The Wire Troll: Another Ankiel Setback

By Tim McLeod

Here’s the latest article from RotoRob.

It’s been a hell of a week for some Fantasy owners (especially you Manny Ramirez owners), so without further ado, let’s take a look at this weekís waiver wire opportunities.

Josh Whitesell, Arizona Diamondbacks, 1B: It appears that A.J. Hinch is going to have his hands full in the desert replacing Bob Melvin. The D-Backs made the first of what could potentially be many moves when they called up Whitesell to replace the struggling Chad Tracy at first base. Down on the farm, Whitesell managed three homers, 20 RBI and an outstanding .356 BA. Arizona will be giving him plenty of at bats, at least initially, so grab him quick in NL-only leagues and monitor his progress closely in mixed formats.

Colby Rasmus, St. Louis Cardinals, OF: The injury to Rick Ankiel has created an opportunity for Rasmus to display that five-tool prowess that has had many a Fantasy owner drooling for the past several years. He should already be owned in keeper formats, but is a decent gamble in mixed formats as a replacement for the next several weeks until the return of Ankiel. It’s hard not to feel for Ankiel. Isnít it a shame that every time he seemingly turns a corner he bumps into another figurative and sometimes even literal wall?

Chris Coghlan, Florida Marlins, 2B/3B/OF: The Marlins have turned to one of their top prospects in Coghlan in an attempt to bolster their struggling offense. In his past 10 games at Triple-A New Orleans, he hit to the tune of a .514 BA with three homers, 14 RBI, five stolen bases and 13 runs scored. Very, very impressive. Emilio Bonifacio and Cameron Maybin are both currently struggling and the Marlins arenít bringing up a top prospect to have him sit. Coghlan should be rostered in NL-only formats and mixed leagues.

Kris Medlen, Atlanta Braves, SP: The Atlanta Braves have a very interesting conundrum facing them. Jo-Jo Reyes has been getting beat up on a regular basis and his days in the rotation are numbered. Down on the farm, the Braves have a phenom named Tommy Hanson that many thought would break camp in the rotation. Atlanta also has a 23-year-old named Kris Medlen that is currently producing better numbers for the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves. Currently Medlin is 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA and, in 30 2/3 IP, has stuck out 38 while only allowing 17 hits and seven walks. It is fairly obvious that he is poised to make that next step, as is Hanson. Both should be rostered in keeper formats, but in the event that the Braves turn to Medlen first, which is a possibility, grab him quick in all formats.

Julio Lugo, Boston Red Sox, SS: Lugo is finally back in the lineup for the Sox and is currently swinging a hot bat. Over his past three games, he is 6-for-13 with five runs scored. The name of the game for Lugo is speed, and because of the knee injury it is going to take a while to allow him to fully return to that aspect of his arsenal, but in the powerful Red Sox lineup he is a solid start in all formats.

Manny Burriss, San Francisco Giants, SS: Burriss has quietly been swinging a very hot bat over the past several weeks for the Giants. He has managed to go 15-for-32 with three steals over his past 10 games. Burriss’ hot streak has caused the Giants to move him up in the order, thus affording him more chances to score runs. He also has both shortstop and second base eligibility, a very nice bonus. If your middle-infield is struggling and you need a boost in your stolen base numbers, Burris makes for a fine addition.

Matt Palmer, Los Angeles Angels, SP: The 30-year-old rookie has now pitched back-to-back great efforts for the Halos. They sure have needed the boost with most of their rotation currently on the DL. The Angels are hoping to see both John Lackey and Ervin Santana return shortly, but will still need the services of a solid number five man at the back of their rotation. Palmer is a solid addition in AL-only leagues and his progress should be monitored very closely over his next several starts for mixed formats.

Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants, SP: After his first two starts, most of us were ready to write Zito off as simply having another typical disappointing year. In what must be considered a surprise of biblical proportions, his past four starts have been very steady. Zito has managed to allow only four runs over that span, three of which came during his April 27th start against the Dodgers. Itís the middle of May and he has a very serviceable 3.57 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. Zito is undoubtedly risky and potentially very dangerous, but worthy of a roster spot in NL-only leagues and, with one more quality start, should begin disappearing off the waiver wire in mixed leagues.

Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers, OF: The PED-related suspension of Ramirez has, for the next 50 games, opened a window of opportunity for Pierre. It looks like the Dodgers have moved Pierre into the lead-off slot and heís batting 6-for-11 with three RBI and a stolen base over his past three games. If your fantasy team is in need of runs scored and stolen bases and heís still out there on waivers, grab him quick before heís gone.

Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies, SP: Those of us that had high hopes for De La Rosa after his great stretch run last year are very happy. Saturday, he pitched a gem, allowing only four hits over eight innings while contributing 12 strikeouts. De La Rosa has to keep the walks down, a problem he’s had in the past, but with four of his past five starts being of the quality variety he should be owned in all formats at this time.

John Grabow/Taylor Yates, Pittsburgh Pirates, RP: Matt Capps is currently going through what has been termed ìminor discomfortî in his right elbow. This would be the same Capps that missed two months last year with shoulder problems. A trend is starting to rear its ugly head here. He is slotted to return at the beginning of the week after taking most of the past week off. Grabow and Yates have both struggled this past week, pitching very poorly. In the event Capps’ elbow woes continue, one of the two by default will most likely end up with the closer gig. Iím betting on Grabow as he at least has the history when he replaced Capps last summer. Keep this one filed under the wait-until-we-get-more-information category, but be ready to move quick should Capps end up on the DL.

