By Ray Flowers
October 22, 2008 8:14am CDT

We will be taking a look at all 30 major league teams to see which hitters and pitchers failed, which excelled, and which youngsters you might want to keep in mind as you begin to prepare for your 2009 fantasy baseball draft.


HITTERS

Fantasy Flop - Jarrod Saltalamacchia .253-3-26-27-0 in 198 AB

On draft day 2007, chances are pretty good that Jarrod was selected amongst the top-10 catchers in your draft considering his ADP value was around 150, which was about 10 picks before Geovany Soto, by the way (if you made the call to take the Rangers backstop over the one from Chicago, you are likely one bitter person right now). Saltalamacchia lost at-bats all year to Gerald Laird, and in fact he ended up getting demoted to Triple-A for a 55 at-bat run. Saltalamacchia was terrific against right-handed pitching, hitting .311 with a .877 OPS, though his work against southpaws was pathetic (.158/.443). With production like that, it was no wonder that he was platooned. Though he hurt his elbow late in the year, the news is positive that there shouldn’t be any lingering effects, and he plans on playing in the Dominican Winter League this fall to work on his stroke. The 2009 season will certainly be better than 2008, but that isn’t saying much when you barely hit your weight.

Fantasy Find - Milton Bradley .321-22-77-78-5 in 414 AB

Most of you are probably initially shocked not to see Josh Hamilton (.304-32-130-98-9) listed here, but this is our thinking. The reason we are listing Bradley instead of his dynamic teammate is because of the players’ preseason values. According to ADP data, Hamilton was being selected in roughly the 145th spot in mixed league drafts, whereas Bradley was going around pick 322. Based on the draft-day cost Bradley ended up being the more valuable performer, as he produced a greater return on investment, though his overall numbers were surpassed by Hamilton.

Bradley was a tremendous offensive weapon who reached career bests in average (third in the AL), OBP (.436, first in the AL), SLG (.563, fourth in the AL) and OPS (.999, first in the AL). If Bradley hadn’t been struck by about 13 different injuries as he always is, he could have truly produced a monster season, given that extremely impressive string of numbers that were just laid out. In fact, if we prorate Bradley's numbers over 516 at-bats, his career high established in 2004, we would end up with a .321-27-96-97 effort, which would have brought Bradley’s numbers within shouting distance of Hamilton’s final line.


Youngster to Watch in ‘09 - Chris Davis .285-17-55-51-1 in 295 AB

What the Rangers will ultimately do with Davis and Hank Blalock (.287-12-38 in 258 AB) remains to be seen (will one play third and the other first, or will one DH?), but regardless of what glove they do or don’t wear, both figure to be staples of the middle of the Rangers batting order in 2009. Davis was called up and given a shot at some serious playing time due to the injury to Blalock, and he responded big time in his first exposure to the major leagues. First, the good. Davis possesses an extremely powerful bat that he has shown off the past couple of seasons with 36 long balls in 2007 and 40 in his combined minor and major league efforts in 2008. Second, Davis has an extremely powerful bat. Okay, we already said that, but the truth is that this guy has legit 30+ home run power. Now for the bad. His contact rate is pretty bad. In his 1,000+ minor league at-bats, Davis owns a 0.72 mark, well below the 80 or so percent mark. In Texas last season, that number was even worse at 0.70. Unless he does a better job of making contact, his ability to maintain a .285 batting average will have to be in some doubt. The potential is here for a big payoff, but expecting a .285-35-110 season out of Davis in 2009 isn’t a bet we would suggest making.


PITCHERS

Fantasy Flop - Luis Mendoza 3-8, 8.67 ERA, 1.93 WHIP, 35 K with one save in 63.1 IP

How is this for shocking. Of all the pitchers that finished the year with the Rangers, not a single one completed at 175 innings. Only one (Vincente Padilla) won more than nine games (he had 14). With a pitching staff like that, there are obviously a ton of guys who underperformed, though the scary part is that very few guys jump out as being a full-blown flop, as the Rangers simply didn’t have enough major league caliber arms in 2008. We could have broken down a guy like Jason Jennings, though he threw only 27.1 innings. We could have also discussed Brandon McCarthy, though injuries limited him to just 22 innings. So analyzing either would be pretty fruitless. Therefore, let’s just turn to one of the worst hurlers, statistically speaking, in major league baseball in 2008, even though not a heck of a lot was expected of him in ‘08.

Luis Mendoza posted some of the worst ratios seen this side of Little League baseball, and he did so with some serious gusto. What is so strange is that the Rangers just kept running him out there almost like they were trying to kill the youngster's confidence (he will be 25 next week). After seven innings no-run ball in June, Mendoza was simply torched down the stretch with a 10.64 ERA over his last 16 appearances covering 34.2 innings. Mendoza also produced a 2.08 WHIP while permitting a .369 BAA after the All-Star break, which leaves one major question unanswered: how could the Rangers continue to run Luis out there appearance after appearance considering he was letting batters beat him around the yard? Mendoza did go 14-5 with a 3.95 ERA at Double-A in 2006, but Frisco is a long, long way away from Arlington.

Fantasy Find - Frank Francisco
3-5, 3.13 ERA, 83 K, 1.15 WHIP with five saves in 63.1 IP

C.J. Wilson began the year as the Rangers closer and racked up 24 saves before being sidelined by an injury. The team then turned to Eddie Guardado, who also dealt with some arm issues of his own before he was traded to the Twins in late August. As a result, Frank Francisco was given a look in the closer role and faired very well after a rough start. After blowing three straight save chances to open August, Francisco converted his last five chances to end the year on a high note that included allowing just one run over his last 13 appearances (0.71 ERA). Besides the solid ratios, perhaps you noticed that Frank had an excellent strikeout total, which led to a 11.79 K/9 mark, the third best mark produced by a hurler who tossed at least 60 innings in 2008 (Octavio Dotel at 12.36 and Brad Lidge at 11.94). Unfortunately, Francisco walked a few more batters than we would like to see (3.69 BB/9), but his dominating strikeout total allowed him to still produce a strong 3.19 K/BB mark. It can pretty easily be argued that Francisco was the Rangers' best pitcher in ’08 in addition to being the best “find� on the squad.

Youngster to Watch in ‘09 - Eric Hurley 1-2, 5.47 ERA, 13 K, 1.42 WHIP in 24.2 IP

Matt Harrison (9-3, 5.49 ERA, 1.57 WHIP), another rookie arm, bears watching, but his K/BB mark (1.35) and his K/9 mark (4.52) signal that the road might be a bumpy one early on. As for Hurley, he entered the season as Baseball America’s No. 3 ranked prospect in the Rangers system before a somewhat disappointing season at Triple-A that included a 2-5 record, 5.30 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 74.2 innings. Hurley was promoted to the majors and produced at roughly the same rate in his five starts as he had in the minors, but as we mentioned above, the Rangers do not have many established hurlers, so there is certainly a chance for Hurley, a first round selection in 2004, to pick up a substantial role in 2009, especially after a minor league career that includes a 8.28 K/9 mark, a solid 1.24 WHIP and an ERA under 4.00 in over 580 innings.