deep leagues: upside guys who unexpectedly make their team

[MTUCache]

MTUCache: Does Sheffields release change your thought about Anderson's role in Detroit? I still wouldn't count on much from him, but maybe a bit more with Shef gone. Seems as if they got Anderson in expectation of releasing Shef.

Definitely... huge difference. With Sheffield no longer taking up with DH spot, that really leaves Guillen free to step in there. His health has been begging for that spot for a couple of years now really, and the only thing standing in his way has been Sheff.

Could Thames play an everyday LF? Not a chance. He's a streaky hitter, and a weak defender. With Magglio in RF Granderson already has too much ground to cover in Comerica. Leaving him between Thames and Ordonez would be a big mistake. They need a strong defensive presence at least available in LF, even if they are platooning with Thames or one of the other young guys.

With the logjam still there in the OF, and a lot of "interesting" (I won't say promising) guys on the rise there, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see one of those guys move before the season. Obviously, the guy with the most value (and the biggest contract) is Thames. I'd hate losing him, because he is an awesome power guy off the bench, and when he's on he hits like nobody's business, but in the Tigers organization he's been a guy without a place for a while now (really since before Craig Monroe). If anybody out there is looking for his bat, I'd assume the Tigers would deal him quickly for yet another young arm (trying to throw enough spaghetti at the wall to find something to stick).

Anyway...... full circle, all the way back around to Anderson... with his speed and defense (I'm just going off of recent speculation here, I know almost nothing about this kid), if he hits I think he'll stick in the lineup almost everyday, possibly even at leadoff. If he doesn't, he won't see much playing time at all. The back-end of our order is already anemic, and adding another lame bat to the Laird/Inge/Everett 7-8-9 in our order would kill the Tigers hopes of having an offensive team this year.

[Havok1517]

I just read that Fowler has made the Rockies.

[dmendro]

Koyie Hill on the cubs should about 200 AB's and can actually hit decently.

Keep Ben Sheets on your radar. I think it's pretty likely that he catches on when he is done rehabbing.

Gary Sheffield could be coming to the NL very very soon.

Mark Teahen, Blake Dewitt, Matt Laporta, Jeff Clement all could make solid second half impacts.

Some other sleeper type picks for those really deep leagues:

Austin Kearns, Dimitri Young, Endy Chavez, Melky Cabrera, John Smoltz, Joe Koshansky (just got traded to the rangers, and if salty or davis falters could find quite a few AB's cause he makes a great Adam Dunn/Richie Sexson type of hitter. K or Bomb and not much in between).

I could go on and on, but for upside marginal players I like to look at SB/AB and HR/AB. Those are the guys who when they get hot and someone gets hurt could get some decent playing time for their clubs.

[auclairkeithbc]

Looks like Josh Anderson is going to have some value this year. He's in the opening day lineup with Guillen at DH. I'm sure we'll see quite a bit of time at DH for Guillen, as well as Maggs, and when that happens, it is very likely that Anderson will play in the OF, unless he really starts to stink it up. Not only will those two get a lot of time at DH, but they also aren't great bets to play 162 games. Looks like Anderson will have all the opportunity in the world to get 350AB, but he's got to hit .275 or so. That isn't really all that much to ask.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... Id=rss_mlb

[Dan Lambskin]

Looks like Josh Anderson is going to have some value this year. He's in the opening day lineup with Guillen at DH. I'm sure we'll see quite a bit of time at DH for Guillen, as well as Maggs, and when that happens, it is very likely that Anderson will play in the OF, unless he really starts to stink it up. Not only will those two get a lot of time at DH, but they also aren't great bets to play 162 games. Looks like Anderson will have all the opportunity in the world to get 350AB, but he's got to hit .275 or so. That isn't really all that much to ask.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... Id=rss_mlb

FYI the reason for this was that Thames has never faced Halladay and doesnt hit pitchers who throw a hard sinker very well (0-12 against Carmona). i wouldnt read too much into it. still...i think Anderson will probably get decent PT

[auclairkeithbc]

i'm sure that was part of the equation, though anderson obviously hasn't faced halladay either. leyland mentioned wanting to keep guillen off the turf too. and i think it is fairly safe to say that unless anderson proves to be much worse than expected, any time guillen or maggs are DHing, anderson will be in the OF, not thames. i think the way leyland decides to use the OF/DH spots is a bigger question mark than the way the indians plan to use their C/1B/DH spots.

i just think assuming an even playing time split between anderson and thames is probably the way to go. they can both get 350AB if things go as expected. larish could end up taking some of that time away from them maybe.