A few weeks into the 2006 season, Johan Santana was sitting on some numbers that weren’t in keeping with his usual high level of performance. His ERA and WHIP were up, and the wins weren’t there yet. Obviously, I tried to trade for him in all my fantasy leagues using the classic “buy low” strategy. Then, just over a month into the season, Minnesota moved Francisco Liriano into the starting rotation and it caused a feeding frenzy on the fantasy circuit. And for good reason – Liriano has been pretty much the best player in baseball since he became a starter.
On the flip side, when Twins first baseman Justin Morneau started hitting in mid May, fantasy owners turned a blind eye. When someone in a fantasy league offered him to me for Todd Helton, I waited about five seconds before rejecting the offer, and this was knowing full well that Helton is pretty much worthless. Needless to say, when Morneau caught fire, it wasn’t met with the same reaction as when Liriano started racking up the stats.
The reason is pretty simple and it can be summarized with the following cliché: Once bitten, twice shy. You see, Morneau was the guy everyone reached for in the eighth round of their drafts last year, only to see him flail and hack his way to a .239 batting average and meager .437 slugging percentage. It was going to take more than a three-homer week for me to willingly put him on my team.
Short story made long, I didn’t make the trade and I don’t have Morneau today.
Nor is fantasy baseball ultimately very relevant to what Justin Morneau has been doing for the past few months. But a funny thing happens when somebody makes you a trade offer, particularly one that you don’t accept. You find yourself paying a little closer attention to the guy you could have had. That’s why I started noticing every Morneau blast, all the runs he was driving in, and the steady climb in his batting average. Maybe that’s why I feel like I’m the only person alive that has any idea how good he’s been this year (warning: the “ridiculous exaggeration” filter is buzzing).
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Article comments
1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Adam,
I haven't been watching the Twinkies for about five years now, given that I live a third of a world away. But my wife, the loyal fan and St. Paul native, keeps pressing me for stats - so in the past I looked in the Jerusalem Post (when you live in Israel, that paper is a real downer, as is Haaretz) or the major league baseball site.
The way I've seen it, the Twinkies, no matter how good they looked in the "Central Division" (whatever that is - this is baseball, not basketball!) of the AL, never really rose above the middle of the American League. If you look at all of the teams in the AL, do the Twins rise above the middle of the AL, or are they still sitting there?
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Ruvy,
ESPN's Power Rankings should give you a good idea of who's playing the best right now. They update it every Friday:
1- Yankees
2- Tigers
3- Twins
Though personally I'd switch 1 and 2.
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Thanks Matt,
I just went to the AL standings at the same site - and it turns out that with a .591 average, the Twins are in the 4th ranking out of 14. Not bad, but still solidly towards the center of the standings in the league. Usually they have been in 5th or 6th place in the past.
Still, it is nice to see the Twins garner a little attention outside of Minnesota and the Dakotas...