My 5th keeper and a big list to choose from, WHIR

[Houser33]

14 team league with standard scoring +OBP for batters and holds and BB for pitchers.

I get to keep any 5 players for as long as I want.

My guaranteed 4 are: Howard, Wright, JUpton, JSantana.

I'd like some input for who my 5th should be. List is:

1b: Lance Berkman
2B: Asdrubal Cabrera
OF: Josh Hamilton
OF: Matt Laporta
OF: Bobby Abreu
SP: Chad Billingsley
SP: Eric Bedard
SP: Rick Porcello
SP: Trevor Cahill

My initial thought was Berkman but he really seems to be struggling with injuries and looks to be on the downswing in his career. He is the type of guy who can easily bounce back from a bad year but idk if he can overcome the fact that Houston sucks. He also creates a log jam at 1B/UTIL for me.

Hamilton, I don't know. So risky. Easily has the most upside though. I'd settle for .280-20 -90. Chances on him staying healthy are pretty slim.

Billingsley: Safe pick with upside. The only problem is that he was responsible for around 25% of my teams total BB's last year. That's a lot for one pitcher.

Cabrera: Position scarcity + SS eligibility. If I don't keep him then he'll probably be the best 2B/SS available in the draft.

Abreu: Model of consistency, age the only issue.

The Kids (Laporta, Cahill, Porcello): I'd be willing to risk a 5th rounder on one of these guys if they were a slam-dunk prospect but I'm just not sure that's the case. Laporta could very well struggle for awhile before he finds his groove and the SP's strikeout rates are nothing to write home about. Porcello intrigues me because of the Tigers lineup/pitcher's stadium, though.

[Wadderboiz]

I'd say you have 4 quality vets w/ your keepers now. Nothing wrong w/ taking a bit of a chance on someone like Porcello.

I had a guy in my league in a similar boat after Lincecum's rookie year. He decided to keep someone else to which I say thank you after having Lincecum on my team for the past two seasons.

[Inukchuk]

Comparing Porcello and Lincecum's 1st to 2nd year progression is ridiculous. If you're willing to gamble, go Hamilton. If not, Berkman.

[Elsy]

Hamilton

[KenDawg19]

The safer bets as far as numbers go are Hamilton or Berkman. However, if you don't want to take a chance that neither is going to get hurt, then I would go with Cabrera. He's 24 years old and still has room to grow. Plus, he'll be leading off with a healthy Sizemore behind him, so I think his SBs and runs will go up.

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[Wadderboiz]

Comparing Porcello and Lincecum's 1st to 2nd year progression is ridiculous. If you're willing to gamble, go Hamilton. If not, Berkman.

Woah! At no point did I compare Lincecum and Porcello. I was simply making a point that sometimes when you have young and promising pitcher that it can be beneficial to hold on to him, because if he's figured a way to get big league hitters out at an early point in his career he usually progresses.

Personally I'd rather take a chance on a young SP coming off a good year than an older injury risk hitter.

[Alexs]

If you go hitter I'd take Hamilton. If you're going pitcher I'd go with Bedard, because if he stays healthy he puts up great #s

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[The Artful Dodger]

Hamilton easily for me. Neither of your other options quite has the upside of Hamilton. Berkman is a safe pick and I do think he's undervalued, but it isn't likely he'll outperform that to the tune of his prime seasons. The only SP worth keeping is Billingsley, but I also believe he's undervalued based off one bad three month stretch and could be had in the draft.

[ChicksDigTheLongBall]

I'd go with Ham Bone. He's had a couple of solid spring training games worth of at bats and actually legged out a triple on tuesday. More upside over Berkman.

[HOOTIE]

Hamilton and Bills, and drop Santana.