You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Dear Mr. Fantasy in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state.
Those who get greedy get nothing.
It's true in plenty of real-world situations, but it also applies to the world of Fantasy, particularly the art of trading.
Remember that the point of making a trade is to improve your team, not rip off your opponent for everything he's worth. So when a brilliant offer falls in your lap, don't try to squeeze more out of it. Just take the dang deal before your opponent takes it back.
Case in point ...
I have a plethora of outfielders in my mixed points league: Carlos Lee, Grady Sizemore, Alex Rios, Hideki Matsui, Jason Bay, Matt Kemp, Adam Dunn and I even had the foresight to stick Jay Bruce on my bench a few weeks back. I could use some help at SP (my current ace is Ben Sheets or Daisuke Matsuzaka) and have been offered Johan Santana for Kemp and Bruce. I think I might want to hold on to one of these young guys and counter with Matsui and Kemp or Bruce. What would you do? -- Dave Rockliff, North Vancouver, Canada
SW: Why would you want to nitpick like that, Dave, when you have so many viable outfielders? Do you have to start six or something? I mean, you're getting Johan Santana -- arguably the best player at the position you happen to need -- for a couple of spare parts. Don't go changing the terms and risk having your opponent back out altogether, especially since neither Kemp nor Bruce has a clear advantage over Matsui -- not for this year, anyway. Simply count your blessings and click "accept."
I've got both Luke Scott and Mark Teahen reserved on my team, I'd like to dump one and pick up Marco Scutaro as a reserve infielder. Which bum should I dump? -- Mike
SW: Well, without getting too sidetracked on Scutaro -- who will lose his starting job as soon as David Eckstein comes off the disabled list this week and, with it, any of his inconsequential Fantasy appeal -- Teahen is the "bum" to drop here. I could understand you holding out hope for him going into the season, thinking he'd never hit seven home runs in 544 at-bats again, but when he has only three in 178 at-bats this season, time to face the truth -- his power is a distant memory. Scott can at least still hit the occasional home run, and based on his streaky nature, he'll probably get hot soon.
I currently have Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano, Nate McLouth and Carlos Quentin in my outfield, and I can only start three. Who do I sit? -- Noah Siegel, Teaneck, N.J.
SW: No doubt, you have a real dilemma, Noah. You obviously can't sit McLouth or Quentin, which would have sounded ridiculous at the beginning of the season, but they've just been too hot for too long not to trust by now. And depending how heavily your league rewards stolen bases -- for example, if you get two points instead of one -- I'd actually start Crawford over Soriano. Check to see how their stats compare in your format, though. If you play in a Rotisserie league, I'd alternate between the two based on your immediate needs for home runs and stolen bases.
In the Head-to-Head league I am competing in, the closers I originally drafted, Manny Corpas and Rafael Soriano, fell apart rather quickly. But from the waiver wire, I was able to acquire Jose Valverde and George Sherrill. Currently on the wire are B.J. Ryan, Troy Percival and Joe Borowski. Should I pull the trigger and dump Sherrill for one of these three, thinking his number of saves is some sort of anomaly? -- Curtis Sebastian
SW: I drafted the same deadly duo in one of my leagues but ended up with only Brian Fuentes and Brian Wilson. I envy your position. If you still have a chance to grab Ryan in your league, you have to do it. His recovery from Tommy John surgery has gone a bit understated, considering his 0.56 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 20 strikeouts in 16 innings indicate he's already back to his old form. And his saves have spiked since the Blue Jays cleared him to work on back-to-back days. I again rank him among the elite closers. And yes, I consider Sherrill's save total an anomaly.
I have Roy Oswalt in a 5x5 league, and his numbers to date are far worse than any of my other starters. I have a chance to pick up Rich Harden, Gavin Floyd or Daniel Cabrera off the waiver wire. I know Harden is always an injury risk, and Cabrera's "breakout season" has been expected for quite a while but hasn't materialized. Would you suggest dropping Oswalt to add one of those two? -- Jerry Jones, Phoenix
SW: Not in a million years, Jerry. Don't get me wrong -- Oswalt's WHIP and strikeout rate have trended in the wrong direction over the last two years, suggesting he might not be a slam-dunk Fantasy ace anymore, but he still pitches deep into games and pitches well more often than not. He had a rough three-start stretch at the beginning of the season and has allowed 11 hits in each of his last two starts, but during his six starts in between, he compiled a 3.51 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, striking out 36 batters in 41 innings. Expect him to level off at about those numbers, maybe with a higher WHIP and lower ERA.
