It’s long overdue we turned our attention to the underrepresented side of SAGNOF — the cheap steal. Long ago I realized I like my steals like I like my women, cheap. Sure, there’s girls out there that know which spork to eat their Hamburger Helper with, but real value is found in girls that can have fun in a bar with sawdust on the floor and Jimmy Buffett playing on the jukebox. Now this doesn’t mean I’m turning my nose up at Kate Bosworth if she shows up at my door in a Vera Wang, carrying some takeout foie gras. Same goes for fantasy baseball. Steals is a category I tend to neglect on draft day in March, so it’s necessary to grab them off of waivers. I’m not suggesting you punt steals, because that would put too much pressure on your other categories. (Just like if you neglect getting laid.) It’s also one category you can make up ground in fast, so if you need steals, you need to get grabbing. Now, obviously, not all of these guys will be available in your league and in some other leagues guys like Podsednik, Rajai, etc. will be available. Anyway, here’s some cheap steals that you might find on your waiver wire in your fantasy baseball league:
Cliff Pennington – Has 17 steals on the year and is owned in 10% of ESPN leagues. I kinda wish I owned him for 2 months instead of EverCab. Why can’t EverCab get injured again? Is that too much to ask for? I really enjoyed him while he was in my DL slot.
Jason Bartlett – Hasn’t done much lately steals-wise, but he’s capable of putting together a 7 steal month. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Coco Crisp – 2nd most steals in the last 30 days. Coco Quik.
Will Venable – 2nd highest on Bill James Speed Score for hitters with at least 250 ABs. The problem is the 250 ABs, i before e, Venable doesn’t play every day.
Lorenzo Cain – My newest favorite player that I don’t own anywhere. Had 21 steals in 62 games in the minors in case you didn’t read this morning’s post. Shame on you, btw.
Peter Bourjos – Not only is he fast, but Scioscia may be a lot of things, but scared of running guys is not one of them. True fact: If Napoli stole 15 bases and hit .240 with zero homers, he’d be playing every day.
Drew Stubbs – The old adage that you can’t steal first has been put to the test by Stubbs. So far; Adage 1, Stubbs 0.
