Yardbarker: Carlos Quentin

Fantasy Baseball 2008 Roundup

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:39:55 -0500

It was quite an eventful 2008 season for fantasy baseball managers. From the rise of Cliff Lee and Carlos Quentin to the fall of Erik Bedard and Victor Martinez, there was no shortage of events to talk about. But now that the 2008 season is over, how will looking back help you look forward? Screaming Sports' Phil Yoon explains.

Fantasy Baseball Year in Review

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:35:43 -0500

Another year is in the books... and 2008 provided some great fantasy excitement. FIO writer Lou Poulas revisits the year that was in fantasy baseball, highlighting some of this season's best (and worst). Find out who was crowned the Batter of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, as well as some fantasy bargains and busts. This in-depth article shows that parity is perhaps here to stay in fantasy baseball.

2008 Fantasy Baseball MVPs

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:11:35 -0500

Now that I've gotten the Least Valuable Players out of the way and had a chance to cheer up after an excruciating second-place finish in my AL keeper league, I'm going to look at the positive side of things and name this season's fantasy MVPs. Once again, the awards are relative to draft position and not just a list of the best players. Even though that precludes me from tabbing Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez, who I TOLD you was a better No. 1 overall pick than Alex Rodriguez. I need to have standards.

Welcome to October: 2008 MLB Playoff Preview

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:29:58 -0500

The time has come - the battle for the World Series Championship. As we get set for postseason play, FIO writer Tim Hays breaks down the teams providing the excitement this October. Check out the reasons for why these eight elite clubs made it this far, as well as which teams match up best in categories like lineup, rotation and team speed.

Ozzie Guillen Will Send Himself Into Exile If The White Sox Don't Win

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:36:12 -0500

It's unbelievable that Ozzie Guillen would come this far only to let evil win now. Of course, we're talking about the evil that is Jay Mariotti. The terrorists will win if Guillen follows through on his threat to leave town. Guillen will exile himself from Bartertown otherwise known as Chicago if the White Sox don't make the playoffs.

Paulie Quentin

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:11:54 -0500

It only took about 160 games, but Paul Konerko appears to finally be locked in. In fact, if one would have watched this weekend's series with Cleveland from a distance they may have thought Carlos Quentin had miraculously returned for the series. Paulie belted four homers over the three-game set and played a big role in [...]

GM Talks: Williams, Ricciardi, Gillick

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:16:23 -0500

According to Jon Heyman, the White Sox are working on an extension for GM Kenny Williams, whose contract is set to expire in 2009. Williams is one of the best GMs in baseball, having most recently acquired Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez, as well as drafting Gordon Beckham, one of the top infield prospects in America.
Blue Jays CEO Paul Godfrey told reporters that J.P. Ricciardi will be back for the 2009 season, but did not hint at whether or not he will be given an extension. If the Blue Jays can boost their infield and give Travis Snider a shot at DH, they could compete for a playoff spot. Expect the Blue Jays to be very aggressive this season in resigning A.J. Burnett, as well as several other players.
According to Jon Heyman, Phillies GM Pat Gillick may not retire after this season after all. While this would not bother many Phillies fans, it would probably bother Ruben Amaro Jr., who has been waiting for this job for a very long time. He could decide to leave and sign up with another team in their GM spot.A

This story was approved by MLB Rumors.

36 is the new 50

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:31:48 -0500

Loyal B&C commenter Rocket points out that, unless someone gets extraordinarily hot in the next few days, no American Leaguer will reach the 40 home run mark in 2008. Right now, Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Quentin are tied for the AL lead with 36 home runs. Alex Rodriguez is next with 35, followed by Grady [...]

