Fantasy Baseball-Off the Radar-February 14

As we gear up for fantasy baseball season, here at Fantasy CPR we’re excited to announce a new feature called “off the radar.” In this segment featuring new contributor Clint Hulsey. Show him some love on twitter, @clinthulsey and check out his blog over at irfast.blogspot.com. Today, Clint examines the best minor-league free agent signings as he helps us find value in our fantasy baseball drafts “off the radar.”

Every off-season, there are 2 or 3 big free agents, a couple dozen medium range free agents, some terrible players, and a few diamonds in the rough. These latter players have some kind of flaw in their game or are coming off bad years, but do some things really well. None of the players in this list are going to be MVP candidates or be a star player on any team. However, they will make very little salary, are not guaranteed a roster spot, and can actually be helpful. Every team signs several free agents to minor league contracts, and most of them have no impact. Here are a few that I think will either have an impact or interesting enough to take a look at (these are in no particular order):

August 26, 2011; Arlington, TX, USA; Los Angeles Angels first baseman Russell Branyan (39) watches his ball fly to deep right for a three run homer against the Texas Rangers in the eighth inning at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers won 11-7. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-US PRESSWIRE

Yankees-Russell Branyan

I am a big Branyan fan, and yes, power is sexy and chicks dig homers. Russell Branyan has 80 power (out of a scale of 20-80 that scouts use. If you prefer Baseball Cube’s rankings of 0-100, Branyan has a 98)! He is coming off a bad year that seems to be a mixture of a lack of plate appearances and a bad BABIP (batting average on balls in play, measures luck for the most part). He still walks a ton (and strikes out a ton), and is an above average home run hitter. Defensively, he has very little value, but it seems to be a great solution to the Yankees DH problem (certainly better than Ibanez or Matsui at this point). He will absolutely love the short fences at the New Yankee stadium, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have a pretty big year.

Nationals-Rick Ankiel:

September 15, 2011; Flushing, NY, USA; Washington Nationals center fielder Rick Ankiel (24) attempts to catch a fly ball during the third inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Yes, Ankiel has major holes in his swing, and isn’t very patient (although people often overestimate just how impatient he is. He is under average at both pitches per plate appearances and walks, but just barely). His OBP was unimpressive at .296 (.309 in his career), but according to Runs Created, 2011 was the first year (since he made the switch from pitcher to outfield) he was under average. Despite being under average offensively, he still put up a 2.1 WAR (worth about 6 million dollars, as most consider 1 “WAR” worth 3 million dollars) because of his awesome defense. Perhaps we have actually reached a moment where OBP is overvalued and defense is under valued. I expect a better offensive season and a slightly worse defensive season (just because 2011 was his best year defensively) in 2012.

Mets-Miguel Batista

Batista split 2011 with the Cardinals and Mets, earning a 3.60 ERA, but 4.38 FIP, walking more than he struck out. However, I watched him close in some Dominican League games this winter, and he pitched pretty well (even though he was facing some pretty poor hitters in a pitcher friendly environment). The low strikeout rate is definitely concerning, but he kept the ball in the park giving up just .3 HR/9IP (.89 HR/9IP in his career). He is a big time groundball pitcher and that could help when they bring in the fences at Citifield.

Pirates-Juan Cruz

His velocity has waned down to back 93 MPH from the 95 MPH it had been previously in his career. However, he still had a SIERA (Skill Independent ERA) of 4.02 with 8.51 strikeouts per 9 innings. At this point, he is basically an average relief pitcher (with an ERA – of 100 in 2011, which is average), but he isn’t going to receive near average salary. He does an okay job at keeping the ball in the ballpark, even though gives up more flyballs than groundballs.

June 12, 2011; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Brad Hawpe (11) reacts after striking out against the Washington Nationals during the sixth inning at PETCO Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Rangers-Brad Hawpe

He is coming off Tommy John surgery (pretty rare for position players, although Xavier Nady survived it for a while) and really struggled with both the Padres and Rays. He is also really poor at defense, and has even moved to first base. It is hard to know how he will do there, but he does bring something offensively. He sees over 4 pitches per plate appearance, which is among the best in the league. If you believe he will return back to his 2009 self, his road statistics (to get rid of the Coors Field factor) was a .348 Neutralized OBP (OBP with BABIP adjusted to .300), with an OPS over .800. This is a pretty high ceiling for a minor league contract.

White Sox-Dan Johnson

Besides a game tying homer in the final game, Johnson had a miserable 2011 season, batting well under the Mendoza line. However, he has torn up AAA in the past 2 seasons (and yes AAA numbers do matter). In his MLB career, he has a .334 OBP and .734 OPS, a slightly above average hitter. He is another one of those guys who is an above average walker and home run hitter and average defensively.
He sees over 4 pitches per plate appearance, and remember he only had 91 plate appearances last year. The Rays had no reason to give him more, but it isn’t wise to judge a player on such a short sample.

Cubs-Trever Miller

Miller split 2011 with 3 teams, earning a 3.80 ERA but 5.09 FIP. A career left-handed specialist, Miller has given up a 79 OPS + against lefties in his career, and 85 OPS + against lefties in 2011. Against lefties, he has struck out over a batter an inning and given up a FIP of 3.61. There are more dominant left-handed specialists out there (like recently designated for assignment Clay Rapada), but Miller can be servicable at that role if the Cubs are willing to use a roster spot on him.

August 31, 2010; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher David Ross (8) (right) shakes hands with relief pitcher Peter Moylan (58) after the game against the New York Mets at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Mets 9-2. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-US PRESSWIRE

Braves-Peter Moylan

Despite battling injuries in his career, Moylan has a career ERA of 2.60 and K/9IP of 7.22. He gives up less than 1 homer every 18 innings, with almost 3 times as many groundballs as flyballs. FIP and SIERA suggests he has been kind of lucky so far, but that is hard to believe when you look again at that groundball rate.

Rays-Will Rhymes

Even though he is 28, he has just 83 MLB games under his belt. In that time, he hasn’t been bad, getting on base .341 with very little power. Defensively, he has been solid, saving 3 runs in that time. He is a contact hitter, but still walked at about an average rate but didn’t see a lot of pitches. He is a AAA veteran, playing over 300 games there, and the story is the same, he got on base at an okay rate, didn’t hit for any power, and played a pretty solid 2nd base.

Editor’s Note: This article was written by FantasyCPR contributor Clint Hulsey. You can find Clint on twitter, @clinthulsey or check out his blog over at irfast.blogspot.com. Come back soon for more fantasy baseball finds “off the radar.”

Tags: fantasy baseball additions, MLB Offseason, New York Yankees, Off the Radar, popular, Rick Ankiel, Russell Branyan, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals