Monday, February 23, 2009

Una Vez Mas Keepers - Screaming Lemurs

We’re halfway done with our look at possible keepers for each team in my Yahoo H2H league, now let’s look at our first playoff team, Screaming Lemurs.  The Lemurs finished 6th last year, but they have a lot of fantasy depth to choose from, so I expect they’ll finish higher this year.  Here’s the roster.

Screaming Lemurs

Rocco Baldelli (Bos - OF)     

Michael Bourn (Hou - OF)    

Ryan Braun (Mil - 3B,OF)     

Mike Cameron (Mil - OF)      

Jorge Cantú (Fla - 1B,3B)      

Carl Crawford (TB - OF)       

Chris Davis (Tex - 1B,3B)     

Jermaine Dye (CWS - OF)     

Curtis Granderson (Det - OF)             

Cristian Guzmán (Was - SS)               

Willie Harris (Was - 2B,3B,OF)        

Ian Kinsler (Tex - 2B)

Víctor Martínez (Cle - C,1B) 

Plácido Polanco (Det - 2B)    

Aramis Ramírez (ChC - 3B)  

Luis Ayala (Min - RP)           

Joba Chamberlain (NYY - SP,RP)    

John Danks (CWS - SP)        

Justin Duchscherer (Oak - SP,RP)     

Frank Francisco (Tex - RP)    

Cole Hamels (Phi - SP)          

Jensen Lewis (Cle - RP)         

Brandon Morrow (Sea - SP,RP)        

Oliver Pérez (NYM - SP)       

Max Scherzer (Ari - SP,RP)   

Salomón Torres (Mil - RP)     

Brandon Webb (Ari - SP)      

Lot of players to choose from, but the guy ranked highest by nearly everyone is Ryan Braun.  Braun is an excellent keeper because he’s talented and he’s just entering his prime.  The only questions are will he improve on last year’s batting average and will he continue to give you 15 steals.  I think the answer is yes.

The next pick is another player in the midst of his prime, Ian Kinsler.  Kinsler has had health problems the past two years, so it’s possible that we may not see his best stats until he’s healthy.  If he can play a full year, expect good power/speed numbers for a second baseman.  I think another 20/20 season is in order.

Carl Crawford also had injury problems last year, which led to a career-low 25 steals.  Expect him to closer to 50 steals this year as he should stay healthy.  He’s never going to hit 20 HR, but he’s in his prime so be happy with the high SB totals.  On average, he’s being drafted in the third round at Mock Draft Central. 

Curtis Granderson is a decent power/speed combo for the outfield position, though I don’t think he’ll improve much on 2007’s numbers.  I think the power is there, but I don’t think he’ll be stealing 30 bases.  He’ll provide good run totals and a decent average, but I think that what we see is what we get with Granderson.

I feel like Aramis Ramirez doesn’t get enough fantasy love.  He’s been a solid performer at third base for most of the decade, knocking in over 100 RBI six out of the past 8 seasons and averaging 29 HR over the same period.  He’s not old yet, only 31 in June, so I think it’s reasonable to expect another 100 RBI season with 30 HR and an average near .300. 

There are quite a few guys that I’d want on my team that I’m forced to leave off, but let’s go with two elite pitchers for our final two spots.  Brandon Webb has 70 Wins over the past 4 years, while averaging 177 Strikeouts over his career.  His ERA has never been higher than 3.59, and it’s 3.24 for his career.  He’ll be 30 in May, so there’s no reason I can think of that he won’t provide solid, elite numbers in 2009.  Cole Hamels proved me wrong last year when I was down on him because of injury issues in 2007 by having a great 2008.  He set career-highs in innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA.  The only worry I have about him is the high amount of innings he pitched in the regular season and the playoffs, more than 70 innings higher than the previous year.  But I think you have to take a chance on an elite talent like this.

A few words on the guys left off: I had a hard time not taking Jermaine Dye because of how solid his power numbers have been the past four years, but I think that this team is already set in the outfield with the three keepers.  Chris Davis is getting a lot of preseason hype because of the 17 HR he hit in 80 games last year, his first season in the league, and while I like him for this year if I can get him in the 8th round or later as a slugging third baseman, I don’t think he can displace any of the established players listed above.  I think Victor Martinez will bounce back this year, but his value is down and he can be drafted later.  Joba Chamberlain, Max Scherzer, and Brandon Morrow are all talented young pitchers who should start this season in their teams’ rotations, but let’s not anoint them too soon by spending a keeper pick on them.

Let me know what you think.

1 comment:

Ben P said...

Looks about right to me.

ben p