Cleaning out the Fantasy closet

I was going through the storage closet in my head and came across a number of things I've wanted to get out for a while now, but I just haven't had the time. Consider this a Fantasy piece for those with short attention spans.

Heralded Felix Pie might finally stick with the Cubbies. (AP)

Felix Pie was red hot earlier this month. Has he finally figured this game out? How many times have we heard the Corey Patterson comparison with him? He has been the promising prospect that just can't put it together in the majors. But after getting sent down in early May, he went on to post solid numbers in 20 games at Triple-A Iowa: .367, two homers, 18 RBI, 15 runs scored and four SBs. And once he returned to the Cubs in early June, he hit safely in seven straight games, boosting his average up 64 points to .288. Then he went 0-for-7 in his past two games. There's no doubt he's a talent, but he still strikes out way more than he walks. Rotisserie owners will benefit the most from his speed right now. He hasn't solved the game yet, but when you consider he's still only 22 years old, you'll agree that he has a chance to be something special sooner than later.

Have you noticed the new "Recent Trades" section on player profile pages? Pick a player, any player, then look in the bottom left of his page, under his comparisons to other players at his position. Then click on the "More trades" link to see all of the recent trades that this player was involved in. You'll see that each trade is categorized as a Rotisserie or Head-to-Head league trade and whether or not the trade happened in a pay league or one of SportsLine's free ones. (The reasoning there, right or wrong, is that people assume trades made in pay leagues are between two owners that are paying attention and without collusion. Some free leagues might even have one person owning multiple teams in the same league. If you are such an owner, please go play in heavy traffic.)

I don't want to hear about how the ending to The Sopranos was good because it leaves it up to your imagination to decide what Tony's future is. In my imagination, Tony Soprano never leaves The Bada-Bing Club ... ever. That's why I pay HBO each month, so they can fill my mind with endings to stories I've followed for a decade -- not a "To be continued" that never arrives. I think I'm going to go rip the last chapter out of every book I own now.

In Rotisserie leagues, some owners want to improve certain categories of their team, hoping to climb five or six points. Many look at the players that are struggling in batting average and they think, "I need to rid my team of this guy because he's dragging my team average down." But make sure the guys you trade are ones that usually have bad batting averages and aren't just guys that are off to a slow start. Look at their career averages opposite their current averages. Use your highly tuned baseball acumen to decipher if someone's current bad average likely won't improve much over the next four months (Jason Kendall, Khalil Greene or Melvin Mora), or if they have the potential to rebound over the second half (Michael Young, Julio Lugo or Ryan Zimmerman). Don't trade away a struggling batter whose career averages show that a rebound is imminent. Why give your opponent Young's second half, when he'll likely hit over .315, rather than keep it for yourself?

The second base position has received a huge boost in talent this season, with the strong surges from B.J. Upton, Kelly Johnson, Orlando Hudson, Aaron Hill, Ian Kinsler and even Brendan Harris. Some of these players might be up and down on the stats roller coaster, but for the most part, each of them are making this position a much deeper one than it once was. And look at Dan Uggla. He started the year slowly, hitting with plenty of power, but with just a .217 batting average in April. He now has 25 doubles in 64 games, setting him on pace for 64 doubles this year, which would match Joe "Ducky" Medwick for most ever. He had 13 doubles in May alone. I think we should all make a concerted effort to start calling him Dan "Ducky" Uggla.

Another new item on our site is our "Most Traded Players" list. Go to the top bar on your league pages, mouse-over "Stats," then click on "Roster Trends". On the top right side of the "Roster Trends" page, click on "Most Traded." This gives you an excellent idea of some players that more owners are growing tired of and are ready to move. The types of players on this list are intriguing. There are those players whose owners feel are no longer playing above their true value (J.J. Hardy and Daisuke Matsuzaka). Then there are players whose owners appear to have washed their hands with (Carlos Zambrano, Mariano Rivera and Vernon Wells). Also on this list are players traded because they are hot (Roger Clemens, Alfonso Soriano and Albert Pujols). And there are the players that some owners are betting will shake poor starts and explode (Johan Santana, Lance Berkman and Andruw Jones). Take a look at the top players on this page and find the owner in your league that has him. There's a good chance he is as ready to move him as these other owners. One way to get the trade to go through is to offer the owner a player that is also on this list. Remember that these players aren't just ones people want to get rid of, but obviously there's a market with people wanting them just as much.

Psssttt ... Not sure if you noticed or not, but we are currently in scoring period No. 11. Most Head-to-Head formats will be starting their playoffs around Week 23, which means we are basically at the halfway point of your regular season. It's time to assess your placement in the standings. If you are at the top of the standings, are you really a top team or do you just have a good record with a low points total? Mouse over the "Standings" and click on the "Power" link. That should give you a good idea where you stand, taking into account your record and points. Figure out if you need to make a trade to solidify your position. If you are in the middle of the pack, look at those who are your real competitors and those who are also decent, but not great. Try to make a trade with these owners specifically, so that your upswing could mean their downswing. Are you in a keeper league? If so, this might be the week to start trading your stars for stud youngsters -- or vice versa if you are in the running for a championship. Rotisserie owners still have a few more weeks before they hit the midway point.

My Top Five Under 25

These are the five players I consider the top performers that are still owned in 25 percent or less of CBS SportsLine leagues.

1. Melky Cabrera, OF, NYY (21 percent)
2. Brian Bannister, SP, KC (15)
3. Cha Seung Baek, SP, SEA (3)
4. Adam Lind, OF, TOR (15)
5. Elijah Dukes, OF, TB (25)

Bleacher banter

Brad Osborne, Kingston, Ontario: How much is Barry Bonds worth? I've been trying to trade him in my Head-to-Head league for the past two years, but no one will take him. My outfield consists of Carl Crawford, Juan Pierre and Magglio Ordonez with Bonds at DH. But I also have Chone Figgins, Reggie Willits and Willy Taveras. As you can see, I like speed. What value should I be expecting for him? Do you think I'm riding off into the sun with him?

D.G.: Well, Brad (if that is your real name), let's take a gander at our new-fangled "Most recent trades" tab on Mr. Sunshine's player profile page. I'm going to discard any NL-only deals, multi-player deals and any deals in Rotisserie leagues. That leaves us with straight-up trades for players like Roger Clemens, Jermaine Dye, Todd Jones, J.J. Hardy, J.D. Drew, Braden Looper and Delmon Young (and that's just the trades that have happened since June 11). Looking at that list of players should help you gauge interest.

A fitting ending

And whatever you do, make sure you run out and get the greatest prospect in baseball. He should be available in your league and he'll turn your team into a champion. His name is ...

... Don't Stop Believing ...

Feel free to send me a question or a comment. Here are a few that you can just clip and paste. "Are you insane?" ... "What are you thinking?" ... "You're an idiot -- but can you tell me if I should make this trade?" ... "I have a beautiful sister that likes Fantasy dorks, want her number?" ... Send your comments, hate mail, credit card numbers and beautiful sister's phone numbers to me by clicking on my Columnist page and sending a note through the feedback form.