Thursday, April 02, 2009

Moving Up: Marcus Thames

With Gary Sheffield's release last week Marcus Thames received a huge boost in fantasy value. He should receive close to regular at-bats by taking most of the designated hitter at-bats as well as playing some left field when Carlos Guillen is unable to play or just needs a break. But how good is Marcus Thames?

Thames has shown the ability to hit 40 plus homers if given a full season of at-bats (550-600). Unfortunately, even if he receives those at-bats he isn't likely to hit better than .250-.260 and potentially worse than that. He does not walk much so his on-base percentage will be fairly low, though he may receive more walks due to the intimidation factor of an increasing homer total. This is not the player that will turn your team from a loser to dominate (if such a player even exists), but he can turn a good team to an even better one assuming that you are not also rostering Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, Russell Branyan, and Mark Reynolds.

His stats courtesy of FanGraphs.com:

SeasonTeamBB%K%BB/KOBPSLGOPSISOBABIPwRCwRAAwOBA
2002Yankees0.0 %30.8 %0.00.231.538.769.308.2501.5-0.1.321
2003Rangers9.9 %24.7 %0.44.298.274.572.068.2595.5-4.8.259
2004Tigers8.8 %25.5 %0.38.326.509.835.255.28326.23.4.352
2005Tigers7.8 %35.5 %0.24.263.411.674.215.22610.4-3.8.287
2006Tigers9.6 %26.4 %0.40.333.549.882.293.27461.812.9.370
2006Tigers4.5 %28.6 %0.17.273.333.606.095.3331.5-1.2.266
2007Tigers (AAA)0.0 %12.5 %0.00.375.7501.125.375.3331.91.0.491
2007Tigers4.6 %26.8 %0.18.278.498.776.257.26334.0-1.1.327
2008Tigers7.1 %30.1 %0.25.292.516.808.275.26044.12.9.339
2009Bill James8.3 %25.1 %0.36.314.512.826.261.26850.92.8.352
2009CHONE8.2 %27.7 %0.32.314.506.820.257.27453.37.7.352
2009Marcel7.6 %26.8 %0.31.306.490.796.244.27549.81.7.337
2009Oliver7.7 %25.4 %0.33.312.514.826.261.27545.84.9.348
2009ZiPS7.8 %27.7 %0.30.309.512.821.263.27443.15.7.349

1 comment:

  1. Ummm... Maybe the picture should be of Marcus Thames then, and not Curtis Granderson.

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