Fantasy Triple Play: Talkin' Prince and A-Rod
Each week three of our resident Fantasy writers will answer three pertinent questions that all owners should be asking themselves. Feel free to submit your own questions for this feature and we'll tackle them in this space.
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| At what point do you decide to trade Prince Fielder and what can you expect to get in return? | Do you think it's only a matter of time before Eddie Guardado starts saving games full-time for Texas? | Now that he's missed significant time, project out Alex Rodriguez's numbers for the remainder of 2008. | |
 Sergio Gonzalez | I wouldn't look to trade him. You've toughed it out this long, so why move him to let somebody else get the benefit of all the catching up he has to do? The 24-year-old has been a .275 hitter throughout his brief career and should wind up around there by the end of the season. You didn't draft him for his batting average, though. You want homers, and they are coming. He hit 50 in 2007 and 28 in his first full season in the majors back in 2006, so you should expect him to fall somewhere in between. As with most sluggers, he should heat up over the summer months. He's not some old washed up slugger, just a young hitter going through some growing pains. | Guardado means saved in Spanish, so it is only natural that he'd be a closer. He pitched an effortless ninth inning Wednesday just one day after C.J. Wilson got roughed up. However, manager Ron Washington doesn't appear to be in a rush to pull Wilson out of the closer role despite his struggles. Let's not forget that Guardado himself has an inflated ERA of 5.40, which is identical to Wilson's. It's more likely that the Rangers go to a closer-by-committee approach with Wilson, Guardado and Joaquin Benoit than just hand over the job to Not-so-Everyday-anymore Eddie. | So 54 homers and 156 RBI are out of the question? Probably. Considering that A-Rod had 14 homers and 34 RBI in the month of April alone in 2007 on pace to those gaudy AL MVP numbers and here we are in the middle of May with him having just four homers and 11 RBI, it's a good bet he falls about a month's worth of production short of what he did last season. So let's subtract those 14 homers and 34 RBI. What do we get? How about 40 homers and 122 RBI? Add to that a .300 batting average, since he is a career .306 hitter after all, and a slugging percentage around .500 with an on-base percentage that should get over .375 over the summer. Where he will suffer most the rest of the season, though, will be in the steals category. The Yankees will play it cautious with him on the bases considering the quadriceps injury that currently has him on the disabled list. |
 Eric Mack | Trading your first-round pick at this point can only cause pain and anguish. You will be selling low on a slugger who is not injured and is merely off to a slow start. We saw Ryan Braun breakout in the past week and Fielder shouldn't be far behind as the weather heats up. With all this said, if you can turn a Fielder into a Albert Pujols in a Head-to-Head league or even a Jose Reyes in a Rotisserie league, go for it. Don't trade Fielder short of first-round value. | Guardado is as likely to need another DL stint as he is becoming the Rangers' primary closer. Outside of AL-only leagues, why do we care if Guardado is the closer anyway? He is not going to be anything more than a stopgap option if he is. A 37-year-old trying to recover from Tommy John surgery and pitching for an anticipated non-contender is not someone you should trust or be counting on. A sleeper, sure, but there are better, younger arms to take fliers on outside of deeper AL-only leagues. | A-Rod is currently on pace for a .286 average, 15 homers, 43 RBI, 55 runs and three steals -- a far cry from his contract-year output of .314-54-156-143-24 in the best year of his career. You had to figure a falloff after getting paid, right? Now that he figures to be out about a three-week period -- like Albert Pujols in 2006 -- let's figure A-Rod for a final stat line of .285-35-120-110-10. That means in the final 20-plus weeks of the season he will tally .285-31-109-96-9. He is completely capable of that. The streaky slugger is capable of anything as he showed in stretches of 2007. |
 David Gonos | With a first- or second-round type like Fielder, you have to consider why you drafted him. Was it because he was growing into a player expected to produce like a first rounder, or has he already proven that he can play like a first rounder. We saw what Fielder can do when things are going well last season, so we know he's capable of it. Hold onto him into midseason at this point. Selling low early is rarely a good move. | With C.J. Wilson getting knocked around a couple games in a row -- and the status closers being shaky all across the majors -- it's certainly conceivable that Steady Eddie will see more save chances this season. Unfortunately, it’s with the Rangers, who don't get many wins, and he's still 37-years-old with elbow surgery not too long ago. Pick him up if you own Wilson, but don't go trading for him if he ends up with the job. | A-Rod had a sorry April even before his injury, but the same can be said for most of the Yankees. A-Rod is returning to a team that is finally getting solid production from Robinson Cano, and Derek Jeter is back to his plus-.300 hitting ways. It’s more than reasonable to expect A-Rod to connect for another 30 homers, 85 RBI and 80 runs scored in the final four months of the season (looking at his averages over the past three seasons in those months). That would end his year with a batting line of around .290-35-100-95, which is pretty good considering he’ll have missed most of May. |
You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to dmfantasybaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Triple Play in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state.
