Adam Dunn and Mark Teixeira, Back to Being Useful
They both have five home runs and have wRC+ of 151 or better. These two veteran sluggers seem to be getting back to their old ways of power and patience leading to success offensively. For that reason, I am advocating either picking them up, holding onto them, or acquiring them in leagues that have excess UTIL spots or CI spots.
The days of these two being primary fantasy first baseman are in the past, specifically in batting average leagues. In On Base leagues you may be able to get away with it if you are able to stock up on great bats in the middle infield and at catcher, but the best time to own these two are as UTIL or CI spots.
Dunn’s average will drop and his OBP will come down, almost solely due to his BABIP being much higher than we have seen in a number of years. Even so, his walk rate is back up to 18.3% and he has actually cut down his strikeouts a bit this season to the tune of a 27.8% rate – the first time he is under 30% since 2009. His power is a bit down for now in terms of home runs but his ISO is still .228. I’m expecting a bit more homers if he is able to keep command of the strike zone as he has for the first 26 games of his season.
For Teixeira, it is all about health. He’s a risk to acquire because he has had difficulty staying on the field – he already has one DL stint this year. If you have him though, he’s a guy I would be happy to have on the roster. He probably still comes pretty cheap in trades too due to the health risk, so he isn’t a terrible option to target if you can stomach paying a bit for him. Much like Dunn, his walk rate is up. His current 15.3% rate would be the highest he ever posted and while his strikeout rate is up as well, it probably means he is headed closer to the Three True Outcome stage of his career. As a power hitter who historically has had a lower strikeout rate, with his advanced age gearing up and swinging for the fences might not be a bad thing. Being patient and working deep counts for a guy like Teixeira is something I advocate, so I am not too concerned about the uptick in strikeouts as long as the walks stay high.
The key with both of these guys is to have tempered expectations. They are valuable due to their price and their power skillset, but they are not competitors with the top tier first basemen. Even so, these guys can help your roster, specifically in on base leagues. Right now I am starting Dunn over Brandon Belt in my utility spot, and the added depth of Dunn has certainly been a positive. Keep an eye on these guys and be willing to acquire or hold onto them despite being on the tail end of their careers.
Ben has been at RotoGraphs since 2012 and focuses most of his fantasy baseball attention toward dynasty and keeper leagues.
This article is very accurate. In 12-team mixed leagues both Dunn and Teixiera can help your team right now, however, keep in mind that either one could see their counting stats tick downwards between now and the All-Star Break. Don’t be surprised to cut these guys for someone else later in the season (Kendrys Morales is a possibility.)
Bottom line: If you are starving for power right now, obviously pick these guys up. Otherwise, I recommend Adam Lind.. after him you’re looking at a Corey Hart/Mark Reynolds type of power utility.
This should be the thought bubble over your head while you walk down the street reading this article.
@ Andrew, Next time contribute something positive or don’t contribute at all.
@ JMo37, I hope you are capable of realizing the irony of your comment.
My apologies for being amused by the stream-of-consciousness post above.
Who do you like between Morneau and Texiera?
Currently platooning Adam Dunn and Matt Joyce in a Util spot. Both produce well against righties and it’s been working nicely. Switch one of these guys for Adam Lind when he’s back? Or stick with the current pair?
If you’re strictly platooning them Dunn and Lind have the most positive career splits against RHP of the trio, I’d probably roll with them.
plus joyce doesn’t put up enough counting stats. lind and dunn hit 5th in good lineups/parks
Was offered Teix and Starlin for Anibal in an OBP league. Was leaning against, now leaning toward (I’m also starving at SS, currently riding the random Brandon Crawford wave). Any thoughts hive mind?
I’d take Tulowitzki over any of them. Hope this helps!
well starlin seems to be getting back to his old ways of mashing baseballs instead of watching them hit the catchers mitt like he was last year. if you can give up the pitching, id say its worth it. people still seem to be cautious with castro, but he’s back to his old approach and he’s been hitting the ball with authority so far this season, as a plus he’s hitting cleanup with on base machines rizzo and valbuena in front of him for the most part so he should have runs to drive in. this may be the season he finally puts it all together and if so that deal will be a bargain for you.
Any chance you could link to the player pages for the players next article? Just a polite request.
I thought I saw an article on here about Adam Dunn’s 2013 and how he started beating the shift more often and that was the reason for his higher AVG (from about May onward) after an extremely slow start. I can’t find that article now, but if that’s correct and he’s still beating the shift it’s totally realistic for him to have a BABIP north of .300, and it will probably be between .280 and .320 going forward.
So bearing in mind he’s not going to see his usual number of GP this year due to sitting against lefties, I’m setting his AVG OBP HR over/under for the year at:
.246 .374 26
or going forward numbers at something like:
.235 .360 21
Given how poor he’s been since he came to Chicago those numbers almost seem unrealistic but his BABIP had previously been so far below his career average, all it really takes is for that stat to rebound and those numbers are about what you end up with.
So yeah, useful in OBP leagues, especially in daily leagues where you can platoon him. But I think him and Tex were snatched up long ago in most of those leagues.