Three Out - Trade Them Now

Last week the art of a blog that is Fantasy Baseball 365 and I teamed up on three players to target in a trade. This week we are going to the opposite field and telling you which three players to get rid of. Here are my three. You can find Charlie's three picks by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.


1. Jason Bartlett. His BABIP is .413. His K rate has increased slightly from last year. He only has 7 home runs. More than two-thirds of his plate appearances have come from the 7-9 spots in the batting order. I don’t want to confuse sell with drop because I think he will be worth owning the rest of the season even though this borderline MVP first half has come from nowhere. The guy can’t sustain what he’s doing now and his splits will be miles apart. I’ll take Alexei Ramirez over him any day.

2. Dan Haren. He would be the number one overall player in all of fantasy baseball with any luck as he only has 7 wins in 15 starts. Instead he has to settle for being in the top 5 in both ESPN and Yahoo leagues. Haren is good, but not that good. The numbers are dying for him to have a regression. His BABIP is 60 points less than his career average so far this season. Over the course of his career, his ERA after the all-star break is almost a run higher than before and his batting average against is 50 points worse after the summer classic. Speaking of the all-star game, Haren has an excellent shot to start it this year. He did that once before in 2007 when he had a 2.30 ERA and 1.00 WHIP going in. After the break those numbers rose to 4.15 and 1.50. If someone offered me Tim Lincecum for Haren straight up I’d rejoice.

3. Prince Fielder. This is the Scott Rolen Theory. Rolen had 80 RBI at recess (did I just quote Stuart Scott?) during the 2004 season which put him on a pace for 150, but he finished with 120. Guys leading the pack in RBI are more vulnerable than players leading in other stats since so much is out of their control. The same argument can be made for Jason Bay here, but I chose Prince because I hate the Brewers lineup. J.J. Hardy, Corey Hart, and Mike Cameron are much too inconsistent. Again this isn’t suggesting that Prince is going to fall over, but he won’t match his production in the second half because of the Rolen Theory. I would gladly take Mark Teixeira or Ryan Howard over the Prince.

Here is what Charlie thinks...

Torii Hunter – A lot can come with a name brand. Hunter’s charisma and highlight reel catches make him a household name. That makes no difference when it comes to fantasy baseball. What it does do is help to boost his perceived value. Hunter’s .306, 17 HR, 12 SB line is very front-loaded. 8 of his homeruns came in April when his flyball rate was over 50%. That rate has fallen back down to his career standards and so too has the AB/HR rate. 9 of his 12 steals came in May and his AVG has gone from .325 in April to .304 in May and .289 in June. His strikeouts also continue to rise per month. Read the rest here