{"id":410,"date":"2013-05-01T18:29:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T18:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/linetrackers.com\/?p=410"},"modified":"2013-05-01T18:29:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T18:29:04","slug":"fantasy-baseball-vegas-odds-handicapping-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/?p=410","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Baseball and Vegas Odds Handicapping: Who to Pick Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fantasy Baseball<\/a> free agent pools can be an incredible mystery.\u00a0 In standard 5\u00d75 mixed leagues the free agent pool is made up of players<\/a> deemed not valuable enough to be on a roster.\u00a0 We\u2019re all familiar with the \u2018island of mis-fit toys\u2019 theory that has swept through baseball over the last decade, this theory isn\u2019t exactly the same in fantasy baseball, but there are valuable free agents out there.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to take a look at who\u2019s stock the fantasy baseball market says is rising.\u00a0 We\u2019ll break down if these players are valuable or not.\u00a0 For relevancy\u2019s sake, we\u2019ll analyze the players who have been added the most frequently of late.<\/p>\n

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Mark Ellis (Photo credit: Keith Allison)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mark Ellis<\/a>, 2B, LAD:\u00a0 <\/b>Aging second baseman are normally not great fantasy baseball additions.\u00a0 Ellis is 36 years old, easily falling into the \u2018aging\u2019 category.\u00a0 Through 20 games, he\u2019s playing well over his ability.\u00a0 Ellis has never proved to be a valuable fantasy commodity.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t hit for a high average, doesn\u2019t score or drive in a lot of runs, and doesn\u2019t steal bases.\u00a0 If you struck while the iron was hot and picked up Ellis towards the beginning of the year, kudos to you.\u00a0 Now would be a good time to dump him because he\u2019s going to steadily move towards reality.\u00a0 Which for Ellis is .266\/.331\/.395 and 6 HR, it\u2019s time to get off the Mark Ellis wagon.<\/p>\n

Russell Martin<\/a>, C, PIT:\u00a0 <\/b>Not many two-time All-Star catchers that hit 21 HR are free agents.\u00a0 Although Russell Martin falls into that category.\u00a0 Martin is coming off a year where his BA was .211, undoubtedly driving down his draft stock.\u00a0 The Canadian however, has proven to be a much better hitter through his career with a career BA of .260.\u00a0 Home runs are what make Martin a valuable pickup.\u00a0 Catcher is the toughest position to get offensive output out of, so unless you\u2019ve got one of the premier catchers in the league, scoop up Martin.<\/p>\n

Omar Infante, 2B, DET:<\/b>\u00a0 If you read the breakdown of Mark Ellis above, there won\u2019t be much different when it comes to Infante.\u00a0 He\u2019s a little younger than Ellis which is good for his career but not for a fantasy owner.\u00a0 Infante is a light hitter who doesn\u2019t provide much more than a decent average.\u00a0 Hitting .305 through 86 PA is a great accomplishment for Infante but he won\u2019t keep it up.\u00a0 Stay away from Infante unless you\u2019re desperate for a couple hits at the second base position.<\/p>\n

Travis Hafner<\/a>, DH, NYY:\u00a0 <\/b>Designated Hitters<\/a> are tough fantasy plays.\u00a0 Obviously, they lock up your roster moving ability by only being able to play the utility position.\u00a0 Nonetheless, if you\u2019ve been playing Hafner for the month of April you\u2019ve got to be loving life.\u00a0 Hafner has cranked 6 home runs and driven in 14 runs.\u00a0 Hafner has had some big years in the best but those days are far behind him.\u00a0 Playing in Yankee Stadium will help improve his home run numbers but he\u2019s still not playing every single day and most will agree that his numbers are going to subside.\u00a0 Leave him for someone else to grab.<\/p>\n

Marwin Gonzalez<\/a>, SS, HOU:\u00a0 <\/b>Gonzalez\u2019s biggest accomplishment of this year will probably be breaking up Yu Darvish\u2019s no hitter<\/a> in early April.\u00a0 Even though his single between Darvish\u2019s legs have gotten him the most ink, Gonzalez has been a solid offensive producer this year.\u00a0 He\u2019s hitting .300, something he\u2019s come close to doing in the minor leagues a couple times, so the potential is there.\u00a0 Gonzalez won\u2019t provide value to power metrics but he is a serviceable shortstop especially if you need help with BA.\u00a0 He\u2019s a good pickup if you\u2019ve got a shortstop with a low BA and no potential.<\/p>\n

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Check out other great articles at Fantasy Team Advice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fantasy Baseball free agent pools can be an incredible mystery.\u00a0 In standard 5\u00d75 mixed leagues the free agent pool is made up of players deemed not valuable enough to be on a roster.\u00a0 We\u2019re all familiar with the \u2018island of mis-fit toys\u2019 theory that has swept through baseball over the last decade, this theory isn\u2019t … Continue reading Fantasy Baseball and Vegas Odds Handicapping: Who to Pick Up<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-betting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linetrackers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}