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Fantasy Baseball Diamond Mining: Stephen Drew's outlook, Fausto Carmona's first step
by Nicholas Minnix
on March 13, 2012 @ 12:50:00
PDT
Follow @NicholasMinnix
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Ready to update your fantasy baseball cheat sheets? Before Diamond Market can sell the players in your rotisserie league's free-agent pool, Fantasy Baseball Diamond Mining polishes them for fantasy baseball drafts. It's time to dig for fantasy baseball sleepers and toss the busts. Arizona Diamondbacks to push SS Stephen Drew this week Kirk Gibson wants to see where his everyday shortstop is in terms of recovery from surgery to repair a fractured ankle. D-backs beat man for the Arizona Republic Nick Piecoro says that Gibson won't rule out Drew for opening day, but the reporter believes that it's unrealistic.
If they haven't yet, fantasy baseball players should probably adjust their expectations for the typically moderate across-the-board performer. Drew's words at the beginning of March are even more telling. He's probably at least three and maybe four good months from being at full strength. Until he regains the strength around his ankle, Drew's hitting mechanics won't be able to depend on his lower half much. Since his breakout 2008 campaign, his power output has diminished, anyway. It's also unlikely that he'll be aggressive on the base paths early on, and his career high mark of thefts is 10, set in 2010. Remember the difficulties that Scott Sizemore and Magglio Ordonez had in their initial return to action following similar injuries. Roto managers can't reasonably expect Drew to contribute meaningful numbers until at least midseason, and then it's not a guarantee. He's shaping up as a better trade this season, unless you land him for something like 50 cents on the dollar. Charges against SP formerly known as "Fausto Carmona" dropped Roberto Hernandez must complete a work program in the Dominican Republic. If he does, prosecutors in his home country have agreed to drop the false identity charges. Hernandez, 31, doesn't count against the Cleveland Indians' 40-man roster because he's on MLB's restricted list. He can't rejoin the club until he's able to secure a visa to re-enter the United States, and when he does, Major League Baseball may consider suspending him. This is a positive step for the right-handed sinkerballer, but he has a long way to go. Juan Carlos Oviedo, whom you knew as Leo Nunez, didn't face criminal charges in the D.R. but still hasn't surfaced in Miami Marlins camp. Roto players in AL-only leagues who have designs on stashing the hardly dependable Hernandez must be aware that they're looking at an absence of at least a couple of months, perhaps a good deal longer. It's conceivable that the move will pay off in deep AL formats, but in most setups, the upside is just too minimal and unlikely to occur. 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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