2012 Fantasy Baseball Player Profile: Anibal Sanchez – SP – Miami Marlins

Anibal. Sanchez.

Not the sexiest name on your draft board, but I guarantee that when the season ends there will be quite a few owners being showered with Yoo-hoo while looking at a roster that includes Mr. Sanchez. No joke, because of Josh Johnson’s propensity for watching games in street clothes, I would take Sanchez over him.

I would also draft Sanchez over:

Tommy Hanson
Josh Johnson
Michael Pineda
Ian Kennedy
C.J. Wilson
Matt Garza
Colby Lewis
Gio Gonzalez
Ted Lilly
Shaun Marcum
Josh Beckett
Brandon Morrow
Neftali Feliz
Ricky Romero
Matt Moore
Jaime Garcia

You probably stopped reading when you saw the first five names, but in case you’re still here, let me explain. Aside from the hitters he’s facing being distracted by the ugliest uniforms in professional sports, there are a number of reasons to expect a big year from Sanchez.

1) This will only be his third full season at age 28, despite pitching in the majors since 2006, due to a visit with the esteemed Dr. James Andrews in 2007 and the subsequent healing time/rehab. He only pitched limited innings in 2008 and 2009, but his last two seasons have seen Sanchez reach 195 and 196 innings pitched, an indication that he is finally recovered and back to peak form.

2) The Marlins new park is alleged to play like Petco East and we all know that pitching in San Diego is like The Cream and The Clear for pitchers. The worst statistic for Sanchez last year? Home runs allowed, which rose from 10 in 2010, to 20 in 2011. Think a stadium with bigger dimensions than Petco, Safeco, and Citi Field will help bring that back down?

3) Anibal posted a career high 9.26 K/9 in 2011 which was almost 2 K’s per nine innings more than the 7.34 K/9 he averaged in 2009/2010.

4) His BB/9 has dropped from 4.81 in 2009 and 3.23 in 2010, to 2.93 last year.


5) In addition, his xFIP has dropped each of the last two years to 3.25 in 2011. I love this stat as xFIP has one of the highest correlations with future ERA of all the pitching metrics out there according to FanGraphs. Think his increased K/9 and decreased BB/9 have anything to do with the drop in xFIP?

His current ADP is 129 on www.mockdraftcentral.com with range from 99th to 192nd, meaning that he is going from anywhere between round 9 to round 16. That is a huge spread for a guy that I think will end up a top 25 starting pitcher by year end. By avoiding a sexier name earlier you can instead stock up on hitters and have a guy like Sanchez anchor your staff when he drops to you while everyone else is scrambling to find a middle infielder.
Publish Post
The value is especially good when you look at him in auction leagues. Yahoo! and ESPN have him at an average auction cost of $4.00-$5.00. I would go as high as $20 for him, but it looks like you don’t need to, spend that $15 somewhere else if you can. $20 production for $5 cost, that’s how you win in fake sports.

Tuesday Night Observation

Can someone explain to me why Norv Turner just got an extension to continue coaching in San Diego?

Onside kick. Really? REALLY? You do realize that no matter where the Jets get the ball in that situation, they're going to come out and run some version of the following, we'll call it The Schottenheimer:

1st down. Run.

2nd Down. Run.

3rd down. Run.

You know exactly what's coming. You can stack the line with eight, maybe even...gasp...nine guys. I can guarantee without a doubt that the crowd would be going absolutely bonkers in a stadium with some of the loudest home end zones I have ever personally sat in.

Now. If they run this sequence of plays at their own 20 yard line it is a very simple decision for Rex Ryan.

4th down. Think I'll punt here.

You have two electric return men in Darren Sproles and Antonio Cromartie. There is a very good chance that, if the Jets punt to you, you may get such a good return that you'll get a chance to run your own version of The Schottenheimer. That would probably be followed by a Kaeding field goal attempt (I know, he missed three prior, but you know Little Nicky is just itching to redeem himself at this point, and there is no way that the Jets are lucky enough to have kickers in consecutive games miss SIX field goals in a row against them). Tie game, OT at home, I like my chances. Maybe you even get a touchdown in regulation and win it there.

But no. You go with the onside into the teeth of the Jets hands team.

Then we get The Schottenheimer.

