Buy Low, Sell High By Category

Trading wins championships.  Take it from a guy who trades himself to the top of every league he has ever been in.  In this edition of Buy Low/ Sell High, I have highlighted one buy low and one sell high in each of the five roto hitting categories.  In this article, you will find loads of information that you may not have been aware of.

Sell High HR

Raul Ibanez, OF, PHI. Currently on pace to hit 50 HRs, a pace unlikely to continue from a 36-year old has only hit over 25 once in his 14 year career.  Enough said.

Buy Low HR

Pat Burrell, DH, TB. Burrell has hit just one home run all year. Unlike Ibanez who only has had just one 30 home run season, Burrell has had five  including four straight going into the season. Pat is a solid bet to hit at least 25 home runs.

Buy Low RBI

Jermaine Dye, OF, CWS. The guy is hitting .294 with 7 homers and yet has only 17 RBI? I’m sure it has something to do with his .194 BA with RISP but that sure improve.  He had 96 RBI in 2008.

Sell High RBI

Bengie Molina, C, SF. Molina is only hitting just .256 with runners in scoring position yet still is tied for 14th in the majors with 27 RBI? Even though he is hitting .291 with 7 homers, the RBI numbers are still deceiving.  Take away his four best RBI games this season and suddenly his RBI total drops to 13. What I am trying to say is I don’t  really see the 34-year old catcher being a consistent RBI producer for your fantasy team.

Buy Low Steals

Shane Victorino, OF, PHI. Victorino should be a 30+ bases stealer this season, but so far he has only managed to swipe three bags.  The good news for Shane is it sounds like the leadoff spot may soon be his instead of the struggling Jimmy Rollins. 

Charlie Manuel’s Phillies were the fourth best base stealing team in both ‘07 and ‘08 but currently find themselves in 27th through the first month in a half.  Victorino should prosper in the leadoff spot, where he is currently hitting .357 in 14 ABs this season.

Sell High Steals

Derek Jeter, SS, NYY. Jeter is a perfect 7/7 on the base paths this year.  Very impressive from a guy who only had 26 steals in the previous two seasons COMBINED.  I sadly don’t see this trend continuing.   All it’s going to take is one little injury and Jeter will no longer have the green light.  If you want a base stealing shortstop try to trade Jeter for Furcal, a guy I see stealing much more from here on out.

Buy Low BA

Magglio Ordonez, OF, DET. Magglio is a career .313 hitter including a .363 batting title season just two season ago.  Currently Maggs is hitting a very uncharacteristic .241 through the first 29 games.  One reason for the low BA could be his .000 BABIP on fly balls. I can promise you his luck will eventually turn around and some of those fly balls will begin to fall.

Sell High BA

Aaron Hill, 2B, TOR. If you think he can keep up a .353 batting average then hold onto him but why not trade him for a more proven hitter? At least that’s what I’m doing.

Buy Low Runs

Bobby Abreu, OF, LAA. Abreu has been a solid run producer his whole career. Besides 2003 and 2006 where Abreu failed to reach 100 runs, he had 98 and 99,  Abreu has made it to the century mark every season dating back to 1999.  He is  currently hitting .309 so you can’t really blame him for only scoring 10 times.  Plus once Vlad returns he should start rounding the bases a little more often.

Sell High Runs

Marco Scutaro, SS, TOR. Marco is tied with Albert Pujols with 32 runs,  which is 4th best in the majors.  I have no idea how a .278 hitter with only 6 extra base hits has managed to score 32 times but I do know this trend can’t keep up at this pace.

Jesse Schwarz is a contributor to Fighting Chance Fantasy Sports.  You can see his writing here on a regular basis.