Joey Votto has hit his way into the lineup and is now the starting first baseman in Cincinnati.

The first full month of baseball is just about in the books. Hopefully, you have been blissfully ignoring your fantasy team’s performance, or at least not reacting to every bad game by dropping someone, or every good one by picking someone up. The time is here though to start evaluating your team for the purpose of determining where you are strong, and more importantly, where you are weak. I usually advise that you give players 100 at-bats before deciding whether to cut or keep them, and that’s just about where most of the regular players are right now. While there is nothing magical about 100 at-bats, it is certainly enough of a sample to make a judgment about a player’s ability to hit. Of course, there is no guarantee that a player batting .300 after 100 at-bats will continue to do so, but it is usually a decent indicator of what you can expect going forward, and at the very least, you can get an idea of which direction a player is headed by looking at the trends that are emerging around 100 at-bats. With that in mind, let’s take a peek at some players who are likely sitting on the waiver wire to see if they might be a better bet than whoever might be on your roster.

Mixed League Options

Andy LaRoche – Third Baseman – LA Dodgers – Andy LaRoche was penciled in as the starting third baseman for the Dodgers before the first pitch of Spring Training. Never mind anything you may have seen or heard about a competition with Nomar Garciaparra, the job was LaRoche’s to lose. A broken thumb just before the season was to begin derailed his big debut, but he is on a rehab assignment right now, and should be rejoining the Dodgers within a week to ten days. In spring training he batted .350, and six games into his rehab assignment he is batting .318. The various projections have him batting around .275 or so, with 15-20 home runs along with a handful of stolen bases. The Dodgers are desperate to add his potent bat to their lineup, and he will be a full time player with Garciaparra on the DL again. Grab him and stash him now, before everyone else figures out that there is a valuable commodity still available.

Carlos Quentin – Outfielder – Chicago White Sox – After a 2007 season that was derailed by injury, Quentin was traded by the Diamondbacks to the White Sox, who thought they might use him as a fourth outfielder. When injuries caused Quentin to be pressed into regular at-bats, all he did was mash like crazy until he hit his way into the lineup for good. He is batting .312 with six home runs, 20 RBI, and 20 runs, but more importantly, he is showing the excellent patience at the plate that made him such a highly praised minor league prospect. He has walked more than he has struck out, and has a stellar .454 on-base percentage and a 1.077 OPS. Quentin is in the Pale Hose outfield to stay, and should be on someone’s roster in every mixed league. 30 home runs and a .300+ average are well within Quentin’s skill set. Act fast, as the buy low window is about to slam shut.

Scott Baker – Starting Pitcher – Minnesota Twins – One reason the Twins were able to confidently trade away Johan Santana was their confidence in the depth of their pitching. Scott Baker was one of the pitchers they expected to take a step forward this season, and so far, he has not disappointed. After 30 innings of work over 5 starts, Baker has shown a marked improvement in his peripheral statistics. His current strikeout rate of 8.1 K/9 and walk rate of 1.5 BB/9 put him into dominant territory for pitchers. The only red flag here is his HR/9 rate of 1.80, but he had two games in which he gave up three home runs apiece. The fact that they were all solo shots, tells me he was challenging hitters, not pitching poorly. His ERA currently stands at 4.50, but I suspect he is trending downward, and will end up somewhere below 4.00 when all is said and done. Baker is headed for his best season yet, and if he gets some run support, could win as many as 15 games. As long as he continues to strike hitters out at his current rate, he is worth adding in mixed leagues.

Joey Votto – First Baseman – Cincinnati Reds – Reds manager Dusty Baker is a firm believer in playing veterans ahead of young players, so, at the start of the season Scott Hatteberg was his first baseman and Joey Votto was to be the backup. Fast forward one month into the season, and Hatteberg is batting .161, while Votto has gone off like a cannon, batting .311 with four home runs and 13 RBI, which places him among the team’s leaders. The tables have turned and Baker has made it clear that Votto will start and Hatteberg will ride the pine as the backup and defensive replacement. Votto has power to burn, and should continue to bat near or above .300 while hitting 25-30 home runs as a full time player. If he is sitting on the waiver wire, grab him now before everyone else is on to him.