Fantasy Sports Experience

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Tale of Two Outfielders: Carlos Beltran, Juan Gonzalez


New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran saw his first action of the spring in center on Thursday after having surgery on both his knees in the off season. Beltran and the Mets do not want to rush things too much so he was pulled after batting in the fifth inning.

It's always good to see a team and player being responsible and not trying to do too much too soon. The Mets need to be especially careful with Beltran because so much of his game is about speed, both in the outfield and on the base paths.

FANTASY IMPACT

Beltran, when healthy, is a great fantasy player. He has at worst 25/25 potential, ad will probably get closer to the 30/30 relm when healthy. However, this season do not expect the over as far as those numbers go. I can see a few scenarios where Beltran needs a day or two off here and there more so than he did in the past on account of the knee surgery. I also think this could slow him down a bit on the bases, and lower his SB total from the usual twenty to more of the 15 range. Still very fine fantasy numbers, but not what we are used to expecting from him.


Juan Gone?

The Major Leagues comeback trail Juan Gonzalez was on took a Major League hit on Thursday after Cardinal's manager Tony LaRussa had to take the 38-year-old out of the line up with an abdominal strain.

FANTASY IMPACT

An abdominal strain is one of those injuries that can go away in a couple of days or can stick around for a while and make things very difficult for someone who has to swing a bat for a living. Given Juan Gone's checkered injury history this cannot be good news, especially when the major issue with him, was his ability to stay healthy. Don't bother to draft Gonzalez in any league, he is not worth it. Even if he does the major league roster he is 38, with his best years and his health behind him.

2 comments:

ff2715 said...

good analysis of juan. what do you think about his buddy ivan rodriguez, though? i picked him up in one of my leagues (late, obviously), and i'm hoping for some decent production from the catcher's position.

Phil said...

I like Pudge and taking him late is even better. He is remarkably consistent and when you are dealing with a catcher thats the best thing you can have. No worries of some young kid, that you hope will pan out, you will have plenty more other things to worry about on your team than who your starting catcher is.

If you look at Pudge's numbers over the last 6 seasons he is a near lock for 12HR, 65RBI, 5SB and a batting average around .280. He is a top 10 catcher easy, you should be fine.