Man(n)y Possible Replacements (Thu 5/7/09)
Thursday, May 7th, 2009Remember the circus event that took place just a couple of months ago when Scott Boras and the Los Angeles Dodgers staged one of the strangest negotiations in the history of free agency? That all seems like a distant memory now. The 50-game suspension of Manny Ramirez today for the use of a banned substance tore through the baseball world like a tornado, leaving many fantasy baseball team owners to pick up the pieces and wonder “what next?”.
If you’re unfortunate enough to play in a league that has no Bench or DL spots, you have little choice but to let Manny go or find another owner who’s willing to give you pennies on the dollar in a trade - you can’t afford two months of goose eggs from a roster spot if you hope to win your league’s championship this year.
If a Bench or DL spot is an option in your league, then your team’s situation isn’t nearly as dire. However, there’s still the matter of replacing Manny’s name in your lineup. It goes without saying that you won’t be able to come anywhere near replacing Manny’s production in your lineup unless you get lottery ticket lucky with a rookie call-up like Matt LaPorta or Nolan Reimold (I assume that they’re already taken if they’re eligible in your league).
If your league has a DH/Utility spot, and you’re fortunate enough to have an outfielder in that spot currently, then you’re also relatively fortunate in that you have the entire free agent hitter pool to consider for a Manny replacement. If not, then you’ll have to confine your search to the available pool of outfielders.
The following are ranked lists of outfielders who may be available in your league, depending of course on the type of league you play in (NL-only vs. Mixed) and your league’s particular roster requirements. Both sets of rankings assume the usual 5 hitting categories (HR, RBI, SB, R, AVG). These remainder-of-season rankings are taken from the Fantasy Baseball Sherpa In-season Updates. Since each player is given a maximum score of 1.00 in each of the categories, the maximum possible score is 5.00
Mixed League
- Josh Anderson (2.18)
- Ben Francisco (1.75)
- Aaron Rowand (1.72)
- Michael Cuddyer (1.56)
- Scott Hairston (1.51)
- Franklin Gutierrez (1.48)
- Ryan Church (1.45)
- Ken Griffey Jr (1.38)
- Juan Pierre (1.31)
- Juan Rivera (1.29)
- Gary Matthews Jr (1.27)
- Wladimir Balentien (1.23)
- Chris Dickerson (1.21)
- Brandon Moss (1.14)
- Eric Hinske (0.91)
- Omar Infante (0.82)
- Micah Hoffpauir (0.72)
- Austin Kearns (0.53)
- Lou Montanez (0.41)
- Laynce Nix (0.21)
- Xavier Paul (0.09)
NL-only (I’m assuming that Rowand, Hairston, Church, and Pierre would be unavailble in this format)
- Chris Dickerson (1.26)
- Brandon Moss (1.18)
- Eric Hinske (0.96)
- Omar Infante (0.83)
- Micah Hoffpauir (0.73)
- Austin Kearns (0.56)
- Laynce Nix (0.21)
- Xavier Paul (0.10)
Note that since the players’ scores in each of the five categories are based on their forecasted result in that category relative to the league leader’s (among eligible players), the scores will vary slightly between a mixed league and an NL-only league.
Category needs should also factor into your decision; just keep in mind that you’re trying to minimize the damage rather than find someone capable or replicating Manny’s stats (it’s highly unlikely such a person exists on your league’s waiver wire)!
Then again, if he’s a fan of irony maybe Dodgers’ GM Ned Colletti has Barry Bonds’ phone # . . . . . . nah . . .
The Sherpa