{"id":6043,"date":"2012-03-07T21:36:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-08T03:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=6043"},"modified":"2012-03-07T21:36:14","modified_gmt":"2012-03-08T03:36:14","slug":"planting-my-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/6043","title":{"rendered":"Planting My Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fantasy analysts are always talking about players that they are \u201cplanting their flags in\u201d (Am I supposed to feel dirty when I type that?) each year.\u00a0 I used to think this was a bad idea, as it might lead to poor draft day decisions. \u00a0Now that I am more seasoned I realize that we all develop an affinity for certain players each year.\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking your studs though.\u00a0 Anybody can tell you to draft Albert Pujols<\/a><\/strong>, Ryan Braun<\/a><\/strong>, or Roy Halladay<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 For me, planting your flag requires you to step out on a limb of sorts.\u00a0 These are the players that you feel, for whatever reason, are going to be big hits for the upcoming season.\u00a0 For this article, I want to take a look at three players in which my flag has been metaphorically planted.<\/p>\n

Mike Morse<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Last week in my live-blogged mock draft<\/a> I explained how excited I was about getting Morse on my squad.\u00a0 I referenced this video clip<\/a>, and talked about how much I liked his swing.\u00a0 Well I decided to take it a step further and look to see what his numbers said.\u00a0 The numbers that caught my eye were his increased line drive rate, coupled with his decreasing ground ball rate.\u00a0 Match those with an 85% contact rate and I see no reason why he can\u2019t sustain a BABIP similar to his 2011 average of .344.\u00a0 I predict a .290 average, 30 jacks, 90 RBI, and 70 runs scored.<\/p>\n

Bud Norris<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Yes, he pitches for the lowly Astros<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes, he probably won\u2019t accumulate many wins.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re chasing wins as a fantasy strategy, this might not be the website for you.\u00a0 Not only can you snag Bud late in drafts, you will be getting an amazing bargain when you do.\u00a0 He lowered his walk total last year, while actually increasing his innings pitched by 33. His 2011 ERA of 3.77 matched perfectly with his xFIP of 3.73. \u00a0His k\/9 rate sits right at 8.5, and with a swing and miss rate right around 30% I see potential for a true breakout year.\u00a0 I think Bud finishes the year with 197 IP, 205 K\u2019s, and an ERA of 3.78.<\/p>\n

Yoenis Cespedes:<\/p>\n

I know, I know, we haven\u2019t even seen him face big league pitching yet.\u00a0 And to be honest I have no statistical evidence to support this pick.\u00a0 Sometimes though, you just have to go with your gut.\u00a0 Blind faith is counter-intuitive to almost everything I believe, but I am also a fan of legalized gaming.\u00a0 Thus, I have no problem taking a gamble on Cespedes.\u00a0 I might even reach a few rounds early just to get him.\u00a0 To win your fantasy league you have to hit at least one grand slam on an unknown player.\u00a0 For me, this is the guy.\u00a0 No prediction here.\u00a0 Just going with my gut that he completely outperforms the value of the draft pick I get him for.<\/p>\n

You can follow Griffin on Twitter- his handle is @sp_flips<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Feel free to support, harass, or share any thoughts you have and he will be sure to reply.<\/em>
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Fantasy analysts are always talking about players that they are \u201cplanting their flags in\u201d (Am I supposed to feel dirty when I type that?) each year.\u00a0 I used to think this was a bad idea, as it might lead to poor draft day decisions. \u00a0Now that I am more seasoned I realize that we all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[76,1300,17,6,11,13,10,14],"tags":[21,2256,2695,52,3230,2895],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043"}],"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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6043"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6059,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043\/revisions\/6059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}