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Thursday, March 28, 2024

I make notes each week of the season about players who might be worth an add in various leagues and of course for my injured players. But, we should also look back a little to see if there are any nuggets in free agent drops and player usage.

I find it amusing that with all the teams looking for saves and dealing with closers who are having more injury days off this year than in previous years, that at the same time there are so many “yesterday closers” or “closers in waiting” that get dropped.

In the Tout mixed draft league (whose FAAB results you can see in all leagues like all LABR leagues each Monday) drops this week were Jose Valverde, Edward Mujica and Josh Fields.

And, while some add/drops in that league are a function of the league rules, those drops were duplicated in my 12-team Rotowire Online Championship league, as both Valverde and Mujica as well as Alexi Ogando were dropped on Sunday.

In several of those leagues, there are good pickups made, but in reality they are a week behind AL or NL keeper leagues. Certainly, the depth in mono leagues is a good reason for that, but there are some players whose role should have suggested the earlier pickup. My favorite pickup on Sunday, April 13 was Kevin Kouzmanoff, who was activated by the Texas Rangers when they placed Adrian Beltre on the DL. Kouzmanoff, who hadn’t been fantasy or major league relevant since 2011, did have a great spring for Texas but there really wasn’t a spot for him on the opening day roster. But, given he would play almost every day last week and most of this week at third base for the Rangers, he was a great, relatively cheap pickup last week.

Many mixed leaguers with a soft CI or UTIL spot made the addition this week, so at least they will get four-plus days of Kouzmanoff in the Rangers' lineup (assuming Beltre is activated when eligible on Friday). But I think those who needed the bat and eschewed the pickup this week with Beltre coming back were shortsighted for the second week in a row. Kouz hit so well last week and on Monday that it seems to me highly likely the Rangers will keep him up so they can spell Beltre a few days and let him DH or when Beltre is at third base, Kouzmanoff would be a great platoon partner for Mitch Moreland at DH.

One drop that I saw in several mixed leagues confused me. Alberto Callaspo entered the season with both 2B and 3B eligibility. True, he was not a “starter” for Oakland at either position, but the A's do have a propensity to get at-bats for their bench players, and Callaspo’s value on a platoon-oriented team is enhanced by his ability to hit from both sides of the plate. If you think those points are exaggerated, then look at the fact that as of Monday he has had 60 at-bats and played in 14 of Oakland’s 18 games, hitting .300 with two home runs and ten RBI. That would rank him 18th as a mixed league second baseman and 15th as a mixed league third baseman (to say nothing of filling MI and CI spots). Sexy? No. But very effective and very undervalued. {jcomments off}