Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - Falling

August 24, 2009 @ 12:00:00

By Bryce McRae
Edited by Tim Heaney

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)

Third basemen

Hank Blalock, Texas Rangers

The return of Chris Davis from the minors should limit Blalock's at-bats with the big-league club. He is expected to see part-time duty at designated hitter and first base. Of course, the 29-year-old is hitting only .180 this month with three homers and seven RBIs in 89 at-bats, so he likely isn't helping your fantasy team even when he's in the lineup.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

AL-only: Hold

Outfielders

Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs

Knee clouds Sori's schedule

The Cubbies gave Soriano his second consecutive day off yesterday because of a sore left knee. His bat probably needed the day off, too. He is hitting just .157 this month without any homers and only four RBIs in 70 at-bats.

Don't be so hasty to dump him if you are considering it. He received a few days off during the All-Star break last month and came out with a .400-5-15 line and nine runs in 50 at-bats to finish July. It's worth at least waiting to see if some rest has the same effect this time around before making any moves.

Shallow mixed: Hold

Deep mixed: Hold

NL-only: Hold

Starting pitchers

Aaron Harang, Cincinnati Reds

Harang underwent an emergency surgery Saturday night to remove his appendix. He isn't supposed to do anything for three weeks and is done for the season.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Discard

Aaron Cook, Colorado Rockies

Cook is scheduled to undergo an MRI today after hitting the DL over the weekend because of a right shoulder strain, leaving his status for the rest of the season uncertain. The team is hoping he'll "only" miss 3 1/2 weeks, which doesn't leave much time for him to make a fantasy impact even if he did return.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Stash

Also see: Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - Rising

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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.

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