Fantasy Football Pickups And Drops Week Seven 2011

It's pickup and drop time here for week seven.  The pickups are a little late to help most of you with your waiver claims, but it should still help you navigate free agency throughout the week.  Not all of these moves need to be made, and you should always consider your team before doing anything, but here is a short list of guys for you to be picking up or dropping this week...

Fantasy Football Pickups And Drops Week Five 2011

Changing things up here this week.  Pickup and drop column coming out today as usual, but the regular wrap up and Reality of Fantasy columns are getting a change this week.  Instead of two big columns, I'm going to go game by game in much smaller posts over the next two days.  This should allow me to write more about each team without the daunting prospect of having to do all sixteen teams at once.

Also, before we get into the pickups and drops, I'm going to talk a bit of fantasy strategy right after the jump...

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Pickup And Drop Ideas For Friday 5/27/11

5/13/11 Recommendation - Drop Jonathan Broxton and Pickup Eduardo Sanchez / St. Louis Cardinals Closer

I told you to cut your losses on the DLed Broxton, and they still have no timetable for his return.  I told you to pick up Sanchez to replace him for now, but to stay on top of the situation going forward.  If you did, you would have let go of Sanchez and picked up Fernando Salas.  Salas looks to finally be the guy to grab onto the job long term and to have earned Tony La Russa's confidence.  Salas is going to be very valuable going forwards and should be a decent trade chip in the long term once everyone is sure he is going to hold on to his job.  If he's still available in your league, go get Salas now.

No recommendation last week, so jumping right into this week's drop and pickup now.  A second baseman from a horrible offense to drop, and another from a better offense that is heating up....

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Pickup And Drop Ideas For Wednesday 5/25/11

Two Weeks Ago's Recommendation - Drop Jose Lopez and Pickup Scott Rolen

Lopez has been hitting .353 over the last two weeks, but has picked up just two runs and a single stolen base.  Rolen has hit for a similarly solid average at .342 but has been much better in the counting stats, picking up six runs and five RBIs with a stolen base.  This is going to continue to go this way.  Rolen plays in a better offense so he'll pick up more counting stats, and he will hit for a better average as well.

Last Week's Recommendation - Drop Josh Tomlin and Pickup Madison Bumgarner

It's harder to evaluate a pair of pitchers after just one week because generally they will only have one start each, and that's what happened here.  Both guys did turn solid starts in wins.  Bumgarner went a little deeper into the start so he had a better ERA, but Tomlin let up less hits and walks so he grabbed a better WHIP.  That was the only difference between the two through one week.  We'll keep an eye on this for a while, but I have to insist that you drop Tomlin.  He's going to blow up soon.  He's not this good of a pitcher.

This Wednesday we are also going to look at a pair of starting pitchers.  I write about spot starter recommendations every day, but that doesn't help you evaluate pitchers that are owned in more than fifty percent of leagues.  One to drop and one to pickup coming up...

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Pickup And Drop Ideas For Tuesday 5/24/11

Two Tuesdays Ago's Recommendation - Drop Jason Bay and Pickup Logan Morrison

Morrison has played less games that Bay still, but has been basically even in RBIs and Runs.  Morrison has two homers to Bay's one, but Bay has thrown in two steals.  The big difference is Logan's .286 average compared to Bay's ugly .205 average.  It was fairly obvious that Morrison was going to be better than Bay, but at the time Bay was ridiculously owned in more leagues.  Morrison is going to be a much better player than Jason Bay will be at this stage of his career.

Last Tuesday's Recommendation - Drop Juan Pierre and Pickup Cameron Maybin

After last week's column, Pierre started off on a tear and has gone 10/27 and scored five runs.  Maybin on the other hand went just 4/16 and popped in two RBIs.  The difference is that Maybin managed to pick up a steal despite getting on base far fewer times.  Maybin is going to be better going forwards and continue to be a five tool player, while Pierre is only contributing with runs and RBIs.

Tuesday we are going to take a look at first baseman affected by injuries.  Two guys on the DL that aren't worth hanging onto, and one player who is getting playing time because of other players DL stints.

Fantasy Baseball Closer Pickup And Drop Ideas For Monday 5/23/11

Two Mondays Ago's Recommendation - Drop Aubrey Huff and Pickup Eric Hosmer

Huff has hit just one home run since I recommended dropping him two weeks ago, while Eric Hosmer has already hit three homers with a better average in his short major league career.  Hosmer is going to continue to be a strong hitter and is worth making a trade to pick up now that he's owned in almost every league.  Huff continues to be worth dropping for a guy like Mark Trumbo or Freddie Freeman.

Last Monday's Recommendation - Drop Jed Lowrie and Pickup J.J. Hardy

This recommendation looks bad right now, but thats only because Hardy is mired in the midst of a slump. Hardy has hit safely just once since I offered him as a pickup, so hasn't accumulated any counting stats for you either.  I would still make the move right now.  Lowrie's playing time still can't be banked on, and when Hardy starts hitting again, he'll produce better than Lowrie does anyways.

