Fantasy Baseball: This Week’s Waiver Wire Pickups

Posted by fantasyfurnace on May 4, 2013
Posted in: MLB. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

With about 25% of the fantasy baseball season already in the bank, your roster should be pretty set by now, with the exception of an injured player here or there which is unavoidable in any sport. By now owners also have been able to see how their fellow managers conduct their team’s business; who streams frequently, who requests trades, who is always dropping & picking up hot players, and who doesn’t do much at all. The key is to weed through all of the hype and be quicker to the waiver wire than your competition. Which brings us to this week’s pickups to consider…

1. Justin Grimm-SP-Rangers- Arguably one of the premier rookie pitchers out there this season, Grimm just had the honor of winning the A.L. Rookie of the Month of April by virtue of his three outstanding starts. He has averaged 6 strikeouts per game this season and boasts an excellent ERA of 2.28 and a modest WHIP of 1.27. He has a two-start week this week, vs the Brewers on Tuesday and the much maligned Astros on Sunday. Owned in just 20% of most leagues, we recommend Grimm for those in A.L. only leagues as well as deeper mixed ones, especially with this week’s opponents. To the rest of you we say, ‘Happy streaming!’

A.L. Rookie for the Month of April, Justin Grimm delivers a pitch & should deliver for those in deeper leagues with his 2 starts this week. Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images

A.L. Rookie for the Month of April, Justin Grimm delivers a pitch & should deliver for those in deeper leagues with his 2 starts this week. Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images

2. Yonder Alonso-1B-Padres- Alonso, who just turned 26 last month, must be eating his Wheaties because he’s off to a torrid start given what he recorded in his first full season last year. He has hit safely in 9 of his last 11 games and has two home runs to go along with 11 RBIs over that span. Alonso’s batting average has remained just south of .300 for most of the young season and although there is only a small sampling to refer to, we recommend that deeper roto leaguers should enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts. The most intriguing stat to us is his 4 HRs this season against just 9 all of last year. *Note: Perennial All Star Joey Votto has 9 less RBIs than Alonso. Just sayin’…

3. Dee Gordon-SS-Dodgers- Although not confirmed, it has been reported that the speedster Gordon will be called up as Hanley Ramirez heads to the DL…again. Gordon has been tearing it up in Triple-A Albuquerque batting .314 with 14 steals in 25 games. In 143 total games  that Gordon has played at the major league level, the 25 year old has 56 steals! Baseball guru Jon Heyman is the one that has reported the probable call-up of Gordon and he is usually correct on whatever he reports so in deeper mixed leagues, so grab yourself some “lightening in a bottle” while this speed demon is only 5% owned.

4. Kevin Slowey-SP,RP-Marlins- The second starting pitcher that we’re touting this week is a ‘good news’/'bad news’ kind of waiver wire offering. He has clearly recovered from injuries that plagued him in the last two seasons while he was with Minnesota. Sometimes switching to the National League can work wonders on prolonging a pitcher’s career and in Slowey’s case, it has resurrected his. The ‘good news’ is his ERA is an outstanding 2.15 and his WHIP a miniscule 1.10. He has recorded 29 K’s in 37 innings and all six starts this season have been of the ‘quality’ variety. The ‘bad news’ is that he is pitching for the offensively challenged Miami Marlins so wins will be harder to find than hen’s teeth. Those in deeper leagues should add the 10% owned Slowey as he is serviceable in all categories except wins; at least for the moment..

With the exception of Wins, Slowey has been stellar in every other category. Photo: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

With the exception of Wins, Slowey has been stellar in every other category. Photo: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

5. Russell Martin-C-Pirates-

  •            RUNS  HRs  RBIs  BA     %OWNED       

Catcher #1       5           2          7         .200         44%

Catcher #2      7            1          9         .278          72%

Catcher #3      13          6         10       .267          37%

We put up this illustration just to highlight the fact that Russell Martin, although probably off the waiver wire in most shallow leagues, is owned way too little when you put other catcher’s numbers up against his. In Yahoo! Leagues, catcher #1 is Jesus Montero (Mariners), #2 is Salvador Perez (Royals), and #3 is Martin. See what we’re suggesting here? (He is also the 8th highest ranked catcher as of May 4th in Yahoo! Leagues).

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Quick Stats from Crawford's Crazy Night

Posted by fantasyfurnace on May 4, 2013
Posted in: General. Leave a Comment

Reblogged from Sports Analytics Blog:

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Joe Crawford had quite the performance last night.  Referees should never be in the spotlight; however Crawford always seemingly finds a way to thrust himself in it.  Whether he’s calling fouls like this or throwing technicals around like candy, Crawford loves the attention (a terrible trait for a referee of any sport).  Now in the NBA Playoffs, Crawford was sure to enjoy the night. 

