Brewers Fantasy Players to Watch

So Kyle was asked to do a sponsored post about possible fantasy players to watch on the Brewers. If you've read this site at all, you might know how much he loves fantasy baseball. He was overcome with such glee that he couldn't physically type a post up, so I've been called out of the bullpen to tell you to go forth and draft these players.

Go draft this pitcher: Zack Greinke

The one strange thing about fantasy baseball is that it usually forces people to regress in their baseball acumen. Gone is OBP. Gone are defensive metrics (any of them). Gone are FIP and xFIP and tRA and all that stuff. In a standard 5x5 roto league you are encouraged, nay, required to draft players based on their RBI and batting average skills.

So that sort of stinks for Greinkers. We all saw last year how amazing he can be, but his traditional metrics didn't quite match up to his advanced stats. So, instead of being possibly one of the top three pitchers in a fantasy baseball draft, he is something like top 20. Top 15. Something like that. If you're drafting with Brewers fans, he's probably top three. Really, you should just play fantasy baseball with a bunch of Astros fans or something, so they all overvalue their own awful players. "Oh man, you guys, I can't believe Wandy Rodriguez lasted until the second round!" Next person: Drafts Roy Halladay.

Anyway, Greinke does the strikeout thing and he has a pretty good ERA. He also doesn't walk a whole lot of players, which puts him a notch above Gallardo in my book, though I could have put Gallardo here just as easily. Both players will win games. How many games, I don't know. There is no good way to predict that. We're using wins! Man, fantasy baseball can be ridiculous.

Go draft this hitter: Ryan Braun (Braun not suspended) or Aramis Ramirez (Braun suspended)

Say Braun is not suspended. Say someone asks you to write a fantasy post about the Brewers, and do a category on the best Brewers hitter. Who would you say? Not Carlos Gomez, that's for sure! (This does not apply to Mrs. Gomez)

Instead, let's talk about Aramis Ramirez. Quick! Can you guess which qualified third baseman had the second best average at the position in the majors last year? What about the third baseman with the fourth most homeruns? The fourth most RBI? The fifth most runs scored? Did you guess Aramis Ramirez? Wow! I have no idea how you would have guessed him!

(Notice how I didn't say steals? That's because who drafts for steals? And what third baseman steals bases?)

Ramirez is the second best hitter on the Brewers. Only Braun can top him. There are only a handful of third baseman better than Ramirez. The position doesn't yield very many great fantasy players. But draft him when the appropriate round comes.

Late round, "No, seriously guys, this guy is just ready for a breakout season. This last round pick is totally going to win me the championship this year" guy who probably will be cut within a week: Jonathan Lucroy

I don't know. There aren't very many players on the Brewers who we could realistically expect to have a breakout season. Morgan did that already. Weeks did that already. Hart did that already. I'm going to use Gamel in a different category. There aren't any pitchers who would have a breakout year, especially not for fantasy purposes.

So Lucroy it is. He's young. He hasn't hit very well in his career so far. He plays at a position that is practically devoid of all fantasy life. Why not? He might give you a middle-of-the-road batting average along with double digit homers. If you're the last one drafting a catcher, he might not be the worst option in the world.

Default rookie to watch: Mat Gamel

I mean, he's the only rookie on the team that could make any impact. I don't even know if he's qualified as a rookie anymore. He's also a first baseman. There are a whole lot of other first basemen who are better than Gamel. Unless you're in a 20 team league, he's probably not on your radar unless it's the last few rounds and you're a Brewers fan who has actually heard of him. Then maybe he's worth a flyer. He hit well in the minors. He hasn't hit well yet in the majors. But he might give some homeruns and a decent batting average.

Wily Peralta might have made sense in this category. But Gamel is probably going to be a starting position player, at least for a while. Peralta is going to linger in AAA until September unless something horribly wrong happens to one of the Brewers' starting pitchers.

Sleeper: Corey Hart

He's not much of a sleeper, but he might not go as high as he should, either. Thirty-one home runs last year, if last year were 2010! Twenty-six if last year were 2011, which it was!I don't know about you, but I always seem to never have a decent outfield when I play fantasy baseball. Maybe because I always think there will be plenty of options. There are three outfielders! That's three times as many as other positions! Scarcity!

Then I end up with Vernon Wells as my outfield star.

Hart is a really good hitter. Second or third best on the team, not counting Braun. He might get more RBI chances with Fielder gone, too! And he'll throw in some stolen bases! Think about Hunter Pence. Would you like Hunter Pence in your fantasy outfield? Well, Hart is basically identical. And Hart will go a couple rounds later than Pence, probably.

So, yay! Brewers fantasy players! It's not real baseball, but it can be fun! Just, nobody cares about your team but you. And the person beating you. Man, your team stinks.