skyking162

There are a variety of reasons I develop a man-crush on a baseball player. I might think he’s vastly underrated. He might have carried my fantasy team to a championship. Or he might have some quirky personal story that I enjoy. But mostly it’s the first one — I tend to root for guys that are underappreciated or haven’t yet been given the chance they deserve. And often times the reason is because he’s a high-walk, low-average hitter. In addition, I like guys who have had good years in the past, but have been given up on for some reason. Facial hair reminiscent of Benito Santiago is also a plus.

Infield

CA Victor Martinez – a catcher with crazy power and the ability to hit for average. Yummy. All those people worried about his poor first half last year need to spend more time staring at his second half. And his performance so far this year.
CA Josh Willingham — So what if he’s playing LF right now. I’d move him back to catcher once the fish have some real outfielders again.
CA Brian McCann — No real team should carry three catchers, but I can’t leave this guy off the list. When old catchers get overrated and decline fast, it’s nice to be able to count on young cheap ones.
1B Craig Wilson — 2004 was a spectacular year, and Wilson carried my Strat-O-Matic team to the World Series as a catcher. Get over the strikeouts, already, this guy can hit. The fracking Pirates shouldn’t be so picky.
1B/3B Kevin Youkilis — Who isn’t rooting for this guy. I guarantee he’ll be the Red Sox number two hitter for the next fifteen years, or your money back.
1B Nick Johnson — Tagged with the injury-prone label as a Yankee, he’s gradually shed that stereotype and is now raking for the Nats. What Yankee-hater doesn’t enjoy a story like Johnson’s?
2B Mark Bellhorn — Ok, he’s two years away from a decent season, but he’s a founding member of my man-crush team. I need veteran leadership, right?
Jerry Hairston — I always thought he was the better player when he shared the Orioles’ 2B job with Brian Roberts. I was obviously wrong, but I think he’ll be the Cubs regular 2B for a couple years, hitting .300 and stealing 30 bases.
SS Jason Bartlett — The Twins are morons. Nick Punto is awful. Bartlett is good. You do the math.
3B Troy Glaus — 2006 MVP Troy Glaus? Forgotten and ready to reclaim his fame.
3B Michal Cuddyer — Yes, he’d be the 3B if I ran the Twins. Are you kidding, I’d put Torii Hunter at 3B over Tony Batista.
3B Corey Koskie — No respect at all. Koskie’s a good fielder and can get on base.

Outfield

LF Adam Dunn — My team captain. Who doesn’t love this man?
LF Jason Michaels — A guy that can really get on base but hasn’t had a chance to play full time. Mmm, let me at him.
CF Curtis Granderson — I don’t usually get worked up over toolsy prospects, but Granderson has a little of everything. Bobby Abreu lite?
CF Corey Patterson — Another toolsy player that bombed relative to the hype. I’d love to see him finally figure things out.
RF Brad Wilkerson — Power, speed, patience. Grrrr.
RF Bobby Abreu — It’s almost disappointing that his Homerun Derby victory took away his underratedness.

Starters

SP Bronson Arroyo — My number one starter. I will freely admit that I had no idea Arroyo was capable of what he’s done so far this season. I’m loving every minute of it.
SP Jeff Weaver — I’ve resigned myself to the fact that he’ll never actually be above average, but I can’t stop dreaming.
SP Brandon McCarthy — I’m so desperate for McCarthy to be given a chance to start consistently that I picked him as my dark horse Cy Young. Last year.
SP Dan Haren — Mulder who?
SP Joe Blanton — Big Three? How about Big Five, big boy?
SP Juan Cruz — If only he was starting for the A’s. I’m now a Diamondbacks fan.
SP Brad Penny — I’m still pissed over the mistreatment of Paul Depodesta. What are Guillermo Mota and Paul LoDuca doing now?
SP Brett Myers — Myers is a guy that I drafted every year in my Strat-O-Matic league until he was finally worth keeping year to year.

Relievers

RP Rafael Soriano — Uber-prospected turned failed, injured prospect and now back to stud pitcher. He’ll be the Mariners’ closer for the next five years.
RP Aaron Heilman — He’d be in the starting rotation on my team. Even if I also had the option of starting Jose Lima.
RP Mike Gonzalez — Relief pitchers don’t thrill me in general because the good ones get too much press, but Gonzalez is a fun guy to root for. I know I only have three relievers on this team, but I’ve talked with the starters and they’re willing to work out of the bullpen whenever they’re needed. I’m such a good manager.

Feel free to root for anybody on my Man-Crush team, but don’t even think about taking them for your own. I’m an extremely jealous person.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 2:05 pm and is filed under 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.