Fantasy Astros

Miguel Tejada went from a fantasy fave to a pariah in one season. No one wanted him where he really should have been drafted. His ADP (average draft position to the fantasy novices out there) proves as much. He was falling into the 60-range in many drafts. I took him as a late-thirties pick in one draft with Derek Jeter still on the board and got destroyed by a few owners.

Just look at the downsides:

- He suffered through full-season career lows in several offensive categories, including HR, RBI, R, and SB.
- For the first time in seven seasons he did not play all 162 games (in fact, he only played in 133).
- He was named in the Mitchell Report, so apparently he has to stay clean now and performance will be impacted in the power categories. You know, because they can test for HGH so easily.
- In a recent development we found out that he's actually 33 years old and not 31.

Of course, Miggy is out to a scorching start ... .370, 4 HRs, 18 RBIs, and 16 Runs in only 21 games. He's never come even close to his current .630 slugging percentage.

In light of all this, people are proclaiming him a sell-high candidate. What do I think?

When Lance Berkman left the Astros' game today with a neck injury (spasms, one would assume he's fine, panicky fantasy owners) that meant that off season signing and diiiiirty, hard nosed, old school OBP goat Darin Erstad was going to play first base. Erstad, of course, is not a great baseball player. Anymore than I was a "great" soccer goalie because I used to dive every time a ball got near the 18 yard line.

But regardless, Erstad, who interestingly was a punter in college, came into the game and because he's so freaking gritty and hardnosed, immediately spurred the Astros to a five run seventh inning, based simply on is presence in the lineup. Or at least that's what you'll be reading in some newspapers over the next few days. Erstad is beloved by old school sportswriters, all of whom think he "plays the game the right way."

The injury probably doesn't mean much, especially since the Astros still lost to the Cubs today, but if you enjoy ridiculously funny satirical writing, you should get your Fire Joe Morgan RSS feed rolling -- Erstad's continued presence in the lineup spurs on anti-statistical sports journalism almost as badly as when David Eckstein commits an error takes a ball of his chest. And with Erstad going two for two and the Astros scoring runs in bunches, you can almost guarantee it.

Bonus Fantasy Spin: Berkman is an "OPS hog" (which might be my favorite term in all of fantasy sports) and he's slipped in drafts a bit this year because of the perception that he's aging. That's true, but he's still going to rake. A slow start (sample size alert!) coupled with this neck injury, which reeks of "lingering", make him a nice buy low right now. Please don't add Erstad.