Let’s take two! The Hickory Crawdads, a Class A affiliate of the MLB Texas Rangers handed out 1000 Madison Bumgarner Bobbleheadson Saturday, June 5th at L.P. Frans Stadium!
Note: Madison Bumgarner currently pitches for the Fresno Grizzlies. After some early season struggles with velocity – Bungarner seems to be back on track. The hard throwing lefty could possibly join the SF Giants rotation sometime after the ALL-Star break if he continues to show progress in Fresno.
Hmmm…Is it just us, or is there actually a strong resemblance between alopecia areata sufferer Gustavo Chacin and the crapper creature from the 80’s flick Ghoulies?
Not to be confused with the schlocky 1985 Horror flick Ghoulies nor the former Toronto Blue Jays (Now with the Houston Astros) flash in the pan Gustavo Chacin – Jhoulys Chacin could actually turn out to be a good movie this year & yes, even while playing at Coors Field.
For Fantasy baseball purposes the Colorado Rockies pitching this season has consisted of April 2010 Cy Young winner Ubaldo Jimenez, and the now DL landed Conquistador of Coors – Jose De La Rosa. So, unless you want to indulge in some maple syrupy hope that hoser Jeff Francis will finally return to form in 2010 – the Fantasy pitcher slim pickens coming down from the Rocky Mountains is a pretty grizzly affair.
Knock Knock Ghoulies Jhoulies! Opportunity is calling Jhoulys Chacin, and if YOU are looking for a solid DEEP pitching prospect right now, here is YOUR opportunity to snag a potential Rookie of the Year candidate! (He only pitched 11 innings in 2009 – so the Maracaibo man still retains his ROY eligibility. Please – no cards or letters from St. Louis Cards fans clamoring about Jaime Garcia and David Freese. They have been stellar in the early going of 2010 – but it's still only early May - so the jury remains out on who will take this year's NL ROY!
At only 22 years of age, the hard throwing right hander may lack experience – but Jhoulys #2 staff potential; combined with the rash of recent Rockie’s injuries makes him certainly worth taking a serious look at - particularly in Deep pitching starved leagues!
Despite Chacin's short tenure - we advise you don’t sleep on this obvious 2010 sleeper for too long, or your fantasy manager competition will get you in the end. WaiverSharks advises you pounce on this purple pick-up soon - especially if he fairs well against the LA Los Angeles Dodgers this week-end.
Fantasy Baseball is still not sexier than Rihanna swinging an umbrella, but you have to agree it is more competitive than ever! Every other Fantasy manager has access to ALL the information you are reading.
YOU NEED AN EDGE!
The difference between you winning and losing may actually come down to knowing…the weather!
Seriously! Weather forecasts can be
your ticket to victory in
2010 Fantasy Baseball!
Utilize DailyBaseballData as your own personal MLB umbrella! DailyBaseballData can help you avoid those awful April and May rained out games! And really - What’s more annoying than collecting a fat goose egg because you played your 2010 Fantasy Baseball draft picks during rain outs?
DailyBaseballData is a cool website that focuses on fantasy baseball formats with daily transactions. It offers a variety of tools for players including these features:
1. MLB Weather Dashboard – Hour by hour weather forecast for game time for all games on one screen!
2. Bullpen Usage Report – Pitch counts and other data for all relief pitchers over the past four days.
3. Batter vs. Pitcher Matchup History – Data on all of today’s batter vs. pitcher matchups.
4. Lineup Report – Displays starting lineups for all teams as they become available each day.
There are all kinds of new and interesting bobblehead giveaways planned for the 2010 baseball season. The Gwinnett Braves are not wasting a minute to entice hoards of Braves fans hopping aboard the Jason Heyward mania train.
The Triple-A affiliate announced earlier this year that they will be handing out Jason Heyward bobbleheads of the Atlanta Braves opening day starting right fielder, and National League ROY Rookie of the Year candidate. Be sure to snap up your Gwinnett Braves game tickets fast for the Saturday, May 1st 2010 game at Coolray Field when the baby Braves play host to the Pawtucket Red Sox.
This exciting Triple-A showdown, would have been a fantastic game to be in attendance at on its own – but now also nets you this way cool “Say Heyward” Jason Heyward Braves bobble head doll.
We have actively been involved with Twitter since the Social networks inception – and have offered an RSS Feed of our website for nearly two seasons - but are just now beginning to take our voice to the Facebook world! Better late than never right?
So, if you havn’t already, add editor and WaiverSharks creator Scott Woodall to your Facebook network of friends! Add as Friend NOW.
This season we will do our best to post a New Shallow waiver wire pick-up suggestion, and a New Deep waiver wire suggestion each and every week of the 2010 MLB campaign.
