Chad Billingsley was a fave on mine coming into the year, and he pitched great for maybe a third of a season, passable for a third and pretty forgettable for the other third. It’s with great regret I tell you to sell him for fifty cents on the dollar in one year leagues. He wasn’t pitching all that well for a while now and now he’s dealing with a hamstring injury. (This injury may actually save his arm from falling off.) In one year leagues, you need guys that are going to help you right now. It’s August, ya’ll — thanks, Mr. Winkle calender — and Billingsley may end up on the DL. You don’t need the headache in one year leagues, I would take the best deal I could get and grab a waiver wire pitcher that has been doing well to fill-in. I hate selling low, but, as my old Polish neighbor used to say, what can do? Anyway, here’s some more players to buy or sell this week in fantasy baseball:
BUY
Gil Meche – Here’s the kind of pitcher I’ll take a flier on for a 5th to 6th starter in leagues over the random Texas Rangers rookie starter of the day. If you ignore two terrible starts from Meche out of his last ten starts, he has a 2.66 ERA. Sure, it’s cherrypicking stats, but it’s my blog so there.
Chris Coghlan – I’ve been remiss in not mentioning Coghlan much, but he’s yawnstipating to me outside of OBP leagues. Rocks solid eligibility, but even when he’s hot he has very mild power and some speed he doesn’t like to show. *removing my chewed-up cigar* It’s the bigs, kid. Show your speed.
Alcides Escobar – SAGNOF! Don’t expect much else unless your league credits secondary characters in Medellin.
Cliff Pennington – Isn’t this the guy who told me flip-flips weren’t appropriate footwear for the country club? No, random italicized voice. This is the guy who’s currently hitting way over his head, but has some speed and plays middle infield. I think he’s the guy at the country club too.
Carlos Gonzalez – CarGo is a pending trademark by Carlos Gomez, so I’m not sure we can use it for him. Then again, Carlos Gomez may have let that lapse, like he let his career. Carlos Gonzalez is not without his caveats, Latin Americans. He usually only plays vs. righties.
Randy Ruiz – I don’t actually own this random outfielder schmohawk behind door number three, but I do like saying his name… Randy Ruiz, Randy Ruiz, Randy Ruiz…
Alex Gonzalez – The Sawx finally figured out their shortstop shituation. Gonzalez isn’t worth grabbing in mixed leagues unless you’re in dire need of power at MI, but I’d grab him in an AL-Only league.
Wladimir Balentien – Transylvania’s number one son is hitting near .400 in his last 7 games, and he’s been playing nearly every day. The average will come down, but his power could explode. In NL-Only leagues, he should be owned. Mixed leagues, I’d wait and see.
Trent Oeltjen – If you don’t own Oeltjen, it means you probably have some sense in your head. I, on the other hand, lack sense. I own him so many places it’s kinda embarrassing. I might need utility scab rehab after the season. It would be me and five fat guys in a room talking about how we dropped Dexter Fowler after a 3-for-30 slump only to watch him steal 4 bases in his next 7 games. Just us, and coffee, cigarettes, a bowl of assorted jellybeans that all taste like the black ones, an assortment of Danish Cookies and WD-40, because of its multi-purpose eligibility. Yes, I’ve given this too much thought.
SELL
Junichi Tazawa – Solid Sawx prospect. Just like they said about Buchholz, Masterson, Bard…. Wait, no, he’s a solid import like they said about Dice-K. He’s also about 15 points short of Javier Vazquez in Scrabble. He’ll be good in a year or two, I wouldn’t own him in non-keepers this year.
Nate McLouth – McLousy.
Vernon Wells – This isn’t a sell as much as a drop, and this isn’t for just Vernon Wells. This is for all the guys that are currently owned because their name says they should be. Vernon Wells hasn’t been good in a while. Was he solid then? Yeah, and maybe one day you’ll be sitting behind Vernon and his grandkids in a Friendly’s and you can hear all about it. Until then, lose the nostalgia.
Tommy Hunter – For Neftali next year, I’m going to work all winter on getting used to owning a Rangers pitcher, but I just can’t get behind one right now. Besides, Tommy Hunter? C’mon, that’s a Witness Protection name. He’s hiding something.