A lot to be decided in baseball's final weeks

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:32:34 -0500

here is my column from Sept. 20, sorry it's late We'll get to my football picks at the end, but first it's all about baseball this time of year. The regular season is winding down, and there are some honors still to be decided, as well as playoff spots in the final weeks of the season. Sunday, however, marks the final game at Yankee Stadium. Yes the new stadium next door will be called Yankee Stadium, and it will have the monuments and plaques, but it won't be the same. One of my favorite memories of action at that stadium was David Cone's perfect game against the Montreal Expos on July 18, 1999. That was a special day for all Yankee fans and a very vivid memory of mine. All of the stadium's magic will be missed. As for this season, many of the regular season's honors are yet to be decided, with many hinging on who makes the postseason. Starting in the American League, the MVP award this season looked to be Carlos Quentin's for the taking, but a forearm injury has derailed his hopes of winning now. There are a number of worthy candidates though on playoff contenders. Dustin Pedroia in Boston, Justin Morneau in Minnesota and Chicago's Jermaine Dye. Also worth mentioning are Alex Rodriguez in New York, Aubrey Huff in Baltimore, Grady Sizemore in Cleveland and Josh Hamilton in Texas. The award, in my mind, right now is Morneau's for the taking. If he can drive Minnesota into the postseason he is very easily one of the most valuable players on his respective team. The Twins weren't supposed to do anything this season, but Morneau has led the charge all year for them, batting above .375 with runners in scoring position with nearly 100 RBIs. Pedroia and Dye are going to be very close in the race though. The AL Cy Young race is much slimmer in the picking, with Cleveland's Cliff Lee having on of the best season's by a pitcher in recent memory. Lee was 5-8 last season with an ERA over 6, banished from the rotation to the bullpen to AAA. Now Lee is 22-2 with an ERA at 2.41 with 162 strikeouts, four complete games and two shutouts, the first two of his career. Francisco Rodriguez in Los Angeles has had a record breaking season, saving 58 games to break Bobby Thigpen's all-time mark of 57. But Lee's dominance is greater as a starter than K-Rod's as a closer. Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina and Daisuke Matsuzaka will also garner votes, but not many. Evan Longoria has been simply great this season, and with Thursday night's three homerun barrage on the Minnesota Twins, the Rays' rookie has started etching his name on the Rookie of the Year trophy. Others have played well, Alexei Ramirez of Chicago, Mike Aviles of Kansas City, Joba Chamberlain of New York, but none have played as well as Longoria. The National League is a different story. With a large number of potential MVP candidates, it may come down to who doesn't choke in the race for the postseason. Albert Pujols in St. Louis is having an award worthy season, as he always does. So is Lance Berkman in Houston. But neither of them is likely to be headed to the playoffs. Carlos Delgado and David Wright may hurt each other's cases if the Mets don't collapse this season. Ryan Howard hits a ton of homers, but the batting average under .250 will hurt him. Aramis Ramirez is good for Chicago, but not good enough. My vote is split 50/50 between Pujols and Wright at the moment, with Pujols maybe edging out the Mets' thirdbaseman a little. The Cy Young battles is just as heated, but in my opinion, the winner is clear. Tim Lincecum is playing on a very bad San Francisco team, but he just keeps winning. Similar to Lee, Lincecum is really the only bright spot in a bad season for his team. Lincecum is 17-4 this season with a 2.46 ERA and 243 strikeouts. His dominance should trump the higher win total for Arizona's Brandon Webb. Webb is 21-7 with a 3.26 ERA and 170 strikeouts, with his wins being the only key stat he beats Lincecum in. Johan Santan, CC Sabathia's half-season and Cole Hamels will also garner votes. Geovany Soto is the NL Rookie of the Year, there isn't any question or doubt. Soto has backstopped the best team in the league all season, has over 20 homeruns and 80 RBIs, and is a key part of that Cubs team. Jair Jurrjens and Jay Bruce have made good cases, but not good enough. The managers of the year should fall as follows. Joe Maddon of Tampa Bay over Ron Gardenhire of Minnesota in the AL and Lou Piniella of the Cubs over Joe Torre of Los Angeles in the NL. These awards and the pennant races should make for an exciting final week-plus of the major league season. On to my NFL picks. Last week I opened with a 10-5 record, not counting my big error in the Maplewood-General McLane game. This week I am taking Tennessee over Houston, Buffalo over Oakland, Carolina over Minnesota, Atlanta over Kansas City, Chicago over Tampa Bay, Arizona over Washington, New England over Miami, New York Giants over Cincinnati, Seattle ov er St. Louis, Detroit over San Francisco, Denver over New Orleans, Cleveland over Baltimore, Indianapolis over Jacksonville, Pittsburgh over Philadelphia, San Diego over the Jets and in the biggest matchup of the week, Green Bay over Dallas at Lambeau. And before I go, birthday wishes to my niece Madison Bancroft on Sunday, she turns 3. Also birthday wishes to me, I turn 25 on Monday. And a happy anniversary to my wife Kelly, we celebrated two years on September 16. Enjoy the weekend.

