Today, we’ll do the Top-10 (ish) most dropped guys in an ESPN league.
Most Dropped
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Ryan Doumit – C | PIT – Why? Injured
Ryan Doumit broke his wrist in the fourth inning of Pittsburgh’s April 19th game and the prognosis doesn’t look good. The wrist required surgery, and MLB.com reports that Doumit is looking to miss at least 8 weeks. The Pirates hand and wrist specialist, Dr. Mark Baratz, notes that Doumit broke a bone in his wrist that receives poor blood supply, and natural healing was out of the question.
Prediction: This one’s a tough one: Doumit’s one of the better catcher options after the fab-five of McCann, Mauer, Martin, Martinez and Soto, but this doesn’t sound good. Assuming Doumit heals quickly and only misses the minimum 8 to 10 weeks, he’ll still have to battle atrophy in the wrist. We’re pretty much looking at a full 3 months until Doumit will return to full effectiveness. Doumit will provide a much needed boost in H2H leagues come play-off time, if you can stash him on your DL. There is however the question of what you’ll do with Doumit after he comes off the DL, but before he returns to full health.
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Ubaldo Jiminez – SP | COL – Why? Cold Streak
When you’re record’s sitting at 1-3 with an ERA north of 7.00, you’re probably looking at getting dropped. Even Ubaldo Jiminez’s 95.1mph average fastball cannot redeem those numbers. Although Jiminez was recently passed by Justin Verlander, he’s still a good bet to finish the season with a league-leading average fastball velocity.
Rotowire’s also reporting that Jiminez has tweaked his mechanics:
Update: Jimenez believes that he has fixed the mechanical glitch that negatively impacted his performance during his last start, the Denver Post reports.
Recommendation: His left shoulder was flying open and his left foot was out of line as well. “My arm couldn’t catch up,” Jimenez said. “But I will be fine.” After shining in his season debut against the D-Backs, Jimenez has failed to get through the fifth inning in each of his last two starts while issuing 10 walks during that span.
Prediction: After a stellar first outing where Jiminez went seven scoreless innings and struck out eight Diamondbacks, he’s yet to get through five. If Jiminez was drafted in your league rather than a waiver-wire claim, I wouldn’t rush to judgment quite yet. Jiminez’s lack-luster outings have come against the Cubs and Dodgers and while he’s having trouble finding the zone, he’s still the potential-packed pitcher that you drafted. If you can afford to hold onto Jiminez without starting him for another week or two, definitely do so. However, Rather than focusing on Jiminez’s ERA and K’s, base your opinion on whether or not Ubaldo continues walking batters. Jiminez can be effectively wild at 4BB per 9, but not at his current rate of 8 BB / 9.
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Emilio Bonifacio – UTIL| FLA – Why? Cold-Streak
I’m not sure why, but Chris Shelton will forever be THAT guy. The guy who goes from 5 percent ownership to 95% ownership in under one week. Emilio Bonifacio appears to be 2009′s version of Shelton and people are already tossing him back to the waiver-wire. However, there may be a reason to keep Bonifacio around in the right league, a very deep league. Bonifacio clearly has speed potential, and Freddi Gonzalez has shown a willingness to bat him atop a stacked Marlins order. Bonifacio really only has to do one thing to succeed: Get his ass on base. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to show that Bonifacio can legitimately get on base at anything more than 30% of the time. Cameron Maybin lead off Sunday with Bonifacio getting a day off, which isn’t good news — Luckily, Maybin wasted the opportunity going 0-fer with 3 strikeouts.
Prediction: Bonfiacio really only has post an OBP of .335-.340ish to be useful in most leagues. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely nothing to show that Bonifacio is capable of getting on-base at that clip. If the Marlins wanted someone to strike out over 25% of the time, they should have just kept Dallas McPherson around.
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Huston Street – RP | COL – Why? Cold-Streak
This got ugly in a hurry. Sure, Street’s still striking out a batter per inning, but it probably has more to do with even the light-hitting players swinging balls-to-the-wall at every pitch Street throws. Street’s currently the proud owner of a 7.88 ERA and only one SV.
Prediction: Corpas and Grilli have both notched saves. As I’m Canadian, I’ve yet to acknowledge that a certain Italian RP exists in space and time, even if the WBC ended months ago — The Job’s Corpas’ even though his 6.48 ERA isn’t much prettier than Street’s
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Chien Ming Wang – SP | NYY – Why? Awful/Injured
Wang’s been fairly terrible, and early reports show that it’s probably just an issue of strength and conditioning. Wang’s lost velocity across the board, and has barely used his slider. With Wang’s recent DL stint, and Phil Hughes getting the call, this could get interesting down the road.
Prediction: If you can stash Wang on your DL, you’ve got to do it. Even if this means dropping a player like Ryan Doumit. Wang’s injury doesn’t appear to be an injury at all, but rather a case of hanging out with C.C. and eating too many donuts. As Wang builds up his strength, his effectiveness should increase. Wang wont notch the K’s, but a ground-ball rightie in Yankee stadium should find a way to get back into the rotation. Stash the Wanger, and monitor his velocity when he comes back.
