Chase Headley could ease the pain of losing Carlos Lee.

Mixed League Options

Chase Headley, 3B/OF, SD- Headley was promoted to start in San Diego after a great start to the year in Triple A. A very highly regarded prospect, Headley is an excellent hitter with a great batting eye and good power. He projects down the road as a .300/30/100 producer, and that peak is not far off, I’d wager he’ll get there by next year or the year after. The 24-year-old, who may or may not be 3B eligible in your league, has shown steady improvement at the plate. In June, he did not walk in 13 games, in July he walked 8 times in 25 games, and in August he has walked 7 times compared to 9 strikeouts in 11 games. This is a great illustration of a young hitter getting comfortable with his new environment, and incidentally Headley has also hit very well lately, to the tune of 11 of his last 27. He is still sitting on too many waiver wires, as this is an impact batter that can hit some homers with a good average for you down the stretch. He would be a great replacement for Carlos Lee, who is done for the year with a pinky injury.

Josh Johnson, SP, FLA- This huge 6’7’’ righthander has now been back from elbow surgery for about a month, and for the most part has returned to his pre-injury form. He has looked a little bit hittable, but has basically followed the trends he set throughout his career. Johnson will maintain a low ERA, which will lead to 15 wins or so over a season, with a good amount of strikeouts, and a pretty high WHIP. Unfortunately, WHIP tends to get in the way of ERA success, although Johnson has consistently defied that logic for his entire career. After five pretty good starts and three straight winning efforts in front of the powerful young Marlin offense, it is time to buy back into Johnson in mixed leagues. He’ll be better than other stopgap starters you may have in the back end of your rotation, for example, Todd Wellemeyer. Look at him for wins, ERA and some strikeouts down the stretch.

Delmon Young, OF, MIN- Young has been a big disappointment to fantasy players who were expecting up to 20 home runs from the young hitter, but has hit just seven this season. However, three of those seven have come in the last five games, and Young appears to be having a power surge. Whether that is just a fluke or Young has altered his approach or swing remains to be seen. The 22-year-old outfielder, acquired in the offseason for Matt Garza, has been very consistent all season and has produced in almost every other category, batting .290 with 13 stolen bases and 52 RBI, but has not been the five category stud many people thought he would be. The silver lining is that he has yet to reach his 23^rd birthday, and scouts have always pegged him as having power potential. I wouldn’t expect him to finish this season with more than 12 home runs or so, but watch out for a bigger explosion, which is entirely possible with his incredible talent. Maybe Young, who has always been an enigma wrapped in a mystery, has finally clicked. He is worth a pickup in mixed leagues anyway, because he will not cost you much in any categories other than homers. The bottom line with Young though is that we were expecting him to be Corey Hart, not Randy Winn.

AL Only Options

Willy Aybar, 3B, TB- With fantasy owners scrambling to replace the production of super rookie Evan Longoria, Aybar could provide a nice stopgap for the few weeks that Longoria will miss. Always a nice prospect, it was mostly attitude problems that held the young infielder back and got him traded to the Rays for basically nothing this off-season. Fortunately, those problems should have no effect on your team. Aybar has always shown good pop, and flashed some of it on Sunday when he went deep twice. That pop will provide most of the 25-year-old third baseman’s value, but the rest of it will be made up by his outstanding versatility. Depending on the league, Aybar may be eligible at every infield position. That will help your lineup maneuverings down the stretch to ensure you get the maximum amount of at bats you can. So in AL leagues looking to replace Longoria, pick up Aybar, but as soon as Evan Almighty is able to return, cut your ties and activate the All-Star immediately.

Rocco Baldelli, OF, TB- Speaking of Ray injury replacements, Rocco Baldelli finds himself healthy for the first time in over a year at exactly the right time, as normally durable Carl Crawford will miss most of the remainder of the season with a wrist injury. Baldelli is still a good ballplayer, but has lost most of his good years to injuries, and in all likelihood is not done with them yet, as he deals with a condition that causes extreme fatigue and slows down muscle recovery, undoubtedly causing many of his injuries. He still can hit some home runs and steal some bases for your team, and should not be ignored in Crawford’s absence. He should be able to replace Crawford’s power numbers, but will not approach the same stolen base numbers, and may be limited by Joe Maddon as to how much he runs. If you were counting on those steals, you may need to look somewhere else, but in a deep league, Baldelli could be as good a replacement as any. Ignore him for now in mixed leagues, but watch the box scores and don’t be surprised if he catches fire.

Jesse Litsch, SP, TOR- Litsch had an unbelievable start to this season, going 7-1 in April and may, before getting demolished in June and July and going 1-6. His scuffling earned him a demotion to AAA to figure things out. He was hit pretty hard in his first game, but threw two great outings following that, giving up 3 runs over 13 innings with 10 strikeouts. He proved that he was ready to be brought back up, and with Toronto not in the playoff picture should remain in the rotation for the rest of the year to audition for a spot on next year’s staff. Litsch is a good sleeper now, as the 23 year old lefty may have fixed something either mechanically or mentally to get back to the form he exhibited earlier in the year. He’s not a huge strikeout guy, but hardly walks anybody either, a pure command and control type of lefty. That dearth of walks will keep his WHIP low over his career. As he approaches 40 career starts, look for Litsch to finally establish himself as a permanent part of the Blue Jays rotation and look at him in deep AL leagues for some quality starts down the stretch.

NL Only Options

Chris Dickerson, OF, CIN- With the departure of Adam Dunn, Chris Dickerson was promoted from Louisville, where he has hit double-digit home runs the last two seasons while also stealing almost 30 bases each year. Dickerson is a fast runner, and in his first game picked up a steal for Dusty Baker, who loves his base stealers (see Corey Patterson). The 26-year-old doesn’t have Patterson’s raw power, but will probably steal more bases due to his far superior on base skills. He hits for pretty good average, and as mentioned should get a few homeruns, his future potential is probably 10-15 a year along with 20-25 steals. He should get a decent amount of at bats and combined with his steals, which will make him very valuable in NL only leagues, and even find him a few homes in deep mixed leagues. Beware of Jerry Hairston though, as he could steal valuable innings from Dickerson.

Jeff Francis, SP, COL- Following a fantastic season last year, Francis has fallen flat on his face this year, with a 3-8 record for the equally disappointing Rockies. His 5.74 ERA and 1.54 WHIP are pretty pathetic too. But this is a pitcher who won 17 games with a 4.23 ERA last season and a 4.16 ERA the year before. He was also great the entire way through his minor league career and was a great prospect. After a quality start in his last outing, Francis strikes me as exactly the kind of guy who could string together a bunch of good starts down the stretch. The talent is still there, and at just 27 he has quite a bit of time to figure things out. He is just two starts back from a DL stint for a sore shoulder, and dominated in his minor league rehab starts. It looks to me like he might be on the verge of a turn around, and in deep NL leagues he is definitely worth a shot.

Danny Murphy, 3B, NYM- Murphy has been getting at bats in left field for the Mets, and has been making the most of the opportunities he’s gotten. Following a really good start to the year in AA, Murphy has hit .467 with 2 HRs in his brief major league career. He is just 23 years old, and has been written off by some people. He has a good batting eye, especially for a young kid, and flashed some power this year, along with his consistent batting average skills. I don’t think you need me to tell you that he won’t hit .467, but he could finish this year at around .280, which is plenty useful for a utility type player who can slot into your lineup in several spots. Murphy will not be an all-star, but could end up being a Mark Loretta like bat with some use, especially in NL only leagues.

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