Hot or Not

Welcome back to another edition of Hot or Not. We've got Hotness, we've got Notness, and we've got an emotional good-bye to...Billy Butler. Let's get to it.

Hot Bats

Milton Bradley

Stats over the last 7 days: 5 HR, 4 SB, .478 BA

If the Texas Rangers were a woman, they'd be the one that always dates Guys With Problems, convinced that they can save them. Amazingly, it's paying off - Bradley and Josh Hamilton have been great (we'll pretend Sidney Ponson never happened). How much longer until they swing a three-way trade for Delmon and Dmitri Young?! Or how about acquiring a certain relief pitcher?

Jorge Cantu

Stats over the last 7 days: 3 HR, 7 RBI, .407 BA

Did you know that Cantu was named the Devil Rays' team MVP in 2005? Check his bio - it's true. What do you think that award looks like? Probably a lot like one of those plaques they give to the coach of a 6-and-under soccer team at the end of the season.

Joe Mauer

Stats over the last 7 days: 2 HR, 6 RBI, .450 BA

Mauer may be third in the AL in batting average, but he leads the league in sideburns donated to small children.

Also Hot:

Manny Ramirez - 3 HR, 9 RBI, .381 BA

JD Drew - 3 HR, 7 RBI, .500 BA

Joe Crede - 5 HR, 12 RBI, .611 BA

Hot Arms

David Price

Stats over the last 7 days: 0 W, 0 K, 0.00 ERA

He's already owned in 30% of Sportsline leagues. Carlos Silva is available in 81% of leagues. I guess that sums up the difference between Tampa Bay and Seattle's seasons - even the Rays' prospects are hotter than the Mariners' everyday players.

Kerry Wood, Matt Capps, George Sherrill

Stats over the last 7 days: 4 S, 0.00 ERA each

Meanwhile, Eric Gagne lasted 1 2/3, giving up four runs and six hits while playing as himself yesterday in MLB 2K8.

JP Howell

Stats over the last 7 days: 2 W, 1 ER, 4 2/3 IP

This is the second time THIS SEASON that Howell's won two games in a week. Eric Bedard's only won four games all season. I guess that sums up the difference... 

Not Hot 

Billy Butler

Stats over the last 7 days: Who cares

I don't like to get emotional about guys on my team, but here we go...

We drafted Billy Butler in like the 14th or 15th round this season and thought we had ourselves a sleeper. Played on an up-and-coming team with some decent protection in the lineup. Hit for good average and decent power. Had a slight weight problem, but seemed relatively nimble - we were optimistically drawing Tony Gwynn comparisons at the time.

The first week of the season Butler hit .400 and drove in 3 runs. I remember thinking that Billy Butler might win a batting title one year. Then I thought that maybe that year was THIS YEAR. Why not? There was no law that said Billy Butler couldn't win the batting title this year. This was 2008. Things were wide open. This was The Year of Billy Butler!

Things, of course, did not turn out as I hoped. Butler apparently forgot that there was no rule against hitting a ball out of the park. Or that one was allowed to generate runs during plate appearances. At the end of May, Butler was unceremoniously shipped back to the minors. I haven't really gotten over it.

Phil, my colleague here at FSE, argued in a post last week that Billy Butler was worth stashing on your bench in deep leagues. I beg to differ. Billy Butler is a DH who hits for decent average, no power, and breaks owners' hearts. Do not keep him on your team unless you are prepared to deal with significant emotional torment throughout the season.

Wow, that was not easy. But I feel better. Good to get that out there.

I'm off to watch the Royals v. Tigers game from 4/3/08. Have it on the Tivo. See you next week...