Who is the better OF pickup going forward. Drew Stubbs or Brantley?

I’d give Stubbs the edge here over the long haul, but the short haul depends on what you’re looking for.

Both have very good speed, but Stubbs is rated slightly higher and is considered the better athlete. Brantley’s power is almost nil (.369 SLG in minors) while Stubbs’ .401 is generally expected to rise. Brantley, however, gets the edge in contact (89.7 contact rate vs. 72.7 for Stubbs).

Either one will give you speed; Brantley will offer superior BA, while Stubbs should bring more power (though it’s still developing).

re: high BABIP - well, strikeouts are 100% outs, while homers are 100% hits, and he only had 3 HR vs 104 K in the minors. :>

First, I’d say “no” to Dunn in standard 5x5.  Next year’s draft/auction may be the exception in his career, but he always seems to drop in drafts in my experience.  I say 2010 may be the exception because he has an artificially high AVG this year (.350 BABIP vs career mark of .296).  Still, he’s a 3 category player who hurts you in the other 2. 

Next, I’d also not keep Votto.  He, too, has a high BABIP, now has an injury record, and only plays first base.  1B is just too deep to take on these risks.

I’m sure people will disagree strongly, but I’ve learned to mistrust young starting pitcher hype.  Too many of the top pitching prospects return so very little in their first few years.  Hanson has a 4.53 xFIP.  That suggests to me that he hasn’t arrived yet.  Price has been even worse at 4.79.  It seems to me that for every plug-and-play superstar like Tim Lincecum, there are multiple top pitching prospects which go one of the following routes: a) not as good as expected, really a #3 or #4 type, b) takes a few years to grow into their “ace” level, c) converted to reliever.  With just 4 keepers, I’d stay far away.

Normally, I’d also shy away from pitchers in general with so few keepers, but you have 2 proven good ones, and those are the exceptions…

Hamels still gives me a little bit of an unsettled feeling, due to his past health problems, but he has a nice offense and defense behind him, and has proven that he can pitch in that ballpark.  His year-by-year xFIP ratings have been 3.96, 3.80, 3.70, 3.85. 

Verlander has been far less consistent, but the better defense this year in Detroit really seems to be to his liking, and he somehow added 2 MPH(!) to his average fastball in 2009.  This resulted in him bringing his xFIP down over a full point to 3.49 (and his ERA down even more).  I think it would be nuts to cut him at this point.  The only potential worry here is that with the playoffs, he’s going to have a very high IP total this season, so his 2010 stats may drop off some.