When an organization decides to give a player an opportunity to play every day and take over a starting position, fantasy owners need to stand up and take notice.  Especially if the player qualifies at a position that is either thing to begin with or has been decimated by injuries through these first two months of the season.  Here are two prime examples that are likely sitting on your waiver wire just waiting to be claimed.

Josh Bell, ARI  |3B|  Ownership:  ESPN – 0.5%  Yahoo – 1.0%

Right on the heels of my last Kicking Rocks piece which clamored for Bell’s call-up, the Diamondbacks finally said enough to the Cody Ransom/Ryan Roberts platoon they had working the hot corner this season.  With little or no legitimate production at the position, it made perfect sense for the team to give Bell a shot, if not for anything but to at least just kick the tires and see what they had.  It’s not like things could get worse, right?

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Headed into the season, the Red Sox outfield looked like a strength. Sure, Carl Crawford wasn’t going to be ready at the start of the season, but once he was, him Jacoby Ellsbury, and then a combo of Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney until Ryan Kalish got healthy — that sounded like a nice plan. Then the doctor came and gave the team the bad news. Their outfield had died.

But just because most of the Red Sox outfield has gotten bad news from the doctor doesn’t mean that you should just wash your hands of the unit and move on. After all, the Red Sox still score runs like an elite team, and even a one-category wonder like Sweeney can start to move the needle in runs and RBI thanks to their teammates. Let’s take a look at who’s playing now and where they should be owned.

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Today marks latest batch of trends in the American League outfield.

Bullish:
Mike Trout – I know that it is hard to be bullish on a kid who is as highly touted as Trout, but so far he has shown that he is as much production as we projected. His strikeout rate is a touch high, 22.7%, but he makes up for it with excellent power and speed. In just 88 plate appearances, he has four homers and 10 walks. To put that another way: he has as many walks as Albert Pujols does and Pujols has 176 PA’s this year. Trout is an absolute superstar in the making, if he isn’t already one. He is still available in 31% of Yahoo! formats somehow although ESPN leagues have been quicker to reel him in (that will be only Trout pun from me all season, I promise), as his ownership rating there is a healthy 94%. For anyone in any format in need of offense, Trout is a fantastic pickup.

Raul Ibanez – I’m surprised to say his name too. After his disaster of a 2011 season where he “hit” .245/.289/.419, he has shown that he isn’t finished just yet. Compare to last year, he has cut his strikeout rate in half to an unbelievably low 9.8% while upping his walk rate to 7.4%. I don’t expect that low strikeout rate to continue, but perhaps it is a sign of a major adjustment on his part? Just yesterday he hit his ninth home run of the year and a 25 home run season wouldn’t be shocking at this point. Given his surrounding lineup and his batting position of fifth against right handed pitching, his RBI totals should be nice shot in the arm as well. Once again we see that ESPN is quicker on the draw; his ownership rating there is 83% and it went up over 50% in the past week. Yahoo! lags behind considerably despite his LF and RF eligibility, he is only owned in 41% of leagues. Anyone in need of a solid OF bat that will play 4-5 times a week should pick up Ibanez. I know I am. Read the rest of this entry »

At just 18-years-old Jorge Bonifacio is tearing up the Midwest league. Bonifacio wasn’t a highly touted draftee like Francisco Lindor, last week’s prospect, nor was he an international free agent bonus baby either. Due to this lower profile coming into the season there is a high probability that he is still available in your league. The young outfielder is an intriguing prospect who may be worthy of a roster spot in deep leagues, but his elite statistics to this point in the season are misleading.

Bonifacio’s value is going to be dependent on where he plays defensively. Unlike his brother Emilio, he isn’t a fantastic athlete, or at least, he doesn’t profile to be on the left side of the defensive spectrum. The Royals have Jorge patrolling right field, where he showcases an above average to plus arm but less than desirable range. Some posit as Bonifacio’s body matures he’ll be forced to first base; but his arm could prevent a move. In defense of that position, he ready has an awkward body and he turns 19 in less than two weeks. A large increase to his frame could be detrimental to his range. It’s more likely than not that he sticks in right or left field, but it’s something to monitor as you weigh his value to your team. Read the rest of this entry »

Manny Ramirez is scheduled to begin a rehab stint for Triple-A Sacramento this weekend in anticipation of joining the Athletics on May 30 and… you know what? Let’s just get this right out of the way up front: Manny’s a cheat, a jerk, an abuser, and probably a number of other things too. Whatever you want to call him, it’s most likely true, and you’ll get little argument from me. That said, he’s also a bat with a Hall of Fame resume (if not, for various reasons, a likely enshrinee) and he’s available in just about every league with roughly three-quarters of the season remaining, so he’s worth checking into.

