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.
One thing that caught my attention right before the 2011 season was an article written by Baseball HQ’s Ron Shandler, talking about player regression. I suspect that when many of us think of player regression, we think of those players coming off career years that seem most likely to see their production decline. However, the point Shandler makes is that regression works both ways, and the profit comes when you find a player coming off a down season that returns to his old self.
By Jim Higgins
NL West | AL West | NL Central | AL Central | NL East | AL East
With less than a week left before the regular season starts, it seems only fitting that I conclude my look at potential keepers for 2011 this week. We will leave off here in the Al East, a division that not only seems to have all the money in baseball, but some intriguing hidden talent as well.
By Jim Higgins
NL West | AL West | NL Central | AL Central | NL East | AL East
Here is Part 3 of our look at some potential keepers to pick up for 2011 and beyond. Again, some of these players may be owned in your league but the key here is that you should be able to get them either easily via trade or as an end game pickup.
By Jim
I apologize again for the long delays between posts, and in all honesty I meant to get this up last week. I spent a couple of nights last week at the Bowie Baysox, including an 11 K, 1 hit performance by Brian Matusz on Tuesday. But since I previously covered Matusz on this blog, I decided to talk about someone new this time.
On Friday night one of my league mates asked me to come with him to check out one of his prized prospects, the Pirates Pedro Alvarez. One of the most highly sought commodities in last year’s draft, Alvarez was taken second overall by Pittsburgh and has shown plenty of power in the minors. That power led to a promotion to Double A Altoona but since the promotion.
