Fantasy Baseball Diary: Free Agent Pickups for Week 3

I added a new wrinkle to this weeks Free Agents Pickups by adding the ownership percentage (in NFBC Leagues) for each player. The format of the player capsules are now: name, position, team, percent owned.  

Edward Mujica, RP, Cardinals, 20%: This is the easiest pickup for every fantasy owner to make because he earned a save last night. Since Spring Training, when Trevor Rosenthal was put in the bullpen and Jason Motte began having elbow problems I thought it would only be a matter of time before Rosenthal would become the closer for the Cardinals. He has all the qualities to be an elite closer; a 80 grade fastball (on the scouting scale) with a solid cutter and curveball that play up because of the fastball. Rosenthal has struggled this year, giving up five earned runs in 9.2 innings. His struggles, coupled with the struggles of Mitchell Boggs has left the door open for Edward Mujica to become the closer. Mujica is solid reliever who misses plenty of bats while hardly walking anyone (3.9% walk rate since 2010). When it comes to closers, opportunity is often equally important to skill and it appears he’ll get an opportunity. I still believe Rosenthal will have the most saves for the Cardinals at the end of the year.

Carlos Marmol, RP, Cubs, 63%: Carlos Marmol’s struggles have been well documented. However, he pitched the 9^th inning with a four run lead on Thursday and has not allowed a run in his last five outings. His primary competition for saves, Kyuji Fujikawa, is the on DL and the team doesn’t have a better alternative. Marmol can be a maddening pitcher to watch because at times he can be as unhittable as Craig Kimbrell (32.2 percent strikeout rate since 2008) and other times he can be as hittable as Joe Blanton or Tommy Hanson (15.8 percent walk rate since 2008), but if the Cubs want to trade him at the deadline they will see more in return if he has achieved a high save total.

Felix Doubront, SP, Red Sox, 70%: Despite having a 4.50 ERA Felix Doubront has looked a lot better than his numbers would indicate. His walk rate has improved from 10 percent to 8.7 percent and his strikeout rate has improved from 23.6 percent last year to 28.3 percent. His fastball command has improved to the point where he’s consistently pitching up and the outer half of the strike zone to right handed hitters. His next four matchups are favorable: Houston, @Toronto, Minnesota and Toronto. Toronto is no longer the high powered offensive juggernaut with Jose Reyes on the DL and Jose Bautista in and out of the lineup with a sore back. He was extremely homer prone last year, but so far this season he has only allowed one home run.

Alberto Callaspo, 3B, Angels, 42%: Despite not playing for the past five games he is someone you should add if you’re in need of runs. When he last played he batted leadoff, in front of Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton, so it’s possible that when he is ready to return to game action he could be in line to score a lot of runs. He doesn’t have overly impressive offensive skills, but he has the ability to hit ten home runs, steal bases and hit for a batting average that won’t hurt your team. It’s possible he could go on the DL, but by the time FAAB period starts on Sunday we should know his playing status.

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