Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson

September 26, 2011 @ 13:17:06

By Nicholas Minnix
Edited by Tim Heaney

Your fantasy baseball cheat sheets are no longer of use. KFFL.com's Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market series gives you candid ratings of fantasy baseball players making MLB news in your rotisserie or head-to-head baseball league. If they're available in any of your fantasy baseball games as free agents, on waivers or for your FAAB dollars, you'll know whether they make the cut.

Key

Acquire	Add player (in most circumstances)
Consider	Add for speculation or because of need
Watch	Track player, consider if trend continues
Pass	Do not add player (in most circumstances)

 

Outfielders

Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson, Kansas City Royals

Dyson could steal you a point

Ned Yost plans to sit Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur in his club's final series of the season, at the Minnesota Twins, and the skipper will do the same with Melky Cabrera once the switch-hitter gets his 200th hit. Cabrera sits on 199. Yost prefers to have a look at his speeders, Cain and Dyson, before the 2011 campaign ends so that he can have a little more info to assess for 2012. Mitch Maier is likely to step into the lineup once Cabrera notches No. 200 but is of little interest to roto players.

Cain, 25, batted .312 with 16 home runs and 16 stolen bases in 549 plate appearances with Triple-A Omaha this season. Lifetime, in the majors, he's hit .307 with a homer and seven thefts in 170 plate appearances. The 27-year-old Dyson hit .279 with three round-trippers and 38 stolen bases in 369 plate appearances for the Storm Chasers. In 104 career MLB plate appearances, he's hit .202 with no bombs and 18 heists.

Your target here depends on your needs. Fantasy baseball players shouldn't expect Cain's newfound farm power to show up in the bigs in this series with the Twinkies. Although his patience at the dish isn't, statistically, drastically better than Dyson's, he's made solid contact much more often than his fly-catching mate. Cain, however, is also less aggressive on the base paths then Dyson, by a good margin.

Dyson, conversely, isn't a reliable source of much besides stolen bases. However, roto hopefuls can rest assured that the Royals' frequent fav pinch runner will take his chances, should he get on base. Minnesota is scheduled to send three righties to the hill, which is at least more beneficial for the left-handed hitter. Cain, a right-handed swinger, has actually fared better against the same hand than southpaws in his shirt major league exposure, too.

Shallow mixed: Consider

Deep mixed: Consider

AL-only: Acquire

KFFLians are saying....

Comment

 

---

What do you think? We want to hear from you!

Name: E-mail: Please, enter the number that you see

Comment Guidelines

Nicholas Minnix

KFFL's baseball editor 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 Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and Baltimore's WNST AM 1570. Follow him on Twitter.

Talk Sports 24/7!
KFFL Sports Forums: Over 24,000 strong and growing!

Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: Dee Gordon's problems at bat (05/23)
Fantasy Baseball Player Prospecting: Will Smith, Yordano Ventura, Wil Myers, more (05/23)
Fantasy Baseball Roundtable: How trade talks develop (05/23)