Experienced players will tell you Fantasy Baseball leagues are won and lost not necessarily by the superstars, but by the future studs who come out of nowhere to play bigger than their reputation, or the declining veterans who’s numbers shrink to Tattoo-like proportions.
Last week, I gave you 5 relative no-names who should get strong consideration in the later rounds of your draft. This week, I’ve matched that with 5 guys who may have seen brighter days and should be dropped on your list.
The trick, as with the up and comers, is to know exactly when a guy is a reach or a value. For example, Keith Foulke has the potential for 40+ saves, yet to take him with the first wave of closers is too big of a gamble. But if he’s there late in your draft, his potential value is so great he should be scooped up faster than the class hussy at a junior high dance.
Here then, is my list of “Tattoo� performers for the 2006 season:
Gary Sheffield (NYY)-OF
Carlos Delgado (NYM)-1B
Bartolo Colon (ANA)-SP
Barry Bonds (SF)-OF
Curt Schilling (BOS)-SP
First of all, I didn’t list the obvious. If you need me to tell you 37-year old Bob Wickman isn’t going to catch a whiff of the 45-saves he accumulated in 2005 or that Garrett Anderson’s injuries have turned him into Wade Boggs with a bad back, you’re in deeper trouble than I can help with. The people I named are near the top of everyone’s draft board. The lowest ranked player in my Yahoo league’s pre-season list is Barry Bonds at #110.
However, I think all of these players will be overvalued. Sheffield is aging and unhappy with his contract, a bad combo. Delgado is moving to a pitcher’s park and has a creaky elbow. Colon has way too many miles on a body that looks an awful lot like what I see in the mirror. Bonds’ knee simply will not allow him to play enough games to be a top-tier player.
The one name I’ll bet caught everyone’s attention is Schilling. I hate to say it, but I think “Curt on the Car Phone’s� days of dominance are over. Sure he’ll put up a flashback start from time to time, but giving up 5-runs in 7-innings against minor leaguers this afternoon should tell you something. I know, I know….it’s just spring training. But those are just minor leaguers. My advice…stay away, at least until the middle rounds.
That’s my take….what’s yours? Do you agree with my “Tattoo� picks? Who else is due for a fall from Stud Mountain?
Teddy, I agree with four names on your list of baseball bustouts for 2006, but one of them ain't Gary Sheffield. While I hate the Yankee uniform, Sheffield playes best when he's angry and this year he's angrier than ever as you pointed out. The guy is fearless with a bat in his hands and fearsome to enemy pitchers. As a Red Sox fan, he is the one Yankee I don't want to see coming to the plate with pinstrippers on every base and less than two outs. Peer into Sheffield's eyes and you see nothing but assault on his mind. I wish the Sox had him.
Bonds, of course, will carry on his Home Run Charade to overtake the immortal Babe Ruth and the classy and equally immortal Henry Aaron. If not a bust, this guy's Bonds won't yield nearly the amount of interest as did Hammerin' Hank's assault on Ruth's legendary HR mark. Nor should it. Bonds is a 'Frisco Fraud. Put the asterisk in the record books now. In fact, put one next to his head too.
My biggest busts for 2006 go like this: Catchers Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez; Tony Clark, and pitchers Kenny Rogers; Mike Mussina, Shawn Chacon, Mike Mulder; Chris Young and Jeff Suppan.
My question to you: Is Nomar going to reclaim any of his former brilliance? I, for one, think he has Lynn Disease. The symptoms are: head west and regress.
Posted by Slots Grobnick | March 25, 2006 12:11 PM
Posted on March 25, 2006 12:11