Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - Falling

June 8, 2009 @ 01:01:04

By Bryce McRae
Edited by Nicholas Minnix

Also see: Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - Rising

Fantasy baseball waivers and discarded fantasy baseball players can make or break a season. You may have adjusted your fantasy baseball cheat sheets over and over during spring training. If your team remains the same after opening day, though, you will probably have trouble competing in your rotisserie baseball league.

When is it time to give up on your fantasy baseball sleepers? Which players are worth retaining? KFFL.com's Diamond Market series gives you the fantasy baseball tips and advice you need to sort through the masses quickly.

Key

Discard - Drop player (in most circumstances)

Stash - Hold player if roster space is available; consider dropping if trend continues

Hold - Do not drop player (in most circumstances)

Starting pitchers

John Danks, Chicago White Sox

Manager Ozzie Guillen might not have any answers for his slumping offense. What about Danks? The lefty's control, pinpoint last year, has gone the way of the dodo recently, nullifying any positive from his solid dominance rate (8.10 K/9). He has issued 13 free passes in his last four starts (22 2/3 innings) and tied a career high with three homers allowed in his last start.

His career BB/9 is 3.08, which suggests the 2.63 control rate he exhibited last year was a little lofty. Don't lose complete faith; his April line consisted of a 2.74 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, even with a 3.13 BB/9. Danks recently said he discovered a couple of minor mechanical flaws and has worked on correcting them. Stash him if you have the room.

Shallow mixed: Stash

Deep mixed: Stash

AL-only: Hold

Relief pitchers

Joel Hanrahan, Washington Nationals

There are mixed opinions on what has been wrong with Hanrahan. Manager Manny Acta feels he has relied too much on his slider. Some in the organization feel his 95 mph fastball doesn't have enough movement for him to effectively get hitters out. Either way, he's out of the job as closer (for the second time this season) and might not be returning any time soon.

The Nats plan to work him in middle relief for the time being. He'll likely have to show a lot before Acta trusts him with a late-inning role again. Without saves, Hanrahan isn't very valuable in any format.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Stash

Also see: Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - Rising

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

Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.

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

One Day FREE Fantasy Contest - $350 in cash prizes (05/25)
Fantasy baseball players in the news (05/25)
Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: John Danks placed on DL (05/24)