HITTERS
Miguel Cabrera - 3B/1B - Detroit Tigers
I spent $61 on Miggy on auction day (the most spent on any player) and I was rewarded with the first Triple Crown season in 45 years. There's really not much to say about Cabrera's performance that hasn't already been said. He easily met or exceeded all of my floor performance projections and pretty much single-handedly got me through a couple weeks of the head-to-head schedule. I pretty much have to buy his jersey now.
Ian Kinsler - 2B - Texas Rangers
I had Kinsler third on my preseason board (behind Cano and Pedroia) and shelled out $47 pretty pennies to land him. Even though he finished in the top five among 2Bs, I still feel like I overpaid, especially since he failed to meet my floor projections in every category except runs scored. Investing in 20/20 players on great offenses is supposed to be a good thing, but I feel like I got taken.
Wilin Rosario - C - Colorado Rockies
My team had a black hole at catcher when Chris Iannetta's slump turned into an injury absence. Lucky for me, Rosario was in the free agent pool in early May. All he did was hit .274 with 24 homers once he hit the Chin Music roster. The real shame here is that his tremendous season will likely be ignored for NL Rookie Of The Year purposes because of the emergence of Bryce Harper and Rosario's own terrible defense.
David Ortiz - DH/1B - Boston Red Sox
Even though Ortiz missed close to 70 games (mostly down the stretch) due to injury, I could conceivably make the argument that the $18 I spent on him was the best investment I made on draft day. Not only did David hit .318 with a monstrous 1.026 OPS, but he also gained 1B eligibility during interleague play. If you prorate his counting stats over a full 162 games, he would have finished with 41 homers, 108 RBI and 117 runs scored. Not bad for a washed up old man, huh?
Ike Davis - 1B - New York Mets
When Brandon Beachy went down with his elbow injury on June 20th, I picked up Ike Davis who had been scuffling along for the first 3 months (.190 batting average, 7 HR, .601 OPS) while dealing with Valley Fever. From that point forward, Davis hit .254 with 25 HRs while holding down my 1B slot. I took a relatively big gamble on him, using a high waiver claim on a guy who looked like he couldn't hit Rihanna if he was Chris Brown, but the move paid off especially since I would lose Ortiz for the playoff run.
Kendrys Morales - 1B/OF - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Kendrys was one of the guys I was really high on before the start of the season. I was predicting a pretty hefty comeback season from a guy who hadn't played in almost 2 full seasons. While he didn't bounce back quite to his pre-injury level, I'll take .273/22/73 for a $13 1B on draft day. The OF eligibility certainly helped fill out the lineup card (since the rest of my outfielders were pretty weak), even if he was platooning in Anaheim and sat against most lefties.
Jon Jay - OF - St. Louis Cardinals
Jay was one of the few holdovers from the deplorable 2011 squad. He impressed me then with his scrappy play, showing adept baserunning and above average defense that would eventually, in 2012, earn him regular playing time in CF and a spot at the top of a potent lineup. Though he only played 119 games due to an early season platoon, Jay hit .300 with 12 steals in 74 games after the All-Star break.
Everth Cabrera - SS - San Diego Padres
Once Dee Gordon flamed out, I was left with a gaping hole at shortstop. Cabrera (like Gordon) is the kind of one-dimensional player that I absolutely hate, helping you in one category and leaving you high and dry in the rest. Lucky for me, I had built my team to be solidly above average in the other 5 categories, so Cabrera's speed-only game fit right in. In fact, he single-handedly ran me to playoff victories in all 3 weeks. If Miguel Cabrera is my regular season MVP, Everth Cabrera is the playoff MVP, no doubt.
Trevor Plouffe - 3B/2B/SS/OF - Minnesota Twins
See the Ike Davis entry above. I pulled the trigger on Plouffe on June 5th as he was starting to show some signs of breaking out of a 2 month slump. From then until a DL stint in late July, he hit .328 with 12 HR and 26 RBI over a 38 game stretch. He never put it back together upon his return in mid-August (.196 BA, 5 HR in 45 games), but his tremendous June and July carried my team to several victories when I needed them the most as my team succumbed to one injury after another.
