Over the last couple years, I've started a thread listing the players that I was most invested in once our drafts and auctions were completed and heading into the season. With the All-Star game in the rear view mirror and the baseball season past its "symbolic" half-way point, I thought I'd take an updated look at who I'm most invested in as we head down the back stretch. The following is a fantasy starting lineup with the player I have on the most of my rosters at each fantasy position, a comment or two on each player, and for those players I had on my preseason list, my comments then to see how my thoughts may have changed. I currently have 15 total fantasy teams, I'll list the number of those teams any of these players are on in parenthesis. Where applicable, I'll list the player at that position I wish I had invested in instead.
C- WILIN ROSARIO (6 teams) Stats to date: .273/38/13/46/4
Preseason comments - He's been there quite often when I've been ready to grab my 1st catcher. Nice power in a nice park to have power, 30-HR power from one of your catcher spots can make up for a lot of speed options in the end game.
Current thoughts - Though Rosario's been pretty streaky, I can't complain too much about the production to date. The batting avg has been better than expected, he's provided decent power for the position, and has even thrown in a few steals.
C- JOSH PHEGLEY (4 teams) Stats to date: .219/5/3/9/0
Current thoughts - I hope I've found the FA version of Rosario. Let's hope he's at least an improvement on the Jesus Montero's, Yasmani Grandal's, and Tyler Flowers that he replaced.
1B- CHRIS DAVIS (7 teams) Stats to date: .311/70/37/93/0
Preseason comments - Most of the other breakouts from last season have been taken much earlier than Davis in our drafts. 1B is deep and I've waited often at the postion or at CI. When I've been ready to grab a player at that spot, his power potential has often been seen as something my teams could use an infusion of in the 8th-10th rounds.
Current thoughts - I suppose I can't complain too much, but do you think you could get at least one SB Chris???
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3B- MANNY MACHADO (4 teams) Stats to date: .309/58/7/45/6
Current thoughts - Probably a slightly better baseball player currently than fantasy player, I thought he might provide a bit more power and speed to date. Still at the price point, a solid contributor. His future ceiling might be limitless.
CI- EDWIN ENCARNACION (4 teams) Stats to date: .265/61/26/73/4
Current thoughts - I'll just use Red Sox Nation's thoughts he provided for the Sirius FM 2014 mock draft because they mimic mine exactly.... "Show me once (2012) Show me twice (2013). This guy is a beast. 40/100 with above league batting avg. players are tough to find. He plays half his games in a great power park for Righties. A healthy Reyes/Bautista (big if) should lead to career highs in runs and rbis." He's referring to 2014 here, but the same thoughts could apply to 2nd 1/2 2013.
2B- AARON HILL (4 teams) Stats to date: .274/18/4/15/1
Current thoughts - I could have gone in a couple different directions here as I also have Ben Zobrist and Rickie Weeks on 4 teams each. However, of these three disappointing to date players, Hill's given me the least to date and therefore hopefully can provide the biggest 2nd half impact. Honestly I can use some improvement from all three.
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SS- IAN DESMOND (7 teams) Stats to date: .283/43/15/50/10
Preseason comments - One of the few early round players on this list. I love the power/speed breakout last year and believe he is a scarce position option that is trending upwards on a team that is trending upwards. Even as an early round pick, he could return a profit this season.
Current thoughts - I was very high on Desmond going into the season as he was one of my very few early round targets. He's been solid thus far and I remain very high on him. There is one player though I wish I targeted instead.
Who I wish I invested in - Jean Segura. Somehow I totally missed the boat on him and have been kicking myself all season.
MI - BRAD MILLER - (4 teams) Stats to date: .273/10/2/12/2
Current thoughts - Again, I could go Zobrist or Weeks here, Hanley as well. However, after Miller's 2 HR, 5 RBI game last night, he deserves this spot.
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OF1 - ANDREW MCCUTCHEN - (5 teams) Stats to date: .303/57/11/50/21
Current thoughts - It's a credit to his talent and ceiling that despite the stats listed above, McCutch feels like he hasn't hit his stride yet this season. Though I could regret not choosing Cargo over him when given the opportunity, my bigger regret is choosing Kemp over McCutch twice.
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OF2 - ALEX RIOS - (5 teams) Stats to date: .270/46/11/42/19
Preseason comments - I know, it's an odd year. Still 20/20 options that don't hurt your BA don't grow on trees and he goes later than most of them.
Current thoughts - Hot start, slumping recently, one of the most inconsistent players year to year or month to month in baseball. I'm far from optimistic, but looking for another upswing 2nd half. One of the more likely players to be dealt at the deadline, I'm not sure if that will be a positive or a negative for him. We shall see.
OF3-5 - ALEJANDRO DEAZA (3 teams), LORENZO CAIN (3 teams), LEONYS MARTIN (3 teams), MIKE SAUNDERS (2 teams), PETER BOURJOS (4 teams), DREW STUBBS (6 teams)
Current thoughts - My preseason draft strategy was to focus on these speed/power, risk/reward types to fill out my OF in the 2nd half of drafts. The above were the majority of the players utilized to meet that strategy. Dependent upon injury, performance, playing time, etc. at any given moment, I've switched one for another at different times during the course of the season through FAAB. Still, I've had and have some combination of one or two or more of these players on almost every one of my teams, thus far with varying degrees of success. At least they didn't cost much.
