Should I claim him?

[Red Leader]

Here is my team:
C- Posada
1B- Helton
2B- Spivey
3b- Blalock
SS- Jeter
CI- M. Cabrera
MI- A. Cintron
OF- Sheffield
OF- B. Giles
OF- L. Gonzalez
OF- M. Bradley
UTIL- G. Jenkins
UTIL- T. Hafner

Someone in my league just dropped OF Rocco Baldelli. I am thinking of claiming him because #1 I think he's a good player, but #2 my team lacks speed and Baldelli stole 27 bags last year. He is off to a slow start this year, however (which is why he was dropped). My question is: Who should I drop to pickup Baldelli? I'm thinking its got to be either Jenkins or Hafner. Hafner has been beating the crap out of the ball lately, hitting his 4th HR today ( a grand slam) and is really in a groove so I'd hate to dump him, but Jenkins is usually good for about 30 HR and 100 RBI on the season, if he can remain healthy all year. The drop from Jenkins' HR and RBI to Baldelli's is somewhat significant. So, overall what move do you think makes my team more balanced on offense, or do you think I should stay put and let Baldelli go to another team off the wire?

[LvJ]

The only way I say claim him is if you trade one of your other OFers or Hafner for a solid pitcher or 2nd basemen (Spivey is not that good). See if you can get a good 2B for Gonzo.

[westofyou]

Baldelli will only get on base if he hits for average, he also experienced a second half swoon last year. I'd doubt he'd giving much more than SB's if you played him everyday.

[Red Leader]

Thanks guys, I forgot to mention that our categories for hitting are:

R, HR, RBI, SB, K, AVG, OBP, and SLG%. So really, Baldelli would only be useful for SB's, unless his average picked up. He K's a lot for someone that does hit for a lot of power, and doesn't seem to be a lock for 90+ R.


As for the trade for a 2nd baseman. No dice. Owners that have Soriano, Kent, and Boone will not deal them. Then there's the owner that has Marcus Giles at 2B and Vidro at MI. He will only part with one of them for Halladay, Wood, etc, etc. Nice try. So, it looks like I'm praying for a rebound year from Spivey....

So you guys are saying that I'm better off with Jenkins and Hafner at the UTIL position than Baldelli, correct??

[westofyou]

For now, yes.

[Ender]

Look for someone that was hurt last year that will rebound to replace Spivey. You never know, someone like Ray Durham might have slipped through the cracks.

Everyone forgot about Podsednick on one of the leagues I'm in, and I snagged ihim in about the 20th round, so players do fall through.