The date was July 4. The All-Star reserves had just been announced, and after seeing Infante's name listed among them (and moving past my initial outrage), I felt compelled to write an update preempting all those Fantasy owners who might think, "Whoa, I can have an All-Star on my team," and grab him off the waiver wire. The analysis read as follows:
"Infante's manager and teammates may love the selection, but the fans are certainly scratching their heads. The purpose of this update isn't to get you excited about Infante's selection but to caution you from rating him too highly as a result of it. He's a reserve, and for good reason. His contact rate is above average, but he has no power or speed, which would already make him strictly an NL-only option. The fact he plays less than every day seals the deal. All-Star or not, he belongs on waivers in Fantasy."
Yes, I actually spelled out the purpose of an update within the update itself. Normally, that sort of thing is implied, but I didn't want to leave any room for interpretation. In Fantasy terms, Infante was rubbish.
But a funny thing happened about a month later: Chipper Jones suffered a season-ending injury. Suddenly, the deal was no longer sealed. Infante was an everyday player, and the only thing standing between him and Fantasy relevance was his performance.
Sunday's two-homer game pretty much sealed the deal there.
Since taking over as a starter -- which actually happened when Martin Prado went down temporarily in late July -- Infante has multiple hits in 14 of 24 games. He's batting .394 (41 for 104) with four homers during that stretch and is coming off a 43-point week in Fantasy. Instead of wilting from increased exposure, he has blossomed into a more complete hitter.
As a contender for the batting title with a slugging percentage better than that of Hanley Ramirez and Brandon Phillips, Infante appears to be the second coming of Placido Polanco -- an exceptional contact hitter with just enough power to make it count in Head-to-Head leagues.
But unlike Polanco, Infante qualifies at shortstop and remains unowned in 29 percent of Fantasy leagues.
Whenever Burnett went through a rough stretch in the past, you knew to be patient. It was nothing new for him.
But those rough stretches always came at the beginning of the season, when he was still trying to regain the feel on his curveball. That hasn't been the case this year. In April and May, Burnett went 6-2 with a 3.28 ERA. In 14 starts since then, he's 3-9 with a 6.22 ERA.
And those aren't even the most disturbing numbers. They may help signal a problem, but they don't explain it the way this one does: After averaging 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings over his previous eight seasons, Burnett is down to 6.7 this year, which is about the level of a soft-tossing Kevin Slowey.
Burnett has always been a pitcher that has gotten by on pure stuff, on blowing hitters away with high-90s heat and a sharp-breaking curve. He really hasn't adjusted his approach since breaking into the league, which is why his ERA and WHIP have always been on the disappointing side. Now that his stuff is declining a bit at age 33, with his fastball averaging a career-low 93.1 miles per hour, he's at a point where he has to adjust, and it's not coming easily.
Burnett has always been something of an underachiever, but Fantasy owners were willing to overlook it because of his high strikeout rate. Now that it's gone, he's nothing but average.
And at a time in baseball history when pitching is back on the upswing, you can do a lot better than average -- perhaps even off the waiver wire.
Crisp has spent much of the last year working his way through the medical dictionary.
This season alone, he has suffered a broken pinkie, an intercostal strain and two instances of a left hamstring injury, all while working his way back from two shoulder surgeries -- one to repair a torn right labrum and the other to repair a torn left rotator cuff. It was enough to make anyone a Fantasy afterthought, and by the end of it all, his ownership percentage had dipped all the way to 13.
But before you write him off as a medical curiosity with a cutesy name, think way back to the days before he became a role player for the big-budget Red Sox, back when he was putting together back-to-back 15-15 seasons for the Indians and emerging as a nifty third outfielder in Fantasy.
You remember that guy? If not, you can tune in to the next A's game for a live look at relived history.
Crisp has eight multi-hit games over his last 17, batting .364 (24 for 66) with two home runs and seven stolen bases during that stretch. Since returning for good on June 22, he's the fifth-ranked outfielder and the 13th-ranked offensive player in standard Head-to-Head leagues. If he continues to perform at the pace he has been, he would finish with nine homers and 37 steals, which is nothing short of amazing considering he missed nearly half the season with injuries.
Crisp may have suffered some setbacks and endured some less-than-favorable roles, but as Aubrey Huff and Vladimir Guerrero have shown us, if the talent is there, the numbers could always come back. Crisp is hitting for power again and stealing more bases than ever before, making him something like the AL version of Angel Pagan.
Which makes him something worth adding in mixed leagues.
When Niese went on the DL with a hamstring injury in mid-May, he was just another overmatched Mets hurler rushed to the big leagues to help patch up a depleted starting rotation.
Since returning on June 5, he has a 2.70 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 15 starts, going seven innings or more in nine of them.
