Fantasy Baseball: Early Buy Low Candidates

It’s never too early to hit up a struggling owner in your league to try to fleece him or her out of a struggling player to help your team down the road. Here are some guys to target.

Catcher

Kurt Suzuki, OAK (.212-3-6-2-0)

Victor Martinez and Matt Wieters are also struggling, but nobody is parting with them. Suzuki, who drove in 88 last year, is another story.

First Base

Adam Dunn, WAS (.191-10-1-4-0)

The good news is he’s walking to give him some runs. The hits, including HRs, will come. Prince Fielder and Mark Teixeira are struggling mightily, but they won’t come cheap.

Second Base

Gordon Beckham, CHW (.228-6-1-3-1)

He doesn’t have a lengthy track record, so you would have to go on faith. If you wanted him before but he went earlier in your draft than you anticipated, perhaps now’s the chance to get him.

Ben Zobrist, TB (.228-4-0-6-4)

The four SBs are salvaging the early part of the season for Zobrist. Make a play for him and hope his power comes around. His positional flexibility is a bonus.

Third Base

Aramis Ramirez, CHC (.131-4-3-8-0)

He’s showing some pop. It’s just a matter of time until he gets the average back in order.

Shortstop

Yunel Escobar, ATL (.200-5-0-8-2)

The two SBs are nice, especially considering he had seven combined the previous two seasons. He’s basically a career .300 hitter. For his career he is hitting .263 in April. After a slow start he should come around, but so will his price tag. Get him now.

Outfield

Grady Sizemore, CLE (.191-5-0-5-1)

Sizemore usually wouldn’t be a guy you could get early, but after last year’s injury coupled with the slow start, perhaps he could be had at a discount.

Nick Markakis, BAL (.259-7-0-2-0)

He’s not a traditional slugger, but zero HRs through 16 games—that’s absurd.

Carlos Lee, HOU (.145-4-0-1-0)

Yikes. There are pitchers with more RBI. April is his worst month. He has hit just .257 (including 0-for-7 in March) compared to .296 the rest of the way. What’s troubling is how low he has sunk. Still, I expect him to rebound.

Adam Jones, BAL (.203-5-1-2-0)

Jones went 3-for-5 with a HR on Opening Day. Since then it’s pretty much been downhill. He has more Ks (15) than hits (14). He closed out 2009 hitting .211 in September. With his slow start, he could be available.

Julio Borbon, TEX (.156-4-0-6-4)

Borbon swiped two bags last night, which gave fantasy owners some hope. Of course, they came against Boston, who couldn’t throw out Lou Brock (who’s 70).

Jay Bruce, CIN (.192-6-2-5-2)

Bruce is anything but almighty in the early days of the 2010 season. You knew he wasn’t going to challenge for the batting title, but where’s the pop to offset that poor average?

Originally published at LestersLegends.com .