Johan Santana is making his Spring Training debut this afternoon against the St. Louis Cardinals. After retiring CF Brian Barton, he got into trouble with an off the hands hit to left field by Chris Duncan and a change-up left over the plate that Pujols pulled down the third base line.
This brought up 2008 reclamation project Juan Gonzalez. On the first pitch, Santana left one over the plate and Gonzo promptly deposited over it the left centerfield wall.
As sad as the Cards line-up looks to be, Juan Gonzalez looks like he can stick. As a right-handed hitter, he should be able to, at the least, platoon with Chris Duncan in leftfield.
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Yesterday, the Giants started 2B/SS Kevin Frandsen at SS for the injured Omar Vizquel. Mixed leagues needn't care too much right now, but NL-Only ones should pay attention. Frandsen hit 5 HRs in 264 ABs last season. With a starting gig at SS to open the season, he becomes a solid middle infield candidate who should qualify around the diamond and get nearly full-time ABs in a super utility role. That should be enough to get Frandsen into the double digits in power.
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In my Fantasy Writers league, I pulled the trigger on my first trade of the season. I dealt Dodgers 1B James Loney to Rotonomics for 1B/3B Alex Gordon and 3B/soon-to-be-2B Akinori Iwamura. I am hoping PECOTA's projection of a near 100% likelihood of Iwamura improving on his 1st season comes true.
If not, I am afraid I will have sacrificed at least AVG for Gordon's 15 SB.