Ryan Howard was recently cleared to resume baseball activities without a walking boot - a good sign for his fantasy managers. The Big Piece recently went for $12 in my auction ROTO league, and in the 7th round in my H2H snake-draft league. www.fantasypros.com has him at $6 and round 10. I think he will produce somewhere closer to my leagues ratings... Lets call it $10/8th round. Howard has a career .324 baipb; last season his babip was .303; he was fairly unlucky on non K/HR at bats. Aside from the fact that he won't play until at least late May,I think he will still outperform Freddie Freeman, the next player in most rankings even with fewer AB's. Freeman is ranked just ahead of Howard, and I'm not buying it. You should spend the extra $3-4 on Howard, send him to the DL, and pick up another 1B. In, fact I strongly looked at rolling with a Howard/Napoli/Freeman setup. When Big How comes back (after spending 3 months working on his stroke), he should turn his .253 average into something a little closer to his career .275. I can see a .265 average, 26-28 HR, 90 RBI. I seriously doubt they try and run with him this year. I mean the guy averages 42 HR and 120 RBI a season in his career. And it's not like he's never missed any time before. Freeman is going for about $9 and round 10. If Freeman continues to grow into his potential, he will be on the right path with a .280-80-25-85-5 line. I am going to roll with the big man, owner of the 4th highest career slugging % among active players.
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