Free Deep Preseason Sleepers
Try saying that 5 times fast. GO! Free Deep Preseason Sleeepers. PreeDeep Freeseasons Slepers, Phrree Deep Pre Seepers – Uggg. Okay, moving on.
Tongue twisters aside, it's time we dig a little deeper, and deeper on our sleepers.
For this installment we ensured ALL of the following players suggested will already have been added to this coming years edition of Fantasy Baseball in Yahoo Sports Baseball Leagues.
So, there is no guesswork or wonder as to when they will be added to the game, and no one will need to question what waiver priority they will need to use to get these players.
***Next week we will discuss some even Deeper Sleepers – Included will be players listed who will have yet to be added to Yahoo Fantasy Leagues – but who stand a good chance of being called up at some point in 2009 – and would then be awarded to managers via a waiver priority process***
C – Jeff Clement, Seattle Mariners
The fact that Clement didn’t tear the cover off the ball when called up last season bodes well for snagging him for a draft discount for possibly the last time.
We are doing our job to keep his stock down by purposely posting these shots of him donning a rather scary looking Everett Aquasox psychedelic tie dye/warped camo uni! We do however like the recently sold Mariners Minor League affiliate team’s logo. A tree frog – how awesome is that?!
1B - Kila Ka’aihue, Kansas City Royals
What would a Deep Sleeper list be without a token Kansas City Royal? The addition of Mike Jacobs may cloud the Hawaiian's ability to crack the KC line-up – but his breakout minor league campaign has opened many eyes in the Royals organization, who realize they have a future power first baseman besides Ryan Shealy down on the farm.
Another player you may want to consider if you play in a “Hawaiins and Royals” league where Ka’aihue’s services would surely be gobbled up - is Micah Hoffpauir of the Chicago Cubs – who unfortunately is blocked by Derek Lee if he remains a Cubbie. If he’s gone – how’s about the San Francisco Giants Travis Ishikawa? There. That complete’s our trifecta of Fantasy Baseball’s 2009 First Base Sleepers who have difficult names to spell. We’re guessing you didn’t google that last phrase to find us?
2B – Mike Fontenot, Chicago Cubs
With Mark DeRosa now out of the picture “The Snoz” may get his shot full-time in Chi-town. We mentioned Fontenot in our Sleepers portion of our Second Base rankings awhile back here.
SS – Brandon Wood, Los Angeles Angels
Wood is Good. But this would appear to be his final shot at delivering with the Angels if he intends on landing a full-time gig in Anaheim .
3B – Matt Gamel, Milwaukee Brewers
Will Mat Gamel become this years Evan Longoria? Hmmm…demanding that of a rookie is a fairly tall order don’t you think? He is worth taking a flyer on considering his upside – but Spring Training could reveal how serious the Brew Crew are about including Matt Gamel in their 2009 plans. (Can Mat Gamel’s family please contact us and let us know if he spells his first name with two T’s or one so we can stop this insanity!)
OF – Travis Snider, Toronto Blue Jays
Where you will need to select the powerful Travis Snider may depend on what he shows this coming spring. At this point he could become part of a Jays outfielder platoon (not a fantasy manager’s favorite word) which would most certainly make acquiring his services much easier. Keeper Leagues need to chase him with a little more zeal than regular single season mixed leagues.
OF - Shin-Soo Choo, Cleveland Indians
Don’t neglect Choo’s pop if you are trying to add some power to your roster in the latter rounds.
OF – Colby Rasmus, St. Louis Cardinals
See this wonderfully well crafted article.
SP – David Purcey, Toronto Blue Jays
While the big southpaw was a bit erratic in 2008 – he did show glimpses of greatness – and seems a lock to be part of the Jays rotation with AJ Burnett’s departure and Shaun Marcum having undergone Tommy John surgery this offseason.
Several players who make a living playing in the American League East tend to get overshadowed by the almighty Yankees and Red Sox – so Purcey still remains hovering relatively unnoticed – but it’s time you at least put him on your Fantasy radars.
SP – Jorge De La Rosa , Colorado Rockies
Yikes! We’re recommending a Coors starter and a pitcher (Purcey) who will face the stacked offences of the A.L. East all season…Well, the title does read Deep Sleepers!
We have preached the gospel according to K’s for a long while now. De la Rosa certainly could mount up some sweet strike out totals if he can manage to stick to the Rockies rotation for a full season. By the way, the Monterray native and former Kansas City Royal was 7-3 post All-star break last season while pitching for the Rocs.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Nice list, really. I’m also big on Kila, Fontenot and Clement if playing time becomes less of an issue for them. De la Rosa is a little surprising given his BB/9, a category that I don’t see a lot of seismic jumps in from year to year.
Totally agreed that CHOO is flying under the radar.
I’ll have to read up some more on your Toronto players; much like the rest of baseball, I’m not super familiar with either one.
January 8th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Poor Blue Jays players “Eh”:) They receive so little fanfare!
But yeah, most definitely Travis Snider in particular is a Blue Jay to keep close tabs on, Dave! Despite his uncertain role to date - he possesses monster power that should make him capable of some serious long ball totals one year.
We are obviously VERY high on him - as we have him currently ranked #4 on our recently updated off season rankings of prospects to watch out for in 2009 - See our FUTURE STARS OF THE CAGE section. Thanks for the insightful comment, and best of luck to you during the 2009 Fantasy Baseball Season!