August 14th: Morrison Sent Packing, Hanson Hurting, Santos Setting Up? and more!

Posted by Ryan Hallam on 08/14/2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: Eric Thames, Brandon Belt, Logan Morrison, Sergio Santos, Chris Sale, Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Jordan Walden, Jason Kipnis

It is the end of another week of fantasy baseball and hopefully this article finds you on the good end of another matchup. Injuries and other factors are going to play a bigger and bigger role as we head down the stretch and every week now becomes more and more important as we get closer to the fantasy playoffs. Only three or four weeks are left until we are playing against the best of the best, and you need to make the moves now to maximize your roster in order to make it the best that it can be.  Have you been holding on to that injured guy forever? Is he going to come back in time to help you?  These are the decisions that need to be made before it is too late.  We will continue to give you the news as it happens to help you win a championship here at Fantasy Alarm with Rounding The Bases.

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Tommy Hanson has been placed on the 15 day DL with right shoulder tendonitis. He got absolutely tattooed in his last start against the New York Mets, and he had an MRI that showed the tendonitis, but had no structural damage to his shoulder. This seems to be more of precautionary thing than anything else, and the move is retroactive to August 7th so he really only is required to miss another week.  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Hanson activated the day he is eligible so I wouldn't do anything crazy like drop him or anything.

Jordan Walden blew his eighth save of the season on Sunday and he has been good, but very inconsistent in his rookie season as closer for the Angels.  I do still think that Walden will be given the job again in 2012 unless the Angels go out and spend big money on a closer, which I doubt they will do.  Look for Walden to be a second tier closer for 2012, far from one of the best, but a guy you can count on to save 30 games next season.

Eric Thames had a great weekend and has been great since he came to the majors.  Thames hit two homers, including one on Sunday and now has 25 homers inhis first 58 games.  I think the future is very bright for Mr. Thames, although hitting in front of Jose Bautista isn't hurting matters for him either.  I consider him a very strong number four outfielder for 2012 with a chance of being much more. Thames has a world of potential and settled in nicely with Toronto this season, barring a major change in personnel in the offseason, there's no reason to think he won't excel again.

Brandon Belt is back in the majors and looking to make a major impact down the stretch and Sunday was a good start to that.  Belt belted (sorry) two homers today, numbers three and four on the season. He has had an up and down rookie season, but overall I have been somewhat impressed with him and like his prospects for the future.  I would look to draft Belt in the double digit rounds next season and think he will be a very good guy to have in your corner infield position in 2012.

In a surprise move, the Marlins have sent outfielder Logan Morrison to the minor leagues.  He had been struggling of late, but I think this has more to do with Morrison being a big Twitter guy.  I have to admit that he is one of the funnier athletes to follow, or at least was before this, and his antics on there are pretty funny not to mention he also gave tickets away.  However, he also had some less than flattering things to say when the Marlins' manager resigned in the middle of the season as I guess he felt that the organization was to blame.  I really like Morrison's future, but for the rest of 2011 he appears to have no value, and might need a change of scenery and laundry to fully realize his potential. 

Sergio Santos was not happy that Ozzie Guillen let Chris Sale pitch the ninth inning the other night and pick up a save and he requested a meeting with his manager to clarify his role.  I don't see this turning into a situation where Sale and Santos is sharing the role as Santos has been holding the job down and doing very well all season long. Anything could happen with Ozzie Guillen at the helm, but I am still supremely confident that Santos will hold this job all season long.

Brandon Beachy didn't get the win for the Atlanta Braves, but he pitched very well, and outside of some injury situations this year is putting together a fine season.  Beachy isn't a mammoth strikeout guy and has just five wins on the year, but he has been good more often than he has been bad, and isn't a bad guy to have at the end of your pitching rotation this season. I think he could be a bench pitcher next year as well, or perhaps best served as a streamer against weaker National League offenses.

Hot hitting Indians' rookie Jason Kipnis did not play on Sunday, sitting with soreness in his right side.  Since being called up Kipnis has helped many a fantasy owner who needed help in the middle infield, with a decent batting average and a nice bit of power.  I don't like the injury to the side, as those kind of injuries are the ones that tend to linger.  Expect him to be out a least a week, and this could have an effect on the rest of the season. I hope that I am thinking of just the worst case scenario, but we have seen this type of thing many times before and I have to admit this injury worries me.

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