Orlando Hudson + Trash Talk= ???

[AcidRock23]

A dude in my league picked Orlando Hudson up on waivers and is having the gall to be blowing what appears to be smoke on the subject. He claims he's 'not looking at old stats but potential'. I suppose, he's the right age to break out and the 'line' on him sounds promising but in a 10 team both leagues H2H w/ 23/ team? I just can't see it.

Am I missing something though? I told him that I will pay him .25 if he starts Hudson when I play him though, so it may cost me...

[MauroGozzo]

The O-dog (as he calls himself) should have a slightly better year than last... He's an OK option at 2B but his strength is in defence. He might be speedy but the jays rarely run. He'll be hitting in the bottom of the lineup all season... Not really that much to get excited about - except the nickname, of course.

[Dude86]

Dropping Hudson would be a move to be proud of, not picking him up.

[fantasma]

I think what you're hearing is probably an echoing of a Nate Ravitz writeup from about a week ago, that called him one in a series of USA Today Fantasy Baseball's Breakout Candidates for this year. Here's the article:

Orlando Hudson, 2B, TOR
by Nate Ravitz
As rosters begin to take shape during spring training, we'll be profiling not-so-well-known players who could be poised to have a breakout seasons. These players are ones you'll want to watch to see how they develop and could be some of the sleepers you'll need on your roster if you want to win your fantasy league this season. We'll take a look at one player each weekday throughout the month of March.

Orlando Hudson is the perfect example of how an injury can screw up a player's season, even if he never goes on the disabled list. On July 4, Hudson suffered a strained groin. While the injury was not originally considered serious, it appeared to knock him out of rhythm and certainly slowed him down. On the day of the injury, Hudson was hitting .293 with five stolen bases and 39 RBI. For the remainder of July, he hit .207, and his post-injury stats included a .235 batting average, no steals, and only 18 RBI. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Hudson was well on his way to a banner season before the injury. He had really found his groove in May and June, when he hit .315 with 32 RBI.

Let's not forget that Hudson established himself as a terrific hitter in the minors, too, hitting well over .300 in his final two seasons on the farm. There's a good chance that Hudson will move up to the seventh spot in the batting order this season after spending most of 2003 in the eight hole. The seventh slot would allow him to – most likely – bat immediately after Eric Hinske and Josh Phelps, two players who have no trouble getting on base. Of course, just about anywhere in the Toronto lineup is a great place to hit; the Blue Jays finished third in runs and team slugging percentage last season and fourth in team on-base percentage.

There should be little question that Hudson will hit. The only question is, will he run? The Blue Jays finished dead last in stolen bases and stolen base attempts last season, and that philosophy will continue to limit Hudson's upside in the steals category. But even 10 stolen bases – a plateau he was on pace to top before his injury – would look great along with a .285 BA, 12 HR and 70 RBI, and that may be a conservative projection.

[AcidRock23]

Dropping Hudson would be a move to be proud of, not picking him up.

There we go!! That's exactly what I was looking for. I'm still hoping I can lose the .25 and pick up some easy wins...hee hee.

'O-dog' will also be very helpful for trashtalking counterinsurgency...

Thanks!!

[Guest]

I think what you're hearing is probably an echoing of a Nate Ravitz writeup from about a week ago, that called him one in a series of USA Today Fantasy Baseball's Breakout Candidates for this year. Here's the article:

Orlando Hudson, 2B, TOR
by Nate Ravitz
As rosters begin to take shape during spring training, we'll be profiling not-so-well-known players who could be poised to have a breakout seasons. These players are ones you'll want to watch to see how they develop and could be some of the sleepers you'll need on your roster if you want to win your fantasy league this season. We'll take a look at one player each weekday throughout the month of March.

Orlando Hudson is the perfect example of how an injury can screw up a player's season, even if he never goes on the disabled list. On July 4, Hudson suffered a strained groin. While the injury was not originally considered serious, it appeared to knock him out of rhythm and certainly slowed him down. On the day of the injury, Hudson was hitting .293 with five stolen bases and 39 RBI. For the remainder of July, he hit .207, and his post-injury stats included a .235 batting average, no steals, and only 18 RBI. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Hudson was well on his way to a banner season before the injury. He had really found his groove in May and June, when he hit .315 with 32 RBI.

Let's not forget that Hudson established himself as a terrific hitter in the minors, too, hitting well over .300 in his final two seasons on the farm. There's a good chance that Hudson will move up to the seventh spot in the batting order this season after spending most of 2003 in the eight hole. The seventh slot would allow him to – most likely – bat immediately after Eric Hinske and Josh Phelps, two players who have no trouble getting on base. Of course, just about anywhere in the Toronto lineup is a great place to hit; the Blue Jays finished third in runs and team slugging percentage last season and fourth in team on-base percentage.

There should be little question that Hudson will hit. The only question is, will he run? The Blue Jays finished dead last in stolen bases and stolen base attempts last season, and that philosophy will continue to limit Hudson's upside in the steals category. But even 10 stolen bases – a plateau he was on pace to top before his injury – would look great along with a .285 BA, 12 HR and 70 RBI, and that may be a conservative projection.

Thanks for this tip as to his sources too. I started poking around a bit today at work when I saw a blurb on ESPN mentioning the dude but was a bit too busy to properly review everything. I suppose it's worth a crapshoot of that nature but kind of a waste of time at this point.

I picked up Lugo for the same reason and was obnoxiously offering him in mock trades e.g. "what do you want for Sheffield?" "I'll give you Lugo and Sheffield for Pujols. C'mon man, Lugo's going to break out this year, I read some shit about it". I dumped him today to pick up LaCroy to back up Sexson and have a spare C to trade (I got Hernandez and Estrada as well...) and just for the heck of it, as it appears he may get some more AB this year. I'm not really too keen on trading right now as I'm content w/ my team and will be going on vacation next week so I'll let them fritter away their teams and see what's left.