Read more… 254 more words

Joey C., not the world's worst ref but the most annoying!! (Although on Friday night he WAS the world's worst ref)!

The Knicks need to stop the nonsense and use their ‘Sixth’ sense!

Posted by fantasyfurnace on May 2, 2013
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 12 comments

What’s happened to the Knicks? How could they been up 3-0 and then lose the next two? Can they even close out the Celtics in this series? And, more importanly, could we be witnessing the 2004 “Boston Red Sox-like Celtics” vieing to become the first NBA team in history to come from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series? Will history repeat itself?

This year's Celtics are trying to repeat what the 2004 Red Sox did; coming back to win a series after being down 3-0. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

This year’s Celtics are trying to repeat what the 2004 Red Sox did; coming back to win a series after being down 3-0. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Think about this stat: Just 11% of all NBA teams who were down 3-0 even make it to a game 6!  This is what the Celtics have already accomplished and all we want to do is break down some of the reasons why and  how we have gotten to this point.

For openers, we were at Game 1 at the Garden and can tell you that the Knicks played with a bit of a swagger, especially in the second half. That confidence extended into games 2 and 3 as the Celtics never scored 80 or more points in any of those games.

And then, with a comfortable lead near the last half of the 4th quarter of game 3,  J.R. Smith got suckered into losing his cool after jawing with Jason Terry for most of the game. He elbowed the veteran, got ejected, and received a one game suspension from David Stern. The swagger left the court along with J.R. Smith and hasn’t returned in spite of the Knicks amazing comeback from being down 20 in game 4 to force the Celtics into OT.

#8 J.R. Smith shortly after elbowing #4 Jason Terry during game 3 on April 26th, 2013. Photo: Gettyimages

#8 J.R. Smith shortly after elbowing #4 Jason Terry during game 3 on April 26th, 2013. Photo: Gettyimages

That act of pure stupidity by Smith, with his team up by double-digits at the time, was reminiscent of what took place with the Knicks in another heated rivalry back in 1997. The Knicks were up 3-1 in that series with the hated Miami Heat when, in game 5 P.J. Brown took offense over Charlie Ward’s attempt to gain position for a rebound. Brown flipped Ward over his head and body-slammed him, and a melee ensued.

The Heat's P.J. Brown after slamming Knick Charlie Ward to the floor during the 1997 playoffs.

The Heat’s P.J. Brown after slamming Knick Charlie Ward to the floor during the 1997 playoffs.

Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Alan Houston and John Starks left the Knicks bench and when the smoked settled, Ewing, Houston and Ward were suspended for game 6 and Johnson and Starks for game 7. The Heat went on to win games 5, 6, and 7. That series, as this current one with the Celtics, was viewed as unwinnable at the time these actions took place.

Did Pat Riley tell P.J. Brown to instigate a brawl in the hopes of having the Knicks players lose their cool and face probable suspensions? Was Jason Terry ‘urged’  to incite a loose cannon like J.R. Smith? You be the judge.  

This much is for certain. The Knicks wearing black at last night’s game 5 vs the Celtics, as if they were dressing for Boston’s funeral, did incite and infuriate coach Mike Woodson as well as a lot of Knick and basketball fans alike. The Knicks should stop the nonsense, put their collective noses to the grindstone, and do their best to try and win this series.

They have no reason to act so cocky. They ain’t won nuthin’ yet so maybe they should just settle down and play the same kind of ball they did in their first three games. And for those who think that the Knicks might have lost the last two because  Chris Copeland didn’t play or Steve Novak didn’t play enough, give that a rest as well.

Chris Copeland has played a combined 24 minutes in this series shooting 0-5 with 1 rebound. Steve Novak has only been on the court for 31 minutes; 4-6 shooting for 10 points. (He also came out of last night’s game because of back spasms).

No, the Knicks need to remember what got them to 3-0 at the beginning of these playoffs in the first place;  hard nosed defense, distribution of the basketball, and that ‘swagger’. All of which was lost to some extent with Smith’s suspension.

 If you’re a Knicks fan, all you can hope for is that this series will not be the second coming of the 2004 Red Sox vs Yankees World Series, and that the team will not fall into any ‘traps’ during the remaining game(s); verbal or physical… otherwise history will just might repeat itself…

The Knicks need to avoid scenes like this in their remaining game(s). Photo: Gettyimages

The Knicks need to avoid scenes like this in their remaining game(s). Photo: Gettyimages