Rounding the Bases: CarGo Power and Look Out for the Mariners!

Posted by Howard Bender on 05/31/2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: fantasy baseball, Carlos Gonzalez, Seattle Mariners, Jesus Montero, Justin Smoak, Derek Holland, Francisco Liriano, Carlos Quentin, Lucas Duda, Adam Dunn, B.J. Upton, Dale Thayer

What with the three-game slate here on Thursday and the late start, I was able to take my time a little with the Wednesday wrap.  Apologies if it ruined your morning cup of coffee, having to go read somewhere else, but this could be a nice lunch break/afternoon snack for you while you waste some time at the job.  Offenses were exploding on Wednesday as we saw 13 teams plate six runs or more, likely boosting the totals for numerous fantasy teams out there.  Unfortunately for some, the pitching didn’t fare as well and we saw some nasty ratio damage done.  Here’s a look at how everything shook out the other day.

Fantasy Beast of the Day

Welcome back Carlos Gonzalez!  This is CarGo’s second Beast award of the season, and very well deserved as he paced the Rockies to a 13-5 shellacking of the Houston Astros.  He’s now got four straight multi-hit games and has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games.  He’s got the average up to .323 for the season with 13 home runs, 41 RBI and seven stolen bases.  Beast-like numbers?  I’d say so.  But obviously the one caveat that comes with owning CarGo is his home/road splits.  At home he’s hitting a robust .380 with nine home runs while sitting at a very humble .266 with four dingers on the road.  It’s not like you can sit him while the Rockies are on an extended road trip, but it would be nice to not have to wait for a home-stand to play catch-up.  Personally, as good as he is, I’m definitely in favor of trading him while he’s hot.  The return value you would be able to get is huge and would likely help your fantasy team in a more broad sense.  Last off-season in my primary keeper league, I dealt him straight up for Adrian Gonzalez.  With the start that he’s had this season, your return could probably be so much more…

Fantasy Bonus

Huge day for the normally hapless Mariners as they absolutely trounced the Rangers by a final of 21-8.  And you know what…?  The game wasn’t even as close as the score lets on.  It was 8-0 after two innings and 16-0 after the third.  I know the Rangers have a potent lineup, but let’s face it, when the score is 17-0 after four innings, what the Rangers did afterwards is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.  Not so much for fantasy as this was the equivalent of garbage time touchdowns in fantasy football.  The real-world outcome is already decided but some lucky jamoke is going to come out ahead in his fantasy league because Mike Napoli squeezed out a pair of RBI against Hisashi Iwakuma.  Special nods to Justin Smoak and Jesus Montero for really powering it up and not holding back at all regardless of the score.  If we wanted them to hold back after a while, there would be a mercy rule in baseball.  There is not.  Swing away, Merrill.  Swing away.

Nothing better than seeing a guy you’ve stashed on your DL finally coming up big.  When Carlos Quentin smacked his second home run of the day, I was overjoyed!  You know what it’s like having to go with stupid Nate Schierholtz in your lineup on a regular basis?  Ugh.  I can’t wait until Monday morning roster moves this week.  Of course, by the time I activate Quentin, he’ll have already started his second trip to the DL probably.

Yeah, Mets fans, I’m throwing you another one here.  I’m not going to say great things about Lucas Duda, except for the fact that he had a great night with a pair of home runs off some great pitching, because let’s face it.  This has all the earmarks of the sun shining on a dog’s backside again.  After all, the guy is hitting just .257 on the year and this one solid night is coming on the heels of an ugly four-game 0-for-13 stretch.  If he does it again, say sometime in the next two weeks, then I’ll give him some extended props, but for now it was simply one good day.

And finally, a nice return to the rotation for Francisco Liriano, but how many of you are going to trust that this is the Liriano we’ll see moving forward?  If you can’t see me (because I’m doing the Chris Perez/John Cena thing right now), my hand is not raised.  Proceed with Liriano at your own risk.  I will not recommend him at this time.  He did a great job on Wednesday and the three people that actually decided to activate him for the start are all smiles right now.  Lemme get a look at them after two or three more starts….if he even gets that many. 

Fantasy Bones

Seems to me like B.J. Upton is getting a little too much face-time in the section, no?  The 11 stolen bases on the year might be nice, but there’s no way that average sticks around the .280 mark with a 25.0% strikeout rate.  Once his BABIP drops from this cushy .351 mark it’s going to be painful to endure that string of 0-for-4’s you’re going to get en route to a .240 average.

Do I even need to discuss Derek Holland or are all of you who thought it was going to be smooth sailing for him against Seattle still feeling the sting?  I’m guessing you are. 

And finally, here goes Dale Thayer again.  Another non-save situation and another disaster for the Great Moustache’d One.  He’s done a perfectly fine job as the team’s closer, but this is now back to back outings he’s gotten pasted and all because of extended days off and coming in to either tied or losing ballgames.  What’s worse is that there’s talk of Huston Street coming back soon which means that Thayer could be torching your ratios just in time for you to also lose him as a closer.  Yuck!

Injuries

The big news is that Matt Kemp is likely to head back to the disabled list after re-aggravating the hamstring injury that put him on the shelf in the first place.  Fantasy owners are just going to have to sit and be patient.  You never want your guy coming back from a hammy or groin strain too early as both injuries have a strong tendency to linger.  Just stash him for now and hope for the best after another two weeks.

Adam Jones, OF  BAL – wrist (questionable)

Dustin Pedroia, 2B  BOS – thumb (out at least until June 5)

Alejandro De Aza, OF  CHW – knee (questionable)

Troy Tulowitzki, SS  COL – groin (doubtful)

Andy Dirks, OF  DET – Achilles (doubtful)

Carlos Ruiz, C  PHI – hamstring (questionable)

Cameron Maybin, OF  SD  -- wrist (questionable)

Carlos Beltran, OF  STL – knee (questionable)

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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites including his own, The Fantasy Baseball Buzz.  You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.