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Step back, Michael J. Hurcomb. It's my turn for the mailbag.
That unibrow you referred to last week? Yeah, I sufficiently plucked it, giving the semblance of two distinct eyebrows.
Actually, I turned it into three. Dare to be different, right?
Whatever, I never had a unibrow. In fact, my eyebrows so disassociate themselves from each other that they practically reach around and touch on the opposite end, forming a unibrow on the back of my head.
But you don't care about the patterns of my facial hair. You care about Fantasy Baseball questions. Let's get to 'em.
I'm in a 12-team mixed Rotisserie league. Someone offered me Justin Verlander and Shane Victorino for Zack Greinke and Francisco Liriano. I figure I am buying low on Verlander, but might be selling low on Liriano. Thoughts? -- Bill Walsh
SW: Yeah, you might be selling low on Liriano, but no one knows exactly how many starts he'll need to get back to his "old" self. I think the clincher for this deal is the impact of Victorino, considering you play in a Rotisserie league. You look at his 12 home runs and 37 stolen bases in 456 at-bats last year, and he clearly has 15-homer, 40-steal potential. That combination is pretty hard to find in Fantasy. I mean, it ranks right up there with Carl Crawford. Victorino has already begun a rehab assignment and should return from his calf injury soon. And when he does, you'll want him on your Fantasy team, especially when you're also getting the best pitcher in the deal in Verlander.
Another owner in my 10-team Head-to-Head league needed a slugging outfielder. I have Ken Griffey Jr. as my fourth outfielder with Bobby Abreu, Corey Hart and Chris B. Young as my starters and B.J. Upton at second base. So I offered Griffey for Robinson Cano. Is this a good deal since I can shift Upton into my OF? -- Ken Lockwood, San Diego
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| Casey Kotchman could develop into a decent power option at first base this season. (Getty Images) |
In a 10-team Head-to-Head points league, I need help deciding whether to hold on to Bill Hall, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Billy Butler and Travis Hafner or drop one or two to pick up either Mike Jacobs or Casey Kotchman. Any thoughts? -- Rich Walker, Lindenhurst, N.Y.
SW: Yeah, I have a few thoughts, beginning with Kotchman is awesome and Hall stinks. OK, I'll try to bring a little more sophistication to my answer. Hall has an average of .200, which is awful, obviously, but with his ratio of 23 strikeouts to two walks, you can't expect much higher. He does have six home runs, sure, but considering he hit only 14 last year and was never much of a power prospect to begin with -- forget that fluky 35-homer 2006 -- I can't believe he'll maintain his current pace. Kotchman, on the other hand, has fantastic plate discipline with four walks and five strikeouts. He hit .325 in 1,241 career minor-league at bats and has long projected as a 25-homer type in the majors. At age 25, we might be witnessing his power breakout this season, considering he already has four home runs. So yeah, drop Hall for Kotchman and don't give it a second thought.
I drafted Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, both of whom have starting pitcher and relief pitcher eligibility. So in my lineup, I decided to use Marcum as a relief pitcher. Some league members cried foul, saying a starter shouldn't be allowed to function as a reliever (there is nothing in our by-laws, but I'm thinking they will want to change that next year). I purposely drafted those guys for that purpose. If all league members know this option is available to them, is their complaint legit or is it sour grapes? -- Brian
SW: In most scoring systems, even an average starting pitcher outscores a closer over the course of a season, so I can understand your leaguemates' dissatisfaction. However, if in the league constitution, they allowed certain pitchers to have dual eligibility, they can't penalize you now just because you were perceptive enough to take advantage. My oldest league actually had this same argument a few years back, and my leaguemates and I ultimately decided to use pitchers only in their real-life roles, regardless of Fantasy eligibility. But we waited until the offseason to implement such a change, and your league has to do the same. You can't change the rules in the middle of the game -- that's practically kindergarten etiquette.
I currently have Johan Santana, Adam Wainwright, Francisco Liriano and Pedro Martinez as my starting pitchers. I was thinking about picking up Yovani Gallardo, but I'd have to drop a pitcher in return. Is it worth taking a chance on him, or should I just keep who I have? -- Adam Whistler, Benettsville S.C.
SW: I'd dump Martinez for Gallardo in a heartbeat. Look, Gallardo pitched like an ace last year as a 21-year-old rookie. In fact, if you remove a dreadful six-start August, he went 6-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 79 1/3 innings. He strikes out a batter per inning and might end up your second-best pitcher this season behind Santana. Martinez, on the other hand -- I don't want to call him dead, but with his decreased velocity, he's nothing more than a back-of-the-rotation type in Fantasy, not to mention his hamstring injury will keep him out until June. Easy call here.
I'm in a deep 15-team league and am doing pretty well offensively but am really struggling with pitching (ERA, WHIP and wins in particular). I have both Derrek Lee and Conor Jackson, and although both are doing fantastic, I feel Jackson might end up posting better numbers by season's end. My pitchers are Justin Verlander, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bronson Arroyo, Phil Hughes, Johnny Cueto, Jair Jurrjens, Gavin Floyd and Yovani Gallardo. Now, I recognize it's going to take a couple of pieces, but I'm wondering if I should try to make a trade for Jake Peavy or Johan Santana in exchange for Lee. Or do you think I should just be patient and wait for my pitching to come around? -- Rodolfo Victoria, Brooklyn
SW: First of all, I don't think Jackson has a real chance of performing as well as Lee this season. Lee only once got off to a start this hot (2005), and he ended up hitting 46 home runs that season. Jackson, as good as he is, has the upside to hit no more than 30. But to answer your question, in a 15-team league where I assume you can start both Lee and Jackson, I don't think you want to lose that advantage you have on offense. Obviously, you'd have to trade Lee, not Jackson, to get a Peavy or Santana type, and with Lee looking like he'll hit 40 bombs this season, you probably want to hang on to him. Besides, you have enough upside types on your pitching staff that you'll be fine in a league as deep as yours. Once Gallardo and Verlander get going, you shouldn't have much trouble making up ground.
