» Chris Duncan

Now that the Mannyroids talk is dying down a little bit, it’s time to get down to business! This is going to be a weekly column about typical fantasy diamonds in the rough. These are players you can look to add to give your team a little boost that are available in 50% or plus of most common fantasy formats.

Koji Uehara (Bal – SP) – I’m not jumping up and down about Koji yet, but if you’re in a deep league, you could do worse than adding him. My colleague Bush10623 does a great job talking about why to add him here. I personally would put him on your watch list wait one more start to see if he’s for real. He’s availble in about 93% of most leagues, so no rush yet.

Freddy Sanchez (Pit – 2B) – Freddy is an interesting guy to be on this list. A former batting champ, who had an injury plagued 2008 is about 57% available in all Fantasy formats. The depth at second base is really good this year, but this guy is for real. He will get 170-190 hits, bat .300+ and knock in 60-80 runs. Sanchez is the real deal who should be owned in most formats.

Chris Duncan (Stl – 1B/OF) – Chris Duncan’s power is real. He’s definitely a threat to hit 20HR’s and drive in 70+. His average is not however. Duncan is a career .268 hitter, but becomes valuable in leagues that carry OBP and SLG. He’s available in almost 75% of all fantasy formats. If your power numbers are lacking, or you drafted Adam LaRoche (sucks doesn’t he), he can help you in the power and OBP departments.

Jesus Flores (Was – C) – Flores will not wow you with his career .261 BA. However Flores is only 24 years old and is only in his third year in the major leagues. Flores will not keep up the power hitting, but he has the potential to hit around .300 and slg close to .450. Fantasy owners looking to stop the bleeding after the Ryan Doumit injury, look no further an Flores. He’s available in over 80% of fantasy leagues and could be a nice replacement over the next 6-8 weeks.

Remember don’t expect the world with these finds, I’m only showcasing a handful of players who could be interesting additions in the short term to your line up. Always add or drop players at your own risk!

Hopefully you read one of my last posts regarding Johan Santana as the NL MVP for 2009 (http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/baseball-news/mets-rotation-johan-santanamvp-trade-needed/). Basically it gave Johan Santana’s stats up to that point and iterated the need for a starting pitcher via trade.

In Santana’s 1 loss, he had a line of 7 innings; 3 hits; 2 runs (BOTH UNEARNED); 1 walk; and 13 strikeouts. Unfortunately, he went up against Josh Johnson/FLA. Last night he went up against Chan Ho Park/PHL (horrendous). Nauseatingly, Park went 6 innings; 1 hit; 2 walks; 1 HBP; and 5 strikeouts. Santana 1-Up’ed him (not in hits) going 7 innings; 2 hits; 3 walks; and 10 strikeouts.

Johan Santana is now 4-1 with a .91 ERA and a .91 WHIP. He’s got 54 K’s in 39.2 IP. He’s 2nd in the NL in wins; 1st in strikeouts; 2nd in WHIP; and 1st in ERA.

Prior to last night’s game he was giving up 1.1 runs a game and was only getting 2.2 runs a game from his offense. Now he’s given up only .91 runs a game (not even a run a game!) and in last night’s win, he got less than half his 2.2 runs a game support. The Mets really need to start provding him with some runs. No matter how much I stress that statement, it will still be the understatement of the world.

Johan Santana is still undefeated against the Phillies, the Mets new and beyond obvious, nemesis. He is now 3-0 lifetime against the Phillies in 7 career starts with a 2.44 ERA – phenomenal.

Johan Santana now has 31% of the Mets wins on the season. With complete concerns and inconsistency from Mike Pelfrey, Livan Hernandez, Oliver Perez, and John Maine (pitched solid other than bb’s in his past 2 starts), Johan Santana is infinitely important. I understand that the CY Young is the award to receive for a pitcher, and it epitomizes how great of a season a starter had, however, the MVP is how fantastic a player is and helps his team. There’s no doubt in my mind that Johan Santana at this point is the NL MVP and should be by season’s end. Of course the obvious competition is Albert Pujols/1b-STL. He is absolutely amazing: .364avg-28r-11hr-31rbi-4sb-.467obp-.747slg-1.215ops. According to ESPN, he’s on pace for 167r-66hr-185rbi-24sb. These stats are sensational. He’s the best hitter in the MLB. And if those stolen bases keep up he’ll be by far the best fantasy player (even with out them he will be). If you’re willing to trade him for needed roster slots, you better get a top notch player at each position you need: I’m talking Youkilis/1b; Hamels/sp; McCann/c. And then you can provide an extraneous SP & C back (just a wee-bit of fantasy talk).

Honestly, it’s up in the air, and Albert Pujols (#1 overall on ESPN Player Rater) is so utterly valuabe to the Cardinals. They have other hitters performing right now though – Ryan Ludwick/of; Chris Duncan/of; and Yadier Molina/c. They also have 3 starting pitchers performing well: Joel Pineiro; Kyle Lohse; and of course Mets’ horror Adam Wainwright. I’ve explained before in my last post. The Mets have solid offense: Reyes-Murphy-Beltran-Delgado-Wright, but they only have one great starter: Johan Santana (#5 overall on ESPN Player Rater) – http://games.espn.go.com/flb/playerrater?