A-Rod’s Replacement

March 11, 2009

According to the NY Post, Cody Ransom will replace A-Rod as the starting third basemen for the Yankees to start the season. But does Ransom have any fantasy baseball value?

Photo by Keith Allison, Flickr

Ransom will man the hot corner for at least 24 games (~100 at-bats), and perhaps more if A-Rod’s injury lingers for any length of time. One month of the season is not a lot of time to make a sizable statistical impact, but in deep AL-only leagues where it is a struggle to field a full team of starters, Ransom could have some value.

For those unfamiliar with Ransom, he’s no spring chicken. At 33, he’s cobbled together a career by bouncing back and forth between the majors and the minors for a number of affiliates. He exhibits prodigious raw power, which is counterbalanced by a swing that has more holes than a ratted-out t-shirt.

Last year, in limited playing time in the Bigs, Ransom smacked 4 homers in 43 at-bats. That’s not a big enough sample size to make an accurate projection, but quick math establishes that he was on pace to hit about 60 homers over an entire season. Yet, there’s one thing we know: Ransom is no Babe Ruth. Forget Ruth, he’s not even as good as Tim Teufel.

What about his minor league stats? Ransom has crushed the ball in the minors over the past two seasons. He slugged 28 homers in 2007 and another 22 in 2008. But that’s not unexpected for a player that’s been on the cusp of the major leagues for almost ten years. More telling is Ransom’s inability to make contact with the ball. Indeed, he seems to strike out more often than Jonah Hill in Superbad – 246 K’s over the past two AAA seasons. This has translated into dismal batting averages of .255 and .260 respectively.

If you’re in an AL-Only league, you can pick him up and expect about four homers in April and a miserable batting average. But playing for the Yankees, he should have plenty of RBI and Runs opportunities, and could be decent bench fodder beyond April, particularly if A-Rod’s injury persists. Your best strategy may be to pick him up, pray for a hot start, and trade him to an over-zealous Yankee fan for a full-time player.