I'm in a basic, 12-team Head-to-Head league and am a little weak at starting pitcher. A fellow owner is lacking at shortstop, so we began to talk trade and reached a deal of Derek Jeter for C.C. Sabathia. I have both Jeter and Rafael Furcal, so one of the two is expendable. My question is do you think Jeter for Sabathia is a fair trade and do you think Sabathia will get out of this slump? Scott Kazmir for Jeter is also on the table. -- Dave Rohner, Coventry, Conn.
SW: Jeter for Sabathia is a fair trade and one I think you should make in light of Furcal's resurgence this year. Jeter for Kazmir is also a fair trade, but I'm not as enthusiastic about it, considering Kazmir's control and injury issues. Sabathia sure got himself back on the right track with his start Tuesday, didn't he? Before then, I worried about him simply because he'd been so bad this year, allowing 27 earned runs in 18 innings. But he had a four-game stretch in 2006 where he allowed 22 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings, so, you know, things happen. You know he's a Fantasy ace when performing at his best, and he looks like he's getting back to that level now.
Your colleague Michael Hurcomb mentioned in his column last week that it might be time to drop Chris Snyder for a better option on the waiver wire, like J.R. Towles or Ryan Doumit. Well, I am in a league where we play two catchers, and I have Doumit and Snyder. Is it time to bail altogether on Snyder or is there a chance he goes on a spring training-esque run during the regular season? -- Demetrius, Richmond
SW: Here's a case where Hurc and I differ in opinion. I still like Snyder and even have him starting in a 10-team league where we use only one catcher. I still love the second half he had last year, when he posted an OPS of .889 (.386 on-base percentage and .503 slugging), and when you factor in his age (27), you get the impression a breakout is coming. And like you said, he had a fantastic spring (.395, five home runs), which is another positive sign. I think he simply began the season on a cold streak -- something every player in the league will have at some point this season -- and will ultimately break out as no less than a 15-home run catcher. In a two-catcher league, you have to keep him because he easily ranks among the top 20 at his position. If you want to take some solace in his current numbers, that ratio of 10 walks to 14 strikeouts (through Monday) is awfully nice.
In a mixed league, is it better to start an average pitcher with two starts or a stud with one? -- Jason Weeks
SW: Oh my -- yet another age-old pitching argument. In Rotisserie leagues, the answer is easy: Stick with your studs. You don't want some league-average pitcher blowing up your team's WHIP and ERA just for (potentially) a few more strikeouts. In Head-to-Head leagues, though, the situation gets a bit more cloudy. Usually, going with an average double-starter makes more sense, according to the numbers. If you have a good pitcher who averages 19 points per start going once and a so-so pitcher who averages 10 points per start going twice, well, you'd rather have 20 points than 19, right? But pitchers don't always perform up to their averages, of course, and that approach has burned me too many times to count. I almost prefer when leagues limit the number of starts allowed per week, making the decision for me.
I'm trying to decide between Casey Kotchman and James Loney for my starting first baseman. While Kotchman has slightly better power numbers at the moment, who has more upside this year? -- Tim Koehler, St. Louis
SW: I'm going to stick with Loney for now because you can't ignore the statistics he put together last year, but this decision is a lot closer than many people might think. Keep in mind Loney's 15 home runs in 344 at-bats last year was kind of surprise, considering he had never hit more than 11 in a minor-league season. He projected to develop power at some point, but only after he entered his prime. If that assessment sounds familiar to you, it also applied to Kotchman once upon a time, who is a year older than Loney and showing more signs of a power breakout early this season.
With young upstarts like Mark Reynolds and Conor Jackson still available in my league, do you think it would be wise to drop proven veterans like Carlos Delgado and Troy Glaus from my roster and go after one or both? -- Mike O., New Hampshire
SW: Yes, and my answer has just as much to do with Delgado and Glaus as it does Reynolds and Jackson. Don't get me wrong: Reynolds, with a .303 average and six home runs (through Monday), and Jackson, with a .368 average and three home runs, both look they belong on any Fantasy team's roster, but when your alternatives are Delgado and Glaus, that's a no-brainer. Take a look at Delgado's (.258, 24 home runs) and Glaus' (.262, 20 home runs) stats from last year and tell me if you can really still call them proven. I know I've gone on record more than once saying Glaus will hit 30-35 home runs if he stays healthy, but I can't deny the possibility he might be on the decline. And Delgado certainly is, I think, looking at his steadily decreasing OPS and steadily increasing strikeouts. Look, I wouldn't drop Glaus or Delgado -- particularly Glaus -- for just anybody, but adding Reynolds and Jackson is an easy call.
You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Dear Mr. Fantasy in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we do not guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.
