Christmas in August?

I awoke to the morning, an ordinary morning like any other, and flipped open my laptop. I hit refresh on my ESPN league tab and what to my wondering eyes did appear...

Aug 6 4:35 AM

SKWL dropped Dave Roberts, SF to W SKWL added Justin Upton, Ari from W to BE

I was stunned. I did a double-take, just like a cartoon character. My head was shaking and my eyes were popping out further than is optometrist recommended. Somehow the waiver wire prize of the season had fallen to #5 in the claim queue!

Great, I thought. Now what?! Clearly, coffee was in order.

Properly caffeinated, I noticed J-Up was 2-4 again last night, making him 4 for his last 8. He very well could be "for real." Now I need to figure out how to juggle Jonny Gomes, Corey Patterson, and Upton. Strategically, I need homers in this league right now if I want to move up from 4th place. And it's not decided yet, but the league is leaning against keepers of any kind next year. Stay tuned... This could get intersting!

For more on the Upton phenomenon, and some excellent insight on the subject of adding rookies sooner rather than later, check out Andy Behrens on Yahoo! Coincidentally enough, he figures a Dave Roberts type will be available if J-Up is a bust out of the gate.

Uptons

Here in New England, when we sportsfans hear the name Upton, we tend to think Bell, as in Upton Bell, the longtime sportswriter/broadcaster and early 70s Patriots GM. He also sports perhaps the most obvious toupe I've ever seen anywhere -- so obvious, in fact, that I'm convinced it is his actual hair. If that makes any sense. Click the link and see for yourself. Someone, please tug on it and clear this up for me! It's been bugging me for years. Anyway...

Of course, most savvy fantasy baseballers would've said B.J. when asked to name an Upton. With 14 homers, 13 steals, and a .325 average, he's at least 3 kinds of fantasy fabulousness.

Now we have another Upton. Called up yesterday by Arizona. B.J.'s "little" brother. (Check out the size of this kid.) 19 years old. #1 overall draft pick in 2005. He's got phenom written all over him. No pressure though Justin!

Now, the D-Backs have had worse production from right field than the Red Sox, if you can believe such a thing, and he's already out there playing. He logged an 0-fer in his debut, but don't let that disuade you from trying to pick him up. Notice, I said trying. In ESPN, he wasn't able to be added as a free agent; instead, the powers that be made him a waiver claim pickup. That's not a bad thing, actually... Too many hot rookies have snuck by even the most diligent daily players, too often going to night-owls and early-birds quick with the hair-trigger-waiver-finger. This might be more fair. Anyway, I've got my claim in. With Manny, Ichiro, Maggio, Markakis, and Patterson in the OF, and Dave Roberts in my Util slot, I decided to drop Roberts in favor of the superstar-to-be. But I'm only #5 in the claim queue, so I'm not holding my breath til Monday when he clears. Assuming I lose out, Roberts was 4-5 last night and his 21 steals suit me just fine otherwise.

I also added Jonny Gomes, he of the 4 homers last week, so I've got a bit of a log-jam and need to play match-ups to juggle the OFs.

Statistically, you'll have to expect it'll take Upton a while to get used to big league pitching. Strategically, you've gotta put your claim in. He's got that much potential. Don't believe me? Check out the ooohs and aaahs from this guy!

BTW, here's a great story about the Upton brothers from USA Today a few years ago. Reminds me of myself and my brother. Without the signing bonuses.

Double Your Pleasure

Doubleheaders will be played today in Texas, Chicago, and Seattle. Batting averages could take a hit, but in roto leagues, doubleheaders mean twice the opportunity for those coveted cumulative stats like steals, homers, rbi, and runs.

Given that, I went out this morning and added the recently-hot Brad Wilkerson, figuring he's got two decent chances to hit another homer in that humid and bouyant Texas air. To add Wilkerson, I dropped Saltamacchia, who isn't playing every day now that Minnie Minoso... I mean Satchell Paige... I mean Julio Franco is in town. (Speaking of which, anybody notice that Rick Sutcliffe hinted at steroids when he was at the plate? He certainly looks the part, and it'd explain a lot.)

I also dropped Alex Gordon, who was to face Wang in a tough match-up in NY, in favor old friend Brandon Inge, who always seems to be available on the waiver wire when I need him. Incidentally, Inge is up to .244 and is projecting to 21 hrs, 80 rbi, and 9 steals. In other words, his 0-for-April notwithstanding, he's exactly where we would've expected at the beginning of the year.

