Red Sox manager Terry Francona elected to bench struggling designated hitter David Ortiz on Thursday against Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano. Fantasy managers should have beaten Francona to the punch.
Ortiz’s woes have spurred a referendum in New England’s sports pages: to sit or not to sit the aging slugger and happy-go-lucky face of the franchise. Even if the Red Sox continue to play Ortiz regularly versus righties, his fantasy value as a strict DH who can’t run or hit for average — even if he does manage somehow to engineer a similar recovery to ’09, when he hit one homer in his first 49 games and 27 in his final 101 — has dwindled to near-nil.
Through his first seven games, Ortiz was batting .154 and slugging .269 with strikeouts in half of his at-bats. At age 34, with the bat speed of someone five years older, it appears Papi Time has caught up to Big Papi.
His handcuffing lack of position eligibility further curtails his usefulness. But the outlook is not so bleak for all of the American League’s full-time designated hitters. Take a look:
Full-time starters
Hideki Matsui, Angels
Matsui’s day in the sun at the Yankees’ ring ceremony may have overshadowed that he still is a dangerous run producer in the middle of the Angels’ lineup, giving no indication that he can’t match the .274-28-90 line he posted with the Bombers last season — even if his protection is worse and he no longer has the Stadium’s short right-field porch to target.
Vladimir Guerrero, Rangers
Health is key for the increasingly brittle Guerrero, but as long as he is playing, he is a .300 hitter with some pop who should score plenty of runs.
Some bench value
Jose Guillen, Royals
Don’t let Guillen’s blistering second week (four straight games with a home run and mutliple hits) fool you — his power is in remission. But batting fourth or fifth for the desperate Royals, he could hit 20 homers and 75 RBIs.
Nick Johnson, Yankees
Johnson’s greatest skill, his ability to get on base, is not typically rewarded in roto scoring, but batting second in the Yankees’ lineup has serious perks in terms of runs and RBIs and his batting average will be serviceable.
Jim Thome, Twins
Expect him to find his way to 20 homers in a part-time role, but he is a play only in very deep or AL-only leagues.
Don’t play
Travis Hafner, Indians
Clevelanders still are looking for the cliff that Hafner fell off. He is a more injury-prone version of Ortiz who plays in a much worse hitter’s park.
Pat Burrell, Rays
He piles up whiffs and not much else. If the Rays contend, they will be forced to phase him out.
Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners
The Kid has more kids than tools at this point, not to mention a righty platoon partner.