Pick-Up Lines: week of 8/4/05

by Brandon Wilson
August 4, 2005

Each week, we publish this article which highlights the players that are probably free agents in your league, but should be considered as pick-up targets. We try to offer some shallow league targets as well as some deep league targets so that different types of leagues will be covered. As always, feel free to e-mail questions to me and they will be addressed here or on the message boards.

Last week, Jon Papelbon was mentioned in this space and he made his debut just a couple of days later. Hopefully you had a chance to grab him for your team. Unfortunately, we also mentioned Curtis Granderson last week and he was sent back down to Triple-A. He will be back soon enough, but it looked like he might get a chance to stick around after a good start. Also mentioned here a couple of week’s ago was Jeff Francouer who is looking not only like an NL-Only play, but a Mixed League pick-up as well. Finally, you have to go back to June 2 when Felix Hernandez was listed as a buy in Extreme leagues. He is going to be recalled by Seattle later this week, and is at least a buy for AL-Only leagues and may be even better.

Shallow Leagues (Mixed Leagues)
Matt Holliday, OF, COL (.308, 9 HR, 35 RBI)
Holliday announced his presence with authority last week, hitting .435 with 4 HR and 8 RBI. After missing more than a month with a broken pinkie, he quietly returned until the Rockies were back at home in Coors Field. Before the injury he had hit only four home runs in 196 AB. Since coming back, he has five home runs in 54 AB. Beginning August 8th he will play 13 consecutive games in Colorado. He should find a spot in someone’s lineup.

Fernando Rodney, CL, DET (1-1, 2.21 ERA, 1.18 WHIP)
He is almost certainly gone by now in leagues that have daily pick-ups, but if you are fortunate enough to have a Thursday free agent deadline, Rodney is likely the best pick-up available. With the trade of Kyle Farnsworth to Atlanta, Rodney will be the closer in Detroit. His numbers have been good and he has the kind of dominance (more than 11 K/9) and command (5 K/BB) to succeed. Expect ten or so saves down the stretch.

Deep Leagues (AL or NL Only)
Rich Hill, SP, CHC (0-0, 3.78 ERA, 1.20 WHIP)
Hill was not rated by Baseball America among Chicago’s best ten prospects before the start of the season, but he was rated as having the best curveball in the organization. Coming into the season, the big question was whether he could continue to dominate hitters the way he had in A ball. He started the season at Double-A West Tenn, striking out 90 and walking 21 in 57.2 innings. After being promoted to Triple-A he continued his dominance, striking out 62 in 43.2 innings. At both levels he had a bit of a problem allowing home runs which led to a less than dominate ERA, so that is something to watch. So far he has allowed a manageable 2 home runs in 16.2 big league innings while striking out 18. After getting some relief appearances in late June, he was recalled to start a game at the end of July and looks like he could be in the rotation a while if the Kerry Wood to the bullpen experiment works.

Jason Bartlett, SS, MIN (.227, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 1 SB)
Bartlett broke camp with the big club to start the season, but struggled through the first month and was optioned back to Triple-A. At Rochester he had no problems, hitting .332 in 229 at bats and walking almost as often as he struck out (29/34 BB/K). He has nothing left to prove at Triple-A and often prospects come back even better after getting sent down (see Hank Blalock). He will probably bat at the bottom of the order and he does not offer much pop or speed, but if you need at bats in the middle infield he should get plenty and not hurt the average too much (expect .260-.270 over the remainder of the year). He could end up helping a teams average if he gets in a groove.

Extreme Leagues (Ultra Leagues)
Francisco Liriano, SP, MIN (currently with Triple-A Rochester)
Rated by Baseball America as baseball’s 18th best prospect in the July update, Liriano is 5-1 with a 1.83 ERA at Rochester since being promoted from Double-A in mid June. In 54 innings, he has struck out 60 and walked just 16. He was been bothered by elbow and shoulder problems in 2002 and 2003, but appears to be back from those injuries. Only 21 years old, he will be big league ready very soon and will definitely be in Minnesota for September if their slide continues. Liriano is reportedly the reason the Twins did not pull the trigger on a trade for Alfonso Soriano (the Rangers wanted Liriano, the Twins did not want to give him up) so they obviously have high hopes for him.

Stephen Drew, SS, ARZ (currently with Double-A Tennessee)
After torturing High-A pitchers (.389/.486/.738) for Lancaster, Drew was recently promoted to Tennessee. He had more walks than strikeouts in A ball and half of his 58 hits went for extra bases including ten home runs. He looks like the real deal and Baseball America rated him the 5th best prospect in baseball in their July update, commenting that his long holdout did not affect his skills. Even though he was drafted in 2004 he did not sign until just before the draft this year. He is obviously making up for lost time.

Brandon Wilson is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and can be reached by e-mail at brandon@athomeplate.com. You can read more of Brandon’s work at his website www.baseballmuse.com