Under the Radar

[Fishercat]

Opening Week: Under the Radar

Opening Day is one of the happiest days of the year for most baseball fans. It represents new hope for everyone. For Cardinals fans, the day represents the beginning of a title defense, granted it was not a very exciting beginning. For fans of teams like the Royals or Devil Rays, it could represent the most hopeful they will get, although both teams are holding together well early on. However, the constant factor of opening day is that it is the one point of the year where every team is 0-0 and everyone has an equal shot to obtain the Holy Grail.

One week later, the picture is a whole lot different. Cleveland and Seattle have only played three games, not due to early season scheduling, but due to cold and snow. The best record in baseball does not belong to a pre-season behemoth like the Mets (4-2), Yankees (2-3), or Red Sox (3-2), but rather the Atlanta Braves (5-1). Every team has a win and every team has a loss, and the leaders of the divisions look mostly like an Early 1990’s lineup (Twins, Blue Jays, Reds, Braves) with the talent laden Angels and very young Diamondbacks. The two World Series participants combine for a .500 record, the same percentage as the Royals and Pirates.

Suffice to say, Major League Baseball is full of surprises. Due to the rush of the beginning of the season, the media usually doesn’t let these surprises get by. Look at Chris Shelton from last year. However, with the 24/7 coverage of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first start along with constant coverage of A-Rod, some surprises have sneaked by.

The surprises range from veteran role players who have stepped up their production significantly in the first week of the season to rookies who have exploded on to the scene. We don't know if these people are the next Hanley Ramirezes, who will continue their superior production in their roles, or the next Chris Sheltons, who will begin next year in AAA, struggling to beat out middling players for the backup job.

Catcher – Carlos Ruiz (PHI)

Ruiz hasn’t been the best catcher in the league. He’s probably only been the third best catcher in the NL East. But when only LoDuca and McCann have been better, little known Carlos Ruiz could do worse in his catcher platoon in Philly. In his four starts, he’s got a hit 3/8 of the time and put up a nice 1.000 OPS. His fantasy value is very limited, as he is in a platoon situation with a good veteran in Rod Barajas, so don't pick him up. Still, he has been a solid source of production early, so if you need an emergency guy in a Beat the Streak/Diamond Daily game...

First Base – Mike Jacobs (FLA)

First base, as a position, has been a huge offensive surprise so far. Among players with 20 or more at-bats in the first week, the Top 5 in OPS are Jacobs, Casey Kotchman (ANA), Derrek Lee (CHC), Dmitri Young (WAS), and Todd Helton (COL). That is basically two young, potential laden 1B, a 1B coming off his career year…in 2005, the constantly declining Helton, and DA MEAT HOOK (Dmitri). However, Jacobs has been the best of this group, going 10 for 23 averaging over a double for each hit in terms of total bases. The lone return for Carlos Delgado in that swap is proving to be a very good first baseman worth looking at in a position with a lot of depth, if he wasn't already picked up.

Second Base – Mark DeRosa (CHC)

He is the OPS leader like Jacobs, but he is still the most surprising of the second baseman and under heralded on the whole. Going 7 for 21 with two homeruns, he has been a source of some pop in Chicago’s revamped lineup as one of their less pronounced free agent pickups. Most people thought his last year in Texas was a fluke as he held up the rightfield position and subbed at various infield spots while providing good offense. He's setting out to prove that his career-high OBP and SLG was simply a sign of production to come. Giles, Hudson, and the never-aging Ray Durham (who I have in almost all of my fantasy leagues) are also off to solid starts. All four of these players have solid starting spots and are of good use in fantasy baseball leagues in a weak position, although I think Durham and Giles are the best bets of the four, DeRosa's been the best.

Third Base – Akinori Iwamura (TBD)

For all the talk about the debuts of Daisuke Matsuzaka (boom) and Kei Igawa (bust) in the first week, perhaps the most impressive of any Japanese debuts was Akinori Iwamura. The Devil Rays got some press in the off-season for his offer sheet, but Iwamura simply adds to a nice, young talent base. The 28-year old only had 17 at bats in Week One, but he hit .529. No, that’s not a typo. He may not be the permanent solution at 3B for the Devil Rays, but no one’s going to complain if he’s getting on base by hits over 50% of he time. If Tampa keeps giving him a start, he should keep producing at a relatively good rate. He was a .300+ hitter in Japan and while Japanese players usually decline, he can still produce in a low-pressure environment.

Shortstop – Tony Pena Jr. (KCR)

One of the bigger surprises of Spring Training, Angel “Black Hole And Not In A Good Way” Berroa lost his roster spot to the son of former catcher and manager Tony Pena. Pena Jr. has responded in a very positive way by whacking two triples in his debut against Curt Schilling and three overall in his first week. That, combined with playing very good defense, has given positive production to a position that had to cost the Royals several games last year. Not bad for a guy with four triples in each of his two minor league seasons prior and who BP projected to hit .247 this year for the Braves. I wouldn't expect him to keep it up, but for the Royals, he could probably hit .150 for the next three months and still be a relative improvement to Berroa with his flashy glove.

Outfielders: Alejandro de Aza (FLA), Ryan Church (WAS), Eric Byrnes (ARZ)

OK, de Aza is a big stretch on my part. He was not that amazing in his first week, posting only a good .838 OPS for the Marlins. However, considering he was signed off of the Dodgers scrap heap a couple years ago and put up mediocre numbers in AA (although he did get to the ASG, go figure), he was a long shot to even make the team. Until he was told that he would start in centerfield, he thought that he was going to get cut at the end of ST. If he keeps producing like this, he has to be one of the best stories in baseball. I still wouldn't pick him up unless you need a starting OF, but most major leaguers know how hard it is to hit in the majors and de Aza is off to a nice start.

