The Replacements That Are Worth A Look

After the dust has settled following a flurry of deadline trades many new faces have emerged to take over for the departed superstars. These new faces are worth a look in the fantasy community. Some have been previous bench players, some have been plucked off waivers after a cup of coffee last year, and some have never been to the show before.  I’m not saying these players are going to bolster your team with immediate impacts but their special skills set can help boost a category your team may be weak at currently.

In Houston the guy to replace Bourn in CF is Luis Durango. He previously had 59 ABs with San Diego in 09’ and 10’ hitting just over 300. As far as speed goes, Houston loses nothing with the replacement of Durango for Bourn; both can fly and steal bases.  For a cheap source of speed Durango is the play, if he continues to leads off, throw in some added Runs too.

In Chicago Fukudome was shipped to Cleveland and Tyler Colvin was recalled from Triple A, but he will share some time with Reed Johnson. Johnson can add some help to your team’s struggling batting average. He will get most of the starts against lefties and is hitting well over .320 on the season. He will also bat lead off and contribute with some power and score runs. Colvin, who I picked up in one league, has power and can drive in some runs also. He will get a majority of the starts in RF and the Cubs want an extended look at him down the stretch.  Above average playing time and legitimate power, 20 HR in 2010, can help immediately. Both should be monitored daily to see who gets the starts.

A virtually unknown commodity in San Diego is Aaron Cunningham. He is Ryan Ludwick’s replacement in LF.  Cunningham was hitting .329/.398/.532 with nine homers and 63 RBI in 87 games in Triple A. I’m not saying to pick him but keep him on your radar even though he hits for the anemic Padres.

With the move of Derrek Lee to Pittsburgh, the Orioles acquired Chris Davis in another trade with Texas. The Orioles have no other legitimate 1B on the roster so he will be playing every day.  He may be Mark Reynold’s clone with both power and poor average but power is power and every team can use HR this late in the Fantasy season.