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Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: Antonio Bastardo, Michael Stutes, more
by Nicholas Minnix
on June 28, 2011 @ 13:12:24
PDT
Follow @NicholasMinnix
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Your fantasy baseball cheat sheets are no longer of use. KFFL.com's Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market series gives you tips on fantasy baseball players available as free agents, on waivers or for your FAAB dollars in your rotisserie or head-to-head baseball league. It's time to replace your fantasy baseball busts. Key
Middle infieldersAdam Kennedy, Seattle Mariners At the end of last week, Eric Wedge indicated that Chone Figgins would continue to cede playing time at the hot corner to Kennedy. The latter offers little upside, but the former has struggled at the dish so much this year that the latter represents an obvious upgrade.
In fact, Seattle has found one way or another to slip Kennedy, 35, into the lineup. In the club's past 32 games, he has played in 27 of them and has started in 25. He's 25-for-98 (.255) with a couple of homers and a stolen base in that stretch. He has started seven of the M's past nine games, and five of them have come at third. In that period, he's 8-for-30 (.267) with a homer. Those numbers sound about right. Kennedy is probably eligible at multiple positions in your league, and one of them should be second base. Hey, if you need a body. Shallow mixed: Pass Deep mixed: Consider AL-only: Acquire OutfieldersThe Twins lost another central figure - Delmon Young (sprained ankle) - to the DL. Jason Kubel (sprain in foot) should return sometime next week, but seems very likely to pick up at-bats at first base while Justin Morneau (neck surgery, wrist soreness) is out of commission. Denard Span continues to deal with post-concussion issues and doesn't appear likely to return before the All-Star break, at least. Repko, 30, is the winner in left field, at least for now. He's started two of the Twins' past three games and is 12-for-64 (.188) with seven RBIs and nine runs this year. Last season, he hit .228 with a trio of homers and thefts in 146 plate appearances. He's not exciting, but the former prospect whose career was derailed by injuries offers faint hope in the counting cats and may pick it up with some regular PT. Shallow mixed: Pass Deep mixed: Pass AL-only: Consider PitchersAntonio Bastardo and Michael Stutes, Philadelphia Phillies The Phils had to place Ryan Madson (bruised hand) on the disabled list on Tuesday. The move is retroactive to June 19. Charlie Manuel says he'll divide saves duty the between this pair while his regular closers are sidelined. Bastardo's 4.18 BB/9 is a chilling, and indications are that his numbers are due for a little reckoning. The southpaw has posted 0.96 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP and a 10.61 K/9 in 28 frames this season, however. He's already notched two saves in 2011, without blowing a chance, and should be a fine short-term play, even if he doesn't earn any saves. Stutes' 5.47 BB/9 is uglier, although he's posted a 9.49 K/9 to offset it somewhat and has managed to put together a 2.92 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in his 24 2/3 innings this season. This is where it gets interesting - maybe. Some in the organization view Stutes as a future closer and may push to see what he can accomplish with a lead in the ninth. Philly won't exercise Brad Lidge's option after this season, and Madson is a pending free agent who'll probably command significant dollars if he continues to rack up saves. Manuel indicated that he'd let situations dictate the man he uses. We won't know until we see how he rolls these two out. Don't rule out Bastardo, who has endeared himself to the club, but Stutes, as the right-hander, may have an edge if this become purely matchup-dictated or an experiment. Do you desperately need saves? Or are you happy perhaps cherry-picking a few while keeping the damage to a minimum? Shallow mixed: Consider Deep mixed: Consider NL-only: Acquire Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays Toronto demoted prospect Zach Stewart to make way for a southpaw who began the year in the rotation but pitched his way out of it before May. The Jays sent Cecil, 24, on a mission to rediscover some of his lost fastball velocity and, in general, his command. He left the bigs with a 6.86 ERA, a 1.67 WHIP and 15 K's in 21 stanzas. Cecil posted an 8-2 record for Triple-A Las Vegas, but it came with a 5.26 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. He also struck out 7.21 per nine in that stretch spent in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Alex Anthopoulos has reported on several occasions that Cecil was making progress but needed to repeat his successes. Apparently, his last few starts were convincing enough. In his last three, he posted a 3.27 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. That stretch included a complete-game shutout, and he went the distance two starts prior to that one, too, yielding only one run. However, the sandwich outing was a bit disastrous, and his final start for the 51s was certainly lackluster. Still, he has clearly done enough to please the Blue Jays who make these decisions. Fantasy owners won't overlook a solid pitcher who posted 15 W's in 2010, but they should probably approach this one with some caution. He dramatically improved his BB/9, a key issue before he was sent down, so things are looking up. Shallow mixed: Watch Deep mixed: Consider AL-only: Acquire About Nicholas Minnix
Minnix is baseball editor and a fantasy football analyst at KFFL. He plays in LABR and Tout Wars and won the FSWA Baseball Industry Insiders League in 2010. The University of Delaware alum is a regular guest on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and Baltimore's WNST AM 1570. Follow @NicholasMinnix Don't miss these great reports....
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