Crooked Pitch

After last nights game, the Detroit Tigers sent matt Joyce down to Triple-A Toledo and recalled outfielder Clete Thomas. This means two things for the Tigers outfield immediately.

1. Curtis Granderson will play against left-handers.
2. Marcus Thames will become a full time player.

Granderson is already owned in just about every fantasy baseball league imaginable, but this news may be a double edged sword for Granderson owners. Sure, he’s going to get more at-bats, but these extra chances will be against left handed pitchers who Granderson has floundered  against  hitting only  .222/.222/.222 in nine at-bats.  If Granderson doesn’t learn to hit lefties, this move could drag his average down and hurt the fantasy GM just as much as his extra at-bats potential helps.

Thames is in the same lefty/right split boat as Granderson, just on the other side of the boat. Thames hits lefties really well going .308/.379/.923 against southpaws and only .233/.283/.256 against right handed pitchers. Thames did react well, last night, to the news of his promotion. He belted two home runs and batted third in the lineup. The home runs were off of a left handed pitcher, so only time will tell if extra at-bats will help Thames’ fantasy value or not. But, he’s most likely unowned in most mixed leagues, so keep an eye on him.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.