Replacing Dustin Pedroia: Second Basemen You should Target

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

I feel like I have written this many times before. Dustin Pedroia is always hurt, or even worse, playing poorly through injury. According to Alex Speier of WEEI, he may well be shut down for the remainder of the season.

It makes sense. Certainly with the defending champs already eliminated from postseason contention, Pedroia won’t be rushed back. So here we are once again, trying to find a late season replacement for Pedroia.

However, do not fret, I have some suggestions for you! Over the past month these 2B options have stood out to me as good fantasy options:

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You are beginning to run out of time on Wong and Valbuena, so you may have to act now if you want to secure either of them. In fact, the Pedroia owner in my head to head league just dropped him and added Wong.

If you’re trying to figure out which of the three would be best at replacing Dustin Pedroia, consider this a little cheat sheet.

• Kolten Wong: Statistically, the closest to Pedroia. If you built your team a specific way and need to replace those stats, he is your man.
• Luis Valbuena: This is your man if you need a little sock in your lineup, as his power is significantly better than the other options.
• Jose Ramirez: If you need a boost in steals, this is your guy. He’s also available in significantly more leagues than either of the above options

If all three of them are gone, give Jordy Mercer and Rougned Odor some consideration.

Of the three, I would actually call Ramirez the safest option. He does have one drawback, especially for those of you in a tough head to head match-up this week.

Ramirez and the Indians are in Detroit to face the Tigers this weekend. The pitchers he will face — David Price, Kyle Lobstein, and Justin Verlander — are not exactly great assignments.

Still, all Ramirez has to do is get on base. Those hurlers aren’t gonna stop him from stealing once he is on. That’s the one nice thing about going after a steals guy. Pitchers can steal power from guys with how they pitch them. However most pitchers can’t limit a speedster once he is on the base paths.

Also, if you do get through this week, Ramirez is against the Astros to start next week. Granted, that’s on the road, but that doesn’t concern me too much. He can really really in those games.

Another thing to look at with these guys is where they bat in their respective lineups.

Ramirez is batting second for the Cleveland Indians, Valbuena is hitting third for the Chicago Cubs, and Kolton Wong is batting eighth for the St Louis Cardinals. This is a slight draw back to Wong as he will just see less at bats than the other two. Granted, the hitters on his team are better than Valbuena’s and probably on par with Ramirez, which does help, especially if he’s on base when the lineup turns over.

Aside from where they bat in the lineup, what I also like about Ramirez and Valbuena over Wong is multi-position eligibility. Sure you may not need them at their other positions — Ramirez at SS or Valbuena at 3B — but it doesn’t hurt to have the option.

Again, if Wong was the clear cut top of the class here, position eligibility doesn’t come into play for me. You should never be making decisions regarding add and drops based on position eligibility, it is just something to help tip the scales.

Always makes decisions based on production. Other variables, position eligibility, schedule, even batting order need to be just secondary thoughts. With these guys it is all about what you need most, then you can look at everything else if nothing is a great need for you.