A long-delayed mailbag
Todd Latzke (Minneapolis): Thanks for responding to my E-mail, again!!!! I have sent you several E-mails to you in the past, and you NEVER respond back. Thanks for treating your readers with a LITTLE respect!! Yes, I do mean LITTLE!! Learn to treat people better!!! You are not better then everyone else, treat them the same way you want to be treated!! You have lost all respect from me. You have lost a regular reader!!
TMR: But I do treat my readers the way I want to be treated. I leave them alone, don't send them excessive amounts of e-mail with many exclamation points and shouting all-capital words, and I don't insult them.
Alternate TMR response I thought of: Look, Todd, I am not better than everyone else. Just you.
Alternate alternate response: If I was worried about losing respect don't you think I'd have picked a different line of work? Or would dress better? Or have not been down on Joe Mauer in the preseason?
Regardless of which response you favor, the point remains the same. It's been way too long since I've done a mailbag. Shame that Todd won't be reading it, of course, but somehow we'll muddle through.
Joe (Archbald, Pa.): Who does better for the rest of the year: Alfonso Soriano or Mark Reynolds? [In a] 5x5 standard mixed league. I have decent depth at both [corner infield] and [outfield]. Thanks in advance.
TMR: What might seem a crazy question on the surface is a good indication of where both guys have been this season. I think the real question here is about Reynolds. Since 2002, Soriano has never hit less than 29 home runs or stolen less than 18 bases. Even as bad as he's been this year, he's on pace for 34/17. It's the average that is the question, and I feel that comes up. He's been working with his batting coach and his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) is a brutal .253. It will come up. Not a ton, but it will get better.
As for Reynolds, here's what I wrote about him Feb. 17 this year in my preseason "Love/Hate."
Mark Reynolds, 3B, Diamondbacks: He's never gonna help your average, but he's only 25 and this is his third year in the majors. In his second year at Double-A (he didn't play Triple-A) he went from .272 to .306. Now sure, he went down from Year 1 to Year 2, but maybe it takes longer. I actually think less playing time will help Reynolds, and I expect improvement to the .250-.260 range. Considering that he basically went 30 and 100 last year with 11 stolen bases, I like him a lot more than what it will cost to get him.
Back to present day now where Mark is on pace for a crazy 43 home runs, 112 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. I don't expect Reynolds to run as much as he did earlier in the year but certainly, everything else is legit. Bottom line, other than speed, I expect Reynolds to continue to outproduce Soriano, though it'll be close.
Mike (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.): I own Carlos Delgado in a 10 man league. Is he worth keeping? Do you think he'll be coming back anytime soon?
TMR: According to the NY Post Mets blog, Omar Minaya was on NY radio Tuesday and said he's doing well. Right now, he's on track for a late July/early August return. As for whether he's worth keeping in a 10-team league depends on your needs, roster space and who else is available. Do I think he can be productive in the final two months? Yes, I do. But if I needed the space in a 10-team league for another hitter, or even to have a pitcher stream spot, I'd have no problem dumping him. He's a luxury if you have the room, but not a must-keep.
Rob (Santa Barbara, Calif.): Why do write "in the month of June"? Do you really think your readers can't figure out that June is a month?
TMR: They're reading me. How bright can they be?
Richard (Springfield, Va.): My team has been destroyed by injuries. I have Carlos Beltran, Raul Ibanez, Grady Sizemore, Ervin Santana, Edinson Volquez and Aramis Ramirez. Should I try to stand pat and rebound in the second half or try and move some of these injury prone guys? Any of these guys you would cut? Needless to say I don't have enough DL spots for all of them and I need the roster space.
TMR: Well, this is hard to answer without knowing a lot of details. How big is your league, is it a keeper league, where are you in the standings, what categories are you stronger in than others, etc. Given that, it's not too late to make a charge. Sizemore is back now; Ibanez and Ramirez should be back soon. Hold tight with them and Beltran. I'd cut Santana and Volquez. You can stream pitchers and you have a better chance of replacing their production and/or finding replacements there than you would with your outfielders.
Slamshrk31 (ESPN Conversation -- my last column): Haha that first part of the article … ME ME ME ME ME.
TMR: It was only the first part? I'm losing my touch. Better change that with a completely gratuitous e-mail about how great I am.
Jay Gillespie (Lutz, Fla.): I would just like to thank you for all your preseason mentions about the success you believed Shin-Soo Choo was going to have this season. I drafted him too early to make sure I'd get him, I stuck with him through a slow start and I now feel like fantasy baseball gold every time he goes 2-for-4 with a homer, two runs, and a stolen base for the last-place Indians.