It's not the most surprising breakthrough considering he ranked 77th among Baseball America's top 100 prospects entering 2009, but it did happen suddenly, which might have caused some Fantasy owners to miss it.
Once you've spotted it, though, there's no mistaking it. He's not just trending the right direction; he's actually a changed pitcher. In 41 1/3 innings before the injury, he issued 18 walks, averaging 3.9 per nine innings. In 96 2/3 innings since, he has issued 25 walks, averaging 2.3 per nine innings.
He's staying ahead in the count, which allows him to make better use of his breaking pitches, and throwing fewer pitches overall, which allows him to pitch deeper into games. And even though he's relatively inexperienced, the hamstring injury should help him avoid getting shut down early like some of the other young pitchers around the league.
If you're an A.J. Burnett owner looking for someone a little more reliable, why not give Niese a look? He's owned in only 70 percent of leagues.
Hanging Sliders ...These guys look like Sliders, but alas, they really are just streaking.
Last season, Betancourt hit six home runs. He has that many over his last 14 games.
The result is a career-high 13 home runs on the season, which puts him on pace for 17 to go along with 80 RBI.
But I smell something fishy.
I'm not suggesting Betancourt did anything untoward to achieve those numbers, but that a perfect combination of baseball's imperfect variables have allowed him to do something unsustainable. And you don't have to look back that far to figure it out. Over the last two weeks, he has 53 Fantasy points. He didn't have that many over the previous four.
In his six major-league seasons, Betancourt has a career .297 on-base percentage and a career .693 OPS -- numbers that would have run him out of the league already if he didn't happen to play shortstop. He has always been a glove-first player with no better than modest power, and nothing about his pedigree or approach suggests that will change.
If you're desperate for a shortstop, you can ride him while he's hot, but considering he's already setting career highs left and right, you have to wonder how much longer this streak will last.
Change-Up ...Whoops! I recently wrote something I regret and want to take it back.
NCAA College Basketball Preview - Providence Friars at Pittsburgh Panthers - Feb 12, 2008 - CBSSports.com
Ronald Ramon had been struggling with his 3-point shot all season, and things had gotten especially bad for the Pittsburgh guard lately. But one buzzer-beater might be able to start turning around his season - and that of the inconsistent Panthers.
On Tuesday night, No. 22 Pittsburgh (18-5, 6-4) try to build off Ramon's last-second game-winner when they host struggling Providence, which has won just once on the road all season.
Pitt was in danger of falling to .500 in the Big East and out of the Top 25 when it trailed West Virginia 54-52 in the waning seconds on Thursday. But Ramon, who had been 1-of-5 from beyond the arc in the game and 6-of-24 in his past six contests, hit a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Panthers the 55-54 win.
"That was a big-time shot by a big-time player," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "I've said all along that I'm the luckiest guy in the world to coach Ronald Ramon. He's a great player and an even better kid."
Pitt has alternated wins and losses in its last seven games following a 69-60 win over then-No. 5 Georgetown on Jan. 14. Since then, the Panthers are scoring just 63.5 points - 11 fewer than their season average - and shooting 41.4 percent from the floor, including 29.3 percent from 3-point range.
Even games at the Petersen Events Center are no longer easy wins. Pitt is 93-9 at home in seven years at their on-campus facility, but in its past three games, was beaten convincingly by unranked Rutgers and nearly lost to the Mountaineers.
Keith Benjamin, who has started all 11 games since Levance Fields went down with a broken foot on Dec. 29, thinks Pitt can still contend for the conference title.
"Every game is huge from here on out," said Benjamin, who's averaging 12.6 points as a starter. "The Big East is a crazy league, and you never know when you're out of it. We're playing well on defense and once we get back to playing like I know we can on offense, we're going to be a tough team to beat."
Sam Young has been the key to the Panthers' offense this season, averaging 17.7 points - 10.5 more than he did as a sophomore in 2006-07. He took a season-low six shots and finished with 10 points against West Virginia.
Freshman DeJuan Blair is the team's best offensive option down low, averaging 11.7 points and his 9.7 rebounds per game rank him third in the conference.
Providence (13-10, 4-7) has lost five of six following a three-game winning streak that included its lone road victory, 77-65 at Connecticut on Jan. 17.
Most of the Friars' problems this season have come on defense. They're allowing 74.3 points per game on 45.0 percent shooting over their past six contests. They held St. John's well below that average on Saturday, but committed 15 turnovers in a 64-62 loss.
Offensively, Providence is one of the country's most balanced units. Five players, including four starters, average between 10.4 and 12.4 points.
Junior Jeff Xavier leads the team in scoring, but he's been inconsistent. He scored 19 against the Red Storm, including five 3-pointers, but had just eight points combined in his previous two games.
The Panthers have won seven straight in the series from Providence, including all four meetings at home. The Friars last won in Pittsburgh in 1998.
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