Dear Mr. Fantasy: Your DH needs to make sense

It's the equivalent of running barefoot or driving with the emergency brake on.

Why would you ever start a middle infielder or a catcher at designated hitter?

Yeah, it'll work. You might actually have some success with it. But you're limiting your maximum potential and doing something you might regret in the long run.

Why? If you're using a middle infielder or catcher in your DH slot, someone needs him more than you do. And if you just took the time to survey the landscape of your league, you'd realize you have a golden opportunity to improve your team.

I have a pretty deep infield with Justin Morneau and a soon-to-return Aramis Ramirez locked in at first base and third base. Then I have Jose Lopez, Casey McGehee, Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham for the remaining spots. Would you maybe DH one of them over, say, Alex Rios? -- Miles Aubrey

SW: You listed four guys who qualify at middle infield spots, Miles, and I generally don't like to start middle infielders at designated hitter just because it's such a waste of their value.

People more often need help in the middle infield than at first base or in the outfield, so they'll often trade better hitters at those stronger positions for weaker hitters at weaker positions. You don't have to care where a guy plays since you'll just stick him at DH, so you might as well shoot for the higher-scoring player at the stronger position. Try shopping those infielders and see what you get.

In the meantime, you have to make a decision between the five guys you have, and even then, I can't see why you'd want to start any of the infielders over Rios. He has the most points of the bunch, and he hasn't even gotten hot yet, batting .260 when he usually hits in the .290 range. I get the feeling he has a course correction coming in the second half, so I don't even really think you need to trade one of the middle infielders, but you might as well try.

Then again, I say all that as a guy who starts Ben Zobrist, an eligible middle infielder, in the outfield in one league. Hey, I've tested the market on him. No one wants to pay fair value, so I might as well keep reaping the rewards myself.

I'm in a 16-team Rotisserie non-keeper league and have grown tired of Matt Wieters' lack of production so far. I currently have Brian McCann as my catcher and Wieters as my designated hitter. I know there's no way Wieters could have ever lived up to the hype he received before the season, but so far he's been just plain bad. How long would you stick with him as a utility player before moving on to other choices like Casey McGehee? -- Dan Norman

SW: Here we go again. If starting a middle infielder at designated hitter is a bad decision, starting a catcher is borderline certifiable.

Catchers don't even belong in the same discussion as other hitters because no matter how well they hit, in all but a few exceptions, they sit once a week. And when you eliminate the exceptions -- Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer and Brandon Inge -- not a single catcher has 200 points in standard Head-to-Head scoring. You know how many hitters had at least 200 points through Thursday? Exactly 100. And that doesn't even include Alex Rodriguez, Joey Votto, Manny Ramirez or any other player who missed a significant period of time. Yup, starting a catcher at utility is the same as starting Marlon Byrd at utility -- and that's if you start the absolute best catcher.

Granted, you play in an exceptionally deep league -- one where someone might legitimately have Byrd starting at DH -- and Wieters has the potential to place fourth behind those three exceptions, putting him on equal terms with Byrd. But that's kind of the point. It all goes back to wasting Wieters' value as a catcher.

Someone in your league has to need a catcher. Wieters should fetch a pretty good offer on potential alone, and as you can see from the Byrd example, you don't need a big-name player to improve your standing at DH (not that I'd settle for Byrd, but you get the idea). Shoot, I might even go so far as to trade McCann if you couldn't get what you wanted for Wieters. McCann might snag you a high-end outfielder or first baseman, which would contribute more points just on at-bats alone. Even if you got only Carlos Pena for him -- and I think you could do better -- that's the difference between 275.5 points and 178.5. It's a no-brainer.

Of course, I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking Pena has more value than McCann. He doesn't. When assessing a player's value, you have to measure how he compares to the other players at his position, and McCann has a bigger advantage over other catchers than Pena has over other first basemen. But when you start a catcher at designated hitter, you're no longer comparing him to other catchers, but other hitters in general. In that scenario, his value to you is lower than his actual value, and that's just wasteful.

You don't need to resort to a player like McGehee if you've grown tired of Wieters at DH. Simply trade one of your catchers for someone much, much better.

Someone offered me Tim Lincecum, Dan Haren, Nick Markakis and Kelly Johnson for Zack Greinke, Yovani Gallardo, Andre Ethier, and Chase Utley. I have both Freddy Sanchez and Asdrubal Cabrera as backups. Is this a good deal? -- Mike Gottfried, Thiensville, Wis.