TMR: You're welcome. Just doing my job. What can I say? I seem to really have a knack for seeing the future and nailing every single prediction …
T00flip (ESPN Conversation -- my last column): Berry, I'm just saying that for essentially the entire season you've been saying that Ortiz is beat and that his career was over. Now all the sudden he starts hitting and you're just saying that he hits. Why don't you just admit you were wrong?
TMR: Well, sort of. Look, I'll totally cop to the fact that I thought he was done. His bat speed looked slow, he couldn't hit anything and before the season, he was on a three-year downward trend in almost every significant hitting category. His June has totally shocked me. I was still skeptical before last night, when he had yet to hit a home run on the road. He hit his seventh of the year against Washington on Wednesday night and as of June 25, his June numbers … sorry, I mean in the month of June, Ortiz is hitting .327 with six home runs and 15 RBIs. Maybe it's the magic eyedrops. I said last week I don't think he hits more than 20 home runs this season and I'll amend that now to say 25. I'm not going to rush to say he's all the way back after three good weeks, but clearly, I was wrong that he's totally done. He's still available in 10 percent of leagues, which is insane. He does need to be owned in every league.
Jimmy (Chicago): TMR, at our baseball league's behest, we present you with a controversial trade to be the judge and jury on its validity. We have a 12-team head-to-head league with standard 5x5 scoring. Recently, one team, who happens to sit near the top of the standings, traded Joe Mauer straight up for a then-demoted Ricky Nolasco, whose team was a cellar dweller.
Consider a few things:
1. The offer was initiated by the team at the top
2. The offer was made in large part as a wedding present to the team at the bottom.
3. Both team owners are ginormous Twins fans.
Is there room in fantasy for wedding present gestures? Does the trade go against the spirit of a competitive league -- even in this instance of apparent parity-enabling? If you were commissioner of our league, would you allow it or enforce that all sides return to pre-trade conditions? We await your response. Domo arigato.
TMR: I love this. You know what I got when I got married? A bunch of crappy bowls and plates that my then-wife had registered for. Nothing I actually wanted. True story, my fiancée and I were walking through a Williams-Sonoma registering, right? OK, she was registering. I was going along, nodding, hating it. And we found an ice-cream maker. I was like "Hey, let's register for that!" She said no. It was ridiculous. We actually got into a fight about it and in the end, I didn't get my ice-cream maker. Later, my friend Jason Oremland got me an ice-cream maker. Hmm. Hard to believe the marriage didn't take.
Anyway, at face value I understand why you would question Joe Mauer for a Triple-A Ricky Nolasco. But, I'd allow the trade. Look, it's not a good trade, but you can make the argument that Mauer is an injury risk who has never shown this kind of power before; he's trying to sell high and buy low on Nolasco, who was dominant in the second half of last year (and has looked terrific since coming back). Like I said, not good and he could certainly get more for Mauer on the open market, but you can sort of make a twisted case for it.
But even beyond that, it's the first-place team that is getting "ripped off" here, and he initiated it. I hate protests because people should be allowed to manage their team however they want. None of us can tell the future; so as long as there is not collusion, I'm fine with it. And since the guy was totally upfront about why he was doing it and because the guy in first is getting the "bad" part of the deal at his own request, I have no issue with it. Other than that the one I presided over, this sounds like the best wedding ever.
BryanV21 (Columbus, Ohio): I think it's ridiculous that Ubaldo Jimenez is only owned in 37.2 percent of leagues. He's gone at least 6 innings in his past 9 starts. Seven of which were quality starts, with a 50/18 K/BB ratio, and a 2.85 ERA. Tell me I did the right thing sticking with this guy, and the other 62.8 percent of leagues are full of idiots.
TMR: Since you've written this, his ownership has gone up to 45 percent, but I'm with you. Look, if you listened to the baseball podcast last year or listened to me in the preseason, you know I loved Ubaldo. (And, er, Jorge De La Rosa. I still believe in him, by the way). Since May 1, Jimenez is 5-4 with a 2.91 ERA and a 62-22 strikeout-to-walk rate in 77 1/3 innings. And the way the Rockies are playing these days, more wins are ahead.
Chad (Orlando, Fla.): Congrats Laker Fan! Thanks for being real, especially in line for the john. I guess there is no better male bonding place … except maybe the bar …. I'm looking forward to this coming season of Fantasy Focus. Thanks again, Chad.