For the surprising A’s, hanging around in the race at 19-19, it’s not hard to see why they might be willing to take a chance here. Roundly expected to struggle greatly to score runs, they’ve done just that, as they’re currently tied with San Diego & Seattle for the second-worst wOBA in baseball, ahead of only the dreadful Pirates. Among full-time players – defined here as having 100 or more plate appearances – only the breakout season of Josh Reddick is anything more than league-average, as far as wOBA goes. The current DH tandem of Jonny Gomes & Kila Ka’aihue has been decent yet hardly irreplaceable, and with underwhelming performances from Seth Smith & Coco Crisp in left and Daric Barton at first base, there’s room to find playing time for those two elsewhere. Manny may or may not have anything left, but it certainly makes sense for the A’s to try at this point, and he’s expected to hit third or fourth in the lineup and become the primary designated hitter.

So Manny should get an opportunity. Great. Is there really any hope that he can produce? The A’s certainly won’t give him too long to find out, and May 30 is an important date; not only is it the day he’s scheduled to return, it’s also his 40th birthday, and that’s not exactly the age at which a hitter is considered “in his prime”.

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In terms of Yahoo! ranks, Martin Prado has been the seventh most valuable fantasy third baseman, one behind Adrian Beltre and one ahead of David Freese. Despite having just two home runs, Prado has seen a big bounce back from his poor and injury riddled 2011 season, and should be able to sustain solid numbers close to his career averages for the remainder of the season.

In comparing Prado’s .307/.350/.459 All-Star season in 2010 to his current .314/.384/.450 mark this year, the first thing that is noticed is an improved command of the strike zone. In seeing a near identical amount of pitchers per plate appearance (3.94 in ’10 to 3.98 in ’12), Prado has turned his walk-to-strikeout ratio from 0.47 to 0.88. The big improvement in both his walk and strikeout rates points to his performance being sustainable, which is obviously a good sign for any current or prospective owner.

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It’s Wednesday, or “hump day”, as the cool kids say, so you know what that means, right? Time to feel sorry for all you deep leaguers out there. The funny part about writing this weekly column is that I am reminded how crazy deep mixed and Only leagues are. When you get excited about picking up the players I highlight, you know your league is deep. So who looks tastiest one the free agent buffet?

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A Stud with a capital ‘S’ went down in many outfields this week when the Dodgers decided that Matt Kemp and his balky hamstring needed at least two weeks to mend. Since deep leaguers often need to pick up the team’s actual replacement — anybody else with power and speed is already owned — let’s see if the Dodgers themselves will produce a fantasy-worthy replacement.

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Here are the past weeks risers and fallers in the American League outfield.

Bullish:
Josh Hamilton – Although he is only jumping one spot, I just can’t keep him at number two any longer, not the way he is currently mashing. Not much needs to be said about his numbers, but this is my favorite statistic of his so far: Hamilton’s .866 SLG alone would rank in top 10 of AL OF OPS, just below Josh Reddick and above Ben Zobrist. Absurd.

Ryan Sweeney – After a bit of controversy of leaving him completely off my May tiered rankings, I have backed off on my doubt of Sweeney. Obviously I don’t think his current .416 BABIP is his true talent level, but he is enjoying his best offensive season of his career and you should enjoy that too. He has always been an opposite field hitter and he is currently taking full advantage of the Green Monster. His 13 doubles lead the AL OF. He won’t offer much power or any speed, but his average (or OBP) and his runs scored, particularly if he continues to lead off, are making him a must own for now. He is only owned in 12 % of Yahoo! and 16% of ESPN leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

One Yankee and one former Yankee in today’s waiver wire post. Coincidentally enough, expectations for both players were low coming into the season but they’ve since proven to be more useful than anticipated.

Raul Ibanez | OF | Yankees | Owned: 26% Yahoo! and 47.2% ESPN

Both Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira got off to slow starts this season, but the Yankees survived thanks in part to Derek Jeter’s insane April and unexpected contributions from Ibanez. The former Phillie is off to a .273/.330/.568 start with seven homers and 21 RBI through his first 97 plate appearances, and a slight uptick in BABIP (currently .233) will boost his average even more. Keep in mind that as a fly ball hitter, it’s not guaranteed to rebound all the way to his .302 career mark. Ibanez’s strikeout rate (9.3 K%) is a career-low (by far) and I have to think that at some point he’ll run into a 12 K in 20 PA slump or something like that. Hopefully not though.

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