And on 4th down Sexy Rexy and the Sanchitos need one yard to go into Victory Formation.

Easier call to go for it when you are on the opponents 29 yard line with 1:09 left than on your own 29 and roughly the same time left.

Nice call Norv. Wade Phillips thought it was a bad call.

Give it up to the Jets, they hung in there and made plays. But you can't help but think that Sexy Rexy saw the opposing coach was going to be Norv this past week and started game planning for Indy and Baltimore.

Monday Sports Musings

March Madness begins next week, can't wait...

...I was watching my Suns get trounced the other day by Cleveland and it dawned on me how bad my current "fandom" is looking.  Fandom is a word I just made up, someone else has probably used it before, but it seems to fit.  It is essentially the kingdom within which is contained all of a sports fan's favorite sports teams, professional, collegiate, maybe even high school, these make up a fan's kingdom or fandom.

...Let's look a little closer at the teams in my fandom:

...Phoenix Suns.  Old, injured, we clearly have missed that overused phrase, "the window of opportunity" to win a championship.  At the end of last season we traded for a player who did not fit our system.  We got bounced in the playoffs by the our nemesis, again.   We then fired the coach who got us to the brink of the NBA Finals, because now his system wasn't working due to the acquirement of said player who did not fit our system.  We then hired a new coach to fit the player who did not fit last year, and he immediately installed a system that didn't fit the other 14 guys on the roster.  About halfway through the season we decided that we made a mistake and so we fired the new guy and replaced him with an assistant who worked directly under the coach whose system we originally abandoned.  We went back to the old system, we started playing better, and then a key cog in our machine, perhaps our best individual player, got injured and is out for the season, again.  Detached retina.  I feel his pain.  Needless to say, the past five years have been just a tad disappointing for Suns fans.  I have said it before, when we let Joe Johnson go it all went to @!#@.

...Denver Broncos.  We play swiss cheese defense for 3 years.  We go through defensive coordinators like sunflower seeds in a baseball dugout.  We decide to fire the coach who won the only 2 Super Bowls for our franchise.  This irritates our young star quarterback.  He hints at wanting to be traded.  We hire a bright young new coach who immediately decides that it would be fantastic to trade our young quarterback for another young quartback he coached last year.  Instead, that quarterback is traded to a division rival.  The new coach and our young star quarterback are now squabbling, they have a telephone conversation to try and smooth things out and apparently it does the opposite.  Recent reports out of Denver say that our quarterback now has put both of his Denver-area homes up for sale.  Now he is also reportedly asking for a trade.  Our young star wide receiver got booked for disorderly conduct this offseason.  This is the fourth arrest for him since March 2006.  He was suspended for a game last year, wonder what he'll get this year?  Might be some tickets available in Denver this year.

...Atlanta Braves.  Perennial underachievers, we are now rebuilding.  14 division titles and 1 World Series victory to show for it.  A for effort, F for outcome.  Our big attempt at free agent signing this offseason was Ken Griffey Jr.  Enough said.  

...Oakland A's.  Breeding ground for the rest of MLB's young talent.  After reigning supreme in the late 80's and early 90's we have now become the poster child for small market teams trying to win big.  Funny thing is, despite our GM's brilliancy, we have absolutely zero to show for our innovative approaches to getting the most out of very little.  While we once were a lock for second half domination and subsequent playoff runs, we are now the worst offensive team in baseball.  Nowhere to go but up.

...Arizona Wildcats basketball.  Our 1997 Championship team was one of the best stories ever. To this date, they are the only team to defeat three number one seeds in the same tournament.  Perennial contenders, the greatest coach and recruiter we have ever had just retired.  We lost to ASU, our biggest rival, twice.  We barely made the NCAA tournament and will undoubtedly get bounced early yet again.  Definitely on the downslope.

...I am not making this a pity party, sports is constantly changing, one day you're up, the next you're down.  Having multiple teams in different sports to root for should ensure that at least one is on the upswing, but sometimes the planets align against you and you are stuck trying to justify the statement, "They will be better than you think," for all of the teams in your fandom.

F@!#  

...LCV

Grammy's advice for today:

"To let friendship die away by negligience and silence is certainly not wise."

- Samuel Johnson