MLB Fantasy Impact: Polanco, Scutaro, Fox and Zaun

Eric Stashin

Dec 5, 2009

There have been a few moves in recent days that have an impact on fantasy owners (not to mention the potentially major signing of Chone Figgins and the Mariners, which isn’t “official” yet, so I will wait for that before commenting).

Let’s take a look and see which players have seen their value increase, decrease or remain stagnant due to their new locale:

Placido Polanco signed with the Philadelphia Phillies - All fans of NL teams must be rejoicing. Instead of adding another potential bat to an already deep lineup, they chose to go defense. While Polanco may see a slight increase in power playing in Citizens Bank Ballpark (though his best HR/FB rate since 2005 is 5.2%), he likely won’t hit more than low double-digits. Couple that with little speed and a solid, though unspectacular, average and Polanco remains a low-end fantasy option. If he were going to hit near the top of the Phillies order, maybe things would be different, but I just don’t see him displacing Jimmy Rollins or Shane Victorino at this point.
Marco Scutaro signed with the Boston Red Sox - He translated a career season into a job with a perennial title contender. Good for him, but don’t overvalue him on draft day. It’s not like he was playing in a bad lineup in Toronto, where he led off, which led to his 100 runs scored. On the Red Sox, with Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, it’s highly unlikely he’s anywhere near the top of the lineup. That means less runs scored to go with a potential 10/10 season. Not all that enticing.
Oakland acquired Jake Fox & Aaron Miles from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Jeff Gray, Ronny Morla and Matt Spencer - The key player in this deal is Fox, as he finally should get a chance to play regularly. In part-time duty for the Cubs (216 AB), he hit 11 HR. That’s not to mention his .409 average with 17 HR in 164 Triple-A AB prior to his recall (though we all know expectations like that are unrealistic). At worst he’s the new Jack Cust, but he strikes out far less and has the potential to produce a usable average. His .259 average in the Majors came courtesy of a .285 BABIP, so there is plenty of room for improvement there. His FB% was 47.4% (his minor league career was 42.0%) and his HR/FB was a believable 13.3%. He instantly becomes a solid late-round power flyer in all formats, and one that we’ll look at even deeper in the near future.
Gregg Zaun signed with the Milwaukee Brewers - Zaun doesn’t offer much offensively for fantasy owners, though if he is given everyday at bats (as is rumored) he should reach double-digit home runs. As is the case with many catchers, that’s about all we can ask for, as he has a career average of .251. More importantly, his signing means that Angel Salome will at least begin the 2010 season back in the minor leagues. If you’re in a two-catcher format, I’d still keep my eye on him, but that’s about it for now.