THT's Fantasy Archives

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Posted by Derek Carty at 3:37am

Playing for keeps (Part 2)

Last week, I began a series reviewing some players whose values have shifted substantially this year and may be on the keeper bubble, depending where that bubble is located, in strict draft leagues. You can view the first installment here.

For this edition, I’ve made a slight change to nomenclature. It was pointed out in a number of comments that a number of leagues go way deeper into the keeper pool than 60 players, so instead of qualifying the cutoffs subjectively as “shallow” and “deep,” I’m going to keep it objective and just label the cutoffs, “30-deep” and “60-deep.”

For those of you in much deeper pools, I’m considering doing a deeper version of this column sometime in the near future. In the meantime, feel free to suggest players and cut offs for discussion in the comment section.

And, away we go.

Chone Figgins
30-deep: NO
60-deep: NO

Chone Figgins does have a few things going for him. We know he can score a bunch of runs and steal a bunch of bases. His walk rate has also been trending upwards basically his whole career, which leads to more opportunities to steal bases and score runs. As of my writing this, only Albert Pujols has scored more runs and only four players in all of baseball have swiped more bases.

As for the bad news, Figgins has also been hurt two of the past three years and his skill set, especially his lack of power, leaves him victim to the whims of BABIP. Figgins traditionally brings an underrated attribute to fantasy teams in his versatility, but this year he has played third base almost exclusively, which means he will most likely lose his MI-eligibility next year. Granting health, he’s virtually guaranteed to be a stud in runs and stolen bases, and if luck is on his side he could be very helpful in average (especially because he’ll probably get 600 or more at-bats). However, he’s a total liability in the power categories, especially at a corner spot.

All things considered, he’s basically a poor man’s Ichiro with less attractive eligibility. As an MI, I could see keeping him in the 60-plus pool, but as a corner infielder, I couldn’t do it.

Dan Haren
30-deep: BORDERLINE
60-deep: YES

I’m a believer. Is there anybody who shouldn’t be? I thought coming into this year, and even more so coming into 2008, Haren was a great value because he was quite probably in the Webb, Sabathia, Halladay class, but his price was a bit lower. Well, that won’t be the case anymore. The walk rate had always been great, but the past two years it’s been incredible. Like Halladay, Haren is keep-able in a shallow pool, though personally, I don’t think I’d keep any pitcher other than Lincecum or Santana in a 10- or 12-team, three-keeper league. If you have a similarly worthy hitter, I’d recommend keeping the bat, but Haren is reliable to be elite.

Matt Holliday
30-deep: YES
60-deep: YES

Matt Holliday looked like he may have been this year’s Manny Ramirez before getting cold over the past two weeks. Still, his acquisition basically locked down a division championship for the Cardinals. The deal also freed a fantasy stud from the purgatory that is Oakland. I was very pessimistic when he went to Oakland because of the ballpark, the line-up, and their organizational reluctance to run and decided to just flat-out avoid him in 2009 drafts.

Those concerns are all things of the past. He won’t be the Holliday of Coors, but at 29, there’s no reason to think he won’t be a top-30 player for a few years to come. Hitting behind some guy named Albert doesn’t hurt either.

Torii Hunter
30-deep: NO
60-deep: NO

Every player has a career year, or even two. Torii Hunter is a very high quality major league baseball player who can boast a fine career. If you owned him this year, congratulations. He can often slip and become a very nice, affordable 20/20 type. Next year somebody will overpay. That person should not be you.

Raul Ibanez
30-deep: NO
60-deep: NO

Sure, that’s a great ballpark to hit in and a great line-up to be a part of, but ditto Torii Hunter.

Adam Jones
30-deep: NO
60-deep: NO

In April and May, we saw a glimpse of what Jones might become. After that scorching start, he’s been a mix of brutal (June and August) and pedestrian (July). To quantify this a bit more, as of my writing this, April and May represent 36 percent of Jones’ total games, but 49, 58, and 51 percent of his runs, homers, and RBIs, respectively.

When considering keepers, I often consider the worst case scenario. In order for me to feel safe about recommending Jones, I’d have to be able to foresee ways for Jones to maintain his value if the power and average drop. He hasn’t stolen more than three bases in a month. Between the unremarkable steal total and the awful strikeout-to-walk ratio, I see more red lights than green.

Jones could really break out next year or settle more firmly into being a complimentary player. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones re-enacts the disappointments of Alex Rios. I’d let somebody else find out who the real Adam Jones is.

Joe Mauer
30-deep: NO
60-deep: YES

Mauer is just a great young hitter. He has a great contact rate and good plate discipline. Perhaps this year’s power is a bit fluky, especially because his fly ball rate hasn’t changed drastically. Regardless, his relatively high doubles rate has previously indicated that the power potential is there. In his mid-20s, he’ll begin to show it. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect 30+ homer seasons from Mauer, but 20 seems like a sensible neighborhood. He should also continue to hit .320+ like clockwork.

Even with all that optimism, I’m still wary of keeping catchers in shallow leagues for strategic reasons. If the worst-case scenario is ending up with the 10th-best catcher, I wouldn’t take him in the top 30. The deeper the league, the better the justification for keeping an elite backstop.

Aramis Ramirez
30-deep: NO
60-deep: YES

When Aramis has been on the field, he’s consistently produced at a level worthy of consideration inside the top 30 and has been drafted accordingly. However, even excluding this season, which has been highly compromised by injuries, Ramirez has only averaged about 140 games per season over the previous five. With a keeper pool of 50 or 60, he’s too good to dismiss, especially because third base isn’t as deep as it once was. Most important, 140 games of Aramis Ramirez will produce fifth round value. There’s too much risk for the shallow end though. Aramis Ramirez is in Chipper Jones territory, you should draft him expecting 480–520 at-bats.