Pierre McGuire was on the Fan this am, the fan doesn’t post too many of their insiders clips on the net so it’s hard to get clips for you. However, I got a good chunk of it. McGuire was saying how far back the Muskoka Five set the Leafs franchise. “If they hadn’t refused to waive there no movement/no trade clauses the team wouldn’t be in this 3-5 year rebuilding program., I guarantee it.”

Well, a couple of things come to mind…

1. If the queen had balls, she would be king
2. the following scene from an absolute classic:
“Tommy: Let’s think about this for a sec, Ted, why do they put a guarantee on a box? Hmm, very interesting.
Ted: I’m listening.
Tommy: Here’s how I see it. A guy puts a guarantee on the box ’cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: ‘Course it does. Ya think if you leave that box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter.
Ted: What’s your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy, but we’re not buying it. Next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser and your daughter’s knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted: But why do they put a guarantee on the box then?
Tommy: Because they know all they solda ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That’s all it is. Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for right now, for your sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality item from me.
Ted: Hmm. Okay, I’ll buy from you.
Tommy: Well I… What?

So, the guarantee isn’t that important. We all know the truth. The question is what put us in the mess? If you listen to Wilbur, the pressure to succeed was so great on JFJ he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do. I scream bullshit. Look where failure got him. FIRED. I also don’t buy that he acted differently because he didn’t have job security. There are lots of GM’s out there on 1 year deals who don’t mortgage everything on nothing. This guy was a complete baphoon. He will never be a GM again in the NHL. As one exec told me, he will be a GM again, but only of a Walmart! These deals that he made were so brutal. Every single one of them. I don’t blame any of the players for not waiving their clauses. The jerk on the other side was willing to give it and hey they each earned it. Who was JFJ bidding against when he signed any of the guys he gave the NTC’s too? NO ONE. Did he have to up the anti on Tucker because someone else was going to go higher? NO. Did someone threaten to overpay McCabe? Nope…He was bidding against himself in almost every case. Oh no, he wouldn’t have gotten Kubina…alone, and no offense to Kubina, but what the hell was this one guy going to add to this franchise???

I just love the argument that ownership screwed this up. I don’t buy 1 cent of it. You don’t get to the GM level by being a yes man. All of the sudden you are an order taker? Give me a break. If that is true, then JFJ is more spineless then I originally thought. The guy was making big bucks. He knows only hockey. He had to know that his reputation was on the line with every move he made. The question is was he just to stubborn to listen to those around him? Did he really act totally alone on these moves? Forget the board. The board wasn’t telling him to go sign Pavel Kubina. Was the board out there trying to replace him? Sure, that may be the case. Was the board in disagreement over his status. Sure. Did that undermine him? Absolutely. Did that force him to make stupid moves? Hell no. I don’t buy it for one second. He was apparently turned down one time by the board, and that was to blow things up entirely. I know that may sound hypocritical. Wait though, before you pounce. Ask yourself this? Do you want that tool doing the rebuilding. We got nothing for Sundin. We got Van Ryn for McCabe. The damage Cliff did in blowing up was pretty minimal. The guys he got back have been OK. Not great. OK. They haven’t been complete disasters (save for the village idiot who for some reason Wilson seems to like). I didn’t want it then and I re-enforce it today, JFJ was not the man ever to do the re-tooling.

We see it in every day life all the time. People who excel in one area aspire to do something else. Not everyone is a good manager. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good at something. I have run into this countless times. Leading sales people aspire to be sales managers. When they become sales managers they hate it, they are miserable. Why? Simple, they aren’t selling anymore, they are bogged down in red tape and process. So they have the title and yet they are miserable. JFJ sounded like he was good at contracts (stop laughing). Maybe he was good at negotiating them when he was provided with limitations. I would like to say he was a good talent evaluator but we all know that just can’t be true. Who knows, I am sure he has a home in hockey. Right now he is a scout (stop laughing). I don’t think he has the makeup to be a GM in this league. It’s really quite simple. I get asked a lot, whether I think Burke was the right guy for the leafs. The answer is absolutely. Why, because he is the one guy who can handle the board and the media. As much as I love Doug Wilson and think he would have been a better GM choice, he would have gotten killed here. He is too quite, too thoughtful. If Richard Peddie walks in to Burke’s office and says ya know, this guy on Columbus looks pretty good, we all know where Burke is going to put Peddie. There will be no discussion, no second thought. If McCown wants to rip Burke on the air, Burke isn’t going to run from the Bobcat. That is the type of person the Buds need at this point.

So I agree with you Pierre. We may not agree on the why or the who is to blame but the Muskoka 5 really hurt this team. It says here the blame falls squarely on JFJ. He may not have started the country club atmosphere, he allowed it to remain, he installed the coach who did nothing about it. He signed the players, it all falls on him. When history looks back no one will say, oh yeah that guy from the Ontatio Teachers Pension fund really screwed the leafs up, they will say JFJ did.