The first post of this 2010 fantasy baseball season here was an introduction to my method of finding deep sleepers (or ‘narcos’ as I call them). Then, throughout the past 2 months, I’ve discussed the strengths and weaknesses of many of them. So, with spring training in full swing, let’s take another look at the original list:
Kyle Blanks
Julio Borbon
Jake Fox
Brett Gardner
Jonny Gomes
Carlos Gonzalez
Chris Iannetta
Garrett Jones
Angel Pagan
Ryan Raburn
David Ross
Randy Ruiz
Seth Smith
Andres Torres
Some of these names will have fairly insignificant roles in 2010 but there are a few who looks like they have a a starting job in some capacity: Kyle Blanks, Julio Borbon, Brett Gardner, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Iannetta, and Garret Jones. I think it is likely that there will be a breakout from a couple names in that group. The hype train has already arrived for CarGo, Borbon and Garret Jones but, despite their roles, Gardner, Blanks and Iannetta still bring an element of surprise and juicy late-round potential.
Meanwhile, the jury is still out on what role certain players will have like Jake Fox, Jonny Gomes and Ryan Raburn but it seems that they are bets not worth making at this point in time due to various players standing in the way of their playing time.
So, personally, my draft plan this year is to try to get either Gonzalez, Borbon or Jones in the middle rounds. Towards the tail end of the draft, I’ll put a target on Gardner, Blanks or Iannetta. And, I’ll decide to pass on drafting Fox, Gomes and Raburn but will keep a very close eye on them for possible waiver wire pickup at the first sign of any good news. My goal is to not get all of these guys because that’s putting too many eggs into one strategy but I’m not afraid to make small investments in as many of these players as I’m able to.
