Replacing Pujols (And Failing)
When Wilson Betemit ran into Albert Pujols‘ left wrist a few days ago, it took arguably the best player in the game away from fans and fantasy owners for what is expected to be four-to-six weeks. Pujols went first overall in most drafts and drew the largest bid in most auctions this year, and it’s going to be impossible to replace him over the next month or so. All you can do is hope to get by in the meantime. Let’s look at some players you can find on the waiver wire or free agent pool that might be able to help you do just that…
Casey Kotchman | Rays | Ownership: 4% Yahoo!, 3.7% ESPN
Kotchman’s sacrifice to the BABIP gods (.364 this year, .276 career) has his batting line sitting at .339/.399/.456 with the lowest strikeout rate of his career (10.4%) through 204 plate appearances this season. He’s hitting in the middle of Tampa’s lineup (mostly fifth these days) and playing everyday, against both righties and lefties. Kotchman isn’t going to hit for much over the fence power because his fly ball rate is a microscopic 25.5%, but he’s not going to kill your AVG or OBP (yet) and might even chip in some RBI if Matt Joyce turns things around and Evan Longoria stops kidding around with his Carlos Lee impersonation.
James Loney | Dodgers | Ownership: 21% Yahoo!, 25.3% ESPN
With a .240/.283/.292 batting line and just one homerun on the morning of May 22nd, Loney was completely unrosterable in even the deepest of leagues. He’s gone on a tear over the last 31 days though, hitting .337/.392/.467 with three homers and nearly as many walks (nine) as strikeouts (ten) in 102 plate appearances to raise his season line to a still poor but more acceptable .274/.332/.354. Loney established himself as a solid AVG, solid OBP, low power guy from 2007 through 2009, but he dropped off last year and really dropped off this year before picking things up of late. With any luck, he’ll be the old Loney for a few weeks until Pujols is healthy.
Anthony Rizzo | Padres | Ownership: 6% Yahoo!, 18.7% ESPN
The allure of a top prospect getting called up can be too much to resist at times, but Rizzo’s probably one should stay clear of, certainly if you are in a non-keeper league. His young big league career has produced six hits in 46 plate appearances, though the good news is that five of the six have gone for extra bases (three doubles, one triple, one homer). He’s also drawn eight walks to put his OBP at a tolerable .333, but he’s struck out in a third of his at-bats and the fact remains that his home ballpark will hurt him as will the rest of his teammates. I love Rizzo long-term, but I’m with Howard Bender here, his fantasy value figures to be small for the rest of 2011.
Mark Trumbo | Angels | Ownership: 28% Yahoo!, 43.7% ESPN
Trumbo is already filling in for the injured Kendrys Morales, so we might as well list him as an injury replacement for Pujols as well. He’s giving the Angels the one thing the three other guys in this post don’t figure to give your fantasy team: homerun power. Trumbo’s gone deep a dozen times this year and ZiPS projects him to hit another 12 the rest of the season, which is where his value lies. His .254 AVG and .299 OBP are nothing special and awful, respectively, and ZiPS has him doing almost the exact same thing in the second half. If you’re willing to sell out the rate stats for help with the counting stats, Trumbo’s the guy to target.
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
I’m one who is putting Pujols on the shelf and am looking for a corner infield replacement.
I’ve got Trumbo, Rizzo, and Moustakas available in my league…
Which one?
No need for me to elaborate on the below link, as it details a much better 1B option who should be available in many leagues (with OF eligibility to boot).
http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/When-Mitch-Moreland-hits-8216-em-they-stay-hi;_ylt=AlAqtpj70wccaOMrUCuL6NK5bZ8u?urn=fantasy-wp4182
I don’t know what kind of league Mitch Moreland is available in but it must be as shallow as a kiddie pool.
Read the Yahoo article. He is available in 57% of their leagues and is not listed as a top 15 1B.
First of all, I’m not crazy about yahoo leagues – lots of weirdness there.
I drafted Mitch Moreland after watching him crush in the playoffs last year – great late rounds player.
The only concern with him coming into 2011 was playing time, but in my experience the cream always rises to the top; if you hit and can field reasonably well, you are going to be in the linuep.
I agree about Moreland – I saw him hit in the playoffs last years and thought as long as he gets a chance to play everyday, even with his home/road and R/L split issues, he would be a solid regular 1B. Think Adam LaRoche with more consistency and OF eligibility, .280/75/25/95 for BA/R/HR/RBI.
Or how about some of the hot hitters, like Ty Wigginton, Michael Cuddyer, or Adam Kennedy? All are getting plenty of playing time and are swiss army knife players.
Cuddyer gone, does Wigginton play everyday? couldn’t tolerate adding Adam Kennedy as a corner IF – just can’t do it.
Is he really worse than Casey Kotchman, who has no other positional eligibility?
I think I’m going to go with Moustakas. He’s going to play everyday and the AL Central is a good hitter’s division. His K% is lower than expected and he is drawing walks at a pretty good clip. Power will come around at some point.
When Pujols went down I was lucky enough to have his Cardinal teamate Lance Berkman on my fantasy team. Carlos Pena was on the wire so I snagged him to be my other 1st baseman. Hopefully a platoon between the two of them can provide enough offence to get me by. I was considering Aubrey Huff (who was also on the wire) but hes a “good year, bad year” player and this is his bad year.
When I heard 6 weeks I thought about actually dropping Pujols and moving on as I already had Clay Bucholz on the DL. Even when Albert is back, how will the repaired wrist affect his power in the last month? I would be picking up either JJ Hardy or Giovanni Soto if I dropped Albert.
It’s not the same injury as Derrick Lee or Mark DeRosa – they fractured hammate bones in their wrists which seriously affects torque when you roll your hands on the bat.
I don’t expect his power to be gone upon his return, so if you are going to cut baggage from your DL, my advice is say goodbye to Buchholz and keep #1.
I may not be bringing the power as of late but I’ve hit around .300 all season
Smoak and Huff were both on waivers and I managed to grab Smoak after Pujols dropped. Hopefully he’ll still stick up some power stats despite the rest of that offense.
I’ve replaced Pujols with Hafner (who I’ve owned since April) and the recently acquired Todd Helton. My production has remained at the same pre Pujols injury level because of some other guys stepping up and providing walks and XBH’s. I did some quick and dirty math and figured I would need around 220 points (ottoneu points league) to replace Albert’s production if he’s out for 4 weeks. Ottoneu is acting up right now, so I can’t say exactly what the Hafner/Helton combo have contributed, but we’ve drawn closer to first since the injury. That’s really all that matters.