Pronk: Powerless At The Plate & On Your Fantasy Roster
By orleanscardinals at 28 May, 2008, 8:59 pm
I’ve given up on Travis Hafner. The recent news that Hafner’s lingering shoulder problem is still bothering him, coupled by the news that he won’t play until at least Friday (after receiving a cortisone shot Tuesday) and may need a trip to the DL sealed the deal.
Any sort of arm or leg problem usually leads to one result over the course of a fantasy baseball season: a lack of power at the plate.
Just look at Gary Sheffield’s season thus far for another shoulder injury example.
The (good) potential for Hafner to hit 30 HR’s and drive in 100+ RBI is what kept him in the upper tier for utility players and first basemen. The fact that as of May 27th, Hafner is on pace for a 16 HR/80+ RBI season, coupled with a .217 batting average provides little justifiable reason to keep him active on a roster. The lingering shoulder injury should eliminate any doubts.
It may be true that a few days off - even a 15 day DL stint - is enough to get him on track. He could have a hot June or second half of the season for certain.
But in the meantime, if you’re still playing him in your league, you’re probably giving away valuable statistics over the course of eligible at-bats until that happens.
In my roto league, after rejecting a few horrible trade offers, I ended up simply dropping Hafner for what I can only hope was the hastily dropped Conor Jackson (rebounding to bat .429 over the past 4 games). Either way, even if I needed another 1B, there are at least 12 other guys eligible at 1B who currently are outpacing Mr. Pronk and over 50 hitters who could slide into a utility role with better numbers.
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