Some other things to remember in doubleheaders. Your closer may not get 2 chances to save games so it's a good day to own a team's main holder -- the set-up guy might get a chance to show his stuff in the ninth inning for a change. Also, your catcher won't play both games, and superstars might get a rest in game two (or game one, depending on the match-up).

Lester and Gabbard: Wins on the Waiver Wire

Jon Lester, who last pitched in the bigs on August 23rd of last season, will make his triumphant return from cancer tomorrow night for the Red Sox. In fact, no sooner had I just said aloud to my girlfriend that we may never see Lester come up because Kason Gabbard has been so effective, Don & Jerry told me Lester was starting tomorrow!

I quickly got back into my ESPN league and made the appropriate add/drop -- for the 2nd time this season. I had previously picked Lester up on May 30th, thinking he was a lock to come up and replace Julian Tavarez as the Sox #5 starter. Besides the feel-good aspect of course, I truly believed he could pick up some much needed Ws for my Flyin' Squirrels. (Lester was 6-2 last season.)

But Tavarez got on a roll, and Lester struggled at Pawtucket -- most notably struggling after he was not called up when pretty much everyone expected him to replace the injured Curt Schilling. Interestingly, Sox manager Terry Francona as much as admitted that was a factor. "I think he had some frustrations while he was there,'' Francona said. "He had to fight through wanting to be here and pitching there."

Then Gabbard came up instead, and after stinking up Seattle June 26th, he's strung together 4 increasingly impressive starts and looks to be a decent pick-up in deep leagues himself.

Certainly any starting pitcher on Sox is a good bet for the elusive Ws so sought-after in roto leagues. But even when he was pitching well, Tavarez was never a good fantasy option because he didn't pitch deeply into games and garnered more ground-balls than strikeouts. Lately he's been garnering more hits and walks (51 in 23 1/3 IPs) than outs of any kind.

The call-ups of Gabbard and now Lester gives fantasy owners two opportunities to buy starting pitchers on the team with the best record in baseball. Lester's call up was a bit of a surprise announcement, but reports are that Schilling will spend a little more time rehabbing in Pawtucket, giving both young lefties a chance to shine in Fenway in the coming weeks.

Down on the Farm

It was raining Cats and Dogs last night in Manchester. (The Cats being the AA affiliate of Toronto Blue Jays and the Sea Dogs being the Boston Red Sox farm club.) Actually the rain was light... The game was played under a persistent mist with temps in the low 60s... In other words, a typical April evening in July.

As I am wont to do, being the fantasy baseball addict that I am, I like to watch these games with an eye toward the future. My future. Like, who on this field could be helping my Flyin' Squirrels in a couple years?!

Unfortunately, my two best prospects have performed so well this season that they were promoted to Triple A before I could get a chance to see them in my home state. They are OF Jacoby Ellsbury and RHP Clay Buchholz.

Ellsbury, in fact, got all the way to the Show, filling in last month with the big club and chipping in admirably. In 16 at-bats, he had 6 hits, scored 3 runs, drove in 1, and had a steal. He demonstrated his tremendous speed by coming home all the way from 2nd on a wild pitch. Perhaps most impressive however was the fact that he didn't strike out once. With Coco Crisp, Wily Mo Pena, and J. D. Drew all under-performing this season, there's considerable buzz about bringing Ellsbury back sooner rather than later. A center-fielder with tools, he's most commonly compared to Johnny Damon, sans the long mane and beard. And Baseball America has him rated as the Sox top prospect. Definitely one to keep an eye on, especially if the Sox deal Pena or Crisp before the trading deadline.

Buchholz, meanwhile, is an ace in waiting. He's too skinny yet (6-3, 190) and only 23 as of next month. He can bring it in the 90s, but his real weapon is a 12-6 curve that "Buchholz" the knees of opposing batters. The lanky righty is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Chris Carpenter, who is was announced today is undergoing Tommy John surgery and is out until next year's All-Star break. Maybe we should find another comparison pitcher? In the film I've seen, he looks more like Bronson Arroyo, only with the curve instead of a slider. Check these stats from Portland: 1.77 ERA, 116 Ks, and 22 walks in 86 2/3rds. Yow! ESPN's Nate Ravitz loves him.