Trade question. Head-to-Head mixed league, quite deep. I'm proposing to trade away Alex Rodriguez for Jimmy Rollins. I can move Garrett Atkins to third base, and my current shortstop is Stephen Drew. I think this is a no-brainer, but your thoughts? Thanks. -- Travis Almandinger
SW: No-brainer? Not so fast. Unless you have no place to start Atkins in your current situation -- like at corner infield, DH, etc. -- I'd probably stick with what I have in a Head-to-Head league, where stolen bases don't have nearly as much value as they do in Rotisserie. If you had an absolute bum at shortstop, I could understand, but I think you underestimate the usefulness of Drew and his .523 slugging percentage, especially in a "quite deep" league. Nothing against Rollins, a personal favorite of mine, but he doesn't have the power of A-Rod, who might hit twice as many home runs the rest of the way.
I was wondering if you believe David Murphy and Milton Bradley are the real deal? I recently picked up Bradley to replace injured Vernon Wells, and he is doing unbelievably well. But I also noticed how good Murphy is doing. Should I keep Bradley or invest in Murphy? -- Riley Martin
SW: Bradley has become an absolute beast and is grossly underrated in Fantasy right now. I understand he has a terrible history of injuries and think you should keep that in mind, but his 1.005 OPS is one of the best in baseball -- and that's after he broke out with a .948 mark last season. Murphy, meanwhile, is probably playing a little over his head. His .808 OPS is, relatively speaking, pathetic, and he never hit more than 14 home runs in the minors. Stick with Bradley.
I play in a Head-to-Head categorical league. Every team starts three starting pitchers and two relief pitchers, but some teams have started putting starting pitchers who qualify as relief pitchers into relief-pitcher slots. My question is whether or not this should be considered a manipulation of the rules or just the way the game goes? -- Billy Majoue, Metairie, La.
SW: I'm not sure if I keep fielding questions from members of the same league or what, but hopefully I can finally put this issue to rest. I don't know if you've noticed, Billy, but your league makes its own rules. If any starting pitchers qualify as relief pitchers, your commissioner probably made it so they could. And even if he didn't, your league could decide on a rule -- before next year's draft, mind you -- that states Fantasy teams can only use pitchers in their real-life roles. I play in leagues that chose to go in different directions on this same rule and enjoy the varying strategies involved in each.
Wasn't Johan Santana supposed to get well over 20 wins this year? What is going on?! -- Brett McMillan, Columbus, Ohio
SW: Bad luck more than anything else, Brett, and that's kind of the rub on wins -- luck. Personally, I preach going into a draft focusing on strikeouts and WHIP and letting the wins fall where they may. You just can't predict them -- not with any real certainty, anyway. Don't worry too much about Santana, though. With his sixth win Tuesday, he's not too far off pace.
I have both Rick Ankiel and Skip Schumaker on my roster. Everyone seems to love Ankiel, but Schumaker has better stats at this point. I am tempted to start Ankiel but am hesitating. Mr. Fantasy, please help me out. -- Joel Wilkins, Lansing, Mich.
SW: It's true. In some rare leagues -- usually ones that count walks and strikeouts for hitters -- Schumaker actually has more Fantasy points to date than Ankiel. But he doesn't by much, and you have to compare how they earn their points. Ankiel scores his via power, and his eight home runs so far probably shortchange his potential, meaning his point output should increase in the near future. Schumaker, on the other hand, earned the majority of his points during a particularly torrid stretch in mid-April when he hit .429 in 14 games. Since then, his point output has decreased as his batting average has leveled off in the .290 range. So with Ankiel due to increase and Schumaker continuing to decrease, you have to expect Ankiel to surpass Schumaker soon. Start Ankiel.
You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Dear Mr. Fantasy in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state.