Howard Chen AKA Mr. Fantasy's Blog

I'll admit, Mr. Fantasy peruses some other fantasy literature to see what others are saying, but mark my words...

ALL THIS "NEXT JAY BRUCE" TALK IS FOOLISH.

Seriously.

Before Ryan Braun came along, who came in from the minors with no previous experience and tore it up, not only from the get go, but throughout the year???

I'm seriously trying to go inside my head for someone as well-rounded as a Braun or a Bruce, because both guys are bona-fide top-15 fantasy players and will be for years to come.

Oakland's Carlos Gonzalez?  Still needs to establish himself and hasn't really opened with a bang at the bottom of the A's order.

KC's duo of Billy Butler and Alex Gordon?  Both will be fine major leaguers and terrific hitters, but Gordon needed some time, and will still improve from the solid hitter he is now, and Butler will REALLY tear it up in 2 years, I'm guessing.

Tampa's Evan Longoria?  Great player, but can't compare him to Bruce or Braun, because his average is still mediocre even though his baseball fundamentals are beautiful.

Washington's Ryan Zimmerman?  Still needs to establish himself consistently.

Minnesota's Delmon Young?  Arizona's Justin Upton?  Those guys all went through some inconsistent periods and are still not up to Braun-esque standards.

The list goes on and on.

So, PLEASE, just realize the fact that call-ups like Braun and Bruce are pretty much the exception rather than the rule, and focus on other issues, like who's becoming a good and consistent MAJOR LEAGUE hitter.

Such as...

Philadelphia's Shane Victorino.  I'm falling in love with this guy as a fantasy player.  Need runs?  This guy has plenty of able teammates to drive him in with the presence of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Pat Burrell.  Will also give stolen bases and just, in general, is super aggressive in going for it all!  He's only been under the radar because he's been hurt for awhile this year, but even still, he's already at 13 stolen bases and a ton of runs.

Florida's Jorge Cantu.  Qualifies for multiple positions in Yahoo leagues.  Cleanup hitter in what I originally thought was going to be an underachieving Marlins lineup.  Boy, was I wrong.  Dan Uggla and Luis Gonzalez and, of course, Hanley Ramirez leading everything off has made that lineup pretty solid.  I like the Marlins' lineup more than the Athletics, for example.

PITCHERS

Justin Masterson, Boston.  Pick him up.  He's 3-0, and not just because he's with Boston.  He has a good ERA, and pretty much had a carbon copy of a good performance of his opponent on the mound on Sunday by a much more proven veteran, Seattle's Erik Bedard.

Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco.  Only in his 2nd year, so I'm not completely sold, plus has an inconsistent offense behind him, but if you check out his last few starts, you'll see why I'm more than warming up to him.  Strikeout totals are solid, and he hasn't been giving up that many runs.

Disappointed in Randy Johnson today.  Thought he had turned back into his old self, and then he goes out with a mediocre performance against PITTSBURGH.  Keep him for now in deep leagues.

Another note: thanks Yahoo for spoiling any plans I had to trade Rich Harden.  I will say that it's those writer's full-time jobs to find something fantasy-related to write about, so of course they had to point out something that some MAY have forgotten: that Harden hasn't had an injury-free season for YEARS.  The percentage that he'll have some kind of arm problem is EXTREMELY high.  That said, now that you can't trade him, still try to get something good in return, don't settle, and try to ride a healthy Harden (which is an extremely dominant Harden) as long as you can.

Moral of the story?  Hopefully, you have more than just Harden to rely on for pitching.