Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market - Falling

September 28, 2009 @ 11:00:00

By Nicholas Minnix
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)

Catchers

Bengie Molina, San Francisco Giants

San Fran is pretty much out of the wild-card race. Molina has a contusion on a finger on his left hand. He's also a free agent after this season. The Giants will continue to give top-notch prospect Buster Posey, who'd be a much cheaper option in 2010, a look in the final week.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Stash

Outfielders

Cody Ross, Florida Marlins

Ross said he's experiencing unbearable pain in his left wrist, where he was hit by a pitch on Saturday. It forced him to sit Sunday and may do the same for the final week. The Fish have too tough a hill to climb in the wild-card race, so there's no point in risking their 24-homer, 90-RBI man.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Discard

Starting pitchers

Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox

Tough MLB debut year for Tillman

The ChiSox are skipping Buehrle's next start. It's not even likely that he'll make another, but if he did, he'd face the Detroit Tigers. The southpaw is 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP in two starts against them this season, but both came before the break (3.66 ERA) at U.S. Cellular Field. This appearance would come at Comerica Park, where Motown's offense has been much better, and Buehrle has a 5.00 ERA in August and September combined.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

AL-only: Discard

Max Scherzer, Arizona Diamondbacks

The Snakes have shut down their blossoming right-hander. Single-year players aren't thrilled with what he delivered. Dynasty leaguers should note his modest improvement in control in a year in which he was well above-average for four of the six months. The drop in strikeouts per nine is expected with no relief outings on the register, but the rise in flyball rate is worrisome given the location of his den.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Discard

Vicente Padilla, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Blue are moving the righty to the bullpen for the rest of the season after he provided a few wins for those in deep leagues.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Discard

Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles

Only keeper leaguers need to worry about saving a roster spot for Tillman after the O's shut him down.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

AL-only: Discard

Bud Norris, Houston Astros

Norris' story reads like Tillman's, except that Norris pitches for the Astros.

Shallow mixed: Discard

Deep mixed: Discard

NL-only: Discard

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

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!

One Day FREE Fantasy Contest - $350 in cash prizes (05/25)
Fantasy Baseball Player Prospecting: Travis d'Arnaud, Kevin Mattison, more (05/25)
Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: DL for Marco Estrada (05/25)