While you are having boxscore withdrawal during the All-Star break, you should spend a few minutes considering some players who could be players worth adding/activating for the second half of the 2010 fantasy season.
There is some risk with most of these players – obviously they didn’t play much if at all during the first half. So can they really help you and what should you realistically expect from:
Carlos Beltran, OF, NY Mets
Edinson Volquez, SP, Cincinnati
Erik Bedard, SP, Seattle
Brian Roberts, 2B, Baltimore
Brandon Webb, SP, Arizona
The availability of these players in your leagues will vary – in some they may be owned and be trade targets, while in others several may be free agents if they weren’t drafted or were subsequently dropped. If you drafted these players you have different options depending on whether you are contending or looking at rebuilding.
One word of caution – you will see some playing time projections for some or all of these players, but remember most of that is grasping for straws because even if we know they are (supposedly) playing right away, we don’t know how much they will be able to play or for sure if they can avoid a recurrence or secondary injury.
Carlos Beltran –Will be in the Mets lineup immediately after the All-Star break, playing CF and batting fourth. Beltran is coming off knee surgery and will be wearing a leg brace. While he says that it doesn’t bother him when he is running he will still have to deal with it. With the brace and some continued pain in his leg, I don’t see the stolen bases we remember as likely being a part of his game this year. Assuming Beltran gets 150+ at bats (he has already said he doesn’t expect to be playing in every game), I would expect 6-8 HR and 20+ RBI with a BA of .280+, but again while he might have a stolen base or two you shouldn’t be counting on that.
Edinson Volquez – He is expected to be in the Reds rotation, if not immediately after the break, certainly by next week. Volquez was very impressive in his rehab outings – a .196 ERA in AAA action and in his last game gave up only one hit and three walks in seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Don’t expect starts like that at the major league level, but he should be an effective starter if he can stay in the rotation for the balance of the year and the Reds are winning more games this year and should be in the division race all year.
Erik Bedard was supposed to be back in the Mariners rotation after several very successful rehab outings, but had more discomfort in the shoulder and was shut down again. He is not expected to throw a bullpen until the end of this week at the earliest and then if he can continue will be sent out for at least one more rehab outing. Since the Mariners are more concerned with next year their only interest in having him pitch at the big league level would be to trade him to an interested team.
Brian Roberts began playing in rehab games with the Gulf Coast League (rookie) Orioles and may move up to AA Bowie next week which would if successful put him on a pace to rejoin the Orioles by the beginning of August.
Brandon Webb has thrown some bullpen sessions and been happy with the progress. The Diamondbacks are aiming to get him started with some rehab after the break and hope he can possibly return in August.
Realistically, Beltran and Volquez should help their fantasy owners the most. Roberts will be right behind. Bedard and Webb are less likely to furnish quality innings this year.
If you own Beltran, Volquez, or Roberts and are in contention you can likely get some contribution from them if you have a weak spot at their positions. If you are good there or want to reduce the risk, you might consider trading them to a rebuilding team for help in a different category/position.
If you are looking at acquiring any of them to play for your team next year, at least acknowledge the inherited risk, but the play may well be rewarded especially IMO in the case of Volquez and Roberts and to a lesser degree Beltran.