On Wednesday, left-handed power hitters Adam LaRoche and Brad Hawpe cleared waivers and it appears that they will be traded in the coming days.  Although neither the Arizona Diamondbacks nor Colorado Rockies seem close to a deal involving either player, there are several organizations that will undoubtedly express interest.

The fact that LaRoche was placed on waivers should come as no surprise as the Diamondbacks openly expressed his availability, as well as anybody not named Reynolds or Upton, during July’s trading frenzy.  Prior to the 2010 season, the Diamondbacks signed LaRoche to one year, $4.5 million contract that has a $7.5 million mutual option for 2011, and would increase to a $9.5 mutual option if he is traded.  The Diamondbacks also have the ability to buy out LaRoche’s contract for $1.5 million.

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If you could use one word to describe Adam LaRoche, what would it be?  For those that have had him on their fantasy team, I’m sure that you chose the correct answer, “streaky.”  For the record, I would have also accepted “hack-taker,” as well as “pain-in-the-ass,” and of course, “brother.”  To those fantasy owners who are unfamiliar with the LaRoche, he can be summed up like this: when he’s hot, he’s hot, and when he’s not, he’s…absolutely brutal.  Year after year, LaRoche’s M.O. remains the same: a slow starter who has a mediocre first half, followed by a blistering July and August, and ultimately finishes with respectable statistics.  Similarly, year after year, those familiar with the Diamondbacks’ first baseman are left asking, what if?  What if LaRoche finally rakes for an entire season?  What if he finally cuts down on the strikeouts?  As somebody who has extensively watched him play this season, I have realized that there will always be recognizable potential in a player who gets his hacks in.  That is why there always seems to be a surprising amount of fantasy owners, who target LaRoche as an ideal, late-round sleeper.  This year, I was one of them.

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May 24, 2010

Can owner Mike Rosenbaum and his 1^st place fantasy team, The Nads, keep it up? Dirty jokes aside, what is their prognosis for the rest of the season? Reminiscent of Andrew Colver’s team 2 years ago, the Nads sport a 20+ point lead going into June.  So are The Nads really this good, or is it the result of early season good fortune?  Let’s take a look.

Here is how the current lineup looks:

C – G. Soto

1B – J. Votto

2B – R. Weeks

3B – R. Zimmerman

SS – I. Desmond/A. Ramirez/S. Castro

OF – R. Braun

OF – S. Choo

OF – B. Boesch

UTIL – A. Laroche

And here is the pitching staff:

P – J. Johnson

P – J. Weaver

P – J. Danks

P – J. Papelbon

P – M. Capps

P – E. Meeks

P – J. Benoit

P – J. Ely

Why they won’t:

Rickie Weeks has surprised everyone this season by producing, but most importantly by staying healthy.  Weeks’ injury history is longer than an encyclopedia and he’s starting to fade.  In his last 30 games he is .207/.278/.289 with only 2HRs/2SBs.  Since his hot start pitchers have begun to adjust and he hasn’t.  Adam Laroche is off to an incredible yet unsustainable start.  In his last 30 games he’s hitting .284/.384/.632 with 7 jacks making him a sell high candidate. Also, Boesch is a good short-term option who’s murdering the ball right now, but he will probably be droppable after the break.  Lastly, Jered Weaver and John Danks are pitching well right now, but they are hardly fantasy studs.

Why they will:

Six reasons: Soto, Votto, Zimmerman, Braun, Choo, and Johnson.  The 5 hitters are absolute studs, especially in the Denslow Cup, which favors hitters who post high OPS’s.   These 5 guys are all able to post +.850 OPS’s and are even capable of .900.  All of them are hitting in the top 5 spots in their order (Soto not always), which should provide them with ample RBI/R opportunities.  Moreover, all of them are having relatively sustainable starts by posting BABIP’s within their career range.  Josh Johnson is pitching like an ace, and in his last 5 starts(not including Sunday’s start vs. White Sox) he is 3-0 with a 1.80/0.69/5.86 (ERA/WHIP/K-BB) line, which is absolutely disgusting.

Conclusions:

Barring any major injuries, the Nads will finish in the top 3 for sure.  The offense and defense is grounded in sustainable production that is just as good as it is consistent.   However, their chances of repeating a Colver-esque style championship by completely dominating are low, unless The Nads make a couple of major trades.  The biggest things to address will be long-term solutions at 2B, SS, and one of the OF position while solving their lack of potential SB’s.  They will also need to address the pitching at some point if they want to maintain their current 1^st\- 2^nd ranking in ERA/WHIP/K-BB, which will be impossible with Danks/Weaver in the back-end of the rotation.  But right now, it looks as if owner Mike Rosenbaum should be able to repeat a top-3 finish in the incredibly competitive Denslow Cup.

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