MLB Fantasy Minute - Week 25

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:08:17 -0500

Screaming Sports' Phil Yoon breaks out his famed MLB Fantasy Minute and breaks down the MLB's top five fantasy-related stories. Who was the best bargain of the year? Who was the highest ranked bargain of the year? And who was the most justified sleeper? Oh ... and we're still - yes, still - keeping an eye on both C.C. Sabathia and Roy Halladay. Mr. Yoon has all if it covered and much more.

Howard Making His Case For NL MVP

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:34:51 -0500

Every year about this time the baseball world finds itself hotly discussing, or debating, who the league MVPs and Cy-Young Award winners should be, and this year is no different. Sometimes we all get jipped, like last season, when a player like Alex Rodriguez has a season that is heads and shoulders above that had by anyone else in the league. And then sometimes we luck and get a race like last year's matchup of Colorado's Matt Holliday and the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins. This year, the raging debate in the American League is between Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox and Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers, and the Cardinals' Albert Pujols and Philly's own Ryan Howard in the National League. The real crux of the MVP issue is that the definition of what a Most Valuable Player is subjective to that particular voter. Is the MVP simply the guy who has had the best statistical year, no matter how his team has fared that season? Should a player on a last place team even be in the discussion? (see Rodriguez and the Texas Rangers) Or is the MVP the guy who carries his team into the postseason? A guy who single handily puts his team on his shoulders and extends their season into October, despite possibly not having the best all around numbers? This debate is epitomized in the comparison of the seasons of Howard and Pujols. Ryan Howard leads the major leagues* this year in homeruns (45), RBIs (138) and runs (97). Albert Pujols is tied for second in the National League in hits (177), second in batting average (.353), second in walks (96), second in on base percentage (.457), and is first in slugging percentage (.641). Howard's power numbers blow Pujols' away, and in fact they crush everyone else in the league by at least 10. And Howard would probably be a shoe in if his average wasn't around the .250 mark. But Pujols' non-power numbers are significantly better than Howards. For comparison, HR RBI AVG R H BB OBP SLG K AB Howard 45 138 .248 97 144 77 .337 .534 190 580 Pujols 34 105 .353 93 177 96 .457 .641 52 501 The fact that Pujols has almost 80 less at bats diminishes Howard's bigger power numbers, and in the categories that are less affected by the specific number of at bats (AVG, OBP, and SLG), Pujols crushes Howard. The most glaring disparity is in the number of strikeouts. Howard is competing with Arizona's Mark Reynolds for the major league lead in strikeouts, and could break the single season record, whereas Pujols has a paltry 52 all season. That number is obviously slanted since he has so many less at bats, so we'll compare their strikeout to at bat ratio. Howard strikeouts 33% of the time, whereas Pujols strikes out just over 10% of the time. That is a staggering disparity. So Pujols has clearly been the best all around player in the league this year. But the award is not the Most Outstanding Player award, or the Best Player In The League award. It is called the Most Valuable Player award, and that leads to a disambiguation in the definition of the award. One could very well argue that MVP refers to the player who is most important to his particular team, and I would argue that that player is Howard, not Pujols. One could even make the argument that Carlos Delgado is deserving of the award. Lets look at the numbers. Since September 1, HR RBI AVG R H BB OBP SLG K AB K/AB Howard 9 27 .371 19 23 8 .431 .935 14 62 23% Pujols 5 16 .279 10 17 9 .371 .623 5 61 8% Delgado 6 13 .328 14 19 6 .385 .690 11 58 19% In that time (Sept. 1 - 18) the Phillies are 11-5, the Cardinals are 5-10, and the Mets are 9-6. Howard has had a monster month, hitting in clutch situations like nothing I have seen in sometime, whereas Pujols has cooled off and his team has completely fallen out of contention. So by this other MVP definition, Howard clearly has to be considered the winner. The debate will continue to rage over who this year's MVP should be, as it will over what it means to be an MVP. *Stats as of Friday pre game time

