“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Who would have thought T.S. Eliot was writing about baseball, eh?
But April is most certainly cruel for fantasy baseball fans as we don’t know what to believe. Should we view these unexpected lilacs through the critical lens of our recent memory? Should we view these dull roots with the desire that spring rain can offer? Or are we to look at the last 2 weeks as signs of things we missed?
A number of things are certainly difficult to believe.
Adam Dunn is hitting .375
As of this morning, this .247 career hitter had started the year 9 for 25. What’s more, he had 11 walks to only 6 strikeouts. I’m going to go with common sense here and assume he doesn’t finish the season with a .300+ batting average. But he seems to be paying off handsomely for the hard luck Nationals, offering them the solid offensive presence in a lineup still trying to find itself.
A New Big Papi
Nelson Cruz leading the Majors in HR’s is actually more believable. This Dominican Papi, a 28 year old masher for Texas, already has 5 long balls. No, his pace for 90 HR’s on the season won’t last. But he swings a big stick in the middle of a potent Rangers lineup and plays half of his games in homer heaven. If it’s a history of power you want, Cruz hit 44 home runs between the minors and majors last year. Take my word for it. This slugger is for real.
Broken Wang
Chien Meng Wang has let up as many earned runs (15) as C.C. Sabathia (7), A.J. Burnett (4), and Andy Pettitte (4) have combined. His ERA (29.38) and WHIP (4.50) are just cartoonish and to make matters worse, he has yet to make it out of the 4th inning. So far, he has had the same issues as fellow sinkerballer Fausto Carmona. Wang hasn’t been throwing for strikes and those that he does throw are not down in the strike zone. The result, hitters take many more pitches and crush the big fat gopher balls that do make it across the plate. He will keep working on refining his stuff and eventually Wang will return to his groundball happy form. Keep an eye on him should a nervous owner get stupid and dump him for Carl Pavano.
Hit Parade
Cliff Lee and Kevin Slowey place first and second in the league for hits allowed. Lee is coming off of a Cy Young season and Slowey had the makings of one leading up to this year. I’m not sold on Lee as he showed violent swings in his control from year to year. But keep your eye on Slowey. For all of those people who drafted him for a super low WHIP, there’s got to be someone ready to bail before the month is out.
I always like to suggest to fantasy owners that they do one very important thing in the month of April. Nothing. April IS the cruelest month. Sluggers start slowly just as duds start hot. If you pick up a bright star this month, just make sure it doesn’t come with a huge cost.
