Nelson Cruz

[Bronx Yankees]

Trying to spur a little more baseball conversation on the boards, but am really curious to hear what folks thin about Nelson Cruz. I find players with outlier type seasons really tough to evaluate. Anyone with Cruz this year is loving that pick, but how high a pick are you willing to invest next year?

He just hit his 39th HR and he now has over 100 RBI. He's also been healthy and has played just about every game this season. Clearly, he likes hitting in Camden Yards.

On the downside, he's 34 and before this year, he only had one 30 HR season (33 in 2009). He also missed major parts of multiple seasons due to injuries and a PED suspension.

I'm kinda thinking about fourth round next year if he stays in Baltimore, lower almost anywhere else. Think I'm way off?

Mike

[DOUGHBOYS]

In early drafts, I think he'll be a second/third rounder.
Then, when more his known about his new team, he'll stay in the same rounds or drop.
He joins VMart in having a very timely contract year.
Did they have help?
What's your opinion?

[Bronx Yankees]

I'd hate to think they had PED help after all of the negative attention, increased testing and penalties, etc. You'd really need to have a brass pair if you're Cruz and you're taking that type of help after a 50 game suspension last year. Aren't previously-suspended players subject to even more frequent testing? With Cruz, you'd like to think it is a combination of good health, being in a very good or great lineup, and playing home games in a hitter's park. Although I'd like to give Cruz and VMart the benefit of the doubt, it's a shame that every "career year" will raise these questions until if and when the game is fully clean.

Since you mentioned VMart, his year may be even more of an outlier (or suspicious) than Cruz's season. He's now 36 and his 30 HR to date are five more than he's ever had before (25 in 2007), and he does not play in a hitter's park.

I think Rounds 2/3 are too early for either of them, but then again, I was wrong on both of them this season, so maybe I'm wrong again.

Mike

[Edwards Kings]

Have him in my Auction league where I am running away with HR (too bad my pitchers look like mop-up wings in the Over 50 leagues). Is now and will not move off my "do not draft/buy list" for 2015. Not saying he is on anything, because I just do not know, but I have a feeling that, given his history, this is "his" year and more than 350 AB in 2015 will be a miracle.

[whale4evr]

Quack.

[headhunters]

what ever those 2 guys are doing- jay bruce, jj hardy and about 20 other guys need to find it. v mart looks like ellsbury- same swing ,same line drives- but now they go 30 ft farther. just like jacoby when he hit 32.

[GetALife]

Speaking of suspensions: What mlb players were suspended this year for PED's?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Speaking of suspensions: What mlb players were suspended this year for PED's?

Here's your first answer: Chris Davis suspended 25 games for amphetemins. What a huge blow to the Orioles and fantasy owners. Wow, what a season of turmoil in MLB:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11512 ... -games-mlb

[Fourslot40]

Suspension carries into the postseason. A tough blow for Baltimore fans.

[DOUGHBOYS]

10 percent of Major League players use adderall or other stimulant.
Legally.
They have a 'therapeutic exemption' to do so.
Some think it has become a legal way for players to cheat.
The players get a boost and want this exemption for better performance. They'll tell others and they'll ask for exemptions.
The 'exempt' list gets longer each year.
When not getting the exemption like Chooch Ruiz or Chris Davis, they see and feel the drop off in their play and make the decision to take it or not.
Adderall doesn't provide the same 'stigma' for an athlete like a steroid. A player can be caught taking Adderall and won't suffer the same scrutiny or ridicule as a steroid.
The first positive is not released to the public. The second offense, 25 days, is smaller than PED's infraction, and the third is 80 days.

Davis just reached 3B status for next year. His drafters will have to weigh the good of being 3B eligible against the bad of a possible 80 day suspension if not regaining his exemption next year.
I do not believe that the players who get 'therapeutic exemptions' are made public.

[Atlas]

ARod had a Th. Exemption for HGH, no?

[DOUGHBOYS]

ARod had a Th. Exemption for HGH, no?

There are rumors that ARod led baseball in applications for exemptions. He asked for as many as two and possibly three performance enhancing drugs or amphetamines in one year. All under the guise of another 'health problem'.
All these products, including testosterone itself, were signed off on by a doctor and a wink.
MLB actually approved the testosterone and some other applications.

[Atlas]

I found this piece on Adderall very telling.

http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer ... r-leaguers

But its not only in sports. Its also in the general population. Parents are running to doctors with their kids with the same "They can't focus" nonsense and trying to get these medications for an educational advantage. Disturbing.