AmateurGm.com

If Ryan Braun is off your fantasy league draft board there is no need to be confused.  The analysts at amateurgm.com are here to help you decide who to anchor your fantasy outfield with. Alex Childers (Carl Crawford) – Four years $66 million; Seven years $120 million.  No, that’s not the Saudi Prince’s inheritance; those are the respective pay days that Jason Bay and Matt Holliday earned this year. Carl Crawford has the potential to earn an equivalent payday if he can perform like he has in the past.  With the Yankees showing interest, Crawford is prepared for a career year and a huge pay day. Last season Crawford produced his typical stat line .305/.364/.452 (BA/OBP/SLG) 60 SB, 15 HR, 68 [...]

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• Category: Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Fantasy, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams
• Tagged as Carl Crawford, Grady Sizemore, Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun

Respected ESPN baseball insider Buster Olney created quite a buzz in the Phillies and Cardinals’ camps this past weekend. Olney reported his sources were telling him that the Philadelphia Phillies were having internal discussions about a blockbuster trade of Ryan Howard (1B) for Albert Pujols (1B). While Olney said the Phillies were not prepared to approach the Cardinals with the proposal, the mere thought of these internal discussions being reported has raised some eyebrows in both camps. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro was adamant that these discussions have not taken place and questioned who Olney was getting his information from. When questioned by reporters on the topic, both Pujols and Howard didn’t put much stock into the rumor and expected to [...]

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• Category: Fantasy, Free Agents, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Rumors, St. Louis Cardinals, Teams, Toronto Blue Jays
• Tagged as Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Buster Olney, Matt Holliday, roy halladay, Ruben Amaro, Ryan Howard

According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, free agent outfielder Matt Holliday has reached an agreement to re-sign with the St. Louis Cardinals. The deal is rumored to be for 7 years and $120 million with a full no-trade clause. Holliday was traded to the Cardinals last July from the Oakland A’s and had a .353 AVG, 13 HR, and 55 RBI in 63 games with the Cardinals last season. The Cardinals hope that their signing of Holliday will aid in their quest to lock up superstar Albert Pujols long term. Over his career, Holliday has been a dangerous hitter as he has posted career numbers of a .318 AVG, 152 HR, and 592 RBI in 6 seasons. He is another client of [...]

• 6 Comments
• Category: Free Agents, New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, Rumors, St. Louis Cardinals, Teams
• Tagged as Albert Pujols, Jason Bay, Matt Holliday

The most exciting time in the baseball offseason is upon us with next week’s annual Winter Meetings (December 7-10, Indianapolis, IN). The Winter Meetings is where we start to see teams shape their rosters for the upcoming season. The meetings are filled with plenty of rumors as general managers and agents from all of baseball convene and discuss free agents and trade possibilities. Last year’s meetings were rather slow compared to previous years. The biggest talk of last year’s meetings was the near trade of San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy (currently of the Chicago White Sox) to the Chicago Cubs. The state of our economy played a big role in teams not being as aggressive at last year’s meetings, [...]

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• Category: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Free Agents, Los Angeles Angels, Rumors, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Toronto Blue Jays
• Tagged as Bobby Abreu, Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson, Jake Peavy, Jason Bay, Jim Hendry, Matt Holliday, miguel cabrera, Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, roy halladay, Scott Boras

Johnny Damon poses an interesting dilemma for the Yankees this off season. He has been highly successful in his four seasons with the Bronx Bombers averaging 19 HR, 74 RBI, 23 stolen bases and a  of .285 batting average. The Yankees have a hole in their outfield with only Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher penciled in, but have a need to get younger. With free agents out there like Matt Holliday and Jason Bay, the 36 year old Damon may have a hard time finding work. Damon is still in the vein of a lead off hitter but the Yankees actually moved him to the number two hole in the lineup in favor of Derek Jeter and his higher batting average. [...]

• 4 Comments
• Category: Free Agents, New York Yankees, Rumors
• Tagged as Bobby Abreu, Brian Cashman, Bronx Bombers, Derek Jeter, Jason Bay, Johnny Damon, Matt Holliday, Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher, roy halladay, Scott Boras

The free-agent market opens tomorrow, and Jerry Crasnick of Espn.com gives us insight into the troubles GMs have in assessing players’ defensive abilities. In the era of sabermetrics and statistical analysis, Crasnick points out that you can’t overlook the knowledge of scouts and what he calls the “eye test.”  The old guard vs. the new guard’s way of assessing a player’s defense can be exhibited by comparing this year’s two premier free agents: Jason Bay and Matt Holliday. According to generally accepted defensive metrics, Holliday is a superior defensive left fielder posting an Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) of 5.7 and he also saved 14 runs for his team in the 2009 season using the Fielding Bible’s Runs Saved metric.  Bay [...]

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• Category: Boston Red Sox, Free Agents, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Teams
• Tagged as Fielding Bible, Gold Glove Awards, Jason Bay, Jerry Crasnick, Matt Holliday, Runs Saved, sabermetricians, sabermetrics, scouts, Ultimate Zone Rating, UZR

With the AL’s domination over the NL for the better part of decade, general managers are having a harder time evaluating how a player will perform if they transition from the NL to the AL.  Matt Holliday, for example, was a dominant player for the Rockies hitting well above .300.  He was traded to the Oakland A’s where he hit a pedestrian .286 and was promptly traded to the St. Louis Cardinals where his BA skyrocketed back to the MVP level of .353.  This can be explained away by the fact that “he didn’t know the AL pitchers,” but he isn’t the only player to have a hard time with a league switch. Javier Vazquez went from being a batting practice pitcher for the White Sox [...]

• 1 Comment
• Category: Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Free Agents, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Teams
• Tagged as a's, AL, cardinals, danny jackson, Free Agents, Javier Vazquez, John Smoltz, kenny williams, Matt Holliday, NL, Raul Ibanez, reds, rockies, Seattle Mariners, white sox