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Mike Aviles – SS | KCR – Why? Cold-Streak
Whenever you consider a player without a proven track-record, try your best to view him without the high-average. How will Freddy Sanchez and Mike Aviles perform when they’re not hitting better than .300? Mike’s seen his luck drastically change from 2008 to 2009. In 2008, Mike Aviles had a .359 BABIP; Fast Forward and Aviles is now sitting at a .208 BABIP.
Prediction: Looking to the other side of the ADDED/DROPPED page, I see me some Asdrubal Cabrera. I had Cabrera and Aviles right next to each other to open the season, and thing’s really haven’t changed. Whether or not I’d drop Aviles straight up for Cabrera would probably depend on what I had for breakfast that day. Aviles will get better, but will be limited by his vomit-worthy BB:K ratio of 0.07! …and you thought last year’s 0.30 BB:K was bad.
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Orlando Cabrera – SS | OAK – Why? Oakland Can’t Hit?
After spending all of that CASH-MONEY this off-season, the Athletics still can’t hit. Matt Holliday’s .091 Isolated Power is the stuff low-budget horror movies are made of.
Prediction: Pick up Cabrera. If anyone pulls off the role of “I-does-what-I-does-and-I-does-it-well!” It’s Orlando Cabrera. He’s coming off of 3 straight seasons of 600+ AB, and he’ll contribute across the board. Cabrera’s BABIP currently sits in the low-.200′s and the Athletics are bound to eventually heat up. I wouldn’t expect White Sox-type Run and RBI totals, but no-one expected them going into this year.
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Randy Winn – OF | SFG – Why? Slow Start
I am not a Randy Winn fan. He’ll never find his way onto any of my fantasy teams, and I’ll never endorse him.
Prediction: With that said, if you drafted Randy Winn — Why the hell are you dropping him? Do you really think he’ll finish the season hitting in the low-200′s? Randy Winn has shown that he’s a .300 hitter since joining the Giants. There’s the possibility of him stealing 20 bases and hitting 10-15 HR. If the next guy on this list did something like that, you’d be busting a nut. I figured it out, I dislike the GIANTS, not just Randy Winn. Sorry, Randy.
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Cameron Maybin – OF | FLA – Why? Cold-Streak
Debating whether or not Cameron Maybin is a premiere prospect will be left for another day. I cannot see into the future, but I can peer into the past, and guess what I see? Maybin strikes out way too much, and hasn’t exactly shown the ability to get on base at a consistent clip: He’s currently batting .189 with a .271 OBP. Everyone’s eyeing this kid’s ceiling, rather than looking at how he’ll produce this year.
Prediction: His 8 Percent BB-Rate is nice, but he’s really gotta cut down on those strike-outs. He just looks over matched. Florida’s in desperate need of a lead-off hitter at this point though, and as mentioned earlier, Maybin lead-off yesterday. Like Bonifacio, Maybin’s just gotta get that OBP to .345-.350ish and everything will click. Unlike Bonifacio, I think Maybin has a realistic shot of eventually doing it. Maybin only has 1 steal so far, but I’ll withhold judgment for another week, maybe two. If someone drops Maybin to pick up Endy Chavez, or Nyjer Morgan — I’m picking him up.
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Milton Bradley – OF | CHC – Why? Injury
Milton Bradley’s one of the larger headaches in Major League Baseball, but he’s also a must own in any league that uses OBP, SLG, or OPS. With that said, Bradley’s already ruffling feathers in Chicago with his media boycott. He also revealed through the Cubs.com website that he wasn’t close to returning to full-form and was still dealing with a nagging groin injury.
Prediction: This one’s interesting to say the least. Going into the season, I figured Bradley might have some issues with playing the outfield on a daily basis and ranked him lower than his talent warranted. You can, however, overlook Bradley’s .043 Batting Average prior to the injury. Obviously, if you can stash Milton Bradley, that’s probably the route you should go. If you have to devote a Bench Spot to the injured Bradley, I’d put this at a 50/50 ADD/DROP situation. When Bradley comes back he’ll mash, but you’ll have to deal with frequent trips to the DL. If you’re doing well thus far in your league, and can carry dead-weight — Bradley’s a solid bet.
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Edwin Encarnacion – 3B | CIN – Why? Cold-Streak
You knew Edwin wasn’t going to hit for a great average when you drafted him. His .136 AVG and 30% strike-out rate definitely aren’t pretty but there’s hope on the horizon: Edwin Encarnacion is walking at almost a 20% clip. Good news! Unfortunately, Edwin’s not making solid contact posting a 1.40 GB/FB rate, to go along with a steep drop in overall contact percentage (68.5%.)
Prediction: I’m still high as a kite on Edwin Encarnacion, but it looks like he may be battling an injury. Of all the players on the Dropped-List, Edwin’s my first pick up with O-Cab filling the 2-hole.
