Roto Chronicles: National League–July 7

A couple of players this week found themselves debuting in the royalty section, while some familiar names are relegated to the ruts section for their bad performances.
As the season approaches to the half-way point (technically it already has), some players are rising out of the depths of obscurity, some are stagnant, and some have fallen by the wayside. This is typical of any ball player. It comes with the territory. One player will have a tremendous week and then the next fall off, and vice-versa. A couple of players this week found themselves debuting in the royalty section, while some familiar names are relegated to the ruts section for their bad performances. Without further ado, here are my players for this week’s Ruts and Royalty.

Royalty:

Chris Iannetta: You’re probably wondering why I have a rotating catcher in the royalty section. It’s simply because of this: in his last three games played, he has 6 RBIs. 4 of them came in the marathon game against the Marlins, but you can’t ignore what he does at the plate when given the chances. He doesn’t have power numbers. That’s evident in his .276 batting average, and 9 homeruns. He shouldn’t be seen as a back-up catcher, and he certainly isn’t playing like one. In fact, he has almost the same amount of at-bats (156) as his counterpart Yorvit Torrealba (170). If you have both on your team, you can’t miss with putting one or the other in the game. The idea of the Rockies is to play one player for 3 days, then rest him, so during the times in which he plays, I suggest starting him.

Mark Reynolds: A .255 average isn’t very good, but his 18 homeruns and 55 RBIs is. One of Reynold’s problems at the plate is his strikeouts. He has 104 of them on the season. However, he bat .341 with a homerun and 3 RBIs. However, the downside to Reynolds is his ability to stay consistent at the plate. He hasn’t shown that he has. It is hit and miss with him if you start him, but it’s not a bad idea to play your mediocre players as a Utility man if you have a spare third baseman. Don’t get me wrong, Reynolds isn’t a bad player, he just needs to improve on not striking out so much.

Rick Ankiel: I said it before and it’s coming true: Ankiel is turning it around. If you dropped him because of his slump, shame on you. He didn’t deserve it. Here’s what he did in the week: he bat .400, hit 2 homeruns, had 6 RBIs, and walked twice netting an OBP of .425. Not bad. Ankiel is coming on strong and could be poised to dominate the second half of the season. It is sure that he’s not around for the taking anymore, but if you need a homerun bat on your roster, it would behoove you to make a move for him. He’s only getting better as the season goes on.

Cristian Guzman: This all-star is slugging a .313 average. His downside is he only has 5 homeruns and 29 RBIs on the season. Those aren’t numbers at this point in the season where you want to praise the player, but Guzman’s always been a contact hitter. How often do you hear his name in the press on or off the field? He stays clean off the field and he is a quiet leader on it. You don’t need whopping homerun totals or RBIs to be a leader and obviously not to be in my royalty section. He gets you hits. Did I mention he leads the league in hits? That’s a stat that I’m sure not many people know about. Guzman is a special type of player. Start him. Right now, he’s on a 10 game hit streak. Another good thing about Guzman is that he doesn’t strike out that often, only striking out 38 times this season. That’s a tenth of his at-bats. Obviously he’s converting those at-bat attempts to good use.

Roy Oswalt: It does appear that Oswalt has found his groove once again. It would only be a matter of time. In his last start against the Dodgers he gave up only 1 run in 6 innings and struck out 9. The old Roy Oswalt is starting to emerge and it would be beneficial to start him. He will be playing the Cubs after the all-star break, but his confidence level is coming back and he is starting to show a dominating presence on the mound. Start him. He’ll be good for you.

Ruts:

Brad Hawpe: Ever since coming off the DL he’s had a terrible time at the plate. You can’t fault him, though, he’s still reportedly overcoming the injury, but that’s really not acceptable. If he’s injured somewhat or the injury is nagging at him even a little bit, he shouldn’t be playing. It’s hurting himself and the team every time he goes out. Since coming off the DL he is only batting .235, but the week cost him. He only hit .176. The only redeeming factor on the week was he was able to cross the plate 4 times. I suggest leaving him on the bench. Permanently is a possibility. What you can do is use Hawpe as trade bait. He has the value now to become trade bait for possibly a Mark Reynolds, or Stephen Drew, but I wouldn’t bank on him getting you a higher tiered player in return.

Jay Bruce: Bruce started off on fire and now after a few weeks in the pros he’s cooling off. His honeymoon period is over now and it’s time to come back to reality. He’s batting a modest .273 on the season, but on the week, he’s sitting at a .250. No worries. Even though he’s a rookie, he can still turn it around. Bruce has the make up to become a dominating player and it looked that way at the beginning of the season. The test of a good player is to see if he can break out of slumps quickly and he’s been on and off with that. I still suggest leaving him in the lineup. You really have nothing to lose. If he breaks out he could have a monstrous break out and you don’t want to miss out on that.

Rickie Weeks: I had him here recently, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to put him here again this week. He is playing very poorly and it is showing. Ned Yost still sees value in Weeks, but his .208 average is abysmal. I’m very surprised Weeks hasn’t seen bench time in recent days. He only has one hit in his last 15 at-bats. He has never had this bad of a season, but he looks intimidated at the plate and scared to swing at pitches that are close to the strike zone. My suggestion is to drop him altogether. It is too late in the season for a player to help give you respectable numbers. He will hurt your team. Sure he has 11 stolen bases, but he can’t steal more bases than that if he can’t get on base in the first place.

Jeff Francoeur: Francouer slumped, to say the least. He was demoted to double A earlier in the week, and made his return only because of the injuries to 3 more players. The Braves have a hard time getting their players healthy, but that’s not the issue here. Francoeur felt “betrayed” but the Braves should feel betrayed because of his lack of play. Before he was sent down to double A he was batting .234, but in the three games leading up to it be was hitting a very meager .083. That’s not going to win you games and his lack of play and dedication to the team doomed him. Don’t take him back because he’s really not good for anything. Once players start coming back from the DL, look for him to go back to double A.

Pedro Martinez: He’s given up a ton of runs lately and he shouldn’t be starting for you anytime soon. Don’t blame it on a bad year. Truly he is getting up in age so he may be at the end of his career. His fastball has tailed off and is in the high 80s to low 80s. The control is also on the slide. He has walked 10 players in his last 5 starts. That’s not traditional Pedro. He hasn’t pitched out of the 5th inning in his last 6 starts. To boot, his 2-2 record and 6.60 ERA stinks. Don’t expect him to turn it around. It is best to cut ties with him at this moment. It was fun while it lasted, but you can’t let him hurt your team.

DL Watch:

Elijah Dukes: Dukes is playing well and I honestly didn’t think he would turn around his career. He’s starting to mature on and off the field. Dukes, on the season, is batting .263, but has come on strongly in his last 7 games batting .330 with 5 runs. This one hurt the Nationals more than Milledge’s injury did. Now the Nationals are depleted in the outfield. There is no telling when he’ll return, but it is suspected he will miss 2-4 weeks. It’s a risk, but I would still hang on to him. He’s turning it on and may be a special player before the season is over.

Alfonso Soriano: Soriano is slated to come back for the all-star break. This is a no brainer. After the all-star break, start him.