Week eleven of the Fantasy Baseball season is here and it seems as though things are finally settling down a bit in the injury department. This is good news for us Fantasy owners it was getting a bit ridiculous wasn't it. The only major casualty this week was the Rockies Carlos Gonzalez who hit the 15 day DL with finger issues. Rather than talking about him I thought I would answer a question about John Jaso instead. A listener of my daily show wrote the following;
Dear Phil,
I've been contemplating adding the Oakland A's John Jaso to my ten team standard head to head league but have been reluctant to do so as it seems that no one wants him. What do the masses seem to know that I might be missing here?
Thanks for the question.
I don't think anyone is missing anything here, including you. Like most of the world at large Oakland A's players, except for guys like Cespedes, Donaldson, Crisp, Moss and a couple of the pitchers are usually overlooked. Maybe it's because they play on the left side of the states, maybe it's because they play in a small market or maybe folks don't give a rip. I dunno but one thing is for sure....these A's are a good freaking team that has been widely overlooked and vastly underappreciated Fantasy baseball or otherwise.
I think the problem with Jaso is that he's in a platoon situation with Derek Norris. Fantasy owners in leagues such as yours have plenty of other options available to them and are usually hesitant to plug in a platoon guy like Jaso. It's too bad because his slash line of .293/.387/.489/.876 suggests the guy is having a pretty darn good season. Add to that slash line six bombs and fifteen runs batted in suggest some good things to come as well.
There are also a couple of other numbers that stand out; Jaso has an Isolated Power number of .180 which is well above the league average of .141 and his BABIP of .351 is also higher than the league average of .291. These things also suggest bigger things to come for Jaso this season providing he stays healthy and plays everyday. (stats)
So what to do about Jaso? In a league like yours you more than likely have better options available to you. I would place him on your watch list and if there is an injury to one of your catchers, and Jaso continues to hit the way that he has then he might be an option for you. I would certainly plug him in if he is available in a deeper league or AL only league and also use him on the days that he plays as an incredible value play in a daily Fantasy cash league. (stats)
Here's who I'm looking at this week from the waiver wire.
Gerardo Parra OF Arizona: Parra is putting together a nice little season that has gone relatively unnoticed by the Fantasy Baseball world but for those of us who have been paying attention his slash line of .278/.332/.405/.737 is awfully nice to see. He should make a positive contribution to your lineup this week. (Stats)
Collin McHugh SP Astros: McHugh has been dazzling this season. 54 strikeouts, .086 WHIP and an ERA of 2.52 dazzling. He's pitching this coming Sunday June 8, 2014 against Minnesota so you might want to plug McHugh in and finish week 10 with a win and on Friday against Tampa Bay. I think you will like the results. (Stats)
Mark Reynolds 1B 3B Brewers: Reynolds is part of a big Brewer lineup that has been just cracking the ball this season. If you can take the hit on his batting average (.214) he'll provide the pop as his Isolated Power number of .240 suggests. If you need some more bombs than Reynolds just might be your man this week. (Stats)
On this weeks Fantasy Baseball Weekly we begin talking strategy per your request. This week we talk pitching value over hitting value and vise versa. We also talk about sluggers Jose Abreu and Nelson Cruz, sleeper picks for the week and closers on the hot seat. You can listen to the program below or visit my site here to download the show to your portable device.