Sizemore and Paredes: Available 2B Qualified Help
Today I am looking at available 2nd basemen (<10% owned) that could help a team in the last few weeks of the season.
Note: All owned numbers are from ESPN.
Scott Sizemore (6.7% owned) – Scott began the season with the Tigers before getting traded to the A’s. Since the trade, he has seen regular time at 3B. He looks to be a decent option for a team needing help at 2B (or 3B).
Scott has hit for decent power this season with 9 home runs in only 360 PA, with 2 to 3 coming in every month he has played. In September so far, he already had 2 home runs to go with a 0.294 AVG.
If you believe in going with the current hot hitter, Sizemore is your man. In the last 7 games, he has a 0.294/0.400/0.647 slash line. The improvement is not from an inflated BABIP (0.231), but instead from cutting his K% down from around 25% to 10%.
Also, Scott is qualified at both 2B and 3B. The extra versatility helps with maintaining a full active roster in the last couple of weeks. He will probably not be able to maintain his current increase in AVG, but for players owned in less than 10% of all league, Scott is probably the best 2B available.
Jimmy Paredes (2.1% owned) – Jimmy has been the starting 3B (2B qualified for this season) for the Astros since the 1st of August. He has produced a triple slash line of 0.300/0.336/0.433. On the surface he looks like a good option, but his stats are a bit inflated.
He currently has a 0.400 BABIP for the season. This BABIP will not be maintained (a season’s best value is usually around 0.380). Besides a BABIP adjustment lowering his average, he strikes out more than 26% of the time.
The key for Jimmy is that he is starting everyday and accumulating counting stats, no matter how small. If an owner’s AVG is set in the rankings for the season, it may be best to add a hitter like Jimmy. He is not a good player, but he is available and playing everyday (no platoon) and that is all some teams need in a player.
Trevor Plouffe (4.2% owned) is another option and Dan Wade recently wrote about him here at Rotographs.
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.