Angel Pagan: Remember Me?
By Brad Kelly
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the Giants have been competitive all season, even though it is an odd year, as they have the great mix of talent and experience that anchors their success.
One of the key cogs over the Giants championship runs has been the presence of Angel Pagan in their outfield. Pagan has been a solid player for them both defensively and offensively over his five year stint with the team, and Giants fans would tell you he has been a solid player for them.
The only bugaboo with Pagan in both fantasy and reality, has been his inability to stay healthy. I will save all of us the time by going over all his ailments, but it isn’t that farfetched to compare his medical record to the opening credits of Star Wars.
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He has been nicked up this season as well, but he already has more plate appearances this season than the previous two years. The Giants have tried to protect him more this season as well, as he has had more off days and has been relatively quiet on the base paths for most of the year.
For the most part, fantasy owners have been able to keep him off their radar because of his spotty health history and lackluster season line, .265/2 HR/32 RBI/9 SB. But, even though that stat line does not scream upside, there is some definite value that owners can take advantage over the course of fantasy playoffs.
Pagan has been on my radar since early September, as I was interested in if he could potentially offer a cheap speed/average option, which would help stabilize some of my OF woes. I wish would I have made a move sooner, because over the course of this month he has been producing.
For September he has posted a, .311/2 HR/6 RBI/3 SB line, making him a cheap and overlooked quality outfielder. I think that his recent surge has to be as a result of him coming back relatively healthy after missing most of August.
In the terms of the fantasy playoffs, the most important thing is that he has been on a tear over the last two weeks. Over the last 11 games, he has at least one hit in nine of them. He has also had multi-hit games in five out of those 11, so he seems to be seeing the ball great right now.
One other positive note is that Pagan has been a much better hitter at home this season, .274 AVG compared to .257 on the road, thus making the fact that Pagan has ten out of sixteen games left at home this season an added bonus for owners looking to exploit good matchups over our championship runs.
Pagan has had some pretty dynamic fantasy seasons over the course of his career, he had the coveted blend of modest pop, great speed and good average. As he has gotten older, and the injuries have piled up, he unfortunately only shows flashes of that former talent. That does not mean that owners should write him off, especially when he is surging, and could offer great value off the waiver wire.
For me he has been someone I have been targeting specifically for the playoffs, because he offers me just enough at nearly every stat category that I am confident he won’t hurt me. He can mask some holes in my OF with the balance he can offer, so he seems like a decent add for the playoffs. You are not investing in him for the course of the season, just for the next couple of weeks, the value is evident so take advantage.