Fantasy Baseball: Mark DeRosa

The Chicago Cubs recent sweep at the hands ot the Los Angeles Dodgers was quite a surprise....even for a diehard Dodgers fan. The Cubs had just finished a great year, winning the NL Central for the 2nd straight year and were the favorites to make the World Series and break the 100 year curse. One of the reasons for the Cubs success this year was the hitting of their 2bman Mark DeRosa.

DeRosa was drafted in the 12th round of my NL only snake draft league behind the following 2bman: Utley, Phillips, Hudson, K. Johnson, Uggla, Weeks, Kent, Matsui and Tad Iguchi of all people. In my two auction leagues, he was drafted at $11 in one, and retained at $6 in the other. Needless to say, DeRosa outperformed all but Chase Utley, Dan Uggla and Brandon Phillips if you factor in steals. Derosa hit .285-21-103-87-6 in 505 ABs. He also has eligibility at 3B and in the OF.

Going into 2009, because he hits in the solid Cubs lineup, and can play several positions, DeRosa should be drafted ahead of all NL 2bman not named Utley and Uggla in my opinion. Amongst NL 2bman, only Utley, Uggla and Wigginton hit more HRs, only Utley and Uggla had more RBI, and only Utley scored more runs, than DeRosa did in 2008.

The question on my mind will be: can he repeat his 2008 performance in 2009? His past performance since becoming a regular says no. I think, for the reasons mentioned previously, he can repeat his 2008 numbers, with maybe a slight drop in the power numbers.

What do faketeamers think?