TMR: I was very lucky and got to go to Orlando to Game 5 of the NBA Finals to see my beloved Lakers win. Always happy to meet fans, but I'm not gonna lie. It's weird when you get approached in the bathroom. I'm not a bathroom talker. Some folks are … I'm not. Never understood the need to speak while you are in there.
Anyway, it's always really flattering when I meet a fan, and don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. It's not like I get mobbed when I go out or anything, it's just … If you see me out and want to talk, get a photo, tell me how much you like Bill Simmons (No. 1 comment I get), that's great. Just wait until I'm finished in the restroom. I'm the Talented Mr. Roto, but I'm not THAT talented. I need to concentrate, you dig?
Mike (Medford, Mass.): Would it be foolish to ditch Aubrey Huff for someone like Casey Blake? I have Huff at 3B right now.
TMR: It wouldn't be foolish. They are both going to fishing with 20-plus home runs and at least 100 RBIs. Huff has struggled with average so far this year, hitting .267 (career .286) while Blake has been terrific, hitting .300 (career .267). With Manny Ramirez coming back I only expect Blake's numbers to get better. I am amazed at the fact that Blake (.300, 10 home runs, 46 RBI) is still available in 48 percent of ESPN leagues. He's 13th on the ESPN Player Rater among third basemen and needs to be owned in all leagues.
Todd Latzke (Minneapolis): When are you going to update your Fantasy Football rankings? It has been 7 weeks since your last update.
TMR: Once you said you weren't going to read me anymore I stopped trying. Actually, I've gotten a lot of Fantasy Football questions. I'm on vacation the week of July 6 (I have to take all my vacation now because once football season starts I'm here six days a week from the middle of July until January) and will update it when I get back. As soon as I finish this article, it's back to "Love/Hate" for football (Editor's Note: don't be fooled, dear readers. As soon as he e-mailed in this article, The Talented Mr. Roto made a beeline for the cafeteria). Also, Nate and I will start up the football podcast in early August.
Dkyanks09 (From ESPN Conversation -- My June 4 column in which I recommend trying to sell Alex Rodriguez): Really? A-Rod's BABIP [batting average on balls in play] is more than a hundred points below his career average in the month since he's come back, and you think he's staying at .250? I'll certainly give you the steals, but quite honestly, who cares if his season total for home runs is under forty? That includes the five weeks he missed. Since you don't have to eat those five weeks anymore, they're irrelevant. Letting your anti-A-Rod prejudices get in the way on that call.
TMR: Since June 5, A-Rod's numbers are this: .137, two home runs, eight RBIs, two steals, 51 at-bats. I continue to say that if you can get anywhere close to a top-30 player for Rodriguez, do it now. But for some reason, I haven't heard back from Dkyanks09. Hmmm. Odd. Well, I want to end on an up note, so I'll just head to my readers for a pick-me-up. I've broken this last one into pieces so I can respond …
Clememp 1972 (ESPN Conversation -- from my last column): It is unbelievable the amount of self-aggrandizing Matthew Berry stoops to in every column. It borders on unreadable.
TMR: Just borders?
Clememp 1972: From insulting the hose guy, then playing off with a caption that it is all about him. To his pandering about his "dating life" -- more fiction.
TMR: It's weird, I actually don't believe I've written about my dating life recently at all. Others have, to be sure, but you shouldn't believe everything you read. I've actually been dating the same woman for about four months now. She insists that I refer to her as my girlfriend in this column and that I assure you that she is not crazy. I am fairly certain she actually exists.
Clememp 1972: How narcissistic can one writer be?
TMR: Sounds like a challenge to me. Have I told you about what I'm gonna have for lunch? I can Twitter it over if you'd like.
Clememp 1972: I guess if you write about fantasy too long, you start to live the secret life of Walter Mitty with a keyboard. His editor should be ashamed. I don't know why I still read this garbage.
TMR: You and everyone else, my friend. You and everyone else.
Matthew Berry -- The Talented Mr. Roto -- would be the first to tell you about it if he had actually hooked up with a 20-year-old model. He is a five-time award winner from the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, including a Writer of the Year award. He is also the creator of RotoPass.com, a Web site that combines a bunch of well-known fantasy sites, including ESPN Insider, for one low price. Use promo code ESPN for 10 percent off. Cyberstalk the TMR | Be his Cyberfriend
