Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - NL

September 2, 2010 @ 15:45:00

By Nicholas Minnix
Edited by Tim Heaney

Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - AL

Fantasy baseball waivers and the acquisition of fantasy baseball free agents can make or break your season. Your fantasy baseball cheat sheets won't help you after spring training. If your team remains the same after opening day, you will have trouble competing in your rotisserie baseball league.

Do you need to replace your fantasy baseball busts? Which fantasy baseball players can you ignore? KFFL.com's Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market gives you fantasy baseball tips and insight to sort through the masses quickly.

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)

Corner infielders

Brandon Allen, 1B/OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

Newly refined eye

Allen is one of the club's best power prospects but had a miserable showing in his first taste of big league ball (.202, four homers in 104 at-bats), last year. He struck out nearly 40 percent of the time. That kind of demoralization may have bled into the start of his 2010 at Triple-A Reno. He was terrible for the season's first two months.

Allen walks at an acceptable rate, but he still doesn't make great contact. Evidently he decided to adopt a new approach, because he has walked nearly 18 percent of the time this season for Reno. Maybe it took him a couple of months to adjust to that view. June on, Allen batted .280 with 22 homers and 74 RBIs in 286 at-bats. Wow.

Allen is off to a great start after a 2-for-3 night, with a salami, on Wednesday. He played some outfield on the farm to increase his versatility. Gerardo Parra has been dull and is at best a fourth outfielder, with other scrubs filling in there too. Expect Allen to get a chance to show his stuff.

Shallow mixed: Watch

Deep mixed: Consider

NL-only: Acquire

Pitchers

Cory Luebke, SP, San Diego Padres

The Padres will insert one of their best pitching prospects into the lineup on Friday, and he'll have a chance to stick, per Bud Black. The southpaw has a quality low-90s fastball, which he must remain aggressive with to be effective, as well as a quality slider and changeup with potential.

Luebke was really good last season and appears to be progressing this season with his advancement to Triple-A Portland midway through this year. In 114 total innings this year, he's 10-1 with a 2.68 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. He issues walks fairly rarely, a big key to the fly-ball pitcher's success. PETCO Park and the Padres' D won't hurt. Anyone the Friars give a shot at a rotation spot this late in their playoff run is worth a look.

Shallow mixed: Watch

Deep mixed: Watch

NL-only: Acquire

Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - AL

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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.

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