Apr 3, 2013; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda (18) pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The first week of the regular season is in the books, so it is time to revisit the Free Agent Fantasy Team and see how they are doing to start the season.
Apr 1, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick (48) is taken off of the field after injuring his shoulder during the third inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
The only real roster move for the team in the first week is the obvious one. Colon moves up to the MLB team as expected (pitching reasonably well in his debut against the Astros). Who he replaces is Ryan Ludwick, who had a shoulder injury in the season opener that will keep him out at least 3 months. I moved him to the minors/inactive part of the roster, but honestly, he went from one of my highest paid players to a release candidate, depending on whether or not he will come back from the injury. Also, Baseball Reference has not started updating their WAR/WAA numbers yet, so that part won’t be updated yet.
| Name | fWAR | rWAR | WARP | WAA | Position | 2013 Contract | Future Contract |
| James Loney | 0 | 0.1 | 1B | 2 mil | |||
| Maicer Izturis | 0 | 0 | 2B | 3 mil | 6 mil | ||
| Marco Scutaro | -0.2 | -0.3 | 2B | 6.66 mil | 13.33 mil | ||
| Jeff Keppinger | -0.4 | -0.4 | 2B | 4 mil | 8 mil | ||
| Jack Hanahan | 0 | 0 | 3B | 2 mil | 2 mil | ||
| Eric Chavez | 0.1 | 0 | 3B | 3 mil | |||
| David Ross | 0.1 | 0 | C | 3.1 mil | 3.1 mil | ||
| Geovany Soto | 0 | 0 | C | 2.75 mil | |||
| Yorvit Torrealba | 0 | 0 | C | .5 mil | |||
| Juan Pierre | -0.1 | 0 | OF | 1.6 mil | |||
| Melky Cabrera | 0 | 0 | OF | 8 mil | 8 mil | ||
| Dewayne Wise | 0 | 0 | OF | .7 mil | |||
| Andres Torres | -0.1 | -0.2 | OF | 2 mil | |||
| Nate Schierholz | 0.3 | 0.4 | OF | 2.25 mil | |||
| Oliver Perez | 0 | 0 | RP | 1.5 mil | |||
| Shawn Camp | 0.1 | 0 | RP | 1.35 mil | |||
| Jason Grilli | 0 | 0 | RP | 2.75 mil | 4 mil | ||
| Hisanori Takahasi | 0 | 0 | RP | .5 mil | |||
| Jeremy Guthrie | 0.3 | 0.3 | SP | 5 mil | 20 mil | ||
| Hiroki Kuroda | 0 | -0.1 | SP | 15 mil | |||
| John Lannan | 0.2 | 0 | SP | 2.5 mil | |||
| Scott Feldman | -0.1 | 0 | SP | 6 mil | |||
| Kevin Slowey | -0.1 | 0 | SP | .5 mil | |||
| Cody Ransom | -0.1 | -0.1 | SS | .5 mil | |||
| Bartolo Colon | 0 | -0.1 | SP | 3 Mil |
)
| Name | fWAR | rWAR | WARP | WAA | Position | 2013 Contract | Future Contract |
| Scott Baker | SP | 5.5 mil | |||||
| Randy Wells | SP | MiLB | |||||
| Michael Olmsted | RP | MiLB | |||||
| Carlos Torres | RP | MiLB | |||||
| Ryan Madson | RP | 3.5 mil | |||||
| Mitch Maier | OF | MiLB | |||||
| Brian Bogusevic | OF | MiLB | |||||
| Rich Thompson | OF | MiLB | |||||
| Thomas Neal | OF | MiLB | |||||
| Bobby Wilson | C | MiLB | |||||
| Mike Fontenot | 2B | MiLB | |||||
| Matt Downs | 2B | MiLB | |||||
| Travis Ishikawa | 1B | MiLB | |||||
| Dan Johnson | 1B | MiLB | |||||
| Ryan Ludwick | 0.1 | 0.1 | OF | 7.5 mil | 7.5 mil |
| Name | fWAR | rWAR | WARP | WAA | 2013 Contract | Future Contract |
| Freddy Garcia | MiLB | |||||
| Ryan Sweeney | MiLB | |||||
| Hector Rondon | MiLB | |||||
| Zach Braddock | MiLB | |||||
| Endy Chavez | MiLB | |||||
| Chris Volstad | MiLB | |||||
| Kyle McClellan | MiLB | |||||
| Ryan Sadowski | MiLB | |||||
| Brandon Allen | MiLB | |||||
| Cesar Izturis | -0.1 | -0.1 | MiLB | |||
| Nate McLouth | 0 | -0.1 | 2 mil | |||
| Tim Brydak | MiLB | |||||
| Tim Wood | MiLB | |||||
| Ryan Reid | MiLB | |||||
| Neal Cotts | MiLB | |||||
| Jason Bourgieous | MiLB | |||||
| Zach Phillips | MiLB | |||||
| Mike Ekstrom | MiLB | |||||
| Bill Bray | MiLB | |||||
| Dan Wheeler | MiLB |
So far through one week of the season:
Team fWAR: .1
Team WARP: -.3
So using the replacement levels of .294 for Fangraphs and .320 for Baseball Prospectus, and assuming my team has played 6 games (I think most teams have played 5 or 6), my team has won between 1.86 games and 1.62 games. This is a slow start, but obviously one week of baseball doesn’t mean a whole lot. I was happy enough with my outfield depth that I release Nate McLouth despite paying him 2 million dollars, but the Ludwick injury tests this depth and whether it will be one of the stronger parts of the team or not.
Things could have been worse. Hiroki Kuroda’s first start was horrible, and he left with a hand injury when a ball came back to him, but while reports say he isn’t 100%, he isn’t going on the DL. It is a long season, no reason to panic.