Matt Joyce - OF - Tampa Bay Rays
I guess I could've done worse for $5. Coming into the 2012 campaign, Joyce had a track record of being the kind of player I love: reliably high OPS (around .825), left-hand side of a platoon (plenty of ABs), unsung cog in solid offense in a hitter-friendly environment. This year, however, it just didn't come together for him as he plopped a .241 BA and .769 OPS on the table. I'm encouraged that his walk rate improved, but his strikeout rate went up correspondingly. Could be a decent $1 gambit at next year's draft.
Bryan LaHair - 1B/OF - Chicago Cubs
I sung the praises of Bryan LaHair from the rooftops in the preseason. Written off as a Quad-A player, I saw a lot of potential in the 29 year-old, and I was given plenty to crow about for the first two months as he returned my $4 investment with a .308 BA, 10 HR and 22 RBI. But, alas, the bottom fell out and by season's end he was a part-time player, having ceded his 1B job to rookie stud Anthony Rizzo and squeezed out of the lineup by the Cubs' young OF talent. Still, that solid opening salvo shot my squad to the top of the league right out of the gate.
Wilson Betemit - 3B/1B/OF - Baltimore Orioles
An unlikely name to receive accolades, but the journeyman/utilityman was a solid plug-in at several roster spots and even showed a knack for timely power in a surprising Orioles lineup. An injury cost him playing time down the stretch (not to mention the resurgence of Nate McLouth), but Betemit was a helpful bit player for the Chin Music squad in the first half of the season.
Dee Gordon - SS - Los Angeles Dodgers
Seriously, the best thing Gordon did for my team was to get hurt and get out of the lineup. After dropping $22 for him on draft day (I really thought he had the potential to lead the league in steals while putting up a respectable average and scoring a ton of runs), a hand injury put a merciful stop to his lackluster season on July 4th. He did manage to rack up 32 SBs, but it came along with a miserable .228 BA and only 38 runs scored.
PITCHERS
Chris Sale - SP - Chicago White Sox
Chin Music teams tend to do well when I cash in on pitchers who make the transistion from the bullpen to the rotation. Two years ago it was C.J. Wilson. This year, it was Chris Sale. The young lefty posted a 17-8 record and struck out a batter an inning. He tired a bit down the stretch, but his 2.19 ERA over 102.2 innings before the All-Star break more than justified the $6 investment on draft day.
Casey Janssen - RP - Toronto Blue Jays
I don't spend money on saves during the draft. I might pick up a set-up guy with potential for $1 here and there, but generally I just wait for the closer chaos to shake things up in the early season and swoop in to grab guys from the free agent pool. Such was the case with Janssen, who assumed the closer role after Sergio Santos got hurt. Janssen ran away with the job, piling up 22 saves with 9.47 K/9 after his installation in May.
Brandon Beachy - SP - Atlanta Braves
In April and May, I was looking like one smart motherfucker. My pitching was dominating in no small part due to the performances of the aforementioned Chris Sale and Brandon Beachy. Beachy led the National League in ERA for most of the first two months, a fantastic return on a $15 auction buy. Then, on June 16th, Beachy left his start with elbow soreness and was diagnosed with a UCL tear. Before departing for Tommy John surgery, he posted a 5-5 record with a 2.00 ERA and a microscopic 0.96 WHIP over 81 innings.
Lance Lynn - SP/RP - St. Louis Cardinals
Yet another reliver-turned-starter, Lynn took the rotation spot that Chris Carpenter left open as he rehabbed from injury. He ran with it too, reeling off an 18-7 record and striking out a little over a batter per inning. Easily the best $1 bet I made this season, I actually let Lynn go when he was briefly lifted from the rotation in late August. Joke was on me, of course, as he'd go on to win all four of his starts after being reinstated.
Marco Estrada - SP/RP - Milwaukee Brewers
If it weren't for bad luck, some guys would have no luck at all. It took Estrada 17 starts (and a DL stint) before he notched his first W of the season, despite posting a respectable 1.22 WHIP and 8.61 K/9 over the first 16 starts. His fortunes would turn over his last 8 starts, however, as Estrada went 5-2 with a squeaky clean 2.03 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with 56 Ks over 48.2 innings. Major 2013 value potential here.
