If you’re anything like me, trading can sometimes be a scary proposition, especially if your team is shaping up to be a contender. Nothing is worse than an ill-advised trade initiating a team’s downward spiral when maintaining the status quo of players would have been the better option.

As unpleasant as the outcome of a trade can be, equally as displeasing is the feeling of discomfort during negotiations.  I’m sure you’ve felt before the pressure to respond decisively to an offer and maybe even formulate a logical counter of your own when really you just want to avoid making any drastic decisions.

Adam Rosales, 2B/SS, Oakland Athletics
Ownership:  ESPN: 0.4% Yahoo!: 1%  CBS: 4%
2013 Stats: 5 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB, .313 AVG

Although he’s still not an everyday player, Rosales is finding his way into the lineup and producing enough to warrant consideration at middle-infield spots in mixed leagues. In 50 at-bats, he’s slashing an impressive .313/.400/.458 with a home run. And, as you may know, his homer total should really be two, given he was the batter victimized by the Angel Hernandez blown video-review call. It’s worth noting that the glass-boned Jed Lowrie and the ineffective Eric Sogard are currently limiting his playing time, meaning Rosales’ role could easily be expanded in the future. Rosales is currently filling the MI slot on my Tout Wars squad, a 15-team mixer, and could be a decent option for yours as well.

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Daric Barton, 1B, Oakland A’s
Ownership:  ESPN: 0.0% Yahoo!: 0%  CBS: 0%
2013 Stats: 18 R, 3 HR, 21 RBI, 0 SB, .287 AVG (AAA)

The thickly bearded, rocket-armed Josh Reddick has hit the disabled list with a wrist injury, prompting the veteran Barton to be recalled to Oakland. Barton’s past experiences in the majors aren’t pleasant ones, with replacement-level play forcing his demotion in the first half of both 2011 and 2012. Thus far in 2013, he has been playing well at Triple-A, batting .287 with three homers, 21 RBI, and a typical 19 percent walk rate. Barton figures to see playing time at first base when the A’s are facing a righty, but only for the couple of weeks Coco Crisp and Reddick are out. If you are in an AL-only league that uses OBP, he can be mildly exciting. Otherwise, there’s nothing to see here. 

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Evaluating players based on lineup position is a tricky science. On one hand, it can have a dramatic impact on a player’s value. Take a guy batting eighth in an NL lineup, move him second, and it can be as much as a $5 boost. On the other hand, batting lineups are fickle constructs, so sometimes it is best not to put too much stock in where a player is hitting at the moment and focus on skills instead.

Lineup position also has an obvious compounding effect—that is, players who are already hitting well tend to be the ones who benefit from moving up in the order, and vice versa. Still, whether through injury or merit, when a player has moved into a more (or less) favorable hitting position, it’s worth reviewing who has seen their value affected thus far in 2013. 

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David Phelps, SP, New York Yankees
Ownership: ESPN: 0.2% Yahoo!: 5%  CBS: 18%
2013 Stats: 17.0 IP, 1 W, 0 SV, 22 K, 5.29 ERA, 1.47 WHIP

With Ivan Nova landing on the disabled list, Phelps gets his opportunity to prove his stuff can work from the rotation, too. So far, he’s been working out of the bullpen as a long reliever and done a good job of missing bats with 22 strikeouts in 17 innings. However, he’s also been quite hittable and fairly wild, allowing 17 hits and eight walks, which has led to an ERA above 5.00. Still, some of that can be attributed to poor luck, and historically he’s shown great control in the minors, so Phelps has the potential to be solid fourth starter. In AL-only and 14-plus-team mixed leagues, he’s certainly worth owning. In shallower formats, I’d at least start him for his first attempt against the Astros tomorrow and go from there.

