MLB Fantasy Baseball: Alex Gordon or Damion Easley?

Q: Pretty simple question. Who would you rather have in a deep, mixed league at the utility spot: Alex Gordon or Damion Easley?

A: You actually have two guys that can help you out in various ways in a platoon situation.

Alex Gordon can't hit lefties. He's hitting just .186 against them this season, and he hasn't hit any of his 11 home runs against left-handed pitching. Worse, he's stuck in a 3-22 slump. He's certainly got amazing talent and potential, but he needs to be effective at hitting lefties to be enough of an everyday-type player.

Against righties, he's got much more power and hits close to .280.

Even though Easley's average is slightly better against righties, he doesn't give you the same home run and RBI totals that Gordon has. Even better, I like the way the Royals have been hitting. The addition of Mike Aviles, and the emergence of Jose Guillen, has given Kansas City an actual decent fantasy dimension.

Easley is killing left-handed pitching to the tune of .333. He's basically become an everyday solution in the absence of Luis Castillo, and he has been successful before when he was with Detroit (less we forget his amazing performance at the Home Run Derby out in Colorado).

Easley has been one of the more pleasant surprises, both as a baseball story and fantasy impact. The Mets' offense is only going to get better while moving into the second half. Carlos Delgado is a second-half player, Beltran is coming on, and Wright hasn't faded at all (he was the only Met hitting during that epic collapse, at .303, for September last season).

Ryan Church coming back will give them even more to work with and Easley will be the table-setter that will make them go. Jerry Manuel is already evaluating if Luis Castillo will get the job back upon his return because of the numbers Easley is putting up.

Even better, his versatility will allow him to stay in the lineup at other positions, so worrying about the loss of playing time isn't as great a concern.

If you can play matchups, left vs. right, I would use Gordon against righties and Easley against lefties. In a weekly league, I'd go with Easley overall. You lose the power, but you won't end up getting killed in average because of one player pulling you down. Especially in the AL Central, where there are some tough lefties Gordon will have to go against.