Picking Up and Dropping Off
Picking Up:
1. B. J. Upton, 3B Devil Rays -- Yeah yeah...I know in my last article for Addict Fantasy Sports I had him dropping off in value, but only because I sincerely thought the D-Rays were going to punish him for his verbal diarrhea last week. I was wrong. Maybe they gave him a stern talking to, but he's up and ready to start playing third. New teammate Rocco Baldelli will take over the leadoff spot vacated by the Julio Lugo trade, but that may not last long if Upton starts to hit. He has amazing SB potential so grab him if you can.
2. Ryan Shealy, 1B Royals -- The trade from the shadow of Todd Helton will do wonders for the young first baseman. He has solid skills and some real nice power potential, 15 HR in 222 Triple-A at bats this year. He still needs to lower his strikeouts, but he has produced with a solid .284 average and a .351 OBP thus far. He'll play everyday in the field and then will probably flip flop with Mike Sweeney (who gets back this coming weekend) between first and DH for the remainder of the season. Another youngster with solid upside if the Royals don't misuse him, a la Justin Huber.
3. Willie Aybar, 3B Braves -- From being a reserve in L.A. to being the starting third baseman for the Braves. That alone makes it an upgrade. There's no timetable for Chipper Jones' return, so Aybar has immediate short term value. If you need someone to plug a hole for a couple of weeks, he could be your guy. He'll be hitting leadoff, so expect a nice boost in runs scored and maybe even stolen bases.
4. Lastings Milledge, OF Mets -- The Duaner Sanchez injury couldn't have been better for those awaiting a return of the Mets highly touted outfield prospect as the team was forced to trade Xavier Nady for bullpen help. Hopefully Milledge was taught a little humility in the minors and will concentrate more on his play than high-fiving a bunch of fans in the front row. He should start off platooning with Endy Chavez, but could produce enough to grab the full time job.
5. Wily Mo Pena, OF Red Sox -- He's always had great power potential and is now finally healthy again. The injury to Trot Nixon was very timely for Pena as he will assume full time duty in Boston's right field. He should provide you with a great power boost and if he remains on track and hits well, he will force the Sox to keep his bat in the lineup spelling Nixon and Coco Crisp down the stretch.
Dropping Off:
1. Chris Shelton, 1B Tigers -- From almost out of nowhere, the Tigers trade for Sean Casey and send Shelton down to the minors. They say he's still the future at first in Detroit and that he will be back in September, but really...how much is he going to give you in the last month. Maybe if you get into your time machine and go back to April, it'll help, but that's about it. And yes, there's always the possibility that Casey gets hurt (again), but is that what you want from your first baseman? Hope for someone to get hurt? Go out and find someone else...fast!!
2. Nick Swisher, 1B Athletics -- If you even tried to look past his .204 June you couldn't help but get smacked in the face with his .188 July. And it's because of mono?!? What's he doing? Kissing Casey Kotchman? His latest slump has driven his average to a woeful .251 right now and his power is almost gone. Manager Ken Macha says that Swisher needs to put on somewhere near 15 pounds to get back to where he was before the descent and even then, there's no guarantee he'll get back on track.
3. Jeff Kent/Nomar Garciaparra, 2B/1B Dodgers -- With the acquisitions of Julio Lugo and Wilson Betemit, the logical assumption is that one of these guys is more hurt than we are being led to believe. Rafael Furcal is locked in at short, Betemit is at third and Lugo is manning second right now. The race is on between Kent and Nomar for who comes back first. I'm guessing the guy who wins that battle will be playing there for the duration of the season.
4. Andy Phillips, 1B Yankees -- Not that he was doing that much to help you out for your fantasy team, but his value becomes almost non-existent with the acquisition of Craig Wilson. As the rest of the Yankees veterans come back from their injuries, Phillips should be the first guy to get sent down.
5. Todd Walker, 2B Padres -- The trade to San Diego guarantees a reduction in value for the role playing infielder. Instead of going out and getting a legit third baseman, the Padres opted to pick up Walker to act as a utility infielder spelling Mark Bellhorn at third and Josh Barfield at second. Barring an injury or super-crappy play by Bellhorn, Walker won't see enough regular action to be an asset to your team from here on.
