Blogs

Eric Cunningham

Platoon Battles

September 23, 2009 3:10pm 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. With the season winding down, we're going to take a quicker look a lot of different matchups that may be able to help you in the playoff push.

All stat boxes will reflect numbers since September 1 in order to give you a better look at who has been performing better of late.


Chicago Cubs - Catcher

Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Geovany Soto 43 6 2 12 0 .279 .347 .535 .882
Koyie Hill 34 3 0 4 0 .176 .222 .176 .398

Koyie Hill often spells Geovany Soto behind the plate.
In the last 10 games, the Cubs have seen nothing but opposing right-handed starting pitchers. It's not exactly the easiest way to find platoons, but at catcher the Cubs aren't using a standard righty/lefty breakdown, anyway. Both Koyie Hill and Geovany Soto aren't getting much playing time against southpaws. Soto has had a nice September, hitting as many home runs and nearly twice as many RBI as he did in July and August combined. Hill has come back to earth after his August. His .316 batting average that month was clearly the exception and not the norm. At this point, if you're playing a catcher from the Cubs, it has to be Soto. Soto has been mildly successful against his upcoming opponents, Milwaukee and San Francisco. He's produced a .259-6-23 stat line against them since 2006.


St. Louis Cardinals - Shortstop
Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Julio Lugo 36 3 1 5 2 .278 .357 .472 .829
Brendan Ryan 56 6 1 7 5 .268 .344 .393 .737

The Cardinals have been bouncing the two of these shortstops back and forth for a little while now, but even with Brendan Ryan having a little injury snafu with a finger ailment, the two players seem deadlocked for playing time. Julio Lugo, who also sees plenty of time at second while spelling Skip Schumaker against left-handers, has been very consistent recently, getting a hit in seven of his last nine games; however, he has managed only a .250 batting average over the same stretch. Ryan has continued to be streaky, but at least he is streaking by month. If you owned him in April, July, and September, he was a dud. However, his owners in May, June, and August love him. Despite the fact that this has been one of Ryan's down months, he is staring down the gullet of a very fantasy friendly stretch of games. Against Houston and Colorado this season, Ryan is batting .361. Lugo has yet to play either team this season.


Tampa Bay Rays - Catcher
Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Dioner Navarro 32 1 0 1 1 .219 .306 .219 .525
Gregg Zaun 33 5 1 5 0 .273 .333 .485 .818

You would have thought that Dioner Navarro wouldn't have had much of a problem holding off Gregg Zaun this season for playing time, but that's why they play the games. Navarro hasn't continued his 2008 success this year in any way, shape, or form. As the Rays close out this season, they have to be wondering what they have behind the plate. Just look at the September numbers above. Zaun is the one with the power stats. The 38-year-old journeyman is playing a little below his normal level from his days in Toronto, but if you're looking for a spark between these two, he'll be the one you want. Neither Zaun nor Navarro have had much success against the upcoming Rangers and Mariners.


Texas Rangers - Third Base
Player AB R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
Omar Vizquel 23 0 0 0 0 .043 .120 .043 .163
Esteban German 26 4 0 4 0 .423 .464 .577 1.041
Chris Davis 68 7 3 14 0 .265 .311 .471 .782

Let's get the easy one out of the way up front. Chris Davis is going to play for the Rangers every day. He's got a great power bat and they'll find a way to put him on one of the corners somehow. The other two seem to be splitting what is left, which is a substantial amount. Esteban German has stepped up of late with three multi-hit games in his last seven, including a 5-for-5 game last week. The 42-year-old former shortstop, Omar Vizquel has hit a slump in a bad way. In September, he has managed to get only a single hit. That's not exactly going to help carry a fantasy team. At this point, German has had only limited action, but he's also the best of the bunch against left-handed pitchers. He's batting .438 against southpaws this season and .293 with more than half of his home runs against them from 2006-2008. Both Vizquel and Davis are batting below the Mendoza line against Oakland and Tampa Bay and neither look like a great play this week. German is barely better, batting a whopping .204.

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