Every Monday we'll take a look at the Fantasy Baseball gainers and decliners in our Fantasy Stockwatch.
This week's potential 'Buy Guys'
OF Adam Lind, TOR We are pretty sure he is not high on your priority list right now, but the Blue Jays' disappointing season has given them the chance to let hitters like Lind play full time. It has done him wonders. The player we considered the next Aubrey Huff (is that a good thing? sometimes) is hitting .367 in July with 15 RBI and nine runs in 49 at-bats. Notably, he is hitting a respectable .261 against left-handed pitching, including a homer. Consider him a sleeper to surprise in the second half, especially in AL-only leagues. He is the type of minor league slugger who just finally figures it out in the major leagues.
OF Alex Rios, TOR OK, we are buying low on some struggling Blue Jays this week. If you follow Fantasy Baseball content on this website in general and this writer in particular, you know we like buying into players who are entering their prime at age 27. Rios was our No. 1 in that category coming into the season only to fall flat on his face in the season's first two months. But, have faith. Rios quietly hit .320 in June and is hitting .319 in July with eight steals. The player we billed as a .300-30-100-100-30 candidate is on pace for just .284-8-70-86, but he will set a career high in steals (on pace for 40) and can have a huge second half. Remember his power display at last year's Home Run Derby? Yeah, the "next Dave Winfield" has some serious untapped power potential you could benefit from in the second haf.
SP Joe Blanton, PHI It can be hard to expect much from a struggling starting pitcher entering a second half where he will work have his games in one of the bandboxiest of bandboxes in Philly, but Blanton is a buy candidate with his trade. Sure, Blanton is hittable, but he can eat innings and the Phillies' streaky but still generally monsterous offense makes him a candidate to be a big winner in the second half. Heck, the Phillies make Jamie Moyer a winner every year. Moyer can't hold Blanton's jock in this writer's book. Pitchers on top contenders win. That's enough for anyone in most Fantasy leagues.
RP Jim Johnson, BAL You probably don't pay too much attention to mediocre pitching prospects who are converted to middle relievers on non-contending clubs, which is why we feel the need to introduce you to Mr. Johnson. He has gone from so-so starting prospect to long reliever to middle reliever to setup man with outstanding results this season, quietly becoming the closer-to-be on a team that made former situational lefty George Sherrill a Fantasy find and legit trade-deadline bait. When, not if, Sherrill is dealt, Johnson will close and have value in any league where you need a sleeper to close in the season's final two months. Johnson, though, figures to keep the job only until next spring, when Chris Ray figures to return from Tommy John surgery.
SS Troy Tulowitzki, COL Eight-one games can win the NL West. Remember when 'Tulo was the next big thing and the Rockies we sweeping their way to the World Series? Hopefully, you haven't forgotten. Now, you might be bitter by what 'Tulo did in the first half -- or didn't do for that matter -- but this second half is wide open for some serious payback. The Rockies are getting healthy and he figures to make the Rockies, trailing by just six games in the division, a threat again. He is far closer to the star you saw down the stretch last year than he is the scrub he showed the early months this season.
RP Billy Wagner, NYM Wagner might be fine, but if you know anything about sore shoulders, they don't suddenly heal. It is a long process. The worst part about minor shoulder strains is you can feel fine for the most part, but then they don't quite give you the extra bit you're used to going to on a moments notice. A Wagner with a 90 mph fastball is the equivalent of being Josh Hamilton's 71-year-old guest batting practice pitcher for the Home Run Derby -- meat. Wagner has made a career of blowing people away with hard stuff, so it won't be all that easy to try to trick people if he's not able to goose it back up to 96-plus.
2B Rickie Weeks, MIL We have to admit we adore Weeks' physical tools and five-category potential, but when push comes to shove in a pennant race, how much can they trust a free-swinging .216-hitter who is not even average defensively? The Brewers made a great trade adding the 3-0 CC Sabathia to their pitching staff, but that helps make the Brewers a team that relies on pitching and defense to win. Weeks doesn't fit into the defense part of that equation. Now, neither does recently acquired Ray Durham, but it signals the Brewers are prepared to impede the progress of Weeks to win now. Weeks will sit at least a few games a week, which makes him a much tougher guy to start in weekly Head-to-Head points leagues.
RP Jason Isringhausen, STL A repeat Goodbye Guy. The Cardinals won't be going away just because the Cubs added Rich Harden and the Brewers brought in Sabathia, but Izzy should go bye bye in Fantasy leagues. Izzy has been terrible and Ryan Franklin has proven to be more than capable of retaining the closer's role the rest of the season. Somehow, the closer Franklin is owned in just 48 percent of CBSSports.com's leagues, while the middle reliever Isringhausen has only dropped to 46 percent after Sunday's debacle. It is time to consider Izzy an ex-closer and cut him outside of deeper NL-only formats.
C Jorge Posada, NYY Too obvious here. Posada is toast. Remember what we said above about shoulder issues? You can play with them, but they don't let you be at your best. We placed Posada here to teach you a little hard lesson about catchers. They hit like pitchers and always tend to get drafted too early every spring. Catchers have to manage pitchers, running games, scouting reports and just about everything except get coffee for the manager. They have less time to focus on what makes a Fantasy player tick -- hitting. When you buy a catcher on Draft Day, you are buying a volatile stock. If you buying a 36-year-old catcher coming off a career year and a spiffy long-term deal, you are buying a stock certain to depreciate.
1B/OF Matt LaPorta, CLE A trade to Cleveland was great news for LaPorta's Fantasy owners, because he now won't have to contend with the presence of Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart blocking him at first, left and right field. In his way now -- only sort of, like a fence in the way of a Hamilton Home Run Derby shot (second reference to Hamilton, how old is that breakout? 27.) -- are Ryan Garko, Franklin Gutierrez, Shin-Soo Choo and Ben Francisco. Not exactly the likes of Fielder, Braun and Hart. The bad news is Team USA dragging the likes of LaPorta, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson away for a month. Now, it can make them American heroes and big-time September guys, but it is hard to wait another six weeks on call-ups at this point, especially if you are uncertain you will even care about anything but your Fantasy Football teams come Labor Day.
You can e-mail us your Fantasy Baseball Stockwatch questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Stockwatch in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.
