One of the main reasons I enjoy writing for Razzball is that I haven’t encountered another fantasy baseball site where the commenters are this active and generally friendly with each other. Another great thing is that even the comments are worth reading because there tends to be some nice insight. Example A is Principal Blackman, likely a pseudonym for Charlie Blackmon, who said this last week, “How about a little love for Shin-Soo Choo’s .432 OBP & .929 OPS? Both would be career highs (the Arlington effect?), but they are not wildly (unbelievably) out of line with his career averages (.391/.858), and they are right in line with the advances he made last year… ZiPS and Steamer both foresee some regression on the way for him, and indeed a .392 average on balls in play would blow his career BABIP (.352) out of the water. And at the same time, his K% has dipped below the league average, but, on the other hand, he has maintained the improvements he made last year to his already stellar walk rate, and since the beginning of the 2013 season he only has one infield popup (none this year).” Since then, Choo has slumped a bit and had his OPS dip below .900. I expect to see him around that level all year, while maintaining his ~.420 OBP. Anyway, here are some other players on my mind in OBP leagues:
Speaking of Blackmon, his recent numbers couldn’t be more different than his hot start, so I wouldn’t look to buy low.
With all of the injuries this year, there might be an opportunity to buy low on any number of guys who are currently injured and could boost your team if healthy. It could be worth seeing if another owner would be willing to sell at a price where it wouldn’t be the end of the world if the player you’re trading for didn’t contribute. This could be especially true if that owner has a number of guys on the disabled list clogging up his or her bench. Mike Napoli and Carlos Beltran could potentially be had at a discount, but I doubt guys like Joey Votto and Josh Hamilton would be available for much less than full value.
I compared Jose Abreu to Mark Trumbo in the comments last week and, while that may seem extreme considering what Abreu did in April, it’s a very real possibility if Abreu continues his miserable May approach upon his return. I think Abreu will still be a good player, but I’d knock him down a bit in OBP leagues.
The Carlos Quentin experience seems to be (mostly) alive and well (for the time being), so go ahead and grab him while you can. I’d also take a chance on Josh Willingham if he’s still available in your league. I think Quentin will produce better numbers than Willingham, but will be out of the lineup more frequently, so keep that in mind. Still, they both should have a .350+ OBP and .800+ OPS while in the lineup.
Adam Dunn is continuing his resurgent season in OBP leagues and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him to continue to top a .360 OBP going forward, though I would be surprised to see him maintain his current .388 mark.
Adam Lind should be owned in all leagues. With the rush to pick up Adam LaRoche and Garrett Jones, Lind remains available in some leagues, despite arguably possessing the most upside of the group.
You can find Tom Jacks on Twitter @votetomjacks. He spends far too much time praying for the Cubs, planning his next concert, and wondering if there’s an instrument that could ever rival the theremin (there isn’t).