For Your Consideration: Baseball's MVP Candidates

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:19:52 -0500

I am confident that both Dustin Pedroia and Albert Pujols had the best all-around years in their respective leagues. Based on their individual performances in the batter's box and on the field, and considering how they contributed to their teams' playoff chances, they each deserve to be MVP. The voting process takes place the Friday before the regular season ends. As a result, even though guys like Derek Jeter and David Ortiz come through with jaw-dropping numbers in the post season, these figures won't matter to the Baseball Writer's Association of America---their minds have already been made up. It's the regular season that matters. Sports writers use various methods when deciding who gets their vote. Whether their basis is purely statistical or how the player individually affected his team, most can agree on one criterion: The team must have a good record. So, despite having superb seasons, Josh Hamilton and Lance Berkman probably won't win the award. However, you could make a case for each as to why they should win, and this raises an interesting topic concerning the semantics of "Most Valuable Player." (Read the rest after the jump.)

Fantasy Baseball Five Questions: Keeper Leagues

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:03:32 -0500

It's easy to look at MLB superstars and say they're "keepers," but what about some of the players that sneak under the radar? Screaming Sports' Phil Yoon takes a look at several Major League Baseball players and determines who you should be keeping and who you should send packing.

Stark Reality

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:10:20 -0500

The 2009 offseason will be active, however the 2008 playoffs will be even more exciting to watch. For pure fans, it's a time to rejoice, as some new faces and some familiar ones poise themselves in an effort to "wow" us in October.

In the American League, Tampa is beginning to slip away, and while their youth and relative inexperience is showing the stress of a playoff run, they've freshened the face of the AL East, giving us a break from the Yankees and Red Sox. Toronto has risen to the occasion, giving Yankee fans fits. As for the Red Sox, they are thankful for two reasons: one because they dealt Manny Ramirez, and two, because the Yankees are likely done for the year, giving them an easier ride into the post-season. The Central has seen a shift from an offensively dependent White Sox team to a worried one, with Carlos Quentin out with a broken wrist. The Twins starters have fallen on some harder times lately, but their hopes are high. For the Twinkies and Pale Hose, it's win the division or go home. They have little wild card hopes with Boston or Tampa in good position for that slot. The AL West? The LA - Anaheim-Watts-El Segundo-or whatever you wanna call them - are the only thing to look at there and may just be the only team that NL teams will be preparing for come World Series time. Then again, I do remember the 2001 Mariners 116 win juggernaut that went down in flames faster than the Hindenburg……OH THE HUMANITY!!

Over in the National League, it's anyone's division to win in the Eastern and Western Divisions. The Mets and Phillies look as if they're going down to wire again, with the dejected losers probably taking their bat and glove and heading home for the year. The now resurgent Dodgers have Manny to thank for taking full advantage of his exodus from Boston, while the D-Backs are wilting in the desert heat. The boys in Colorado are looking to revisit last year's miraculous run, but the baseball God's usually only throw you a bone every couple years or so. On to the Central Division. While many will try their best to convince folks that the Cubs are on cruise control, the Brew Crew is quietly tapping at their door, with St. Louis desperately trying to somehow close the gap as well. It's Chicago's division to lose and hopefully, for fans of the north-side bruins, Mr. Bartman, goats, and maybe even the ghost of Mrs. O'Leary's cow have all been banished from Illinois. Okay, I know that the Great Chicago Fire has nothing to do with them, but Cub fans really do deserve a shot at breaking the string. Truly at this point, the NL pennant is pretty much anyone's for the taking, with some nice battles coming over the next few weeks.

It's gonna be one hell of a run for the trophy, huh?? That's why I love this game.

Posted by Stu. L - aka "Baseball Stu", Personality Contributor
If you would like to reach Stu, email him at mlbrumors@gmail.com, ATTN: BASEBALL STU.

White Sox star Carlos Quentin injured while being treated for injury

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:47:56 -0500

CHICAGO, IL – Only days after the Chicago White Sox suffered a potentially fatal blow to their season at the hands of the poor decision-making skills of star Carlos Quentin, a further complication has dashed the hopes of even the most optimistic of supporters. Bandied about as the front runner for the Most Valuable Player Award, [...]