Around the Horn Pick Ups

This weekly article gives you some options if you need a stop gap player at a position, or are looking to ride someone who is hot for a while

Catcher-Usually at the catcher position you have to find an area where a player can help you it is very rare you will find players that can help you in several categories. Well Carlos Ruiz is an excellent add for those who need some help in average and on base percentage. Throughout the first month of the season he has a league leading .481 OBP and batting .354 he can help give a boost to your team in those areas, also batting in a great line up in Philly he should score some runs. If you’re a Kurt Suzuki owner looking for a boost until he comes off the DL consider Ruiz

First Base-If you looking for some pop to your fantasy lineup start thinking about adding Troy Glaus of the Atlanta Braves in his last 6 games he has 4 multi hit games, he has homered twice and has had 8 RBI Even back when he was struggling he was hitting the ball hard. With no one to really push him for playing time in Atlanta look for him to start to show flashes of his old self

Second Base-Mike Aviles of Kansas City is a Hit machine since he has been called up to the big club with 12 hits in 28 at bats he is batting .429 and looking to regain his 2008 form where he hit .325 with 10 homers and 51 rbi’s….start thinking of this guy Beckham owners

Shortstop-Ian Desmond of the Nats is quietly starting to figure out major league pitching, so far in May he is hitting .267 with a .333 On base percentage which is significantly higher than the .246 & .307 marks he put up in April, he also has hit a couple of long balls and is looking more comfortable at the plate for the sneaky good Nationals

Thirdbase- 7 homeruns and 23 RBI sounds great from someone at the hot corner, if you can just focus on the power numbers and ignore the Mendoza hovering average Jose Bautista is the add you want. Ride him while he is driving the ball and on this power surge. He could turn out to be a Russ Branyan type of player.

Outfielder-Dizzy aka J.D. Drew probably caught his most recent bout of vertigo from rounding bases lately kiss the poor April numbers good bye. In May J.D. has hit .472 and scored 12 runs in 10 games. Don’t worry about the vertigo either after sitting out a game with it, he returned and went 2 for 4 with an RBI…as long as vertigo medicine isn’t on the banned substance list add Drew with confidence

Pitching- My add of the week for Pitcher is the first major leaguer to 7 wins, Tyler Clippard. During spring training if I told you by the second week of May a National will have 7 wins everybody would of thought Strasburg but Clippard has been nearly as un hittable with 30 strikeouts in 24 innings and a era under 2 I’d rather roster Clippard then a struggling Bobby Jenks or Brian Fuentes

Need advice send us a email at Fantasyfanfocus@yahoo.com and look for our weekly advice column to see if your question made it

Why you Should Add Starlin Castro

Look I’m not one to usually buy into the Rookie hype, especially hype around Chicago Cubs prospects. But you should seriously think twice before you skip out on a chance to land Starlin Castro of the Chicago Cubs.

I'm not saying if you were lucky enough on draft day to land Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, or Derek Jeter that you should add Starlin. But if you have Jimmy Rollins who is on the DL, hoping that Adsrubal Cabrera starts to hit, or got stuck with a player such as Yunel Escobar for your starting shortstop you could do worse than the young Shortstop for the Cubs.

Yes it’s true other Cubs rookies have burned me in the past such as Felix Pie, Corey Patterson, Kevin Orie, Hee-sop Choi, the list goes on and on. However I will put my trust in Jim Hendry because I truly think Castro has a shot to be a serviceable short stop that won't hurt you in too many areas in fantasy baseball.

A reasonable comparison I would make would be to Elvis Andrus, the second year Rangers short stop who is tearing it up this year. As a rookie Andrus hit .267 stole 33 bases, hit 6 long balls, and drove in 40 runs. I could see Castro hitting for a higher average and if Lou Pinella ever takes the hand cuffs off the Rookie the speed is there to steal 20 bases. Starlin is lucky enough to inherit Rudy Jaromillo who also had Andrus in his rookie year. Jaromillo is one of the best in the business and will surely help Castro excel and keep him consistent. I mean after all Castro is living with Alfonso Soriano look what Jaromillo has done for him.

Castro has started his Major League Career on fire in his first 5 games he is 6 for 18 with as many walks as strike outs (2). He recently batted second in the Cubs lineup and if he produces I can see him as a permanent fixture in the 2 hole. Eventually Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez are going to hit and that means some runs scored for Castro. The only thing hindering this Cubs prospect from shining is his defense thus far he has 5 errors but the Cubbies seem to be willing to live through some growing pains with Starlin.

If he finishes the rest of the season in the Big Leagues I see a final line on Castro being .303BA 10HR 40RBI 20SB 67R. This would be a serviceable fit for all of us who are just waiting for Alex Gonzalez to come back to earth or for those of us that forgot to get a solid short stop on draft day.

If this all blows up in Hendry's face (and mine) let the Vitters countdown begin!