Who did I get to see? 2005 first-rounder Jed Lowrie was at second and he looked good. He's got potential, as evidenced by his mention here on ESPN. Lowrie leads the team in HRs, RBI, total bases, and walks. The guy I thought looked the best, however, was 3B Chad Spann. He scorched the ball every time he was up, handled everything hit his way smoothly, and just carried himself with the confidence of a ballplayer who's going places. Little did I realize, he was going places -- he just got sent back down to Portland last week after struggling (.222, only 17 RBI) in Pawtucket. But he was an Eastern League All-Star last season with the Dogs, and he's hitting .320, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him back up in Pawtucket by the end of the year.

On the Fisher Cats side of the diamond, I was most impressed with the big, lefty 1B Chip Cannon. He had 27 homers last year and has 15 so far this year, including one last night.

And on the lighter side, my group and I did a double-take when we heard the name "Beau Vaughan" on the PA. Did they just say Mo Vaughn?!!! Then we did a triple-take when we looked up at the scoreboard for his picture. Instead of the bald-pated, pirate-earring-wearing former Sox MVP, we saw this!

Yikes. Beau? Keep the name but lay off the caffeine, man!

Berkman (another homer today!) continues to hit for me, but replacing Lowell at third is proving a challenge. That said, welcome to the newest Siamese Flyin' Squirrel: Josh Fields. I happened to spot that he hit a homer in the ridiculous 20-14 game between the Vikings and Bears today. (The football joke is even more apropos when you learn Fields was a two-year starting quarterback at Oklahoma State.) Anyway, that's 3 bombs in a week for those of us scoring at home, and we want in on that hot streak. My incumbent rookie 3B, Kevin Kouzmanoff, has cooled lately to the point where when I saw Fields breaking out, I grabbed him. The Kouz provided 6 homers and his BA for me (.256) is .35 better than his season BA. Like Kouz, Fields had a brutal start to the season, but as you can see, if you play your cards right, you can take the hot streak stats from these rookies and leave their slump stats on the waiver wire.

Shortstops in Short Supply

I've got a problem. I've been holding Stephen Drew -- Arizona's #1 draft pick and J.D. Drew's little brother -- as my shortstop pretty much all year. He's highly touted, but he's not producing. Like, at all. But he's looked good to scouts, and he looked good to me when the Sox played the Diamondbacks. The prevailing wisdom on him is that he's due to break out any minute. He's swinging well; the hits just aren't falling. That sort of thing.

But now I see another highly touted prospect on the FA waiver wire: Atlanta's Yunel Escobar. He's a Cuban defector -- came over on a little boat in the middle of the night -- so he's got the testicular fortitude. He's already produced, hitting .310 with a homer, 16 runs scored and 8 RBI in only 87 ABs.

By contrast, Drew: 4 hrs. 3 steals. .238 BA. In 280 ABs! In a word, that's "ewwww."

But if I give up on Drew now, you know he will go on an unholy tear. >:-|

So unable to pull the trigger on that FA deal, I distracted myself by adding Dan Johnson, who hit 3 homers last week AFTER I considered adding him. D'oh! I dropped Brandon Inge, who has lost playing time due to a minor injury. I dropped Justin Germano and added Manny Corpas, who should be in line for some saves now in Colorado.

The Trade

In 17 games since I acquired him, Lance Berkman is 22 for 67, with 6 homers, 17 RBI, and a steal. He's hitting .328. (By contrast, Berkman hit 8 homers the whole rest of the season for his previous team.) Meanwhile, Mike Lowell has only played 11 games (thumb is bothering him) with a homer and is only hitting .244. Hasn't helped the bottom line yet though -- he's still in 3rd and I'm in 6th.

Something to Wine About
Went to Pic-n-Pay yesterday for a quick shop, and happened to spot this in the wine section!


I bought a bottle of Manny Being Merlot, onaccounta my girlfriend loves Manny and she loves red wine. I brought it home and got the expected reaction -- best described as a smiling gasp --
and I popped the question: Keep or Drink? ("Keep, duh!") Although, these are from Chile and they're supposedly quite good, especially for the price ($11.99!)

I don't know how I missed this until now. My dad runs a wine store and this story made the Globe and ABCNews.

I might have to get a few more bottles for posterity -- in and around Boston, they're already selling out. The 3 of them are on eBay together at a bid of $72. The company produced 23,000 cases -- that's only about 275,000 bottles. This has "good investment" written all over it. And its for a good cause, too!