Colby Rasmus is a Blue Jay, and Carlos Beltran is a San Francisco Giant—both to start tonight by the way—and both the of these moves not only raises a few eye brows, but also offers some other interesting tidbits this week.
We take a quick look at what to expect out of these two deals for Rasmus owners and Beltran owners, plus I’ll also take a quick peek at some interesting tidbits from around the league, as we head into a weekend full of events ahead.
Colby Rasmus couldn’t keep a home in St. Louis and for fantasy baseball fans that is fine now that he is in Toronto.
Why?
Toronto’s Rogers Centre is a far better hitter friendly park place than St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, especially for left-handed power hitters.
Rasmus already has 11 homeruns, 40 RBI, 31 XBH and 5 pilfered bases, but stands to see that number increase considering he now hits in a park that enhances left-handed power by 16%, in comparison to his old digs that SUPPRESSED left-handed power by the same number.
Carlos Beltran and the San Francisco Giants have made things official, and Beltran could play as early tonight against Philadelphia in hitter friendly Citizen’s Bank Park.
Beltran is no stranger to Philadelphia, and will face the ever-so-unpredictable Kyle Kendrick who is notorious for giving up the long-ball, making this business as usual for Beltran.
The move to San Fran, however, keeps Beltran’s value just slightly above the norm, with a much better pitching staff to back him up.
San Francisco is a not-so-friendly place for left-handed power hitters, but a great place for OBP righties.
On the backside, the Mets wound up with pitching prospect Zach Wheeler who can throw the heat and keep the ball on the ground, and the Mets will use Lucas Duda as Beltran’s replacement—both of which are fine pickups in most leagues.
Other Quick Hits from Around the League
- The Yankees are increasing their aggressiveness for Dodgers’ pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, but if he does in fact go to New York or even Boston as rumored, what little value Kuroda has would fly out the window.
- The Phillies offered Houston Jonathan Singleton and Jarred Cosart for outfielder Hunter Pence reports Jon Heyman on Twitter, but the offer was turned down. The Astros have already said once they don’t plan to move Pence but continue to field offers for him. It is likely Pence does in fact remain in Houston for the balance of the 2011 season.
- Talks surrounding Ubaldo Jimenez, Jose Reyes for Eric Aybar (what?), Domonic Brown and Denard Span have all faded into the background, and are likely not to rise up again before the deadline.
- In an interesting report by Jon Heyman on Twitter, Padres closer Heath Bell says he would prefer going to St. Louis, and to be honest it would make some sense fantasy wise. Busch stadium does have a home run suppressing factor to it, and would give a boost to Bell’s already enjoyable fantasy value.
