A.L. FAAB Log: July 21, 2008

Bryan LaHair $1.
Finally, at long last, the Mariners decided to start cleaning house. Richie Sexson's off to New York, so LaHair gets a shot to show if he's going to be part of the next good Mariners team. John Sickels compared LaHair to Brian Daubach. This means that LaHair could get lucky and put together a quality major league career for 5-7 years OR he could flame out, do nothing, and disappear. The AAA numbers do back Sickels' assertion; the problem here is that LaHair's whiffs don't quite justify his lack of power and vice versa. LaHair's certainly worth owning at the moment in deep leagues, as I'd suspect the Mariners are going to give him an extended look, but beware the strikeouts; LaHair could be a decent hitter, but that K/AB rate should get worse against major league pitching.

Darrell Rasner. Claimed by 10th place team.
Even in a deep A.L.-only league, Rasner's poor ERA/WHIP are enough to get him waived time and time again; this is the third time I've written about him in this space this year. Since my last write-up was only two weeks ago and we've had the All-Star break during that time, not much has changed. Rasner's still a match-up guy at best. Something to watch is what the Yankees do at the deadline. I wouldn't say that Rasner's spot is guaranteed the rest of the way and his value obviously takes a nose-dive if he's not in the rotation or at AAA.

Brian Anderson. Claimed by 7th place team.
With Jermaine Dye day-to-day after fouling two pitches off of himself this weekend, Anderson might have a little short-term value, though that's probably more pertinent in daily leagues. Anderson's been an all-or-nothing-at-all hitter, as his 6/34 BB/K and 5 HR in 134 AB display. He's an option in very deep leagues only, and even then isn't necessarily the best play in those leagues.

Alan Embree. Claimed by 5th place team.
Small sample sizes are a funny thing. Most of Embree's interior numbers are about the same as what he put up last year, yet his ERA/WHIP are a little worse. He doesn't have the Roto value he had last year due to the lack of saves, obviously, but now there are the annual mid-July rumblings of a Huston Street trade, so Embree picks up a little value as a possible replacement for Street should he get traded. I'd say that if any of Santiago Casilla, Joey Devine, or Embree are out on your free agent pool, they're worth bidding $1-3 on. The problem is that you can't own all of these guys, and there's a chance Street doesn't get traded at all.

Kenji Johjima. Claimed by 4th place team.
A lesson in position scarcity, as well as paying too much for the stats we play with (HR/RBI/Runs) and not taking the player's abilities, age, and chance for regression to come into play. Johjima went for $22 in my league because he was the last good catcher available, and I'm abashed to admit I said $21. That sounds bad, but my inflation price on him was $19, so the problem rested more with my faulty value for Johjima than any kind of inclination to chase a bad hitter. Johjima's the kind of hitter I typically recommend avoiding: a high BA/low OBP guy whose batting average isn't supported by his free swinging ways. Still, I didn't expect Johjima to fall this far off of the cliff so fast. The Mariners signed him to a ridiculous extension this year, so they'll have to figure out what ails Johjima. You can certainly take a stab on him in leagues where he's available. 750 OPS catchers don't grow on trees, and maybe Johjima will figure it out again, even if he's not a good bet to do so.