1. B. J. Upton, 3B Devil Rays -- Yeah yeah...I know in my last article for Addict Fantasy Sports I had him dropping off in value, but only because I sincerely thought the D-Rays were going to punish him for his verbal diarrhea last week. I was wrong. Maybe they gave him a stern talking to, but he's up and ready to start playing third. New teammate Rocco Baldelli will take over the leadoff spot vacated by the Julio Lugo trade, but that may not last long if Upton starts to hit. He has amazing SB potential so grab him if you can.
2. Ryan Shealy, 1B Royals -- The trade from the shadow of Todd Helton will do wonders for the young first baseman. He has solid skills and some real nice power potential, 15 HR in 222 Triple-A at bats this year. He still needs to lower his strikeouts, but he has produced with a solid .284 average and a .351 OBP thus far. He'll play everyday in the field and then will probably flip flop with Mike Sweeney (who gets back this coming weekend) between first and DH for the remainder of the season. Another youngster with solid upside if the Royals don't misuse him, a la Justin Huber.
3. Willie Aybar, 3B Braves -- From being a reserve in L.A. to being the starting third baseman for the Braves. That alone makes it an upgrade. There's no timetable for Chipper Jones' return, so Aybar has immediate short term value. If you need someone to plug a hole for a couple of weeks, he could be your guy. He'll be hitting leadoff, so expect a nice boost in runs scored and maybe even stolen bases.
4. Lastings Milledge, OF Mets -- The Duaner Sanchez injury couldn't have been better for those awaiting a return of the Mets highly touted outfield prospect as the team was forced to trade Xavier Nady for bullpen help. Hopefully Milledge was taught a little humility in the minors and will concentrate more on his play than high-fiving a bunch of fans in the front row. He should start off platooning with Endy Chavez, but could produce enough to grab the full time job.
5. Wily Mo Pena, OF Red Sox -- He's always had great power potential and is now finally healthy again. The injury to Trot Nixon was very timely for Pena as he will assume full time duty in Boston's right field. He should provide you with a great power boost and if he remains on track and hits well, he will force the Sox to keep his bat in the lineup spelling Nixon and Coco Crisp down the stretch.
Dropping Off:
1. Chris Shelton, 1B Tigers -- From almost out of nowhere, the Tigers trade for Sean Casey and send Shelton down to the minors. They say he's still the future at first in Detroit and that he will be back in September, but really...how much is he going to give you in the last month. Maybe if you get into your time machine and go back to April, it'll help, but that's about it. And yes, there's always the possibility that Casey gets hurt (again), but is that what you want from your first baseman? Hope for someone to get hurt? Go out and find someone else...fast!!
2. Nick Swisher, 1B Athletics -- If you even tried to look past his .204 June you couldn't help but get smacked in the face with his .188 July. And it's because of mono?!? What's he doing? Kissing Casey Kotchman? His latest slump has driven his average to a woeful .251 right now and his power is almost gone. Manager Ken Macha says that Swisher needs to put on somewhere near 15 pounds to get back to where he was before the descent and even then, there's no guarantee he'll get back on track.
3. Jeff Kent/Nomar Garciaparra, 2B/1B Dodgers -- With the acquisitions of Julio Lugo and Wilson Betemit, the logical assumption is that one of these guys is more hurt than we are being led to believe. Rafael Furcal is locked in at short, Betemit is at third and Lugo is manning second right now. The race is on between Kent and Nomar for who comes back first. I'm guessing the guy who wins that battle will be playing there for the duration of the season.
4. Andy Phillips, 1B Yankees -- Not that he was doing that much to help you out for your fantasy team, but his value becomes almost non-existent with the acquisition of Craig Wilson. As the rest of the Yankees veterans come back from their injuries, Phillips should be the first guy to get sent down.
5. Todd Walker, 2B Padres -- The trade to San Diego guarantees a reduction in value for the role playing infielder. Instead of going out and getting a legit third baseman, the Padres opted to pick up Walker to act as a utility infielder spelling Mark Bellhorn at third and Josh Barfield at second. Barring an injury or super-crappy play by Bellhorn, Walker won't see enough regular action to be an asset to your team from here on.
posted by Howard Bender at
6:01 PM