Josh Johnson - SP - Miami Marlins
No, it probably didn't help that he was just coming back from Tommy John surgery. No, it probably didn't help that the Miami offense was terrible even before it was dismantled. No, it probably didn't help that their bullpen was completely unreliable. But I did expect better from Josh Johnson, especially for the $21 I shelled out for him. The first two months spoiled his season numbers, but he did look much better from June on, posting a 3.28 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and an 8.02 K/9 against a hard luck 5-11 record.
Felipe Paulino - SP - Kansas City Royals
The sole criterion for making this list was that a player had to have spent at least half a season on my roster, even if it was simply occupying a DL spot. I grabbed Paulino from the free agent pool in early April while he was rehabbing an elbow injury and held onto him until late June before he was ruled out for the rest of the season. But for that glorious month of May, he was untouchable. A 3-1 record in 7 starts, backed up by a miniscule 1.67 ERA and 39 Ks over 37.2 innings. I only wish there had been more before he left for Tommy John surgery.
Dan Haren - SP - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
It's hard to find the silver lining with Haren (a $30 investment). He had been remarkably consistent until this year's fall-off. He had never been on the DL until a back issue forced him onto it in 2012. He should have been playing for a contract, but instead delivered a sub-par season and had his option bought out. I guess you could point to his post All-Star numbers (6-5, 3.58 ERA, 1.12 WHIP) as being much closer to his career averages, but even that was abnormal for Haren, who is usually much more solid in the first half and then prone to a late-season fall-off. This dude is going to get paid on the free agent market, but could be a value at next year's auction.
Ted Lilly - SP - Los Angeles Dodgers
You're probably starting to pick up on the theme of how I picked a bunch of pitchers who gave me a month or two before they got hurt. Enter Ted Lilly, a $2 draft day flyer. Before his May 23rd injury implosion, Lilly was carrying a 5-0 record with a 1.79 ERA and 0.90 WHIP over 43.1 innings. I don't know if the veteran lefty will be able to come back in the 2013 season at age 37 after undergoing shoulder surgery, but he's quietly been one of the most consistently above average pitchers in MLB since 2007, going 71-53 with a 3.71 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 7.60 K/9. Guys like that shouldn't go for $2. Thanks ageism.
Dillon Gee - SP - New York Mets
Here's a guy who had his share of ups and downs before settling in to deliver a string of good starts from late May to early July. Before exiting with a shoulder injury, this $1 pick rattled off 9 quality starts over a ten start span, posting a 4-4 record, 3.11 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 60 Ks in 66.2 innings.
Ben Sheets - SP - Atlanta Braves
Blast from the past. The former Brewers ace resurfaced in Atlanta after an almost two year layoff and pitched brilliantly for about a month before arm problems resurfaced. In his first 5 starts, he put up a dazzling 1.41 ERA, 1.19 WHIP while going 4-1 for the surging Braves. He would only make 3 more starts, getting roughed up in all of them before heading back to the DL. On the last day of the season, he made the start and threw one scoreless inning, striking out two, before leaving the field for the last time.
Zach McAllister - SP - Cleveland Indians
At one point, I had 4 Indians starting pitchers on my roster (McAllister, Ubaldo Jimenez, Roberto Hernandez/Fausto Carmona, and Corey Kluber) and I was sure I was doomed to miss the playoffs. Of the Forgettable Four, McAllister was the least detrimental to my squad and at times even looked like he knew what he was doing out there on the bump. In his 6 starts in June and July, he racked up a 3-1 record, a 2.65 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 37 Ks in 37.1 innings. Unfortunately, his decline coincided with the team's as he would post a 5.29 ERA in the final two months.
Johan Santana - SP - New York Mets
When you look at the final line, Johan looks like a guy you buy for $3 on draft day: 6-9, 4.85 ERA, 1.33 WHIP. When you look at the line at the end of June, Johan looks like Johan. The wheels came off in July and eventually led to an injury shutdown, but on June 30th, he was 6-4 with a typically Johan 2.76 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 8.54 K/9 in 16 starts. Oh yeah, and one of those was a no-hitter. Unfortunately, he gave up six runs or more in each of his last five starts and was shut down with back problems.
These are only 26 of the 150-or-so players that passed through my team this year (most of those were playoff pickups after starters were shut down for the remainder of the year) , but at one point or another, these guys made a difference between winning and losing, so to each and every one of them, I say, with honest and heartfelt emotion...
"Thanks to you, I was able to fix the brakes on my van."
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