SW: Let's cut through all the trivial details and assess this trade as exactly what it is: Markakis and Johnson for Utley and Ethier.

I mean it. Lincecum, Haren, Greinke, Gallardo -- they're all top-10 pitchers and more or less equals in my eyes. I rank them Greinke, Lincecum, Haren and Gallardo, but exchanging two for two doesn't have any real bearing on this trade.

The hitters certainly do. As I say just about every week, you almost always want the side of the deal that lands the best player, and the best player here is clearly Utley. Markakis at least ranks as one of the best players at his position, but the dropoff from him to Ethier isn't nearly as big as the dropoff from Utley to Johnson, who just went on the DL and might not even have a job upon his return.

No way I'd make this trade. I understand you have decent backups at second base and could compensate for the loss of Utley well enough, but he's one of the few first-rounders actually performing up to his capabilities. You'd have to get several Markakis-like players to part with him, not just one.

I just traded Albert Pujols and Chase Utley for Matt Cain, Ryan Howard, Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon. I need the pitching help and play in a Head-to-Head league. I read your article about not giving up Albert Pujols unless someone overpays. Well, I gave up two top-five guys, but I still think I made out. What do you think? -- Pat Muth

SW: I could tell you what I'd think, but you'd probably never e-mail me again.

OK, I guess it's not that bad. At least you got another legitimate first-rounder in Howard, depending on how your scoring system works, and another top second baseman in Pedroia, who has the potential to finish right behind Utley with a big second half. Considering the arms you got, the trade's a fair one, and no league would have a valid excuse to overturn it.

I still wouldn't do it, though. You didn't just give up the best player in the deal, but the best two players -- one of them the best in all of Fantasy. And as I wrote last week, the gap between Pujols and the next-best player is so wide that any offer you get for him should be nothing short of overwhelming. The inclusion of Utley already prevents that.

But you still got a nice haul. You'll probably still have a good team. I just think you limited its upside. And if you really needed a pitcher, you could've found ways to get one without giving up two of the top five players in the game.

I play in a 10-team Head-to-Head league. Should I trade A.J. Burnett and John Danks for Manny Ramirez? This trade will not hurt my pitching because I have Josh Beckett, Ricky Nolasco, Ricky Romero, Wandy Rodriguez, Joe Saunders, Gavin Floyd, Aaron Cook and Tommy Hanson. -- Michael Tung, Rockville, Md.

SW: Hey, you already know where I stand here: I'll take the hitter. Oh look, you're also getting the best player in the deal in Ramirez. Looks like this proposal follows two of my guidelines for trading.

To be fair, I wouldn't always trade pitching for hitting, but you have a workable starting five in Beckett, Floyd, Nolasco, Rodriguez and Saunders. You can survive with them well enough, especially since you can work in Hanson, Romero and Cook during two-start weeks. If you have any shortcomings offensively, you should patch them up before you worry about your pitching.

And Ramirez should get back to playing at an elite level right away. People who say he'll be a different player now say so because they want him to fail. He cheated, and they want him to lose all significance because of it. It's a fair opinion, but not a particularly objective one, and you can take advantage of it with deals like this one.

I'm in a 10-team Head-to-Head league and can start three of the following four guys: Lance Berkman, Todd Helton, Jason Bartlett and Stephen Drew. Who should I sit? If Berkman still had outfield eligibility, this obviously wouldn't be a problem, but I finally sat him last week, and naturally, he caught fire and burned me! -- Dave Randolph, Cloverdale, Calif.

SW: Yeah, you can't do that, Dave. Unless you have several borderline waiver players, you have to stick with the same guys every week. Otherwise, you'll continually find yourself starting each player the week after he scores all his points. You're just chasing points all year and not actually earning any.

I wouldn't consider any of these four players borderline waiver players, but the choice to sit is clearly Drew. I like his potential and think he has a chance to finish as a top-five Fantasy shortstop with a big second half, but Bartlett's already there. Berkman's back to being a stud, meaning no one should sit him in any league at any time, and Helton's consistency makes him golden in Head-to-Head leagues even if his final stat line looks pretty ordinary.

I might suggest you try trading Drew, but I doubt you'd get much for him with his value the way it is right now. If Drew gets on a roll soon, I might try shopping Bartlett instead, but I'd want to feel secure with Drew before I went that route.

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