{"id":142,"date":"2010-05-03T18:37:35","date_gmt":"2010-05-03T23:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=142"},"modified":"2010-05-09T04:10:21","modified_gmt":"2010-05-09T09:10:21","slug":"welcome-back-the-resurgence-of-vernon-wells-kelly-johnson-and-andruw-jones-by-mike-rosenbaum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/142","title":{"rendered":"Welcome Back: The Resurgence of Vernon Wells, Kelly Johnson and Andruw Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"
May 3, 2010<\/div>\n

\"kj\"<\/p>\n

There are a handful of players across Major League Baseball that are proving that their misfortunes and struggles from last year(and some even longer) are behind them.\u00a0 For avid, fantasy enthusiasts like myself and the rest of the staff at The Golden Sombrero, the resurgence of many of these players may not be news.\u00a0 Yet, to those not in an absurdly competitive, 16-team league, these once elite, ballplayers will continue to be unrecognized or disregarded to their involvement on a potentially non-contending team. Despite this notion, and also considering that most players are nearing 100 at-bats, Vernon Wells, Kelly Johnson and Andruw Jones\u2019 immediate success cannot be ignored.\u00a0 For these few players, it is important to dissect what has made them successful thus far and whether they might be able to maintain their current level of production.<\/p>\n

Vernon Wells<\/a>, OF Blue Jays<\/a>
\n2010 Statistics: .330\/\/385\/.690 (1.075 OPS%)\u00a0 21 R, 12 2B, 8 HR, 18 RBI, 1 SB
\nLike so many others, I was more than ready to write off Vernon Wells as a lost cause; another player who has been rendered irrelevant due to a weak Blue Jays\u2019 offense and perpetual injuries.\u00a0 Wells finished his 2009 campaign with a line of .260\/.311\/.400 that included 15 HR, 66 RBI and 17 SB, which, in reality, is not all that terrible.\u00a0 However, he had set the bar high for himself with his 2003 season that included 33 HR and 117 RBI.\u00a0 Is Wells capable of repeating such production? More so, can he surpass his previous career highs?\u00a0 I believe that he will.\u00a0 Wells has never struck out more than 90 times in a full season and has a career K\/BB ratio of about 2, indicative that he consistently makes contact.\u00a0 When you combine his knack for contact with the fact that he is generating a fly ball 53% of the time, I think Wells will almost certainly slug 33+ HRs.\u00a0 At the same time, it will be nearly impossible for him to maintain his current 1.202 OPS% with runners in scoring position.\u00a0 Similarly, the Blue Jays offense is likely to continue struggling throughout the year which means Wells might become a solo bomb machine. Barring any significant injury, I would expect Wells to finish the year with 95-105 RBI, which would rank as one of his best seasons.<\/p>\n

Kelly Johnson<\/a>, 2B Diamondbacks<\/a>
\n2010 Statistics: .310\/.404\/.726 (1.130 OPS%) 17 R, 8 2B, 9 HR, 18 RBI, 1 SB
\nI haven\u2019t talked to Rob<\/a> about it yet, but I would guess that he is glad I\u2019m touching upon Kelly Johnson\u2019s resurgence with the Diamondbacks<\/a>.\u00a0 We both have always been KJ fans since he burst on the scene with the Braves in 2005, but could never quite grasp the reasons for his decline over the past two seasons. When receiving regular playing time, I have always seen great value in Johnson as both a big league 2b and as a fantasy player.\u00a0 In 2007, Johnson posted a .832 OPS% that featured career highs in both home-runs(16) and walks(79) in 521 at-bats, stats that are indicative of the essence of his success. \u00a0Patience.\u00a0 That year, Johnson lead the NL in walks among second-basemen and saw an impressive 4.12 pitchers\/plate appearance(#P\/PA).\u00a0 This season, he is off to the best start of his career with a .310 BA, 9 HR, 18 RBI, 14 BB, 1 SB in 84 at-bats.\u00a0 While Johnson has always been regarded as a streaky player, his performance thus far has been nothing short of consistent and I believe that he is in the midst of his career season.\u00a0 In those 84 at-bats, he has seen an impressive 4.36 #P\/PA, which ranks 5th in the MLB and 1st among second basemen.\u00a0 If Johnson even remotely continues at this pace, he will undoubtedly set new career highs in most offensive categories.\u00a0 My prediction: 21 HR and 80 RBI<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, did I mention that he has a 1.277 OPS% against left-handed pitching this year?<\/p>\n

*The other day, I read a fantastic, comprehensive article by the Capitol Avenue Club <\/a> that details the intricacies of Kelly Johnson\u2019s career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Andruw Jones<\/a>, OF White Sox<\/a>
\n2010 Statistics:\u00a0 .274\/.400\/.694 (1.094 OPS%)\u00a0\u00a0 13 R, 2 2B, 8 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB
\nIf you didn\u2019t already know, I am a White Sox fan.\u00a0 Having said that, the first month of the season has left me utterly disappointed and concerned about what\u2019s to come.\u00a0 There have been a few bright-spots in the White Sox lineup, but I doubt that anybody could have predicted that Andruw Jones would be one of them.\u00a0 Jones has affixed himself in the middle of the White Sox order thanks to his 8 HR(2 multi-HR games) and 11 RBI in just 62 at-bats.\u00a0 Even more impressive has been the un-Andruw-Jones-like, plate discipline that has resulted in his 12 BB compared to only 18 K.\u00a0 We can\u2019t be talking about the same Andruw Jones, right? Wrong.\u00a0 Jones is seeing a career high 4.61 #P\/PA which raises an important question: is he really capable of reinventing his offensive approach at this point in his career?\u00a0 Since he burst onto the scene with Atlanta, Jones has never really seemed to want to adapt to the rest of the league.\u00a0 Even in his darkest hour on the Dodgers, he seemed totally complacent and unwilling to reconfigure his swing and approach.\u00a0 However, there is definitely something different about Jones this season compared to his stints with both the Dodgers and Rangers.\u00a0 In addition to finally shedding some pounds, Jones just looks comfortable playing baseball again.\u00a0 The White Sox seem to be a nice fit for the 33 year old and his early production will only merit an increase in his playing time.\u00a0 As long as Jones doesn\u2019t remember who he has been over the past couple seasons, I see him capable of hitting .260 with 30 HR, 85 RBI and 15+ SB.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 3, 2010 There are a handful of players across Major League Baseball that are proving that their misfortunes and struggles from last year(and some even longer) are behind them.\u00a0 For avid, fantasy enthusiasts like myself and the rest of the staff at The Golden Sombrero, the resurgence of many of these players may not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,16,11,13,14],"tags":[281,144,282,120,280,279,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}