Imagine you are in a tight race in a mixed league, and in your search for an edge in the pitching categories, you suddenly discover that you can get CC Sabathia for the stretch run for next to nothing. Of course, that's an absurd proposition, unless you happen to be in one of the three percent of CBSSports.com leagues where Sabathia is still on waivers. Yet there is a starting pitcher who has similar stats who is on waivers in 20 percent of our leagues and in a reserve slot in another 29 percent. This hurler currently has a 3.53 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP, both figures that could easily be confused with Sabathia's. Better yet, if you had this pitcher instead of Sabathia, you probably wouldn't sacrifice any wins, and his strikeout rate is lower by less than one K per nine innings. Even though he has earned a place on this week's "Good Stats, Good Skills" list, mystery pitcher Scott Baker isn't getting the Fantasy appreciation that the Brewers' new ace is, though they have practically been statistical equals this season. In roughly half of our Fantasy leagues, he should be easy -- or free -- to acquire.

While Baker has been added to teams in just three percent of CBSSports.com leagues in the past week, owners in 13 percent of leagues have scrambled to add the soon-to-be-activated Jeff Francis. Baker won't be any help to owners looking to fill a slot in NL-only leagues, but owners in all formats who are rostering Francis should take a second look at their options. His underwhelming 1.7 K/BB and 1.5 HR/9 rates have landed him on the "Poor Stats, Poor Skills" list. While Francis' K/BB is in line with his prior ratios, the home run rate is unusually high for him. With a healthier shoulder, maybe Francis can do a better job keeping the ball in the park, but given the sorry state of his stats, it is advisable to reserve him or pluck a more reliable option from the waiver wire.

With a flurry of trade deadline activity, the Pirates have shaken up their roster considerably. Based on some extreme H/BIP rates scattered throughout the Pittsburgh roster, we can also expect some fluctuations in the stats of some of their players. Two "lucky Bucs" who are likely to see some dropoff in productivity are Brandon Moss and John Grabow. New left fielder Moss is whiffing every third at-bat, so expect his .289 average to plummet. Grabow is currently part of the Pirates' closer committee, but John Russell may reconsider Grabow's role once his 26 percent H/BIP and 1.0 ground ball-to-flyball ratio rise to their normal levels. He is due for a much higher ERA and WHIP. "Irate Pirates," who have been cheated by bad luck so far, include Andy LaRoche and Zach Duke. Both players are rostered in fewer than 15 percent of CBSSports.com leagues, but both should improve enough to be useful pickups in NL-only leagues.

All statistics below are for season-to-date performances through Saturday, August 2.

'Lucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Lucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Ian Stewart, 3B, Colorado 48% 8.0 Dan Wheeler, RP, Tampa Bay 16% 1.71
Brandon Moss, OF, Pittsburgh 42% 5.9 Brandon Morrow, RP, Seattle 17% 1.76
Howie Kendrick, 2B, L.A. Angels 40% 6.3 Justin Duchscherer, SP, Oakland 22% 2.07
Fernando Tatis, 3B/OF, N.Y. Mets 38% 6.6 Justin Masterson, RP, Boston 23% 3.86
Fred Lewis, OF, San Francisco 37% 5.9 Ryan Dempster, SP, Chicago Cubs 25% 2.78
Kelly Shoppach, C, Cleveland 37% 6.6 Kevin Gregg, RP, Florida 25% 2.62
Mike Aviles, SS, Kansas City 37% 6.5 Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, Boston 26% 3.53
Denard Span, OF, Minnesota 37% 6.4 Scott Olsen, SP, Florida 26% 3.95
Edgar Gonzalez, 2B, San Diego 36% 4.5 Greg Smith, SP, Oakland 26% 3.65
Jed Lowrie, SS, Boston 36% 4.7 John Grabow, RP, Pittsburgh 26% 3.77
Unlucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Unlucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Corey Patterson, OF, Cincinnati 19% 2.2 Ramon Troncoso, RP, L.A. Dodgers 42% 3.36
Andy LaRoche, 3B, Pittsburgh 19% 2.6 Clay Buchholz, SP, Boston 36% 5.61
Jonny Gomes, OF, Tampa Bay 20% 4.4 Brian Wilson, RP, San Francisco 35% 4.39
Jeff Clement, C, Seattle 21% 2.6 Nate Robertson, SP, Detroit 35% 5.80
Ronnie Belliard, 2B, Washington 23% 5.2 Arthur Rhodes, RP, Florida 35% 2.79
Kory Casto, OF, Washington 24% 3.4 Bronson Arroyo, SP, Cincinnati 34% 5.70
Mark Ellis, 2B, Oakland 25% 4.3 Carlos Silva, SP, Seattle 34% 5.37
Edwin Encarnacion, 3B, Cincinnati 25% 5.7 Zach Duke, SP, Pittsburgh 34% 5.64
Austin Kearns, OF, Washington 26% 3.2 A.J. Burnett, SP, Toronto 33% 4.18
Eric Bruntlett, SS, Philadelphia 26% 3.4 Glendon Rusch, SP, Colorado 33% 5.17
Good stats, good skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Good stats, good skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Chris Davis, 3B, Texas 30% 7.2 Ramon Ramirez, RP, Kansas City 31% 2.49
Troy Glaus, 3B, St. Louis 29% 6.3 Rafael Perez, RP, Cleveland 29% 3.24
Ramon A. Castro, C, N.Y. Mets 31% 6.0 Matt Cain, SP, San Francisco 30% 3.30
David DeJesus, OF, Kansas City 32% 5.9 Joel Hanrahan, RP, Washington 29% 3.33
Carlos Guillen, 1B, Detroit 32% 5.8 Scott Baker, SP, Minnesota 27% 3.34
Poor stats, poor skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Poor stats, poor skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Michael Bourn, OF, Houston 29% 3.3 Jeremy Sowers, SP, Cleveland 31% 5.90
Jeff Francoeur, OF, Atlanta 27% 3.3 Brett Myers, SP, Philadelphia 30% 5.67
Daric Barton, 1B, Oakland 28% 3.3 Jeff Francis, SP, Colorado 31% 5.51
Carlos Gomez, OF, Minnesota 33% 3.5 Daniel Cabrera, SP, Baltimore 29% 5.04
Alex Cintron, 3B, Baltimore 32% 3.6 Vicente Padilla, SP, Texas 29% 4.96
Glossary
Runs Created per 27 Outs (RC/27) -- An estimate of how many runs a lineup would produce per 27 outs if a particular player occupied each spot in the order; ex. the RC/27 for Miguel Cabrera would predict the productivity of a lineup where Cabrera (or his statistical equal) batted in all nine spots; created by Bill James
Component ERA (ERC) -- An estimate of a what a pitcher's ERA would be if it were based solely on actual pitching performance; created by Bill James
Base Hits per Balls in Play (H/BIP) -- The percentage of balls in play (at bats minus strikeouts and home runs) that are base hits; research by Voros McCracken and others has established that this rate is largely random and has a norm of approximately 30%
Isolated Power -- The difference between slugging percentage and batting average; created by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth
Walk Rate -- Walks / (at bats + walks)
Whiff Rate -- Strikeouts / at bats

Al Melchior was recently a Fantasy columnist and data analyst for Baseball HQ and will be providing advice columns for CBSSports.com. Click here to send him a question. Please put "Melchior" in the subject field.