Target Practice: Destined to Disappoint
I’ve been debating with myself all week about how to begin an article when A) I haven’t written anything for close to a year and the writers block I’m experiencing is more difficult to overcome than praising Fidel Castro in a city full of Cuban-defectors and B) the article that is to follow is filled with spite and distain for some of MLB’s biggest ‘Superstars.’ Um, um, um…I still have very little, so let’s move on.
I decided to title this piece, hopefully soon to be series of pieces, ‘Target Practice.’ The plan is to bring to RotoGrinders lists of 5 MLB players to, you guessed it, ‘target’ in specific situations for certain outcomes. These ‘targets’ will in some instances provide serious advice on how to put a team together. In other cases, like our inaugural addition, it will be less focused on strategy and more focused on my personal frustrations and opinions. I’m sure the strategy article(s) are more desirable but hey what can I say besides, we may get there eventually and I really just don’t care.
This week’s article uses the term ‘target’ in its most literal sense. The list that follows comprises the 5 MLB players who I am essentially targeting by calling them out for their uberly-poor performance during the 2012 season-to-date. These guys, for me, are the ones who I keep returning to for DFS lineups time-and-time again, but always manage to let me down. Whether it be taking the dreaded golden sombrero, or just your typical 2 GIDP / 2 strikeout SuckFest, the guys that I am now about to feature have crapped the bed one too many times and are now about to hear about it.
Without any further ado, I present to you my first 5 targets:
Adrian Gonzalez – The Red Sox lineup is supposed to be loaded right? I mean granted they lost key cogs Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford prior to the season, but still no excuses can be made when you play in the Bean Box that is Fenway Bark. But a sorry excuse for a power-hitter is exactly what Adrian has been thus far in 2012. Coming off a three-year stretch in which he had a fantastic OPS of .940, this number has dropped what I would call considerably (more like off a cliff) to .721. He has hit a measly 5 HRs to this point, a number that won’t even come close to the more than 31/yr he has averaged since 2006 if he doesn’t turn things around. With a fan base that can vilify you quickly (ask J.D. Drew) Adrian better count his blessings that Bobby Valentine has made himself public enemy #1. But if this Boston team can’t find its way out of the AL East basement very soon the $21mil/yr man may start hearing a chorus of boos from the Beantown faithful. Get it together Adrian!
Justin Upton – This guy is supposed to be the future of baseball right? The perfect combination of speed and power with a crazy good arm and great defense? More like a perfect combination of awful and terrible with a nice side of strikeout. As I write this article on June 16th, Justin has struck out 14 times in June, including at least once every game since June 3rd. Those are Adam Dunn type numbers, and they are devastating to lineups on most DFS sites. When you combine the Ks with the fact that he has only one HR since May 2nd it is a combination of splits that just spell disaster. Promise and Potential can only take you so far, and for Justin Upton the only place he’s going for me for the foreseeable future is out of my lineup. I say that now, but his ‘potential’ will probably sucker me into putting him in my lineup and undoubtedly this will lead money right out of my bankroll. Damn you Justin!
Alex Gordon – How excited were you to see how this guy would follow up his breakout campaign in 2011? I know I was. After all, the 2nd overall pick in 2005 put up a fantastic stat line of .303 AVG / 23 HRs / 17 SBs / 87 RBIs…and on and on. It was a great year. 2012 though? Not so great. Alex hit .241 in May of 2012 without a single HR. Not one. What else you ask? Well for a guy that was supposed to have sneaky power and some pop he is slugging a paltry .395 to this point in 2012. So the question we have to ask ourselves now is, was 2011 the outlier year or is he just slumping thus far in 2012? I would have sworn coming into the year that this guy was going to be a superstar, but he has called my opinion into very serious question. I want to see this guy succeed, but I can’t waste any more of my bankroll waiting for him to do so. Curse your name Alex Gordon, I guess I can only blame myself though. I should have known better than to put faith in anyone who plays in the atrocity of a franchise that is Kansas City.
Mike Napoli – Coming into the year, this guy was supposed to define power numbers at the Catcher position. After all, he was coming off a stellar 2011 campaign in which he hit .320 with 30 longballs. Seems awesome right? Now consider he did that in a meer 369 ABs. For those who aren’t math majors, that breaks down to a more-than-respectable HR every 12.3 plate appearances. Well what the freakin’ hell man? I have selected Mr. Napoli more than enough times in 2012 to account for 12.3 plate appearances and the HRs that should have been accrued. Hell, I’ve probably got close to 50 ABs, maybe 100 from Big Mike and all I seem to get are 0fers and tears. He is hitting .246 for the year overall, with an eye-poppingly poor .153 clip vs LHP. Want some more splits that suck? I thought you did, so I’ll provide them free-of charge. He’s mashing at a .208 clip at home. Oh and do you remember that 12.3 AB/HR rate I provided earlier for 2011? Well as of June 16th he hasn’t hit one out in 2012 since May 11th.
I know my Cardinals stealing your World Series was rough Mr. Napoli, but get it together and stop making me flush my dollars down the drain like your teammate Josh Hamilton tried to do his career.
Tim Lincecum – If someone asked you prior to the season what the absolute worst season Tim Lincecum could have in 2012 would be what would have been your answer? Outside of a devastating injury, I don’t think 2012 could be going any worse than it is. And no one could have predicted it. Seriously, this guy has a career ERA of 3.17 with a W/L record of 71-48. This year you ask? He is featuring an ERA of 6.00 and a W/L record of 2-7. This is Tim Lincecum we are talking about. Pitchers who have out-performed Lincecum to this point in 2012 according to ESPNs player-rater include Brian Matusz, J.A. Happ and Kyle Kendrick. These are the guys that I refer to as the up-and-coming Jamie Moyers and they still are apparently better than a Cy Young winner in Lincecum. I don’t know if the guy with the good weed in SF got shut down and Timmy just cant focus or if he’s too focused on surfing to pitch well, or what the story is. But regardless of reason, I have started him so many times in 2012 only to be consistently underwhelmed and overly pissed-off that at ‘the Freak.’ He has been placed on the DNP list for my DFS teams. How long he will stay there remains a mystery, much like his downfall in 2012.
So there is my commentary on the worst of the worst to this juncture of the 2012 MLB season. The utterly horrible and just down-right disappointing. The saddest part is that I want to root for these fellas. They all seem to be pretty likeable characters. Unfortunately though, when my hard-earned money is being wasted away with every whiff (or in Tim’s case Earned Run Allowed) I just cant keep my frustration at bay. My bone has now been picked for this particular topic and I look forward to sharing more with Grinder Nation moving forward. Until then, good day.