Late Innings

I think I’m going to start a new section here, predicting the possible sleepers for the 2009 season. One such sleeper pick that I love is the Giants’ new first baseman Josh Phelps. Phelps had an amazing year for the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, .291/31/97. He has a career OPS of .815, and most importantly gets on base. The Cardinals unfortunately couldn’t use him (due to some guy named “Pujols” who just hit .357), and as I pointed out on a previous post, Phelps reminds me of Ryan Ludwick, who came out of nowhere to have incredible success for the Cardinals in 2008.

I give credit to Brian Sabean; this is the kind of moves that the Giants need to make. They don’t need to dole out long-term burdensome contracts to players (e.g. Barry Zito, though I like the Aaron Rowand deal.) The Giants desperately needed offense in 2008 (Tim Linececum was in three 1-0 games in 2008), and Phelps will clearly deliver it. They were admittedly horrible at the corners in 2008, and Phelps can expect 550 at bats in 2009. Phelps “figured it out” in the minors in 2008, and I see him getting his career back on track. Phelps is a very quiet sleeper for the 2009 season, an excellent fantasy pickup, and I can see the following from him in 2009: .275/.375/.470, with 25 HR and 90 RBI.

Some other links that support this claim:

• BTBS
• RotoAuthority
• MLBTR
• SB

Some other random links for today:

• Brad Penny’s 2009 option will most-likely be declined by the Dodgers, and A.J. Burnett is now a free agent. I see Burnett getting 65MM over four years now (I originally bet 53MM back in August, before the great fall that Burnett had this past year.)
• We have a new President apparently.