By Dan O’Shea
Could the start of second half of the baseball season mark a new beginning for your fantasy baseball team? Maybe, but remember, there is less time left in your fantasy season than in the real MLB season, and less time still to make any trades. It’s definitely time to take stock of various underachievers, and do something about them one way or another. That means putting them on the trading block if you think you can get something, or maybe just on the chopping block if you think you can’t. Of course, there might also be a few worth keeping in the hopes they turn their seasons around. Here’s my take with a new Fantasy Fix feature, the weekly Fantasy Fix Action Ratings:
Player: Josh Hamilton, OF
Fantasy Fix Action Rating: TRADE
Comment: Back from injury and hitting again, but no homers yet since his return. The promise of easy production in the Rangers lineup is still there, but you’d be better off with a mid-tier outfielder with a clear power streak.
Player: Jose Reyes, SS
FFAR: HOLD
Comment: He should be coming back fairly soon – or maybe not. Actually, the Mets aren’t saying much at all. When he does come back, he’ll probably be great, and that’s reason enough to keep him for your late-season run.
Player: Carlos Quentin, OF
FFAR: CHOP
Comment: I could almost see a few Hamilton-for-Quentin trades out there, and you may want to give him a couple weeks after he returns this week from the DL, but he won’t be playing every day right away, and he won’t be stretching any singles into doubles on a sore foot.
Player: Grady Sizemore, OF
FFAR: TRADE
Comment: Has been really picking it up of late, so it’s the perfect time to sell high. The Indians seem like they are throwing in the towel, backing up the truck and exercising every other cliche for quitting that seems handy, which means a lot of his second half home runs will be solo shots.
Player: Jimmy Rollins, SS
FFAR: HOLD
Comment: He’s had the worst slump of his career this year, but he’s finally coming out of it, and also running again, which is a huge part of his value.
Player: Milton Bradley, OF
FFAR: CHOP
Comment: Yes, he will come around, or maybe is already coming around, but his power stats probably will be the last part of his game to recover, and with the Cubs pushing young guns Jake Fox and Micah Hoffpauir, he just won’t deliver enough value.
Player: Cole Hamels, SP
FFAR: HOLD
Comment: Who would have figured just five wins at the All-Star break? But, the Phillies will win a lot in the second half, as no one else seems to want the NL East crown, and Hamels should tighten up his game.
Player: Joba Chamberlain, SP/RP
FFAR: CHOP
Comment: Go ahead and disagree with this one, but for all the talent and his comfy rotation spot on a winning team, he routinely fails to pitch deep into games and his once lofty strikeout totals have fallen off.
Player: Francisco Liriano, SP
FFAR: TRADE
Comment: He is gradually improving, and his decent strikeout numbers could get you someone off the trade market who wins more, like Andy Pettitte or Mark Buehrle.
Player: Brad Lidge, RP
FFAR: CHOP
Comment: He’s got his closer job back, and will get you saves and strikeouts, but his game is still off and he will cause you pain in terms of earned runs. Drop him for someone like Fernando Rodney, who is only 76% owned in Yahoo!, or even Kevin Gregg, 73% owned and who could be in line for some frequent duty as the Cubs make their now-annual push to a winless post-season appearance.
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From the Expert Wire:
* Roto Arcade has Closing Thoughts on the injured closer Jonathan Broxton. The big man’s consistency, frequency of strikeouts and four-out and five-out saves have made him the best closer in fantasyland this year – better than Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon or the surging Brian Fuentes. But Broxton has come down with a nagging toe injury that could limit his second-half use. Closing Thoughts proposes solid-but-unheralded Ramon Troncoso, the current Broxton replacement, as the hand-cuff pick for Broxton owners.
* Rotoworld has a look at players who could be buy-low choices for the second half. The ship probably has sailed on some of them, like B.J. Upton and Alexei Ramirez. But Big Papi David Ortiz is still widely available, and Scott Baker could be a good pick-up for those who are ready to give up on teammate Liriano.
* RotoExperts has more pick-up tips, and the one that caught my eye is at the very bottom of this post: Tim Hudson. Hudson has been so hard-luck the last few years, you shouldn’t invest too much picking him up, and should definitely wait until he gets the call to action sometime in August, but he is capable of pitching deep into games with minimal ERA damage.
* Bleacher Report has some outfield picks, including Colby Rasmus, the emerging Rookie of the Year candidate from the Cardinals. The strange thing is that I know a few people who drafted Rasmus way back in April as a last-round stunner, then dropped him along the way as Rick Ankiel returned for the Cards, Ryan Ludwick started hitting again and Mark DeRosa arrived in town. But, Ankiel and DeRosa are hurting, and that means more at-bats for the rook.
* Finally, FanHouse has a Jimmy Rollins trade-talk roundtable. As noted above, I recommend J-Roll owners hang onto him, but if you must trade, I do like the suggestion by Matt Snyder to go for sleeper who has played like an early-round draft pick. I particularly like Mark Reynolds, 1B/3B, because of the multi-position eligibility. His team, the Diamondbacks, is going nowhere fast, but Reynolds, with 24 homers right now, will easily eclipse his home run totals from last year (28), probably before the month is over. You also wouldn’t sacrifice too many stolen bases, as Reynolds already has 15.
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Dan O’Shea’s Fantasy Fix appears every Wednesday, except when it appears on Thursday. Tips, comments, and suggestions are welcome. You can also read his about his split sports fan personality at SwingsBothWays, which isn’t about what it sounds like It’s about.
Posted on July 16, 2009