Annual What To Do Now That David Wright Is Hurt

I suppose it could be Ryan Zimmerman or Brett Lawrie or Manny Machado, but I tend to pick on David Wright so why not be consistent. Third base has been kind of a minefield lately and no doubt there are many of you headed into your championship stretch runs and that’s going to be difficult without a third baseman. Your trading deadline has very likely passed so the best you can do is try to dredge the muck on the waiver wire and hope you can find some decent short term production. Guys like Juan Uribe are probably free. Maybe Mark Reynolds. Probably Will Middlebrooks. But scanning the ownership rates, there are a few other bats I’d recommend with more confidence.

Chase Headley is owned in 40% of Yahoo leagues, so it’s a bit of a coin flip as to whether he’s free to you or not. But if he’s there, he’s probably the guy you should lean on. He’s pretty obviously been a mainstay in the lineup, he’s been relatively healthy, and as a Yankee, he’s actually been awfully good. In over 300 plate appearances with the San Diego Padres, Headley hit .229/.296/.355 with seven home runs and four steals. In 170 plate appearances with the Yankees, he’s hit .259/.359/.381 with four home runs and three steals. He’s not hitting for much more power, but he’s striking out less, walking almost at double the rate as he did with the Padres at 12.4%, and he’s hitting more line drives since being traded. Since the beginning of September (yes, SSS police cover your eyes), Headley is hitting .292/.414/.417 — and it’s not all luck as he’s maintaining a reasonable .300 BABIP. He’s also just struck out three times over 29 plate appearances this month. What’s more, he’s found himself hitting as high as fifth in the order with Beltran nursing the elbow again, which ought to provide a decent number of RBI opportunity.

Update: In what was apparently hit people in the face with pitches night, Headley got beaned last night and is day to day.

Luis Valbuena is owned in a little over 20% of Yahoo leagues, so in standard formats he’s very likely free. On the season, Valbuena has a solid 16 home runs and 58 runs scored but his batting average has been a bit of a drain at .247. I won’t spend a ton of time as Ben Duronio encouraged you to pick him up as your second baseman just days ago. It’s worth pointing out that Valbuena has been surging lately, with eight home runs since the beginning of August and in the month of September, he’s hitting .276/.364/.517, also not fueled by luck with a .304 BABIP. He’s also got handy position eligibility.

I wrote about David Freese at mid-season, noting a little oddity with his line drive rate:

In June, Freese started walking more at 10.6% and wound up hitting a respectable .280/.372/.329. Now obviously there’s not much power there but progress is progress. And yes, in June, he hit 34.5% line drives.

He went on to have a nice little July, hitting four home runs, and posting a .291/.367/.494 slash line and it seemed he was usable again in fantasy circles. August wasn’t nearly as kind and his yo-yo season seemed to continue. He walked less than 3% of the time in August (down from 11% in June and July), hitting just .250/.280/.350 with zero home runs. But as he has all season, he seems to be headed up after being so down, and in September, he’s hitting .393/.452/.643 with four doubles and a home run. In this case, it does appear to be fueled by BABIP at .400 but his xBABIP actually suggests he’s earning it, predicting a .381 line (based on his hit trajectory anyway). Freese has been hitting behind guys named Trout and Pujols lately, so there should be some low hanging RBI fruit for him out there pretty frequently. He’s not my first option if I need help at third base, but he could very well be the best when the season ends.