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Ryan Roberts, 2B/3B, Tampa Bay Rays
Ownership:  ESPN: 0.1% Yahoo!: 2%  CBS: 5%
2013 Stats: 4 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB, .304 AVG

The Rays lineup is chaotic right now, with few players holding steady, everyday roles. However, one thing that was steady in the recent, three-game sweep of the A’s was Roberts manning second base. The tatted fan-favorite played his role in the sweep, collecting four hits and driving in a couple of runs while batting second. And, as I’m writing this, he just hit his second home run off of CC Sabathia. Roberts is known for bursts of offensive production, and this week, with the Rays playing a full slate of games, he is a good bet to deliver solid stats. His playing time won’t be helped by the return of Luke Scott in a week or a possible call-up of Brandon Guyer or Wil Myers, so Roberts is just a one-week plug-and-play for anyone in need of a MI bat.

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Evaluating players based on lineup position is a tricky science. On the one hand, moving up or down in the order can have a dramatic impact on a player’s value. For example: Take a guy batting eighth in a National League lineup, move him up to second, and the result could be as much as a $5 boost. On the other hand, batting lineups are fickle constructs, so sometimes it is best not to take too much stock in where a player is hitting at the moment and focus on his skills instead.

Lineup position also has an obvious compounding effect—that is, players who are already hitting well tend to be the ones that benefit from moving up in the order, and vice versa. Still, if, whether through injury or merit, a player has moved into a more (or less) favorable hitting position, it’s worth reviewing the effects of those changes.

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Maicer Izturis, IF, Toronto Blue Jays
Ownership:  ESPN: 3.6% Yahoo!: 5%  CBS: 8%
2013 Stats: 3 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB, .194 AVG

Jose Reyes’ ankle injury is causing all sorts of shuffling in the Toronto lineup. One positive side effect is Jose Bautista potentially gaining third-base eligibility, with two starts at the hot corner over the weekend. The speedy Rajai Davis also figures to receive more starts in the outfield as a result. At first glance, you might think the injury also opens significant playing time for Izturis, but that might not be the case.

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Although the season began a little over a week ago, for the purposes of this column, we’re going to pretend it starts today. Any stats a player has accumulated thus far are worthless to the extent that they don’t shift our perception of him going forward. This early in the season, that change shouldn’t be too large. But injuries, playing time shifts, and outlier performances should be considered, even as early as April 11. I give credit to Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski, whose excellent Shuffle Up series inspired much of the format of this piece.

Today, I’ll handle the middle infielders, and throughout the season I’ll cover all positions. To help both those in mixed and -only leagues, the distribution of dollar amounts will reflect AL and NL-only league settings. In this way, bunching around the $1 mark won’t occur, and marginal differences between lower-ranked players can be appreciated.

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Each week, two members of the BP fantasy team will provide a rundown of potentially valuable players that are available as free agents in most fantasy formats across the major platforms. We will run one column on the National League and one on the American League each week, with Josh Shepardson tackling the senior circuit on Mondays and Paul Singman focusing on the junior circuit on Tuesdays.

Kelvin Herrera, RP, Kansas City Royals
Ownership: ESPN: 3.1% Yahoo!: 42% CBS: 31%
2013 Stats: 3.1 IP, 0 W, 0 SV, 7 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP

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Making bold predictions for an upcoming season isn’t a novel idea. In fact, if you look across the interwebs, you’ll find plenty of other people’s lists of daring prognostications. The only difference here is that mine will actually come true. Levity aside, I’ll be sure to revisit this list at the end of the season. My hope is that by that time, around two or three of these will have been fulfilled.

Here are 10 wild and crazy things I believe will take place over the course of the 2013 season:

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This season I’m participating in three notable industry leagues. For the fifth time, I’ll be in the Yahoo Friends & Family League (previous finishes: fourth, fourth, 12th, and sixth) and for the second year I’ll be competing in the Tout Wars Mixed League (previous finish: T-fifth). This year I’ve added to that slate the Razzball Expert League, in its second year of existence.

It’s a relatively tame 12-team mixer with one catcher, five outfield slots, one CI, one MI, one UTIL, and nine pitchers. As a slight twist, there’s a 180 games started limit, but that has relatively little effect given I wouldn’t plan to roster more than six starters anyway. With just three bench slots and one DL, there isn’t much leeway to mess around waiting for the Mark Teixeiras and Brandon Beachys to return.

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