Fantasy Astrology Midseason Additions

I know all of you who read my last post several weeks ago are just DYING to find out what happens next in the exciting adventure at LEGO Arkham Asylum.  I promise there's a very cool second act on the way, but it's taking me a while to get it through post-production.  In the meantime, there has been a lot happening in the baseball world that I have been paying great attention to, including the (utterly boring) Trade Deadline and the announcement of 12 (mostly boring) Biogenesis PED-related suspensions.  But what I've been focusing on is the All-Star Break edition of my 40-Man Roster project, which I've used to compile a midseason statistical database, which in turn has helped me optimize the teams in my Fantasy Astrology project.

I admit that I am not perfect in all of my endeavors.  I think I've made this metaphor before in this space, but the great Persian Rug weavers would intentionally weave mistakes into their greatest works because they believe that nothing should be perfect except Allah.  The blinding hubris of this practice aside, it wasn't for this reason that I left some of the hottest players in 2013 off their respective astrology rosters.  It was simply because I didn't spend the requisite time and energy scouring the waiver wire of the league to keep all the rosters up to date.  But that mistake has been rectified as of this weekend, thanks to my tireless database work.  Here is a roster made up of the best players who haven't yet appeared to represent their astrological teams this season:

Some pretty big names in there, including some who I added to my own fantasy team, but failed to do the same for the astrological universe.  I am referring in this case to Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig, but I'll get to him later, seeing as his new team is stuck in the middle of the standings (although surprisingly still over .500, even without the electrifying youngster).  Instead I'd like to go team-by-team, astrology standings style.  The first place Leo Lions sure do have a knack for developing young breakout stars - Mike Trout and Yu Darvish last year, Jose Fernandez and Evan Gattis this year.  The addition of the Marlins' lone All-Star will do more than shore up the pitching staff behind Max Scherzer, Darvish, and Madison Bumgarner while Clay Buchholz recovers (and I use that term optimistically) from his mysterious neck injury.  Matt Joyce has played an important offensive part in the success of a very good team, but despite his addition he'll be on the bench behind Trout, Adam Jones, Colby Rasmus, and the recently hot Jason Heyward.  Justin Wilson has been one of the best middle relievers in baseball working from the back-end of an overworked Pirates bullpen, but he'll fall to 3rd in the RP depth chart behind two guys who are actually picking up saves (Joaquin Benoit and Huston Street).

Three teams are tied with 11 wins each, and one of them might not even make the playoffs (provided the ESPN system takes the winner from each division rather than just selecting the teams with the four best records).  The Aries Rams didn't have too many glaring needs, but what few they had were more than adequately addressed with these additions: newly-crowned Red Sox closer Koji Uehara and top Pirates setup man Mark Melancon slide into the two RP roles recently vacated by a middle reliever (David Robertson) and a former closer (John Axford).  Rockies ace Jorge De La Rosa would be a welcome addition to most any pitching staff... except for the one that already includes Felix Hernandez, Matt Harvey, Chris Sale, Justin Masterson, Hisashi Iwakuma, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Chris Tillman.  I guess it's true when they say, "Them that has, gets."

The Libra Scales also picked up two newly-minted closers: Kenley Jansen (taking over for the ill-advised Brandon League) and Brad Ziegler (the latest to step into an Arizona closer-by-committee that has so far included Heath Bell (another new addition), J.J. Putz, and David Hernandez).  On the offensive side, Libra picked up another first baseman (Chris Johnson's secondary position) to put some pressure on the untraded Michael Young.  While the five SP's listed above are tops in terms of total points, a fair amount of mostly rookie breakout hits have more than competed in terms of PPG, a more valuable measure of competence given a small sample size.  One of these pitchers, Chris Archer, has been hot lately and will fill a rotation spot this week.  Another one of those pitchers, Gerrit Cole, will jump into Virgo's rotation for their all-important matchup against Leo this week.  Virgo's other two additions were surprisingly timely, considering how solid this team has been all year: Matt Dominguez is a welcome addition at 3B given Will Middlebrooks's demotion and Mike Moustakas's chronic failure to make it big, and Marlon Byrd will slide comfortably into an outfield spot with Domonic Brown and Carlos Quentin feeling the hurt recently.

Astrology neighbors (and opponents this week) have something in common other than their shared win total of 10: they both lost more important pieces due to suspensions than they gained through the midseason addition process.  Cancer gained a couple of starting pitchers not on the main list (Reds rookie Tony Cingrani and Twins WBC-inspired callup Samuel Deduno) who are both starting this week, but lost power hitting outfielder and Deduno's WBC teammate Nelson Cruz (who will be replaced by WBC Team Italy's Chris Denorfia, as neither Adam Lind nor Luke Scott have OF eligibility).  Gemini also added two starters that will jump into the rotation (Mets prospect Zack Wheeler and converting reliever Bruce Chen) and a closer (although Kevin Gregg will have to warm the bench behind consistent weekly leader Craig Kimbrel and WBC Team USA's Steve Cishek), but they lost Jhonny Peralta (who thankfully was DH-ing with some guy called Jose Reyes Gemini's main SS).

The Fire division is far and away the most powerful division in the league with all three members, including third place Sagittarius, playing over .500 fantasy ball.  And they just got a lot better, netting the hottest-hitting addition (Yasiel Puig leads runner-up Marlon Byrd by more than 5 points every contest) and the most consistent pitching addition (Eric Stults is toiling away in a forgotten corner of Southern California, but he has more total points than even the All-Star Jose Fernandez).  Water Division rivals Scorpio and Pisces had the fewest new additions, although Michael Saunders will start in CF for the Scorpions, seeing how Desmond Jennings is banged up and Coco Crisp is struggling of late, and Erik Bedard will take the injured Yovani Gallardo's place in the Fish rotation.  The two remaining Earth Division teams picked up some meaningful players, even though neither will likely be playing meaningful fantasy matchups down the stretch.  Capricorn and Taurus both picked up shortstop eligible players: Jose Iglesias goes to the Goats (and he'll play if Hanley Ramirez hits the DL for his shoulder ailment) and Brian Dozier went to the Bulls (but he has played primarily 2B this year).  The Bulls also swapped washed up veteran Justin Morneau for the surprisingly successful James Loney, but he'll play third fiddle at 1B behind Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzalez.  Aquarius is a total lost cause with only 3 wins on the season, but at least they got a couple of good pitchers (two from the main list and another from the backup list), a third string backup catcher with more upside than Carlos Ruiz, and a new first baseman to sit on the bench (Lyle Overbay, the only one not listed above).

I'll revisit these rosters again in a month when the calendar page changes again (in addition to doing the weekly lineup tinkering, about which I've been very consistent), but my guess is that things won't change too much as we head into the dog days.  Until then, it's root, root, root for your birthsign as the second season of Astrology Baseball rolls on!