Ryan Church has had the potential to be a solid OF for quite a while, but Frank Robinson was a reverse-racist (kidding, kind of) and refused to play him. In fact, Church is getting significant time because Nook “Only in OOTP” Logan got injured. However, he is making the most of his time by going 7 for 24, with six of those hits being doubles or homeruns. If he keeps playing, he is a legitimate option in fantasy leagues in an OF position lacking in depth.

Vladimir Guerrero has eleven hits in the first week, tying for the lead among outfielders. He is tied with a far less promoted player in Arizona named Eric Byrnes. The long-haired, high-flying, sometimes moronic OF has developed into an all-around solid player for the D-Backs. Byrnes hit .355 in the first go-around with two homeruns, four stolen bases, seven RBIs, and even three walks to round out his stat line. Vladimir was certainly better, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone (except Adam Dunn) was more valuable than Byrnes this year. There's no reason not to pick up Byrnes if you need an OF, and possibly if you don't. He's been the second best player in Yahoo!'s rankings and he has produced well in all five categories. Even last year, he was a 25-25 player worthy of playing. I just picked him up on my league, and he was available in both (my other OFs are playing well enough to keep at this point and I have little bench space in the other) of the Yahoo leagues and one of my ESPN leagues.

Starting Pitchers (3): Robinson Tejeda (TEX), John Maine (NYM), Jorge de la Rosa (KCR)

Innings: 21
Earned Runs: 1
Salary: Approximately 1.2 million
Wins: 3
Can’t really complain about those numbers, can ya? Of the three, both Tejeda and Maine are likely to continue. Tejeda may have gotten lucky in his first start with a ridiculously low BABIP, but he was producing exceptionally well going back to last fall, and he very well could continue. A considerable pickup, although his lack of strikeouts diminishes his value. Maine has only been picked by Mets fans so far, but he held a good ERA for the Mets with adequate strikeout numbers, and with the Mets offense, you figure he'll win a little. I wouldn't expect a lot out of de la Rosa, being on the Royals and all, but he was a very nice prospect earlier in his career and still could be very good. However, there are better options.

Relief Pitchers: Los Angeles Angels Bullpen

OK, I know, the Angels are known around to be a top-tier bullpen, with an elite closer and nice depth. However, most people don’t realize how good they are, and as a Sox fan, I know the value of a good bullpen. However, they have been out of this world to begin the season. The stats of the bullpen so far have been the following

Pitchers: 6 (Oliver, Speier, Shields, Rodriguez, Carrasco, Bootcheck)
Games: 21
Innings: 21
Earned Runs: 3
ERA: 1.29
Hits: 14
Walks: 8
WHIP: 1.05

Wow. Considering K-Rod is responsible for most of the bad stats in that pen, imagine how dangerous the Angels are if he gets it together?

What's Ahead?
Big-name and (sometimes) big-money players like Adam Dunn, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, and Felix Hernandez (he's big-name and money to me!) deserve all the publicity they get, for they are the present and future of this league. Still, smart fans would be foolish to overlook to the smaller and often cheaper contributors to the cause. Granted, most of these guys will probably revert to their prior selves, but one or two of these players could break out with ample opportunity, and we need to be on the lookout for the sake of our fantasy teams and our own teams alike. Sure, Carlos Ruiz and Alejandro de Aza are unlikely to cause any real damage in 2007, but if they can simply avoid being black holes in the lineup, they can help their team more than many catchers and AA-callups do.

[browntown653]

Great work Fish. It's always interesting to see how some underrated players step up at the beginning of the season while you have guys like Pujols who go hitless for the first 5 games. Iwamura certainly impressed me a lot against the Yankees and has a promising future in Tampa.

I DIGG this one

[love_that_reefer]

Great read there Fisher. Don't forget about the Pirates bullpen! It has been outstanding as well.

[Fishercat]

The Pirates would have been an equally valid choice. I just took the Angels simply because K-Rod was the weak link there, and if he improves like he should, they are even better.

Hm. Great catch though.

[McKain]

Screw that, "kidding"? Frank Robinson was so racist it's disgusting.

[realmofotalk]

It's not OK for Tony Pena Jr. to hit .150 for the next three months. The Royals already had a scrub shortstop, Andres Blanco, who is just as good on defense. The Royals' GM is gambling that, in only his own eyes, Pena could hit at the big league level.

And I know some of us, me included, gave the Angels shit for giving big money to Hector Carrasco and Justin Speier.

[Halladay_is_God]

I got to watch Akinori Iwamura this weekend and he was great against the Jays, great defense and a good bat, he will surprise people this season.

[redsrbetter]

Awesome work Fiser! I watched Iwamura play the other night as I had money on the Jays and a vesting interest in the young talent playing in TB. I was enetertained with the thought of seeing Carl Crawford in action along with Upton, Young, and Elijah Dukes. But it was Iwamura that shocked me. The dude falls right in line with the young talent with is immense ability to swipe bases. He can hit with the best of them and flat out makes impossible plays at 3B. He was a gold-glover in Japan for many years. This guy is a premier unknown talent that was only expected to be a role player by many.

I guess his name will be known more in our country soon. Then again, I am basing a lot of this on one game. But he impressed me that much

DIGG, delicious, YB, rep.