C - Salvador Perez 1B - Edwin Encarnacion 2B - Jose Altuve SS - Xander Bogaerts 3B - Manny Machado OF - Mike Trout OF - Mookie Betts OF - Ian Desmond DH - David Ortiz SP - Chris Sale
We took a look at who we felt deserved to be that starting roster in the American League for tonight's All-Star game.
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Every year MLB tries to hype their annual home run derby, but it never fails that I am left unimpressed when it is over. Yes it is great to see players smack a ball farther than you can imagine is possible, but it still is not the spectacle that a MLB's skill competition could be.
I propose a change to the skill competition. Let's expand the competition to included three other events and form teams of four players. Instead of just a power hitting competition let's bring in a couple other aspects of the game of baseball. First, we add in a base stealing competition. Runners get an equal lead from first, take off from second and have to slide and stay on the base. Each competitor gets and elapsed time and this brings speed in to the skills contest. Whatever that elapsed time is we subtract from the number of home runs that team hit. Next we place a player in center field and put a target at home plate. If a player hits the center they get a score of 5 and the further away from center the lower the points. This score is then added on to our previous total from the speed and power competition. Finally, we have a catcher receive a ball at home, pop up and fire at a target at second base. Catchers get point for accuracy in hitting the target at second base just like the outfield throw and they get a time from when they receive the ball to when it hits the target. That time is subtracted from their overall points similarly to the speed competition. What an event this would be and a true display of more skills then just being able to hit a ball a long way.
Josh Bell and Trea Turner are being called up on Friday, July 8th. In celebration of these events we have given you a short summary of what they have done this year in the minors.
If you don't know who Alex Bregman is you are missing out. Bregman is a shortstop prospect in the Houston Astros minor league system.
Bregman started 2016 at Double-A Corpus Christi. In 62 games at AA Bregman had a .297/.415/.559 slash line with 14 home runs, 5 stolen bases, 54 runs and 46 RBIs. During that time he played the majority of his games at shortstop, but did have a couple of appearances at third base giving many the impression that he could make a trip to the big leagues and replace Luis Valbuena at the hot corner. However, his attempts to play third were few and he soon moved back to his natural position in the middle infield.
On June 30th Bregman was promoted to Triple-A Fresno and he has raked every since then. In his first game at Fresno he went 4 for 5 with five runs, three RBIs, a walk and one strikeout. Not a bad first game. He has since backed that up by going 7 for 21 with four home runs, eight RBIs, five runs, one walk and five strikeout giving him a slash line at AAA of .423/.464/1.000. All of his appearances in Fresno have been made as a shortstop which begs the question how can he find playing time in the majors at some point this season?
Of course I wouldn't ask the question if I didn't have the answer. There are three possible ways that I could see Bregman cracking a major league roster.
First, he could be traded. Houston is trying to make a run towards a playoff spot and is only 0.5 a game out of the second wild card spot and 7.5 games out of first place in their division. A hot prospect like Bregman could bring back a high end starting pitcher that the Astros really could use.
Second, Houston could bring him up to play third base and either cut, trade or bench Valbuena. Even though Valbuena has been hitting better recently he is not the long term solution at third for the Astros and everyone knows that. Moving Valbuena off the hot corner gives Bregman an everyday spot in Houston's lineup. I would think that we see him playing third at Fresno for a few games though if that was the route the team wanted to take. Since that hasn't been the case so far it tells me either they aren't close to bringing him up or they don't see him as their third baseman of the future.
Finally, and maybe the most likely, Houston could decide to move last year's rookie of the year Carlos Correa over to third and thereby opening up shortstop for Bregman. Correa is a young stud with a bat and on the base paths, but many have said that his build may better suit him as a third baseman. To date Correa has made seven errors at short in 80 games, not great for one of the most important defensive positions on the field. A move to third could better fit Correa long term and gets a big bat in the lineup now in the form of Bregman. Only problem with this solution is that Bregman hasn't been lights out at defensively either. At Double-A Bregman committed 10 errors in only 51 games and these defensive lapses may be why he doesn't make the big league club this year.
Houston if facing a problem that many teams would love to have, they have too many young talented players. Specifically too many young shortstops. It is a great problem to have and in the end it will work itself out one way or another. Don't be surprised though to see Bregman in Houston before too long, especially if he keeps hitting the way he is at Fresno.
First, I must admit I am biased when it comes to Marcus Semien. He has been on my fantasy team for the past two seasons. Still I can't help but wonder why more people are not talking about this 25 year old shortstop. In a year where shortstop is full of talent, this young talented player is getting lost in the shuffle.
As of the writing of this post Semien is the 13th ranked shortstop on the player rater. He is third in home runs behind Story and Machado, eleventh in runs, ninth in RBIS, thirteenth in walks and has five stolen bases. I know he is hitting .245 and has a lot of trouble hitting RHP, but batting average is only one category and not the end all be all. Bryce Harper is only hitting .258, but no one doubts that he is a fantasy stud. Yet with all the power and production Semien has shown he still ranks behind lessor players like Suarez, Russell, Andrus and Crawford. I understand that rankings won't always align with actual results, but in this case its time to put bias aside and move Semien up to where he belongs. He deserves to be at least ranked in the top 15.
Yesterday Michael Taylor was optioned to Syracuse and off of the Nationals roster. An unknowing fantasy baseball participant may look at that and think oh no it's time to drop Taylor (if he was owned). However, it's that time of year where several young players will be sent down to AAA in order to keep getting playing time as we go through the All-Star break at the majors.
Don't be surprised if you see more demotions over the next week, especially young pitching talent. At this point teams can send a player down and bring them back up after the break because they will have been down the mandatory 10 days. Do, however, be on the lookout for fantasy managers in your league who don't take the All-Star break in to account and drop players who should only be down a couple weeks. You may be able to steal away a valuable player because of someone else's lack of attention. |
AuthorWe are avid baseball fans, both real life and fantasy, but in the end just a couple of guys arguing over baseball. If you enjoy our content then consider supporting our cause by clicking the donate butting below. Any amount helps us to keep our site going.
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