Last year we got blogged down a bit doing a daily post of our infamous The Shallow & The Deep column. By the time July hit we were starting to feel like we were either grasping at strings – or re-visiting players we had already touched base on earlier in the season.
That won’t happen in 2010 as we have paced ourselves through this Spring & will have PLENTY of new, exciting and informative statistical data to break down for you when the games actually count! Fantasy Baseball is back! Let’s PLAY BALL!
Let’s get this 2010 Facebook Fantasy baseball party started! WaiverSharks Third Season promises to be just as good as The Return of the Jedi~ And plus - we are an Ewok free site!
Fantasy owners take note - We all may have to wait a year or two for a Cleveland IndiansCarlos Santana Bobblehead. But the Tribes future star catcher prospect, who shares the name of the legendary guitarist, musician may not have as long as you think before he sees Progressive Field.
Everyone appears to believe that Lou Marson will be the starting catcher in Cleveland the first week of April. I for one, am also in belief that that is the most probable case at press er…post time. However, I’ve seen Lou Marson play, have watched his development closely and believe that the Phillies got rid of this kid knowing that it just wasn’t going to work out for him in the long run.
Bring to the mix Mr. Carlos Santana and his keen eye at the dish, and his patient approach. Take into consideration his overlooked ability to drive in the big run, ice water running through his veins.
These are qualities that Tribe fans are used to from their catching position as Santana will be as close of a prototype to Victor Martinez as they will be able to find. We are all aware that the catching position is arguably the toughest to transition in baseball. While pitchers may tend to disagree, I strongly feel that in the first year or two of a catcher making it to the “bigs”, hitting becomes the second most important part of the players’ game.
The good thing about young Carlos Santana, is that he is confident of his defense and full of pride in his ability to call a game that he may be more mentally prepared than most in making the leap to the show. Throw in the fact that the Indians pitching staff (outside of 32-year old Jake Westbrook) are no older than 26-years of age removes some of the friction that can come about from a veteran rebellion when throwing to a calming 23-year old catcher that is in control of the flow of the game.
Carlos Santana has never had a professional season where he has finished with more strikeouts than walks and has a career OBP of .395, not many catchers can say that. (not even the ever popular V-Mart) Yes, I am aware that this has been toiling in nothing higher than Double-A ball, and I am aware that this doesn’t always translate; however, one thing about good hitters is the fact that they find a way to hit at all levels and this Dominican import has a great track record that should translate into major league success.
Pure power and a devastating cut-type swing can lead to many good things; however, it can also lead to many bad as well. A brief look at the 2009 season of this young Blue Jays stud and former 1st round selection will easily show that as he started off with such a resounding boom (2B and a HR against Justin Verlander in his first 2 AB’s of the season) only to end it with a disappointing thud.
Not certain where he fits into the picture, some feel that he should learn to play first base in preparation for the trading of, or loss to free agency of the ho-hum Lyle Overbay. To that, I say that I couldn’t agree more. Even with the smooth hitting David Cooper working his way up the ranks in the minor leagues the current answer right now would be to allow Snider to dig in as many times possible to see what they’ve got on their hands prior to making the ultimate decision.
Snider has the intimidating lumberjack chop approach at the dish at times, where he may be trying to hard to show the brute strength that he brings to the plate. This contributes in effect to the high K-ratio that he displayed (3.17AB/K! YIKES!) Patience must definitely be taught to inspire him to not whiff at everything and use (if possible) a more effective Jim Thome like approach where his walks increase in order to raise the OBP to a more acceptable level than that of the .328 OBP that he had in 2009.
Raw, young and powerful. Although a situation that is certainly considered high-risk/high reward, those three words are bliss to my ears when searching for a sleeper!
Not since Phil Rizzuto was in the majors has a pitcher with two Z’s in his last name had such an impact…
Ok, that isn’t really a statement that sells much interest in the circles of the fantasy world; however, this former member of the Wu-Tang Clan (Oh…wait, that was Rza) made an immeasurable leap in 2009.
RrrrrrrrrrrRRrrrrrrrr!!! Shameless Keyword insert ALERT!!! Shameless Keyword insert Alert!!! Hey Google...crawl this! Jason Heyward Opening Day strarting right fielder Altanta Braves rookie of the year candidate and Fantasy Baseball 2010 Sleeper...even though grandfathers of guys who play Fantasy Baseball know who he is.
Editors Note: Good Karma to Ben Pavlovic over at Rotokeeper: Thanks for the Tweet the other day! That was kind of you to make mention of us!
Hmmm...I'm realizing Marc Rzepczynski needs a nickname after this blog entry – spelling his name is pure hell! Since Rza is already taken perhaps R-Zip would be more original - & greater appropriate?
While some are projecting that the breakthrough experienced in 2009 was a result of a disastrous year of injuries for Blue Jaypitchers, this big lefty shot up the charts of their pitching depth and tossed his name into consideration for a rotation spot in 2010. He was effective and had no fear when toeing the hill in his 11 starts for the major’s only Canadian entry.
