Fantasy Life: Old Faces, New Places

Written by: Jay Ferraro on 9th December 2009

Fantasy Life: Old Faces, New Places | read this item

The Winter Meetings have begun – let the Fantasy analysis begin! Here is the break down of some of the players who will have new homes this season and how that may affect their fantasy value.

Marco Scutaro

Coming off the best year of his career, Scutaro will now be playing shortstop for the Red Sox. Last year, he scored 100 runs, hit 35 2Bs, and was seventh in the American League with 90 BB. Those numbers coming off a contract year do make me a little skeptical. In deep leagues he is a starter and worth a look in the later rounds of all formats.

Billy Wagner

Wagner and his 385 career saves will be working for the Braves this season. He is back in the NL East after a fifteen game stint with the Red Sox last year. While playing in the AL, he pitched to a 1.98 ERA. If he stays healthy, he can easily save 35-40 games. He should be on your fantasy team this year.

Takashi Saito

Following Wagner from Boston to Atlanta is Saito. He was a lights out closer for the Dodgers from ’06-’08, complying 81 saves. He saved two games in Boston last season and would be in line for saves if Wagner gets injured. If your league counts holds, Saito will get them for you. Rafael Soriano, right now, is still an Atlanta Brave and could score holds and saves as well. However, the Braves will most likely deal him this week.

Placido Polanco

The thirteen year veteran is back with the defending back-to-back NL champs. Polanco has a lifetime .303 average and only struck out 46 times last season. In an awesome Phillies lineup he will be batting in the two hole and scoring over 100 runs. There will be flashier guys to grab on draft day, however do not sleep on Polanco.

Chone Figgins

The pesky Figgins will be heading up North after signing a four-year $36M deal with the Mariners. All his numbers will stay around the same with his strengths being his speed (42 SB in 2009) and a league leading 101 BB in 2009. His run production will suffer because of the guys batting behind him in Seattle, unless the Mariners land another bat.

Brad Penny

His tenure in Boston was awful. Period. However, when he returned to the NL with the Giants he pitched very well. In six starts Penny was 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA. Now, he will pitch a full season for the Cardinals and pitchers in the past have resurrected their careers with pitching coach Dave Duncan. I will be keeping my eye on him as the later rounds come around and you should as well.

Lost in the Waiver Wire Abyss*:

Player / 2010 Team

Ivan Rodriguez / Nationals

Ruben Gotay / Cardinals

Alex Cora, Chris Coste, Henry Blanco / Mets

Brian Schneider / Phillies

Kelly Shoppach / Rays

Jason Grilli / Indians

Greg Zuan / Brewers

*The Waiver Wire Abyss refers to players who have zero to negative Fantasy value.

Jay Ferraro is Executive Producer of Baseball Digest LIVE and the Fantasy Baseball writer for BaseballDigest.com. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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Topics: Atlanta Brave, Billy Wagner, Braves, Chone Figgins, Dodgers, Fantasy Analysis, Fantasy Life, Fantasy Team, Marco Scutaro, Mariners, NL East, Phillies, Placido Polanco, Playing Shortstop, rafael soriano, Stint, takashi saito, Two Games, Wagner Wagner, Winter Meetings

Jerry K. says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Do you think there’s any chance Pudge will ever be productive again?
Jay Ferraro says:

December 14, 2009 at 8:39 pm

Hey Jerry,
Pudge is a great fit to mentor a young Nats pitching staff. As far as Fantasy Baseball is concerned he is not a guy you want to field on your roster this year. He will have little to no protection in that line up, will not score a lot of runs and his RBI totals and average will be very low.