With a week to go before the Houston Astros take on the Texas Rangers on March 31, 2013 to mark the first game of the 2013 season, teams around the MLB are making decisions on their rotations, on positional battles and determining the 25-man roster they will be starting the season with. For fantasy baseball owners, it’s time to either draft those teams before the season begins or for those who have already to groan about injured players and look for replacements.
Mitchell Boggs is the most picked up player in Yahoo! right now. Boggs will close for the St. Louis Cardinals with the absence of Jason Motte to start the 2013 season. Boggs is now owned in 41% of Yahoo! and 10% of ESPN leagues. Julio Teheran is close on his heels. The Atlanta Braves starter has had an incredible, and dare I say “dominating”, spring and has earned a spot in the Braves’ starting rotation. Teheran is available in 47% of Yahoo! and 73% of ESPN leagues. Gerardo Parra of the Arizona Diamondbacks could be given a second look by some fantasy owners with the news that Adam Eaton will miss some time with a sprain in his left elbow. Initial reports indicated 6-8 weeks, but some now think Eaton could be back by mid-April. If you can stash Eaton on your DL, I’d do and look to replace his capable bat with or a Domonic Brown’s. Brown is owned in just 39% in Yahoo! leagues and 24% in ESPN.
Owners who drafted some of the highly ranked prospects are probably trying to figure out what to do with their prize picks. While Dylan Bundy, Trevor Baurer, Geritt Cole and Jurickson Profar may all be starting in the minors, Jed Gyorko is 33% in both Yahoo and ESPN leagues. Considering the injury to Chase Headley, this is pretty low. If you’re an owner of Alex Rodriguez, David Freese, Kyle Seager or, Pedro Alvarez I’d look to pick up Gyorko as a potential replacement. Another young prospect that should be given a look is Jackie Bradley, who is 5% owned in Yahoo! and 2.4% in ESPN leagues. The Boston Red Sox should really be giving this kid opening day considerations given the injury to David Ortiz. Bradley has been terrorizing pitchers this spring. He is hitting .444 with a .545 OBP with just 5 strikeouts in 45 at bats this spring. The problem with owning Bradley is that he will likely be returned to the minors once Ortiz returns to the lineup in order to keep his MLB service time down (I still hate this stupid effing rule in the majors!!!).
I’m trying to figure out why Jonathon Broxton remains owned in 65% of Yahoo! and 89% if ESPN leagues in light of the news that Aroldis Chapman will be returning to the closer role for the Cincinnati Reds. Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals just isn’t getting the respect he deserves. The Cardinals soon to be everyday second baseman (also eligible at third, first and outfield) is still available in 60% of Yahoo! and nearly 90% of ESPN leagues. Just for fun, I had to look up the ownership for the soon to be retired Chris Carpenter…he is still owned in 2% if Yahoo! and 12.7% of ESPN leagues (why can’t owners like these guys play in my leagues???). Just for the record, I am officially proclaiming Kyuji Fujikawa the closer for the Chicago Cubs over Carlos Marmol. Marmol is owned in 65% of Yahoo! and 28.6% of ESPN leagues. Fujikawa is available in 51% of ESPN leagues, and 70% of Yahoo! leagues. Fujikawa is no spring chicken at 32 years of age, but he has 202 saves in the past 6 seasons for the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese league.
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photo credit: Todd Awbrey via photopin cc
