American League Bail Bait
With half the season passed, the temptation to bail on the 2008 fantasy baseball season becomes very hard to resist. If you've watched you players under-perform, get hurt, be victimized over and over again by their bullpen, you likely are fed-up. With fantasy football kicking into gear, the hopes of fantasy victory are being rekindled.
Before bailing, make sure you know who is worth trying to obtain. For me, I look for players who are likely to maintain their value throughout the off-season and into next year. For me, this tends to eliminate any half-season pitching flashes in the pan. I cannot guess that a pitcher with a 3.00 ERA now will not see that rise to a 4.00 by season's end. Nor can I forecast an injury cropping-up that will put his 2009 in doubt.
I like minor league players but only if i project them to still have significant trade value even if they do not make the Opening Day rosters in 2009. This doesn't mean I won't take other less glamourous minor leaguers, it just means I don't want them as the centerpieces of the bail trade.
Hitters generally alleviate these concerns. While an injury to a player like Jacoby Ellsbury hurts, one does not typically lose an entire season when hurt like an ulnar collateral injury will for a pitcher or a shoulder surgery. Nor does a hitter's injury typically make them persona non-grata on the trade market.
Here is a list of players I consider good bail pieces going into next season. As a rule, I tried to include just those players who would have ben inexpensive at this year's drafts or last year's ones. All of them will have more value in an AL-Only format, but many will have value in mixed leagues based on where they were drafted.
For the list,

AL East:
Boston Red Sox:
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
SS Jered Lowrie
Tampa Bay Rays:
3B Evan Longoria
FM LHP David Price
New York Yankees:
SP Joba Chamberlain
Baltimore Orioles:
LF Luke Scott
CF Adam Jones
FM C Matt Wieters
Toronto Blue Jays:
LF Adam Lind
FM OF Travis Snider
AL Central:
Chicago White Sox:
LF Carlos Quentin
2B Alexi Ramirez
Minnesota Twins:
CF Carlos Gomez
2B Alexi Casilla
Detroit Tigers:
RP Joel Zumaya
Cleveland Indians:
LF Ben Francisco
Kansas City Royals:
SS Mike Aviles
3B Alex Gordon
OF Joey Gathwright
AL West:
Los Angeles Angels: None
Oakland A's:
C Kurt Suzuki
LF Carlos Gonzalez
CF Ryan Sweeney
Texas Rangers:
2B Ian Kinsler
1B Chris Davis
CF Josh Hamilton
C Max Ramirez
Seattle Mariners:
C Jeff Clement
RP Brandon Morrow
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Halos
It’s hard to think after the supposedly loaded farm system of a few years ago that no Angels players would make this list. Brandon Wood, Kendre Morales, and others seem to have fallen off the map. Wood had 101 extra-base hits in 2005! I remember listening to the Fantasy 411 a couple years ago thinking that the Angels were going to have homegrown talent all over the field. Now it’s an oft-injured Howie Kendrick and a not-ready-for-prime-time Nick Adenhart. I suppose you could throw Big Erv in there but, he’s been around for a while.
by RJK on
Jul 3, 2008 1:16 PM EDT
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+1
I am surprised/disappointed the halos have no young stud bail pieces. I almost put Erick Aybar on the list but his four walks in 200 ABs along with Sciosa’s looooooooooooooove of Macier Izturis forced me to leave him off.
Plus he is stealing bases, which would have gone a long way to counter the man love.
by faketeams on
Jul 3, 2008 3:27 PM EDT
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