Three Players to Avoid in Fantasy Baseball
Bradley, Sheets and Burnett Primed to be Busts
Feb 14, 2009
No, the most important stat is either plate appearances or innings pitched, depending on whether you are talking about hitters or pitchers. This is because the more times you come up to the plate, the more chances you have to hit homers, knock in runs and swipe bases. You cannot do that stuff sitting on the bench next to the manager. Same goes for pitchers. Hurlers cannot strike anybody out and win or save games if they are on the disabled list.
You need to have a healthy team to win fantasy baseball leagues. Sure, sometimes even perennially injury-free players get nicked up or break down, so there is a lot of luck involved, but you can improve your fantasy team’s overall constitution by avoiding a cast of characters that suffer major injuries annually.
So which players should you steer clear from, or at least drop several notches on your draft lists and cheat sheets? Here are an avoidable three:
Milton Bradley, Chicago Cubs: This injury-prone prankster is coming off the best season of his career, one that garnered him an All-Star spot and a multi-million dollar contract from the Cubs, but the man should be trusted as much as Bernie Madoff. In a nine-year career spent with six different major-league clubs, Bradley has only topped the 400-AB plateau twice and the 500-AB mark once. Forget about even coming close to 600 at-bats in a season. He needs two or three years to get that high.
Everything from suspensions for temper tantrums to tearing his ACL arguing a call at first base have prevented Bradley from becoming another Cal Ripken Jr. Do not count on this being the season he appears in 162 games. He will probably sprain an ankle getting tangled up in the ivy at Wrigley Field.
Ben Sheets, Free Agent: There is a reason why no team has signed this above-average pitcher with spring training already underway, and it is not because general managers hate guys with 95-mph fastballs and drop-off-the-top curves. Sheets is an injury-waiting-to-happen. He has not made it through 200 innings in a season since back in 2004 as elbow, shoulder and back ailments have stuffed him every time he has had a shot at a Cy Young-worthy season.
Sheets did not even waste time getting hurt in 2009. He just had surgery on his elbow because tests showed he still had some stuff to clean up in there. The procedure should keep him off the mound until after the All-Star break, so feel free to cross his name off your draft board completely.
A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees: The Yankees have had as much luck picking free-agent starters as President Obama has had picking cabinet members. Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Jose Contreras and Kei Igawa immediately come to mind, and the laundry list is longer. And even though the Yanks probably have a keeper in C.C. Sabathia, Burnett has the makings of another fabulous failure.
Coming into 2008, his walk year, Burnett had never won more than 12 games in a season. Part of this was because he was on some bad teams. Part of this was because he was inconsistent. Most of this was because of his regular visits to the DL. Burnett has only had two 30-start seasons in nine years, and one of them was in 2008 when he likely did everything in his power to stay healthy because he knew millions were at stake. It is hard to suddenly have faith in Burnett now that he has cashed in on his 18-win career year. Remember what happened to Pavano after he joined the Yanks after his career-best campaign with Florida?
So let the other fantasy owners in your league waste their high draft picks and large auction dollars on these three guys. Stick with solid, consistent performers that you can always count on to achieve fantasy baseball success.
