2010 Keepers: Catcher

Paging Matt Wieters, paging Matt Witers...

If there ever was a thin position in a keeper league, the 2010 catcher crop is it.

Which is where Wieters becomes very much an enigma. So much promise, yet so much disappointment until the middle of September hit.

Wieters ripped off 4 HR and 16 RBI in the final 19 games, including five games with three hits.

Significant? Perhaps.

Wieters was hitting .239 on July 18, but finished with a strong .288 average.

I've got him as a definite maybe, but if you have a man crush, then go ahead and retain his services.

Definite Keepers
Joe Mauer
Victor Martinez

Definitely Maybe
Brian McCann
Jorge Posada
Matt Wieters

Only in Deeper Leagues
Benji Molina
Kurt Suzuki

2010 Keepers: 3B

Two thrilling walkoff HRs in one night? 

You can't beat playoff time. 

Unless your favorite team and fantasy both tanked and have moved quickly onto football.

But let's stop for a second and talk about third. As in the hot corner.

Who do you keep and who do you throw back? It's fairly straightforward as we look forward to the 2010 draft.

Definite Keepers (10 team, 6 keeper league)

Miguel Cabrera

Mark Reynolds

Alex Rodriguez

Evan Longoria

Ryan Zimmerman

David Wright

Kevin Youkilis

Definitely Maybe

Chone Figgins

Pablo Sandoval

Only in deeper leagues

Michael Young

Commentary: Chipper Jones, Mike Lowell and Scott Rolen, you are honorably dismissed from the third base keeper discussion. You all served this position well, but age and injury have caught up to you and you're no longer keepable. Keeper is largely based on youth and projection of stats, not what you've done for me lately -- or two years ago. There will likely be little argument with anyone on this list. Each definite keeper finished in the top 40 of Yahoo's ranking this year with the exceptions of ARod and Wright, who both missed time. Wright could be moved to the maybe list, if you honestly believe his power has been zapped, but I don't think that's the case. A return to 25 HR is likely and I wouldn't be surprised if they moved the fences in at Citi. Young, if he was 5 years younger, would be definite material, but he's not, so he's not. Figgins and Sandoval are both tough calls. Consult your roster for final verdict. If you have no other speed, go ahead and retain Figgy's services. Sandoval just turned 23, folks, making him a very tough call and I would definitely keep him in 12-team or greater formats. The hot corner is just not that deep.

 

2010 Keepers: SS

For all you disgruntled Jose Reyes owners out there, take a deep breath.

Sure, you were burnt by a Top 5 pick this season. Reyes' hamstring issues probably kept you from contending all year, but if you're in a keeper league, do you still hang onto Mr. Excitement?

How could you not?

OK, there's the feat that he won't fully recover, but he's only having surgery to remove the scar tissue, not to repair the September tear, which tells me it's not as bad as some of his early-career hamstring woes.

Anyone with 70-SB, 15-HR potential has to be given a longer leash, even if he only had 147 at-bats this year.

My advice would be try to find the Reyes owner in your league right now and make a low-ball offer while his 2010 outlook is still somewhat murky. He may be thinking of throwing him back in the pot next year anyway.

As far as the rest of the SS position, it's pretty much slim pickens out there. Here's how I see it.

Definite Keepers

Hanley Ramirez

Troy Tulowitzki

Derek Jeter

Jimmy Rollins

Jose Reyes

Definite Maybe

Jason Bartlett

Michael Young

Only in deeper leagues

Yunel Escobar

Alexei Ramirez

Commentary: Outside of Reyes, Bartlett is probably the toughest call here. I would like to see more than one pretty good year to elevate him into "Definite" status. If you drafted him this year, you probably rode his 30 SB and .320 average to a high finish and may want to reward him. I have no prob with that. The average may be a one-time deal (career .298 hitter in the minors), and there's not a lot supporting his 14 HR this year, but the speed is for real. Rollins finished as a top-80 player after one of the worst starts in MLB history (17/14, .272 after the break), but I would understand if you lost faith in his elite status. Escobar reminds me of someone who's on the cusp of breaking out, but I'd still be surprised if it happened. I don't think we know what we have with Alexei, another big disappointment this year. Tons of raw talent, which makes you at least stop and think before sending his services back.

2010 Keepers: 2B

Remember when this position used to be Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler and everyone else?

Those days are over.

Sure, Utley still is proably the king of second, but the gap is getting very, very thin with the emergence of Aaron Hill and Ben Zobrist.

So let's get down to brass tax.

Definite Keepers (based on 6 keepers in 10-team league):

Chase Utley

Ian Kinsler

Aaron Hill

Ben Zobrist

Definitely Maybe

Chone Figgins

Robinson Cano

Brian Roberts

Brandon Phillips

Only in deeper leagues

Jose Lopez

Dan Uggla

Chris Coughlan

Ian Stewart


Commentary: If there's anything to take away from this year, it's that the second base position is deeper than ever. Ideally, you grab one of the top 8, as there's a bit of a dropoff after Phillips, but even then, an improving Lopez or power-heavy Uggla isn't exactly a door-prize juicer. The real question is do you believe the hype with Hill and Zobrist? Hill has been primed for a breakout, but 36 HR? That's borderline ridiculous. But still, the runs, RBIs with a modest average is hard to ignore. And Zobrist, coming out of nowhere with a 27/17 season, has earned a spot as an everyday player in Tampa, so much so that there's rumors of the Rays dealing the disappointing B. J. Upton this offseason. Figgins, Cano, Phillips and Roberts all had nice rebounding seasons, but let the rest of your roster determine whether or not to bring back their services. Remember, in terms of depth, second base is the new first base

2010 Keepers: 1B

With your season officially in the rear-view mirror and the MLB playoffs to look forward to, there's only one thing left to discuss:

How did this year's fantasy season go so bad...

