fill-in-the-roster move, I outbid everybody all the way up to $3. He's a solid big-league pitcher just looking for a spot in the rotation. As a middle reliever, he's posted a 2.25 ERA. In the past 3 seasons as a starter with the Twins, he's posted 12, 10, and 13 wins. Nothing to sneeze at.
No comments:
Post a Comment