Fantasy Baseball Deep League Help – Sleeper Central – August 7
Monday in the Majors was another full night of baseball with some familiar storylines and a few surprises. From the “rerun” category Jered Weaver is good, the Astros aren’t, the Cubs can’t hit, and Justin Verlander can pitch a little. In surprises, Erik Bedard pitched great, The Twins were the highest scoring team in the Majors, and the New Red Machine lost.
There were plenty of players who contributed to their team’s wins and many of them may be able to help your fantasy baseball team as well. If you need to make a roster move, check out our daily post to help you find the player you want. Here’s our Sleeper breakdown for today:
Sleeper Awakening
Ryan Doumit – C/1B/OF – Minnesota Twins: Doumit’s positional versatility makes him an option for many teams when his bat heats up. Since the All-Star break, it’s done just that. In face he’s hit over .300 in each of the last three months. Since the break, in 23 games played he has 11 runs scored and 19 RBI along with five of his 12 home runs. He’s started this month with a 1.242 OPS (still small sample size of five games). The Twins are finding ways to get his bat into the lineup and if you need help, especially at catcher, Doumit has some serious value. He’s owned in 40% of ESPN leagues but represents a great fill-in at multiple positions and should continue to contribute RBI and HR as long as the Twins lineup is clicking and Revere and Span are getting on base ahead of him.
Sleeper Starting Lineup
C– Ryan Doumit – Min: (40.4% ownership in ESPN leagues) 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR. Doumit is hitting .288 on the year with 12 home runs and 55 RBI. See above for more…
1B– Gaby Sanchez – Pit: (17.6%) 2-4, R, RBI. Sanchez has moved right into the middle of the Pirates lineup and is 4-9 in his last two games. The Pirates hope he can rediscover his All-Star form with a change of scenery to Pittsburgh.
2B– Chris Getz – KC: (0.1%) 2-3. Getz is up to .288 on the year and is 8-28 in his last eight games. He hasn’t been running as much lately, but is taking over the daily 2B spot in KC and may have considerable value the rest of the year especially if he moves up in the order and/or starts to steal more bases (8-10 on the year).
3B– Eric Chavez – NYY: (0.4%) 3-4, R, 2 2B. Chavez is filling in for A-Rod at 3B with Jayson Nix getting some extra time as well. He’s hitting .275 on the year and is 8-21 in his last six games and has two home runs and four RBI along with his two doubles. If you need a short term fill-in or a daily lineup bargain, Chavez has some value for as long as A-Rod is out.
SS– Erick Aybar – LAA: (28.1%) 3-4, 2 R, RBI. Aybar returned from the DL and made a splash in his first game back picking his average up to .263 on the season. With the Angels lineup starting to come together, Aybar could have a last couple months to save his disappointing season to this point.
OF– Jon Jay – Stl: (17.8%) 4-4, R, 2 RBI. Jay’s four singles brought his average to .296. He had been struggling but seems to b back on track scoring a run in each of his last four games while going 7-14. He has three steals in his last nine games and is 11-12 overall in stolen base attempts on the season.
OF– Eric Young Jr. – Col: (0.1%) 3-4, 2 R. Young is the fourth outfielder in Colorado but has played well in his last four games started going 9-18 with four runs scored and a steal. If he gets regular starts atop the Rockies lineup he’ll have value, and he can help in deep or daily leagues when he does find his way into the lineup.
OF– Norichika Aoki – Mil: (8.6%) 2-4. Aoki has hit safely in nine in a row to pick his average up to .284 on the year. He has 13 steals in 16 attemps on the year and has scored 47 runs with six home runs and 25 RBI.
AL Starting Pitcher– Chris Tillman – Bal: (8.1%) 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K, W. Tillman moved to 5-1 and has not allowed more than two earned runs in any start outside of Yankee Stadium. He has a 2.38 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP and is worth considering as a spot starter in all leagues and a permanent pickup in deep leagues.
NL Starting Pitcher– Erik Bedard – Pit: (10.9%) 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K, W. Bedard showcased the Dr. Jekyll to his Mr. Hyde performance last start. He allowed eight runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings in Chicago on Monday of last week. This week’s Monday start went incredibly better for Bedard at home as he improved to 6-12. The two starts before his stinker he has only allowed an earned run in each of his previous two starts of 7.0 and 6.2 innings. He’s a high-risk option as spot starter, but showed he can offer a pretty nice reward sometimes.