While not overly powerful, or tossing dominant goods, what this 24-year old California kid does have is average to above average stuff all around - and the ability to not put his self into danger with overwhelming frequency.
This isn’t to say that R-Zip? is perfect, as he gave up a few too many round trippers for me to say that he isn’t apt to give up a big hit here and there (7 bombs allowed in just over 61 IP) although, we can almost forgive him as 7 of his 11 starts were against the heavy hitting line-ups of Boston, Tampa, Texas and the Yanks.
Prior to Facebook: Bill "Groundhog Day, Ghost Bustin' Ass" Murray, RZA and GZA from Wutang Clan chat the old school way...Face to Face, not Facebook to Facebook. Love this short from director Jim Jarmuschs 2002 black & white, cult classic "Coffee and Cigarettes"
For close to three years, I have been waiting for what might occur in 2010. Perhaps - a date with Jessica Simpson? Er…no actually, I am referencing something probably less likely considering the luck of my poor sweet darling lately in the dating biz; however, one that is finally appearing to have more reality as the season gets closer.
Yes folks, Sean Rodriguez may finally be in position to have a major league breakout type season, filled with impressive extra base power and under-rated speed, this former Angel of Anaheim has the chance of re-birth in another sunny destination with the Tampa Bay Rays. To cop the ultimate straight-up Season One quote from Eastbound & Down’s actress Katy Mixon: “Tampa Bitches!!!” By the way - Does anyone know when Season Two of Eastbound & Downwill air?
In two brief and underused opportunities with the Angels, Rodriguez looked like he was pressing a bit, perhaps holding onto his bat a little too tightly, knowing that at 5.5 seasons of minor league ball suggested that he may never reach the potential that he emitted early in his development. Through 192 big league AB’s, his line of .203-5-14-0 is nothing to get overly excited about. His role was never defined and I feel that this is one case where perhaps a conservative Mike Scioscia didn’t really work out.
I am hopeful that super utility man Ben Zobrist finds a home in right field and the ruthless Joe Maddon ponies up and uses the slick-hitting former 3rd round selection and pride of Miami, Florida before he gets the rap of being a Quad-A player.
We’ve kept a close eye on Sean Rodriguez throughout his hot hitting 2010 spring training – and suggest you keep your ears open for the Rays Opening Day roster announcements! When all is said and done - Maybe S-Rod will also be quoting Katy Mixon when Spring Training finally comes to end in another week… “Tampa Bitches!!!”
Editor’s Note: Yeah we know – You’ve been bitten more times by newbie SP’s than existing 2010 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball pictures of designated hitter Hideki Matsui! 80 pics of Godzilla? What’s the matter Yahoo? Did the Anaheim Angels aging Asian (Holy alliteration Batman!) threaten to destroy ‘Fantasy Tokyo’ if you didn’t post such a ridiculous amount of photos of this fading star?
Anyways…back to Matusz: Is the Baltimore Oriolesrising young southpaw a Spring Training tease, or the next Cole Hamels?
2010 Sleeper
Brian Matusz - Starting Pitcher
By Adam Forsyth
A quick, live arm is never a bad thing for a pitching prospect to have, and Matusz is one of the best non-MLB pitchers out there. The O’s have a great stable full of young horses ready to be broken in, and it’s highly likely that Matusz will end up being the ace of the bunch.
The eight starts that this hard throwing lefty representing the San Diego University made at the end of the 2009 season moistened the mouth at times (as in his 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 8K, 1BB performance vs. Cleveland) and disappointed at others (for instance, the 2.2IP, 7H, 5ER, 1K, 1BB outing at Toronto).
Regardless, all young pitchers seem to go through this type of roller coaster, so take it at face value. Matusz has the ability to keep hitters off balance by mixing his speeds and using a power curve while changing his arm slot to hide the ball with the mastery of a 10-year vet. The former first round pick & 4th overall in 2008 uses the entire plate and is not afraid to use any of his pitches in all situations.
The AL East is the pinnacle of difficulty in baseball, so he likely will not get an easy outing, which could affect his numbers. One way or the other, 2010 could be considered the year that Matusz gets to show his stuff and have the entire league take notice in doing so.
The San Francisco Giants Jersey
Let’s take two! The Hickory Crawdads, a Class A affiliate of the MLB Texas Rangers
These are qualities that Tribe fans are used to from their catching position as Santana will be as close of a prototype to Victor Martinez as they will be able to find. We are all aware that the catching position is arguably the toughest to transition in baseball. While pitchers may tend to disagree, I strongly feel that in the first year or two of a catcher making it to the “bigs”, hitting becomes the second most important part of the players’ game.
