Blogs

Eric Cunningham

Platoon Battles

July 1, 2009 11:14am CDT

Throughout the fantasy baseball season, some of the most aggravating players can be those stuck in position battles with teammates. How each owner navigates these situations can determine just how successful their fantasy team will be, especially in deeper leagues. Here, the goal will be to dissect a handful of fantasy-relevant position battles each week as an aid. While this article may be geared more towards deeper leagues there should be something here that leagues of all shapes and sizes can take away.

Milwaukee Brewers - Second Base/Third Base

The Candidates

Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Casey McGehee 114 20 5 21 0 .325 .388 .544 .931
Craig Counsell 185 29 2 14 1 .297 .364 .427 .791
Bill Hall 182 18 5 18 1 .203 .263 .341 .603
Mat Gamel 89 7 2 12 1 .236 .340 .382 .722

After the Rickie Weeks injury we looked at this exact same rotation, but there has been a dramatic shift since the arrival of Casey McGehee. The 26-year-old infielder decided that he could play in Milwaukee. Despite being on the roster all season, McGehee never got much playing time evidenced by is 18 at-bats before May 20. However, that fateful day, McGehee changed his game and started producing. Since then he has batted .312 with 15 extra base hits including five home runs.

Craig Counsell has still maintained his plate appearances despite adding a fourth member to an already crowded rotation. In the month of June he was only able to bat .257 through 74 at-bats. It doesn't help that his power and speed supplies are well below the amount you would want from a fantasy baseball player as well.

The two men that have been platooning at third base for the better part of the season, Mat Gamel and Bill Hall, haven't been much better. Gamel was projected as a strong bat that wasn't expected to see much of a dip in production once he took to the majors. Even a few weeks ago, we were projecting that he was a nice buy-low candidate. Unfortunately, his struggles have continued. He only hit one home run in June and has only one hit in his last six games. The veteran Hall is barely worth talking about after batting below the Mendoza line this month.

The Forecast

There is a reason that Hall and Gamel have been stuck in a platoon: neither one of them is very good at all. At this point, the only one that is worth owning in any format is McGehee. How long his hot streak will last no one knows, but in his last 11 games he has registered at least one hit in nine of them and smacked four of his five home runs. All formats should have this guy rostered if only to ride out the hot streak.

Toronto Blue Jays - First Base

The Candidates
Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Kevin Millar 140 19 4 21 0 .243 .316 .379 .695
Lyle Overbay 193 26 9 41 0 .264 .388 .497 .886

How much you want to believe in the Blue Jays legitimacy is up to you, but what can't be denied right now is that they have quite a few fantasy friendly players. While guys like Aaron Hill and Marco Scutaro are getting a lot of publicity you shouldn't overlook the platoon taking place at first base.

In 2006, Lyle Overbay put together a .312-22-92 stat line that sent fantasy forecasters into a frenzy thinking that he would only improve on those totals. Well, that never really happened, but he's not a complete dud either. Overbay struggles against lefties and Kevin Millar has really helped him shoulder the load. Of the nine home runs he has hit, eight have come against right-handed pitchers.

Millar has had a tough time latching on with a team since leaving the Boston Red Sox after the 2005 season. This year he is having a strong season against southpaws by posting a .306 batting average against them. His power stroke hasn't really caught on yet, but he's always had a better power output in the second half. In fact, his 11 home runs from 2006-2008 in the month of July are a monthly best for him.

The Forecast

While Millar has some nice value to Toronto by keeping Overbay fresh and giving the team a bat to play in either situation, his value to fantasy baseball owners is not much. If you want to take a risk on him, this will be the time to do it since his July numbers since 2006 are superior to any other month. That being said, Overbay is still a nice first base option in deeper leagues or leagues that play a corner infield slot.

San Francisco Giants - First Base

The Candidates
Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Travis Ishikawa 151 22 5 25 1 .258 .323 .411 .734
Rich Aurilia 95 7 1 13 0 .211 .267 .263 .530

Ishikawa's bat is finally beginning to make some noise.
This update is more about Travis Ishikawa than it is about Rich Aurilia. While Aurilia is still handling the at-bats against left-handed pitchers, it's Ishikawa that has seen a huge uptick in production over the last month.

Ishikawa has turned on the power. After going into the month of June with only one home run, Ishikawa launched four in the last half of the month. Since June 15, Ishikawa has only batted.250 but has scored six runs and knocked in 10 RBI to go with his power surge. While he has only managed one steal on the season let's not forget that the Giants first baseman produced a .299 batting average with 24 home runs and 10 steals in the minor leagues. This could be the sign that he's finally turning the corner and Ishikawa could be in store for a nice second half.

The Forecast

Let's get this out of the way first: Aurilia just missed a few games when the Giants put him on the bereavement list, but his production on the whole has been way down. Even when he returns to the team he shouldn't be owned in any league in any format. As for Ishikawa, I wouldn't waste time picking him up in NL-only leagues if he is available. Deeper leagues could use him at corner infielder, but shallower or mixed leagues could probably still get away with waiting a few more weeks.

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