Fantasy Baseball Underachievers: Time to Cut Ties with Pablo Sandoval?

Aug/10

Fantasy Baseball Underachievers: Time to Cut Ties with Pablo Sandoval?

Still holding on to Chone Figgins or Aaron Hill? Fantasy baseball owners may want to consider cutting ties with these big name underachieving players. You will be shocked at these comparisons.

Check out these numbers and ask yourself whether you would like to add this player if he was available on the waiver wire in your league: .264/.325/.382 with 45 R, 42 RBI, and two SB.

The correct answer is no; leave Pablo Sandoval on the wire.

However, it is unlikely that you will be faced with such a situation, as Sandoval is owned in a stupefying 95.4 percent of leagues (ESPN). Fantasy owners always hold on too long because it hurts to let go of an early draft pick or a big name, but sometimes it is best to cut the cord.

So, here are a few guys whom it is time to give up on, and the guys you should replace them with.

Percentages are taken from ESPN.

Billy Butler, Kansas City Royals, 100 percent owned

Relax—you do not have to run to your computer and drop Butler, but you have to know that his value is based more on where he was drafted than on his actual performance.

Obviously, his .312 batting average is excellent (14th among big leaguers with at least 250 ABs), but his power numbers are pedestrian for a first baseman (29 players who qualify at first have more homers than Butler’s 10), and his counting numbers are just average (50 R, 51 RBI).

The point here is that Butler is easily replaceable, especially since he plays at one of the deepest (if not the deepest) offensive positions in the game. So, if he is not droppable, what should you do with him? Use his draft position value to upgrade through a trade.

You might be able to simply do a one-for-one swap of first basemen for a guy who was drafted lower but is outperforming Butler (i.e. Paul Konerko or Aubrey Huff), or you could package Butler and a No. 3 or 4 fantasy starter and try to land an ace for your rotation (see how I ranked the starters for the rest of the season here.)

If you can pull off a two-for-one trade, you can fill your first base slot with…

Gaby Sanchez, Florida Marlins, 52.8 percent owned

	Billy Butler	Gaby Sanchez
Batting Average	.312	.292
Runs/RBI	50/51	49/49
HR/SB	10/0	12/4

Not that you need me to tell you because you can see the chart for yourself, but Sanchez has been every bit as good as Butler this year.

Nothing in Sanchez’s peripheral stats indicates he is due for a significant regression either. His BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) is slightly higher than the average at .323 but is not a significant concern, and his plate discipline is average to above average. According to FanGraphs, Sanchez only strikes out 16.7 percent of the time (sixth best among qualifying first basemen) and has a contact rate of 84.4 percent.

Another option to replace Butler if you need power:

Ike Davis (27.2 percent owned): .247, 50 R, 15 HR, 52 RBI, 1 SB

Other guys I would drop for Sanchez or Davis: the previously mentioned Pablo Sandoval (unless you’re using him at 3B) and Derrek Lee (93.6 percent owned).

Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves, 100 percent owned

Again, you do not have to drop Heyward, but you should not be afraid to do so if there are better options available in your league. Sure, Heyward has tons of talent, and someday he will most likely be an elite player, but the rookie is way overvalued simply because of his name.

His 11 homers and eight steals along with a slash line of .274/.386/.459 are good (especially that .386 OBP thanks to a 13.7 percent walk rate), but he has been at best only a top-40 outfielder so far. With a BABIP of .335 and a strikeout rate of 25.5 percent, it is hard to see Heyward improving significantly this season.

So, like Butler, you might be able to swap Heyward straight up for a better outfielder with less name value (i.e. Angel Pagan, Andres Torres, Hunter Pence), or if you can pull off a two-for-one trade, you can fill your vacant outfield spot with…

Luke Scott, Baltimore Orioles, 62.1 percent owned

Scott is a legitimate power hitter. Again according to FanGraphs, he is hitting a home run every 16 at-bats, and he is tied for seventh in the league with a .268 ISO (Isolated Power measures a hitter’s raw power based on his ability to get extra-base hits). If he continues to hit within 10 points of his current .279 average, Scott could easily be a top-30 outfielder the rest of the way.

Other options to fill a vacant outfield spot:

Tyler Colvin (25.0 percent owned): hitting .268 with 16 HR and a higher ISO than Scott (.280)

If you need speed, Jose Tabata (19.8 percent owned): hitting .294 with 10 steals since he was called up on June 9.

Other guys I would drop for Scott: B.J. Upton (98.2 percent owned), Adam Jones (93.1 percent owned), Nick Markakis (95.1 percent owned), Johnny Damon (87.4 percent owned), and Carlos Lee (89.9 percent owned).

Written by Brett Talley exclusively for thefantasyfix.com. Brett is a law student who is beyond depressed that summer is almost over. You can follow him on Twitter @therealTAL.