No. It doesn't do any good to wallow in the past. Time to look forward. 

Time to take an early look at next year, specifically those in keeper leagues.

Let's start at 1B and work our way around the diamond.

Definite Keepers (10 team, 6 keeper league):

Albert Pujols

Prince Fielder

Ryan Howard

Mark Teixeira

Miguel Cabrera

Adrian Gonzalez

Kevin Youkilis

Victor Martinez

Kendry Morales

Borderline

Derek Lee

Carlos Pena

Adam Dunn

Pablo Sandoval

Joey Votto

Michael Cuddyer

Only in deep leagues

Lance Berkman

Billy Butler

Jose Lopez

Commentary: Morales a keeper?  Really, the only difference between him and Cabrera this year was 20 batting average points. Sure, Morales has only one full year of a track record, but he's still relatively young (26) and hits in a top 5 lineup. He'll be gone by the third round next year. Derek Lee not a lock? You have to look at his past 3 years and even with 35 HR this season, he's only averaging 25 a season. Plus he just turned 34. Adam Dunn's .267 average is a bonus, but he probably won't repeat that, knocking him down a notch. Same with Carlos Pena (.227), who tied for the AL home run lead (39)  despite missing the final month. Both those guys drag your average down too much to be considered locks.  And what happened to Lance Berkman? He'll be 34 this offseason and not only does the HRs trend downward, but he quit running (7 SB compared to 18 in 2008). This position will be way too deep in '10. Billy Butler, the man who hits everything, is showing real signs of life, but I'd like to see him take just one more step. And Mark Reynolds? Well, he won't qualify at 1B, or else the answer would be without hesitation, yes.

Thoughts?

Has Morales reached keeper status?

If you saw this coming, raise your hand.

Very few even drafted Angels 1B Kendry Morales, and those that did, like in our 10-team Observer league, dropped him after a slow start.

He was picked up, dropped, picked up. I've traded him away and back twice.

But after Friday night's 5-for-5, 2 HR, 6-RBI, I think it's as clear as it is that the Cubs are out of the playoff chase that Morales is a 2010 keeper.

I'll explain on the other side of this video (Kendry's 2nd HR on Friday):




Entering 2009, Morales had 12 HR in 377 at-bats. So far, he's belted 30 HR in 454 ABs.

Surprising? Hardly.

Anyone who's followed Morales' power-filled minor league career knew that he brought 30-HR and 130-RBI power (over 162 games). Those numbers don't always convey, but often times they need no translator.

What's separating Morales from a lot of other power guys is he's hitting .311 this year. With 94 RBI already, we're looking at a likely 36-HR, 115-RBI season with plus-.300 average.

That's nearly Miguel Cabrera-esque.

Morales is a career .337 minor league hitter, so a dropoff to the .270 range in future years seems as unlikely as Scott Kazmir regaining his 2007/2008 form and playing up to the $21 million the Angels will owe him after picking him up for prospects. (Kazmir does start his first game with the Angels on Wednesday and could be a little better with a change of scenery).

Back to the keeper question. Sure, 1B is a deep position. I still wouldn't rank Morales ahead of the big 7 (Pujols, Reynolds, Fielder, Howard, Cabrera, Teixeira, Morneau), but I think he's every bit as valuable as Youkilis, Gonzalez, Dunn, Pena, Lee or Martinez.

Morales is still young (just turned 26 in June) and could be a 40/120/.310 guy for years to come in what should be a potent Angels lineup for the foreseeable future.

Rarely does one night in baseball elevate a guy into the keeper ranks, but in this case, i'll take a front-row seat on the Morales bandwagon.

Tips on finishing the year, and one great catch

Welcome to the grind. Six weeks left in the season and you may find yourself toiling in the middle of the pack.

But now is not the time to pack it in. The guy one or two spots ahead of you might be turning his attention to football. How easy to look forward to a fresh start.

You, however, must stay hungry.

Just like the Cubs freshly called-up outfielder Sam Fuld, who was handed one start by coach Lou Piniella and he's playing so well, Piniella keeps sitting slumping Alfonso Soriano.

He's hungry. He wants it. Maximum effort. Hustling on the base paths. Battling each pitch at the plate.

And then there was this catch yesterday, one of the gutsiest plays of the season, risking his face just to catch a ball.





Let me give you three practical tips as we hit the home stretch.

1). Manage categories. This may seem like fantasy 101, but if you are so far out of it in power stats, don't keep picking up Hideki Matsui, trying to squeeze a few more HR and RBI when you can't realistically catch the next guy. If you can catch a handful of guys in speed, go grab the Rangers fleet-footed Julio Borbon.

2). Keep inventory on playing time. If you have borderline guys who are on teams that are out of the playoff race, it might be time to chuck 'em back into the waiver pile. Think the A's will keep giving Jack Cust at-bats, when they have all those young outfielders they'd like to take a look at? If you're still hoping Mike Jacobs gives you that late power, think again. The Royals likely have seen all they need of Jacobs and will be giving other prospects a cup of coffee. Likewise, if a team clinches a playoff spot, playing time might also become scarce (i.e. don't be afraid to sit Manny that final week if the Dodgers clinch).

3). Visit the stream room. It's not the most popular way to finish out a season, but you may be in a situation to start streaming starting pitchers, if the gains in Ks and Ws are greater than what you can (and will) lose in ERA/WHIP. Look at those specific categories right now and it might be time to use one or two of your SP spots as a revolving door. Take a look at the best options for the next day's pitchers and roll the dice on the best matchup. This doesn't always work, but it's a lot funner trying and failing than doing nothing. After all, half the fun of playing fantasy is having fun. So finish the year by having fun.