Advertisement

Shuffle Up: Hot Toddy Frazier

Shuffle Up: Hot Toddy Frazier

The usual Shuffle Up rules apply. Today, we tackle the corners. Assume a 5x5 scoring format. What we care about is value forward; everything to this point is merely an audition.

Catchers were taken out of these ranks; they have their own spot.

Remember the golden rule - someone doesn't gain (or lose) 15-20 percent of bonus value simply because you own them.

$31 Miguel Cabrera
$30 Paul Goldschmidt
$29 Edwin Encarnacion
$28 Jose Abreu
$26 Victor Martinez
$25 Adrian Beltre
$21 Anthony Rizzo
$21 Freddie Freeman
$20 Todd Frazier
$19 Brandon Moss
$19 Kyle Seager
$19 Josh Donaldson

While Frazier's .284 average is the high end of his range, at least it's partially supported by a raise in his line-drive rate. The meandering on the bases (11-for-16) isn't completely justified by the success rate, but if the Reds don't mind, we don't mind. Batting-average protection is a much-debated topic (some would argue it's already been debunked), but Frazier hitting second in the Reds lineup - in front of Joey Votto, at that - seems like a good place to be. Frazier has a .293/.346/.543 line in that assignment this year, over 28 games (22 runs, eight homers, 20 RBIs). Bottom line, even if Frazier falls off in the second half, I don't think it will be by much.

$18 Daniel Murphy
$18 Evan Longoria
$18 Chris Davis
$17 Lonnie Chisenhall
$17 Justin Morneau
$17 Matt Adams
$17 David Ortiz
$16 Albert Pujols
$16 Adrian Gonzalez
$16 Mike Napoli
$15 Joey Votto
$15 Anthony Rendon
$14 Mark Teixeira
$13 Matt Carpenter
$13 Aramis Ramirez
$13 Allen Craig
$12 Pablo Sandoval
$12 Pedro Alvarez
$12 Billy Butler
$12 Adam Lind
$12 Michael Morse
$12 Manny Machado
$11 Brock Holt
$11 Steve Pearce
$11 Eric Hosmer

If you want ground balls, Craig and Hosmer are your homies. Wait, no one wants ground balls from their corner slugger . . . Lind is a very valuable player if you have time to platoon him against righties. He's in a super lineup, and generally crushes with the platoon advantage . . . Rendon picks up an extra buck or two for the 2B eligibility . . . Alvarez's lefty gap is still present; for his career, it's .201/.275/.331. He is what he is at this point.

$10 Ryan Howard
$10 Kendrys Morales
$9 Juan Francisco
$9 Adam LaRoche
$9 C.J. Cron
$9 Martin Prado
$9 Ryan Zimmerman
$8 Casey McGehee
$8 Nick Castellanos
$8 Lucas Duda
$8 Nick Swisher
$8 Josh Harrison
$7 James Loney
$7 Matt Dominguez
$7 Xander Bogaerts
$7 Conor Gillaspie
$6 Chris Carter
$6 Chris Johnson
$6 Adam Dunn
$5 Ike Davis
$5 Chase Headley
$5 Jon Singleton
$5 Juan Uribe

Other than versatility and a solid average, I don't see much to recommend Prado. There's no category juice here (three homers, one steal), and he can't play the unlucky card with the BABIP gods - he's at .308 there. The only year he ran was 2012 (17 steals); that's the outlier . . . Singleton has crushed a few balls over the fence, but otherwise it's been a rough opening month: .200/.274/.388, four errors in the field, 33 strikeouts. He's still a work in progress, and not someone I care to chase for 2014 only. . . Gillaspie's been a strange player for two years: last year he showed pop (13 homers in 408 at-bats) with a puny average, and this year he's an average helper (.317, with a .358 OBP) but doesn't have a homer. But with 19 doubles on board, you have to give him a chance to knock 7-10 over the fence the rest of the way.

$4 Garrett Jones
$4 Cody Asche
$4 Mike Moustakas
$4 Kelly Johnson
$3 Luis Valbuena
$3 DJ LeMahieu
$3 Mike Aviles
$3 Tommy Medica
$3 Adam Duvall
$2 Mark Reynolds
$2 Yonder Alonso
$2 Eduardo Escobar
$2 John Mayberry
$2 Logan Morrison
$2 Kyle Blanks
$2 Justin Smoak
$2 Mike Olt
$2 Eric Chavez
$1 Sean Rodriguez
$1 Jeff Baker
$1 Eduardo Nunez
$1 Gaby Sanchez
$1 Chris Parmelee
$1 Lyle Overbay
$1 David Freese
$1 Paul Konerko
$1 Carlos Pena
$0 Mitch Moreland

Here are the courtest ranks, not for debate. I realize Wright isn't on the DL, but no one really knows where he's at right now.

$17 *David Wright
$13 *Nolan Arenado
$12 *Brandon Belt
$10 *Mark Trumbo
$7 *Michael Cuddyer
$6 *Jedd Gyorko
$5 *Brett Lawrie
$2 *Trevor Plouffe
$2 *Emilio Bonifacio