April Booms
1B – It was tough to overlook Carlos Pena and his nine dingers in the AL, but Youkilis is batting .414 with 20 runs scored. Albert Pujols is a god!
2B – Chase Utley put a scare into many of us on draft day, but if you were lucky enough to grab him kudos to you. Aaron Hill is having a huge season so far, but it pales in comparison to Ian Kinsler.
SS – NL shortstops are all off to slow starts in April and picked Jose Reyes, but just barely. Michael Young who still qualifies at SS, leads a bunch of up-and-comers in the AL who might just dethrone him in May.
3B – Third base was tough in the AL given the early performances of Longoria, Inge and Miguel Cabrera, but I opted for OPS as the tie breaker and gave it to Longoria. In the NL it was easier to select Aramis Ramirez over Jorge Cantu and Ryan Zimmerman. Anybody out there seen David Wright?
C – Victor Martinez is your winner in the AL and it’s not even close, but Bengie Molina was quite a nice surprise in the NL.
LF – Raul Ibanez is doing it all in leftfield for the Philadelphia Phillies, and Jason Bay is making Red Sox Nation say “Manny who?”
CF – At centerfield, you better get you some Torii Hunter in the AL with all apologies to Adam Jones who was right on his heels, while in the senior circuit, Fukudome (remember him?) edges out Beltran.
RF – Finally, rightfield honors go to Nick Markakis in the AL and Andre Ethier who edges out Dunn in the NL.
SP – Johan Santana might just be the next pitcher to score Cy Young’s in each league, but Billingsley and Haren will give him plenty of competition if they keep pitching like this. Nobody can touch Zach Grienke in the AL as all of the hard work has paid off for him. Armando Galarraga is not a secret anymore, and Jered Weaver is off to a solid start. There were plenty of other starters that could have easily made this list including King Felix in the AL and Wandy Rodriguez in the NL, but I don’t think anyone will complain about the pitchers I went with.
CL – If you want saves, Heath Bell and Joakim Soria are the guys for you. Both are off to tremendous starts.
April Busts
1B – Lance Berkman, David Ortiz – Big Papi is not so big anymore…
2B – Dan Uggla, Alexi Casilla – At least the top second baseman are doing okay…
SS – Jimmy Rollins, Mike Aviles – Rollins was a first rounder in many drafts…
3B – Edwin Encarnacion, Adrian Beltre – Nothing too bad here, these guys were middle rounders at best…
C – Geovany Soto (ouch!), Dioner Navarro – Soto must be breaking a lot of hearts so far this season…
LF – Conor Jackson, Carlos Guillen – Again, nothing to cry over here…
CF – Cameron Maybin , BJ Upton – Speed kills, and these guys prove it…
RF – Brian Giles, Michael Cuddyer – Giles might be toast, retire already…
SP – Cole Hamels, Josh Beckett – Some major burns over here, big burns, huge…
SP – Jake Peavy, Francisco Liriano – Here’s two more guys that have made some lose sleep…
SP – Edinson Volquez, Justin Verlander – Velocity isn’t everything…
CL – Jose Valverde, BJ Ryan – Both just landed on the DL and it might be for a while in Ryan’s case…
Till next time…
