2011 wasn’t supposed to go that way.
For a guy who’d hit 38+ HR 7 straight seasons, a move from a neutral ballpark to one that improved power for lefties was supposed to keep that streak intact. Instead, Adam Dunn had a season he couldn’t have imagined even in his worst nightmares.
By Jim Higgins
It’s hard to believe it was only three years ago that Jake Peavy won the NL Cy Young award. One of the best young pitchers at the time, Peavy had broken the 200 K mark for the third straight year while also posting the third sub-3.00 ERA of his career – and this was by age 26.
Fast forward to 2010 now and the 29-year-old Peavy is now concluding his second straight season on the DL and now plays in one of the worst parks for pitchers, a move that seemed to affect his overall numbers as Peavy finished with a 7-6 record, a 4.63 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.
By Jim Higgins
Coming into the 2010 season, you would have been hard pressed to find someone who didn’t feel the “safest” Red Sox pitcher to own was Josh Beckett.
Coming off a 17-win season in 2009 in which he pitched a career high 212 1/3 innings and posted a 3.86 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP, it seemed Beckett was finally living up to the potential he’s flashed since his early days with the Florida Marlins.
By Jim Higgins
If you had to pick the biggest surprise of the 2010 fantasy season, the performance of Jose Bautista is by far the runaway winner.
Never one for much power, Bautista actually began his power surge last September/October when he hit 10 HRs to finish the season. In spite of that, Bautista went undrafted in almost all types of leagues and formats but finally gained recognition after a scorching May.
Reaching the 50 HR plateau in 2010, the big question now for keeper league owners is “what should we expect from Bautista going forward?”
By Jim Higgins
Heading into 2009, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins were the cream of the fantasy shortstop crop. All flashed that rare power-speed combo all fantasy owners crave and Rollins was just one year removed from winning the NL MVP in 2007.
Now two years later, all three have failed to live up to expectations in one way or another. Ramirez had a great 2009 but has been far from the guy many felt rivaled Albert Pujols as the No. 1 pick in the preseason, and Reyes has struggled to put anything consistent together between DL stints. And while Rollins has had over 600 PAs in both 2008 and 2009, anyone who rostered him in 2010 has been disappointed as well.