This Monday we are going to take a look at a pair of relief pitchers.  One is a closer on the way out of a job, while the other might be picking one up, and is worth a roster spot in anything but shallow ten team mixed leagues even if he doesn't.

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Pickup and Drop Ideas For Thursday 5/19/11

Last Thursday's Droppable Player - Jorge Posada - Catcher - New York Yankees - 3/7 - .429 Avg- 1 Run - 0 HR - 0 RBI - 0 SB- ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - -0.47
Last Thursday's Pickup - Chris Iannetta - Catcher - Colorado Rockies - 3/14 - .214 Avg - 1 Run - 0 HR - 1 RBI - 0 SB - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - N/A
(Player Rater Numbers from 7 day period not including Wednesday's games.  Stats updated for last 7 through Wednesday)

Last weeks column was deleted in blogger's outage last week, but I offered up Posada for you to drop and Iannetta as a pickup and it has worked out.  While Podada had a better average, he had just half the at bats because of his issues in New York right now.  Between being platooned at DH and his otherwise horrible average, hes losing playing time.  Ianetta played five of seven games and isn't going to lose any playing time. Iannetta is the better long term solution than Posada, and you should add him now before you're late.

This Thursday we are going to be moving along and swiching another pair of outfielders...

Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Pickup And Drop Ideas For Wednesday 5/18/11

Last Wednesday's Droppable Player - Jose Lopez - Third Base - Colorado - 5/11 - .455 Average - 2 Run - 0 Home Runs - 0 Runs Batted In - 1 Stolen Bases - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - 0.72

Last Wednesday's Pickup - Daniel Descalso and Scott Rolen - Third Base - St. Louis and Cincinnati - 10/28 - .357 Average - 3 Runs - 0 Home Run - 5 Run Batted In - 0 Stolen Bases - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - N/A

(Stats as of before Wednesday's games)

Lopez gave you a week of good average, but that's only because he is part of a platoon.  He didn't help you much in the counting categories.  On the other hand, even if you just went from Lopez to Descalso in a deep league you got an upgrade, as Descalso gave you a run and four RBIs over the seven day span, and if you went Descalso then Rolen like i recommended, you picked up three runs and five RBIs along with a solid average to go with it.  Rolen has been on fire in the four days since he came back and should be picked up in standard mixed leagues.  This Wednesday we are going to take a look at starting pitching.  While I write a spot starter column daily, I generally only supply opinions on readily available players when I do that.  Today I'm going to be talking about players owned in more than fifty percent of leagues, one pitcher that shouldn't be owned as much as he is and another who should be owned in every league...

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Pickup And Drop Ideas For Tuesday 5/17/11

Last Tuesday's Droppable Player - Jason Bay - Outfield - 4/21 - .190 Average - 4 Run - 1 Home Run - 1 Run Batted In - 2 Stolen Bases - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - 3.24

Last Tuesday's Pickup - Logan Morrison - Outfield - 4/16 - .250 Average - 2 Runs - 1 Home Runs - 1 Run Batted In - 0 Stolen Bases - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - 0.37

Bay has been better over the last week, but Morrison has only back for four days.  Morrison would have probably driven or scored some more runs to make it even if he was given the extra two days.  We'll look back on this one in another week, as Jason Bay continues to slump and be an expensive part of a dreadful Mets lineup and Morrison works into better shape in the plate after his foot injury.  Today we are going to look at another pair of Outfielders to add and drop...

Fantasy Baseball Hitter Pickup And Drop Ideas For Monday 5/16/11

Last Monday's Droppable Player - Aubrey Huff - 5/16 - .313 Average - 1 Run - 1 Home Run - 4 Runs Batted In - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - 1.39
Last Monday's Pickup - Eric Hosmer - 6/24 - .250 Average - 4 Runs - 2 Home Runs - 5 Runs Batted In - ESPN Player Rater Last 7 Days - 4.36

It's only a week, but Hosmer looks like the better choice than Huff already.  Hosmer is going to keep playing every day in the Royals lineup, and is only going to get better as he gets more accustomed to major league hitting.  While Huff is on the downside of his career, Hosmer is on the upside.  You should have made the move last week, but Huff is still droppable if you can find another good replacement.  This Monday we are going to look at some Shortstops...

Fantasy Baseball Closer Pickup And Drop Ideas For Friday 5/13/11

--Sorry this is late. Blogger being down ruined my normal posting time.

Still not enough time passed to start bragging about my pickups, but Hosmer has hit homers in back to back games and looks to be every bit as good as advertised. Anyways, this week I gave a first base recommendation Monday, an outfield recommendation Tuesday, a third base plan Wednesday, and a catcher switch on Thursday. Today I'm going to offer a pickup and drop recommendation at a position that I haven't looked into so far this year, closers...