Derek Jeter was once part of a group of elite shortstops. Now the position is among the thinnest in fantasy.
|
I’ve found that you have to be open-minded sometimes, especially when a steady producer goes down in deeper leagues. Even still, it’s hard to find a respectable replacement at a position that has suddenly become one of the thinner positions talent wise. The position I’m referring to in particular is shortstop in 2008. Before you start thinking, “Yeah but what about Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes”, yeah, they’re the best you can get. Consider yourself lucky for having drafted them. For the rest of us, we’ve been dealing with a relatively shallow or injured pool of 2nd tier and lower shortstops.
At the beginning of the season everything was looking pretty good. Shortstop did look a little shallower than say second base, but overall we fantasy owners couldn’t complain. Then early season injuries to Jimmy Rollins, Troy Tulowitzki and Rafael Furcal had many of us scouring the wire for a replacement. Suddenly, shortstop has become a surprisingly shallow and scarce position this season. Where a few years ago there was Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter forming the ‘Fearsome Foursome’ of offensively talented shortstops, we’re now left with two elite options in the aforementioned Ramirez and Reyes. After these two, the skill and health of the rest of the field is in question. Jeter, although slightly overrated as a fantasy player, seems to be declining in skill. The ageless wonder (literally) Tejada is not the mashing monster he used to be either. With injuries to Rollins, Tulowitzki, Furcal and the soon to be shortstop ineligible Carlos Guillen, added to the mediocrity that is Micheal Young, Orlando Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta, there are simply less respectably talented shortstops in the player pool.
Its funny how good former and current fantasy goats look when you’ve lost your top shortstop option. Christian Guzman and even Omar Vizquel can find time on a fantasy roster in deeper leagues. You toss aside Garciaparra’s long injury history, just to get some kind of production. As I said earlier, its amazing how open minded you become.
Shortstop has traditionally been a defense-first position, where a weaker offensive player would just bat 8th or 9th in the order to get his glove on the field. This still stands true today, as players like John MacDonald have proven. The position requires a truly superior athlete to be a good defensive player and even more so to be an offensive force. Which is why we might be at the tail end of a ‘renaissance’ of sorts of the shortstop position. There really isn’t a ton of young talent on its way. Troy Tulowitzki and Stephen Drew are among the few sub 25 year olds with decent MLB experience who have shown signs of gigantic promise. The relative position scarcity of shortstop this season is something to keep in the back of your mind if you’re talking about dealing one away, or dealing for one.
Let’s take a quick look around the league’s box scores
Adam Lind went 4-5 with a home run in Tuesday night action. He’s not going to get you any stolen bases, but he should be a solid source of power and batting average. He’s going to get a lot of at bats the rest of the year as well.
Regaining some of his early season steam, Conor Jackson went 3-5 with a home run and a couple of RBI for the Diamondbacks yesterday. He’s now 9-22 over the last week with 2 home runs and .453 OBP.
The Jon Rauch trade to the Diamondbacks opens up some saves opportunities in Washington. Jack Hanrahan seems to be the favorite there. He’s struck out more than a batter per inning so far this season, but I’d set my expectations relatively low. Those of you who own Rauch can safely drop him, as he’s one of many decent arms in the Arizona bullpen.
Ramon Hernandez had been red hot this week, with his 3rd home run of the week coming on Tuesday night. He’s batting .368 over that span. If he’s out there in mixed leagues, you know what to do.
The other young pitcher in Cincinnati, Johnny Cueto had a great outing last night. He struck out 10 over 6 innings. A lot of people forgot about him, but he’s been very good lately and should be on rosters everywhere.
A few people I know thought Alex Rodriguez would slow down a bit on the base paths due to his age. He’s got 15 stolen bases on the year and 2 in the last week. At age 33, he’s still looking everything like a fantasy stud. He’s a superior athlete, despite what you may think about him personally.
Shaun Marcum got roughed up in his first start after a long DL stint. It goes to show, stay away from starting a pitcher fresh off the DL. There is a small adjustment period required.
Washington got Ryan Zimmerman back for last night’s game. It will remain to be seen if he can stay healthy and off the DL in the future so tread lightly. His shoulder injury should be a concern as he elected not to have surgery. That, to me means he’s pretty banged up and it will likely hurt his power production, his main fantasy asset. I would not trade for him in a one year mixed league, but he would make a great keeper league target for next year. He’ll likely end up being shut down for the year at some point, despite being a great overall talent.
Ubaldo Jimenez went the distance against the Dodgers on Tuesday, striking out 4 en route to a victory. He’s been outstanding lately (past 39 IP, he’s struck out 31 with an ERA of 2.75 and WHIP of 1.27) and should be picked up in all formats.
Another home run for Chris Davis puts him at eight for the year. That’s 8 home runs in only 75 AB. Got to love that Texas summer heat!
Anyway, that’s all for me this week. Have a good weekend!
