Crooked Pitch

Here is a review of this weeks best pickups as reviewed on Roto Savants. It’s been an extra week since my last article so I am going to try to get back on track for weekly updates. I will still have one of each of the following (C, CI, MI, OF, SP and RP). I will include their current availability that may have changed since my initial review. The reviews are how I view the player today.

C - Kelly Shoppach- He will never replace Victor when healthy, but he is a good stopgap at the catcher position. I would use him as an injury fill in/ backup in mixed leagues. He has good power, but lacking in the average and OBP categories.

He is currently owned in 30% of leagues.

CI – Billy Butler - He was discussed on The True Guru show last week along with later suggestion Adam Jones. I think he has turned it around and with enough AB’s he will be a usable player. Don’t expect more than 10 homers in the second half, but a good pickup for a breakout second half.

He is only owned in 35% of CBS leagues.

MI – Nomar Garciaparra - Kind of a cheat here, but at 4 games played at SS he should be eligible by Friday for MI. Could be a surprise second half player if healthy with SS eligibility. He has shown some power since coming back and may help for those with a week SS/MI option.

He is only owned in 22% of CBS leagues.

OF – Adam Jones - A slow first half has dropped his ownership and made him a good pickup for a strong second half. The average is up over .280 now although the power is still lacking. I could still see a 15/15 season, which would make for a good pickup.

He is only owned in 39% of CBS leagues.

SP – Ian Snell - I was going to suggest Buchholz, but since my recommendation he has crossed my threshold of 60% ownership. Snell though is still available in many leagues and hopefully a DL stop has helped fix what was bothering him. His bad season has been based largely on luck factors and a dropped K/9. If he ups the K/9 to last years rate he should be a plus. He still won’t get wins in Pittsburgh though.

He is owned in 29% of leagues.

RP – Joel Zumaya - I still like him to close, but there have been rumblings of making him into a starter next year. I don’t think this will factor in this year and any need for a closer will be filled by Zumaya, but keeper leagues should keep him in mind as a possible back end starter for next year.

He is only owned in 27% as of this morning on CBS.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 11:28 am and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.