Pick-Up or Avoid?

Each week (hopefully) during the baseball season, I'm going to look at three players to avoid in fantasy baseball and three players that are being undervalued.

Pick-up

C - Mike Piazza: Piazza is often getting drafted in the middle to late teen rounds, behind catchers like Kenji Johjima, Jorge Posada and Michael Barrett. This should NOT be the case. Piazza had a solid season in a terrible hitter's park with the wear and tear of an old guy playing catcher all season. This year he's moving to Oakland where he will be the designated hitter, which should significantly reduce the wear and tear on his body. A .290 average with 25-30 HR's should not be out of the question. In my opinion, he should be the fourth catcher off the board, behind Mauer, McCann and Victor Martinez.

Avoid

RP - Fransisco Rodriguez: If you read my draft strategy, you shouldn't even be worrying about drafting an elite closer early. But if you don't want my advice and insist on taking a closer, please pass on this guy. While he does have the potential to be the top closer at the end of the year, have you ever seen this guy throw a baseball? His mechanics are absolutely vicious and when watching him, it seems like something's about to pop after every pitch. It's only a matter of time before he's out for the season after throwing a heater.

Pick-Up

3B - Hank Blalock: This guy is going undrafted in numerous ten team leagues. That's just wrong. Sure he had a rough season last year, but there is simply too much talent here for the struggles to continue. Blalock is capable of batting .290 with 30 HRs, especially playing in the home run haven ballpark in Arlington. Hold off on drafting a 3B and scoop this guy up.

Avoid

1B - Ryan Howard: Sure, he is likely to blast 40-50 HRs next season, but expect that average to come down significantly. He's also likely to get walked alot more this year, ala Barry Bonds a few years ago. Don't get me wrong...the guy will have plenty of value....but he won't be worth the top 5 pick its going to take to get him.

Pick-up

RP - Todd Jones: This guy is a closer for one of the best (and fairly young) teams in baseball. The Tigers should continue to win many a game this year and Jones will be there to pick up plenty of garbage saves. Jones is slipping because people fear Joel Zumaya will take over the closer's role, but don't forget that Jones pitched horribly last season and held onto the job. Besides, the Tigers seem to realize that using their best pitcher in high leverage situations is more important than padding their saves stats, so expect Jones to continue racking up saves.

Avoid

C - Ivan Rodriguez: This guy has been getting by on reputation for several seasons now. He's still going to get you 15 HRs with a .280 average and a handful of steals, but he's still going way too early in drafts...ahead of Piazza or Ramon Hernandez, which are far more likely to maintain their production ahead of Rodriguez.