Fantasy Baseball Week 1: The Brandon Moss Edition plus 1B Waiver Wire Options!

My name is Phil Naessens and for nearly 2 years I've had the privilege of working with your new Managing Editor Alex Hall on my radio show. His energy and enthusiasm for not only his beloved Oakland Athletics but also for the game of baseball is contagious. I appreciate it and him very much as I'm sure you do as well.

I always wanted to write for AN but didn't have the stones to ask Tyler so I settled for just doing my show with Alex. Last week when he told me he was going to be the new Managing Editor I joked and said "now maybe I can write a guest post" and knowing that I'm a Fantasy Sports writer and junkie he said "what about a Fantasy Baseball column".

Of course I said yes and here we are. What I'm going to try to accomplish here each and every Sunday morning is highlight an Oakland A or two every week (It is an Oakland A's site, right?) and then give you Fantasy Owners a couple of waiver wire options to plug injury spots and maybe a sleeper or two. I'll also try and answer your Fantasy Baseball questions either here or on my weekly Fantasy Baseball radio show called Fantasy Baseball Weekly.

This question came in the other day regarding Brandon Moss.

Dear Phil,

I'm a big fan of Brandon Moss and yesterday I read that he was ranked #97 on many Fantasy Baseball sites but was taken in the 20^th round in my league draft. I play in a standard 5x5 head to head points league. Why the disparity? Thanks in advance.

This is fairly common in Fantasy Baseball and in a league like yours its surprising he went that late. This season first base is relatively deep with several players having dual eligibility and it's easy for a player with big number capability like Moss to simply get lost in the shuffle amongst the names like Carlos Santana, Buster Posey and Joe Mauer and even more so in a 10 team league. Whoever did grab him definitely got a steal that's for sure.

One of the problems with Moss is that he doesn't walk much and strikes out quite a bit. It's usually all or nothing for him which scares some people driving his value down. The other problem is that he doesn't hit lefties very well (he did go bomb against one this spring) which forces A's Manager Bob Melvin to sit him against lefties and platoon type of situations are a killer to your Fantasy numbers. What Moss does have in his favor is that he hits a bunch of bombs and drives in runs. He is 100% owned across the boards so people are drafting him it's just he's getting chosen much later than expected for all the reasons I've just described.

Below are a couple of first basemen I'm keeping an eye on this week.

Chris Carter 1B Houston: Last season Carter struck out in 36.2% of his plate appearances last season but the plus side for him is that when he isn't striking out he's producing numbers good enough to stay in the Astros lineup and that, as well as being owned in less than 50% of Fantasy Leagues, makes him a good 1B option. (Stats)

Justin Morneau 1B Colorado: Morneau was headed for what I thought was a Hall of Fame career and then got beaned. Since than he hasn't returned to the big numbers he put up earlier but he will be the Rockies everyday 1B which means plenty of at bats and opportunities to score points for your Fantasy Roster. He's currently less than 50% owned so keep an eye on him. (Stats)

James Loney 1B Tampa Bay: Of the three Loney probably has the highest upside. Last season he hit for average (.299) power (13 bombs) and drove in 75 runs. He'll strike out a bit but he's their everyday first baseman and is 17.7% owned and if he can prove last seasons resurgence wasn't a fluke might be a good option this season. (Stats)

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Good luck this week Fantasy Owners!