Fantasy Baseball Preview: The Cubs
,
tods onlineFantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared along delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a rapid once-over.
Meet the ...
Team who decided 97 wins wasn't ample. Seriously, why would you go out and intentionally make your team aggravate? Sorry, I'll spare you the huge homeristic rant right now. Instead, I'll just mention that you tin detect agreeable fantasy options at almost every corner with this team, even although you shouldn't be taking any in the first few rounds.
The Breakout
The Cubs front office has been adamant namely Mark DeRosa was traded because they are confident in the ability of Mike Fontenot apt take over for a solid daily player. If final season was any indication, he's going apt be a sneaky late-round medium infielder. In only 243 at-bats, the diminutive left-hander doubled 22 times, hit 9 home runs, and drove family 40 runners. If you calculate those numbers apt a full season,
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Obviously,
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These causes are accurate why you'll get Fontenot distant too cheap for a player of his ability hitting in this lineup. He's going to fall far down draft boards, and you can shred him up from the spare binary. Not too ragged for 20 home run latent, eh?
The Bust
Just for the sake of symmetry, I'll point out that I entirely anticipate Fontenot to hit more home runs than Derrek Lee. I'm die solemn. Lee's power is shot. From May 30 to the end of the season he hit seven home runs. That's seven bombards in 101 games and 450 plate outwards. His slugging ratio during that time was a modest .416 -- which is lower than what Placido Polanco slugged for the whole season.
I'm not discounting the hot start Lee enjoyed last season, as it set him up to at least not put up entangling totals. You just have to realize he's a first baseman. Do you draft your first basemen to put up 20 homers when not overly helping you in RBI, runs, steals or average? He's a scarcely above average hitter at this point in his career, and that's not going to slit it as a turn infielder in fantasy baseball.
The Lineup
1. Alfonso Soriano, LF
2. Mike Fontenot, 2B
3. Derrek Lee, 1B
4. Milton Bradley,
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5. Aramis Ramirez, 3B
6. Geovany Soto, C
7. Reed Johnson/Kosuke Fukudome, CF
8. Ryan Theriot, SS
Aaron Miles ambition likewise discern plenty of time all around the infield.
The Rotation
1. Carlos Zambrano
2. Ryan Dempster
3. Ted Lilly
4. Rich Harden
5. Johnny Wholestaff*
*Seriously,
Tods suede boots, this thing is up in the climate. Aaron Heilman, Sean Marshall, Chad Gaudin and Jeff Samardzija entire ambition it. The Jake Peavy rumors won't die -- which would location Peavy atop the heap and beat everybody else down a slot -- and the Cubs had yet intended ashore Marshall being a swing-guy who makes about 15 starts and works in long relief a bunch. He would reserve Harden healthy and spell Zambrano. My early prediction namely Heilman catching the blot and Marshall still making those 15 starts.
The Bullpen
CL - Carlos Marmol
SU - Kevin Gregg
SU - Samardzija
SU - Neal Cotts
The Skinny
I said there were a lot of quality options, and I wasn't kidding. I count seven location players, four starting pitchers and a stud closer who ought be owned in the overwhelming majority of fantasy baseball leagues. Sure, folk like Fontenot, Theriot and Lilly may spend time on the settee or waiver cable, but for the most chapter,
tod's shop online, the Cubs have lots of options, including Ramirez and Soto -- who stay towards the upper echelon of their relative positions.
? Bradley will be a devil when he's actually in the lineup. That's the problem, though. He's only played more than 100 games 3 times, and last year most of those 126 games were as a designated hitter. He's a middle-round very-high-risk/very-high-reward lad.
? You could say Soriano is overrated due to name recognition, merely you could also cry him a sleeper because of these elapse two injury-riddled seasons. It's cozy to point to his dwindling steals totals and his inability to reside healthy the past two seasons. Still, maximum of the time he missed last season was due to getting hit by a pitch. That hardly makes him crisp or old. He stole 19 bases and hit 29 homers last year. Prorate those numbers over the way of a full season and you have 28 steals and 43 jacks. He's still only 33, so keep an eye on him. If he falls into the earlier mid-rounds, it's time to take him yourself. Just don't get caught up imagining about a repeat of 2006.
? Zambrano is not a fantasy ace, so please don't remedy him as such. You'll be disappointed in probably every classification additional than triumphs. (unless your league accrues offensive stats for pitchers -- he had a higher OPS than Lee last annual)
? I'll discuss this in many other places of the draft outfit, but Marmol is going to be an elite closer -- starting quickly.
? Getting asset figured out on the mound isn't entirely out of the answer for pitchers in their thirties. Everyone knew Dempster had innate ability while he was younger, and he fair couldn't ever put it all together on a loyal basis. Maybe he fair needed to convert a extra mental pitcher? I'm not counting on a mammoth tread behind. He's a very solid adoption as a second phantom starter.
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