Pierre Gets His Shot

In a correlation to the Manny Ramirez suspension, Juan Pierre is the most immediate beneficiary. Pierre, doomed to a fourth outfielder role that saw him accumulate only 31 at-bats before today, will now be the everyday left fielder until early July, barring a trade. To say that the downgrade from a real baseball perspective from Ramirez to Pierre is a small one is an obvious understatement, but Pierre has fantasy value, and fantasy owners should not forget about him. To those that drafted him in NL-only leagues, good for you, because you now have a starting-caliber mixed league outfielder for the next 50 games.

I talked about this over a month ago, when I stated that Juan Pierre was a possible sleeper candidate because all he needed was an opportunity to play to be a mixed league player. He now has this opportunity. If he does what he usually does, which is hit in the neighborhood of .300 with a lot of steals, he's not only going to be helping his fantasy owners, but he will be more valuable to other teams to acquire via trade. In other words, he could be a starter for more than just 50 games. There's also the possibility that Manny won't play for the Dodgers again; we don't have all of the details yet in this story, so you never know.

The bottom line is that Pierre is now a recommended add in mixed leagues. He's likely to bat 8th in the order most games, so temper your expectations for runs scored, but expect close to a .300 average and about one steal per three games played (or 2-3 steals per week). Owners in need of a stolen base infusion would do well to snatch up Pierre.