Fantasy Red Herrings

Since I know some readers of this blog are my comrades who will draft players in our fantasy baseball league next Saturday, I thought I'd return to a post about players that GMs might want to target for the upcoming season.

But my fellow GMs might think this document is simply a list of red herrings.

Maybe players on it are.

Maybe players on it aren't.

Regardless, here are players to target or low risk/high reward players for 2012.


First Base: Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays
He was on the Fantasy Red Herrings post a year ago. You can't hold a good Edwin down. The Jays didn't acquire anyone to take his spot in the lineup in the off season, so he'll fill in at first base and play mostly DH. Oh, and by the way, he also qualifies at 3B.


Second Base: Aaron Hill, Arizona Diamondbacks
In 2009 he hit 36 home runs and had 108 rbi. Then there were steep declines in production in '10 and '11, and he got shipped off to the land of cacti and retirees. His numbers with the D'backs in '11 was the following: 33 games played, 23 runs, 2 home runs, 16 rbi, 5 stolen bases, and an OBP of .386. Getting out the AL East will certainly help him, and that OBP is very surprising. He won't sustain that number in '12, but it's plausible Hill reverts to his mediocre OBP from '09, .330.


Shortstop: Jason Bartlett, San Diego Padres
See Aaron Hill's story above. Well, sort of. Bartlett had a solid '09 campaign, a wretched '10 season, and rebounded a bit in '11 with the Fathers. He's a decent pick in the late rounds if you didn't get a solid SS earlier in the draft.


Third Base: Chone Figgins, Seattle Mariners
This little fellow has .215 BABIP last year when the average BABIP in MLB was somewhere around .290 or so. Since Ichiro hit leadoff, they asked Figgins to hit in a spot in the lineup he's not comfortable with. This year Ichiro will hit in the three spot for the first time in his career with Figgins going back to leading off. That bodes well. 


Catcher: Russell Martin, New York Yankees
For the first time in a while, I had a Yankee on my team last year, and it was a guy who had a career year, Curtis Granderson. It's not that I have a prejudice against drafting Yankees, it's just that usually the ones I want are taken before I can select them. Martin, if I remember right, is a free agent after this year, and he plays half of his games in Yankee Stadium. Sounds like a career year to me. Remember how Jose Reyes did in his walk year? 


Outfield: Carlos Quentin, San Diego Padres
I know. I know. He's going to play half of his games in Petco where power hitters go to get psyched out. All of the other GMs know this, so they don't want to select him. You select him in a late round, he stays healthy for most of the year, and knocks maybe 20 home runs over the season for a paltry draft investment. Best case scenario, yes. But you never know.


Starting Pitcher: Ryan Dempster, Chicago Cubs
The projections I'm using predict these numbers for him for '12: 187Ks, 4.08 ERA, 1.36 WHIP. Whoever had him on their teams last year got abused by some of those horrible, horrible outings. Just brutal really. But the guy still provides solid K numbers as he has throughout his career. 


Relief Pitcher: Sean Marshall, Cincinnati Reds
To this day, I think Marshall never got a fair shot at being a starting pitcher with the Cubs. My hypothesis is that he slept with or insulted Piniella's wife early in his career in Chicago. Nevertheless, he has turned out to be a solid relief pitcher and could slip into the closer's job if Madson implodes.