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Who I wish I invested in - Dominic Brown. I've speculated on Brown often in previous years. This season despite the red hot spring, I stayed away. I guess this is a case of once bitten.....
UT- NATE MCLOUTH - (6 teams) Stats to date: .278/53/6/17/24
Current thoughts - An early FA pickup on several of my teams, he likely remains my best of the season. Fantasy comeback player of the year? In a season where SB have been tougher than usual to come by, he's been a pretty useful asset.
SP1 - CLAYTON KERSHAW - (5 teams) Stats to date: 1.98/8/.90/139/0
Current thoughts - Each time when given the choice between Kershaw, Verlander, and Strasburg preseason, I chose Clayton. So far so good. Easily one of the best pitchers in the land, even despite his whiny comments about the best.... Matt Harvey.
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SP2 - KRIS MEDLEN (5 teams) Stats to date: 3.64/6/1.37/86/0
Preseason comments - He usually goes at the back end of that pitching tier that typically runs from the 4th to 6th round. I believe he is undervalued there due to his short sample size of dominance last year and that he's expected to K a few less than some of the other options that go before him. However, his ERA/WHIP upside makes up for a lot of 6-7 starters that we'll have to throw out there in-season.
Current thoughts - Medlen hasn't been horrible. Yet he feels like such a disappointment. The Beachy factor is also a concern. Medlen's a big key to many of my most important teams. I need him to step it up a bit.
Who I wish I invested in - Matt Harvey. How, oh how did I not end up with Harvey on some of my teams?? He should have been on all of them!!! Dobies, a Yankees fan nonetheless, was pimping him like he was the 2nd coming of Louisiana Lightning. Yet I had my doubts and thought he was being mildly overdrafted. I suck.
SP3 - MIKE MINOR (4 teams), SHELBY MILLER (4 teams), HOMER BAILEY (3 teams), JULIO TEHERAN (3 teams)
Current thoughts - During the drafts, I typically waited on SP3 until the early teen rounds and grabbed one of these upside SP's amongst a few others. So far so good on those listed above. Always a question regarding innings counts, 2nd half fatigue, etc. with young starters. We need these guys to keep it up if we hope to put up the good fight down the stretch.
SP4 - ALEXI OGANDO (7 teams) Stats to date: 2.92/4/1.22/43/0
Preseason comments - A couple years back I dropped him for several teams right before his first start and just before he went on a half season run of quality starts. This year I won't make the same mistake.
Current thoughts - One of those upside young starters I focused on in the early teen rounds, injury aside, Ogando's been decent so far. Due back from the DL shortly, I'm hoping for a 2nd half pitching stats boost from Ogando for many of my teams. I need it.
SP5 - CHRIS TILLMAN (5 teams) Stats to date: 3.94/11/1.35/89/0
Current thoughts - A target for fantasy regression during the 2nd half from what I've read across the fantasy pundit landscape, is he this year's James McDonald? I'll take his stats to date and hope for more of the same through the rest of the season. I've always been a little higher on Tillman than most, I believe this All-Star pitcher may even improve 2nd half.
SP6 - PHIL HUGHES (8 teams) Stats to date: 4.57/4/1.29/88/0
Preseason comments - He showed real signs of a potential breakout last season, his cost before his neck injury was far greater than it was by the time the live drafts came around. He'll be ready for his start on the 11th. At a price that had dropped well into the 20 rounds, I grabbed him often.
Current thoughts - Jeez, is there anyone more inconsistent start to start? OK, maybe Porcello, but still... A candidate to get traded before the deadline, I think that might be the best thing that could happen to his career and my fantasy prospects.
SP7 - TYLER CHATWOOD (5 teams) Stats to date: 2.55/5/1.29/46/0
Current thoughts - I could have gone a couple different directions here, but chose Chatwood because I believe one of the keys to fantasy success is finding that cheap SP in FAAB that you can slot into the back of your rotation and gives you mid or top of rotation stats the rest of the way. Cliff Lee years back, Kris Medlen last year. Can Chatwood be that guy this year? Someone will, why not him?
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RP1 - JASON GRILLI (7 teams) Stats to date: 1.99/0/.86/63
Current thoughts - Exhibit A this year on why it's often beneficial to wait on closers. Like Jim Johnson last season, Grilli's given me a relatively cheap source of saves, WHIP, ERA, & K's. Of course, I also started with Marmol and Madson on a few teams, so it doesn't always work.
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RP2 - BRAD ZIEGLER (5 teams) Stats to date: 2.43/4/1.03/24/3
Current thoughts - I chose Ziegler, a very recent FAAB pickup on some of my teams, for this spot because I believe being able to find saves in FAAB is one of the critical components to a winning fantasy season and something I am just awful at. I always choose wrong. Hopefully Ziegler can be a turn for the better for me in that skill, or lack thereof.
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So there's quite a few of the players I'll be counting on as I fight down the stretch for cash spots and maybe a couple league championships. I wonder how I'd fare if I had one team made up of exactly these players. We'll never know, but if they all do well, I probably wouldn't care anyways.
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Good luck to everyone in the season's stretch run. I hope the players you're invested in do well for you, just not as well as those I'm invested in.
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