Fantasy Baseball Dugout

Jonathan Bentz of Fantasy Baseball Dugout discusses the Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero trade and its impact on fantasy baseball 2012.

Michael Pineda to the Yankees: Fantasy Analysis

In getting traded to the New York Yankees, Miguel Pineda immediately gets thrown into a spotlight/pressure cooker situation. He’s projecting right now as no. 2 in the Yankees rotation behind CC Sabathia — so you know he will be in line for some wins if he can keep it consistent. After his All-Star start to the 2011 season – he struggled with getting wins down the stretch.

Obviously, wins aren’t as important in fantasy baseball as they are in real life. This is one of the great inaccuracies of fantasy baseball, but one of the biggest reasons great pitchers on bad teams still have a lot of value (see Hernandez, Felix circa 2010). As we start projecting player rankings for the 2012 draft season, look for Pineda to be a top 25 starting pitcher. It would seem that Pineda could be one of the biggest draft day values in fantasy baseball 2012 – and he should be a solid no. 2 in fantasy baseball, too.

For 2012 fantasy baseball analysis of Jesus Montero, Read the rest of this entry »

Leryn Franco, Javelin thrower, from Paraguay.

Leryn Franco, Paraguay

Not a hot baseball wife, but we suddenly have an interest in javelin throwing.

Ricky Romero of the Toronto Blue Jays seemingly lives a very good life.  Romero’s father entered the country illegally from Mexico about the same time that Mexican pitching great Fernando Valenzuela was taking Los Angeles by storm.  The elder Romero settled in East Los Angeles and worked numerous jobs to give his children a better life.

Today, son Ricky is the ace of the Toronto Blue Jays and coming off a 15 win season that saw him have a 2.92 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.  But, despite all of those impressive numbers, Romero’s most impressive win has been his relationship with 2010 Miss USA Rima Fakih.

Fakih is not your normal pristine Miss USA contestant.  She was a contestant on WWE’s Tough Enough show and in December, she was arrested for drunken driving.  I doubt she even mentioned world peace in her final question.

HEAT: Ricky Romero with Rima Fakih

Miss USA 2010 is Rima Fakih

Rima Fakih

See even sexier pictures of Rima (if that’s possible) after the jump.  18+ adults only please.

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Today’s guest author is Jeremy Wolf of The Wolf’s Den. Jeremy is a left-handed hitter on the Chaparrel High School baseball team in baseball rich Scottsdale, Arizona.  Jeremy hopes to play baseball in college and eventually be a general manager of an MLB team (he sounds perfect for fantasy baseball, doesn’t he?).  He claims that MLB Network is the “best thing that ever happened to me.”  I agree Jeremy.  Not sure my wife would though.

If you’d like to be a guest author for Fantasy Baseball Dugout, and see your article on the first page of Google, go to our About Us section and submit your article there.  We are always looking for great content to get out to our readers.

The Leagues Best 2nd Baseman

The second base position is evolving. You have to be able to hit for power, average, you need a strong arm and you must have range. Who in the league has all those attributes??*(all based on the 2011 season and projection for 2012 season.)

1. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees

BRONX CHEER: Robinson Cano is baseball's best second baseman.

2011 Season: .302AVG/ 28HR/ 118RBI/ 104RUNS/ 8SB?Summary:

He has the sweetest swing in the major leagues right now, definitely, top 5 of all time. He knows how to hit and he has the smoothest fielding ability in the league. Why is he #1 over Kinsler? Not because he is a Yankee, everyone knows he would be just as good on any other team, but because he gets big hits and big RBIs in big games. He has a knack for getting on base an a knack for scoring runs. Definitely top 5 hitters in the league right now.?2012

Projection: .310AVG/ 25HR/ 110RBI/ 95RUNS/ 20SB

2. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers

2011 Season: .255AVG/ 32HR/ 77RBI/ 121RUNS/ 30SB?Summary:

Definitely the safest bet for second place. He is a very good fielder with a very strong arm. He’s got a good eye at the plate but seems to be in a pitchers count every at bat because of his aggressiveness. He’s got great power, more power than Cano, but still lacks the average. Great speed and seems like he scores every time he gets on base. Look for a strong season in 2012 because he might need to carry the team.?2012

Projection: .260AVG/ 28HR/ 90RBI/ 115RUNS/ 25SB

3. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox

2011 Season: .307AVG/ 21HR/ 91RBI/ 103RUNS/ 26SB

Summary: Five feet, nine inches. I bet you have heard that so many times, but it’s true. His small stature packs a pretty huge punch. A great fielder, a great player, a great hitter and a great teammate.?2012

Projection: .300AVG/ 18HR/ 87RBI/ 95RUNS/ 20SB

4. Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds

2011 Season: .300AVG/ 18HR/ 82RBI/ 94RUNS/ 14SB

Summary: Multiple Gold Gloves, and many more to come. He’s got power to all fields and he flies around the bases. He’s got one of the funkiest stances I have ever seen, but it works. He’s got a passion for the game and a passion for playing hard. He is the leader of that team and he will let everyone knows what he thinks. He plays like Orlando Hudson, and being a big fan of Orlando makes me a big fan of this guy. Look for a big big year from Brandon.

2012 Projection: .310AVG/ 25HR/ 90RBI/ 100RUNS/ 27SB

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Baseball’s Hottest Wives champions from 2008 to 2011 are featured in this video from Fantasy Baseball Dugout.

Past Champions — Baseball’s Hottest Wives

• 2008 — Heidi DeRosa
• 2009 — Heidi DeRosa
• 2010 — Saeko Darvish
• 2011 — Diana Roberts

Fantasy Baseball Dugout talks fantasy baseball and lingerie football on the Spadora on Sports radio show today.

BallparkBob reviews the fantasy baseball projections for Yu Darvish and posts him as the 15th best starting pitcher in your fantasy baseball draft in 2012. Bob also reviews his projections for 2012 fantasy baseball sleepers at the first base position.

Fantasy Baseball Projections for Yu Darvish 

UNCLE CHARLIE: Yu Darvish threw the Rangers their first curve ball when he arrived at the Dallas airport wearing a t-shirt with a marijuana leaf on it. Turns out it was confirmed to be a Japanese maple leaf.

 

Darvish, Texas Ranger

Just how good is Yu Darvish?

The Texas Rangers are betting that he is very, very good.  That’s why they invested $112 million in Darvish over the next six years.  That’s 6 years at $60 million plus a $51.7 million posting fee paid to Darvish’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters club in Japan.  The actual number of the posting fee was $51,703,411. The 34 was Ryan’s jersey number. The 11 was Darvish’s number. The Rangers were hoping for a little luck with their bid.

The combined $111.7 million trumps the $103 million that the Red Sox forked over in 2006 to acquire Daisuke Matsuzaka.  Matsuzaka received $52 million over six years plus the Sox paid $51.1 million for Dice-K’s rights.

Darvish was making $6.4 million in Japan and was the highest paid player in the league.  Not surprising for a two time MVP.  His Japanese manager thinks Texas got a bargain.  ”He is a pitcher who deserves more. As a person who has been following the majors closely, I want to say he is better than that,” said Hideki Kuriyama, the Sapporo-based Nippon Ham Fighters manager

Rolling the Dice

Boston would probably prefer to have its money back on Dice-K.  The Red Sox won the 2007 World Series as Matsuzaka went 15-12 with a 4.40 earned run average — followed by an 18-3, 2.90 ERA season. But the right-hander is just 16-15, 5.03 since his best season and he will miss much of the upcoming final season of his contract recovering from elbow surgery.  Matsuzaka was 3-3, 5.30 last year.

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