2010 American League Free Agents

The 2010 season is 1 1/2 months gone, and whatever style of fantasy baseball league you are playing in, you are competing with the other owners in your league for those bottom-of-the barrel free agents. In my 10-team AL-only league, most of the decent offensive players are gone, while a few intriguing pitching prospects can still be found in the FA pool.

Let's look at the best available players on our league's free agent list to see who might be available in a pinch.

Catcher
Gerald Laird, Dioner Navarro, Rob Johnson, Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Salty has the most upside here, but is currently in the minors, trying to figure out how to throw the baseball back to the pitcher. He also hasn't hit well in his 2+ years with the Rangers, but he has torn up AAA pitching in his brief time on the farm in 2010.
Navarro has a little bit of talent, and might regain his starting job at some point. I'm a big fan of power over batting average. Our league includes OPS as a category, which makes home runs the most important single stat to target. So, I might look for a part-time catcher with power over Navarro.

First Base
Mike Sweeney, Matt LaPorta, Chris Davis
The first-base position is really slim pickings in my league, with only Sweeney and LaPorta getting decent playing time. Sweeney is old, and you may not see much production from him from here on out. Keep an eye out for whoever the Mariners are grooming for the 1B job, as Sweeney could be a June release.
LaPorta has not lived up to his giant hype, and may start to fall off the radar soon. Still, if you've got no other options, he'll still have some chances to prove himself. Chris Davis is currently in AAA to show that he can put up decent numbers to go along with his prodigious number of strikeouts. He may get another shot soon, now that the Rangers have cut Ryan Garko.

Second Base
Willie Bloomquist, Matt Tuiasasopo, Jayson Nix
The second sack is another position with really slim pickings on our league’s FA list. None of the available players is hitting over .213 in 2010, and there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of potential, either. Bloomquist has been a reliable 15 SB guy in the past, and he has three in limited action in 2010. You could pick him up if he starts to get regular playing time, and then try to package him in a trade.

Tuiasasopo has some upside (that’s what they call it when you haven’t played or performed much). Nix showed some power in 2009, but hasn’t hit in short duty this year.

When the options at a position are so scant, I don’t recommend over-paying for a somewhat better player in a trade.I always try to add the best players to my roster (regardless of position), and if I’m short at a position or two, I try to be patient. Don’t drop Travis Hafner to pick up Omar Vizquel just because you think you need a middle infielder. It’s pretty easy to find a mediocre solution on the free agent wire at some point. That way, you don’t give up anything major for a slight stat increase.