April Musings

It's been a very interesting April as we continue to analyze players out of the gate. I'll take some time here to go over each division and the players that are making fantasy noise in some way.

National League

East: Florida Marlins

Emilio Bonificio 2B/3B Marlins - His play, and subsequent lack there of, has been beatin' to death in blogs and fantasy articles since day one. As a fantasy manager there are only two things you'll need to pay attention to. His OBP and his place in the batting order, if he keeps his lead off spot and can reach base at a .350+ clip he's worthy of a roster spot. He's all ready shown he'll be a streaky player so tread with caution. But in the remaining 5 months he should be good for 70+ runs 25+ stolen bases and a modest .280 BA. Personally I wouldn't bother rostering him unless you're very weak at second or third, but that's just me. (Think Chone Figgins, with less experience).

Ricky Nolasco SP Marlins - In 4 starts he has givin up less than 4 ER just once, has yet to go more than 6 innings and is averaging less than 6 IP per start. His ERA and WHIP are a nasty 6.86 and 1.67 respectively. There is some silver lining here though. He has averaged less than 2 walks per start and his 17/6 K:BB ratio is almost a healthy 3:1 which is actually pretty stellar. His biggest problem at the moment is his hittability, if he can keep the ball low and limit the number of mistake pitches, he could easily go on a tear. There's no reason to panic here and he's an excellent buy low candidate.

Hanley Ramirez SS Marlins - Obviously it's still April, and it's not as if H-Ram has been bad, but this is a guy that has always played well in April. He's average a HR every 20 ABs, a SB every 13, a .333 BA and a .991 OPS. At the moment he's on pace for an 86/22/119/22/.270/.753 OPS line, which isn't bad but not good enough for the 'best player in baseball'. Most people will tell you not to be worried, and frankly they are probabbly right, but the last three years have been very worrisome as his BA, SB and Runs have all trended downwards while his HR and RBI have only had modest gains. Now, he could easily finish April on a tear and get back to his 40/40 line which is what most people have paid for, but the Fish have been on a tear since the start of the season but Hanley has only had a moderate impact on this. I would quietly shop him for Pujols or perhaps a multi package player. H-Ram still commands a good deal of quan in leagues but if his season continues on pace, you might be left with much less than you bargained for.

Food for Thought

The first week of baseball has been pretty exciting and there are several side plots developing quickly. It's also been very tragic. 22 year old Angel's rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart died in a car crash outside of Fullerton, CA in the wee hours of this morning, just hours after stifling the A's through six innings. In times like this you'll hear people use words like 'tragic' and 'heart wrenching' but in reality there is nothing you can say when moments like this arrive. I, like many others, will simply be shaking our heads in near disbelief, and can only wonder what it must be like for his friends, family, teammates and those in the Angels orginization. Because in all honesty, can anyone outside of those people, and the people who have been touched by similar tragedies, even begin to understand the emotion involved? Just keep the Adenhart family in your prayers, for that is simply all that we can do.