Warm Bodies

I've talked about this earlier in the year, but imho chimed in last week as well:

Given the weak options in the free agent poll of deeper AL-Only leagues, any player with any potential to contribute will be scooped-up quickly.

I thought I'd look at my regular A.L. and check this phenomenon out. How many teams would rather let an injured player or minor leaguer clog a roster spot, and how many will suck any player off of the free agent pool?

Team	Inj.	Rep.	Inj. Players	Replaced By
1	3	3	Travis Buck Eric Chavez Jeremy Accardo	David Dellucci Andy Marte Rafael Perez
2	2	2	Joe Borowski Jorge Posada	Brandon Morrow Jamie Burke
3	1	0	Nick Punto
4	3	3	Hank Blalock Kelvim Escobar Howie Kendrick	Melvin Mora* Masa Kobayashi Willie Bloomquist
5	1	1	Fernando Rodney	Aaron Laffey
6	7	5	John McDonald Joel Zumaya Jacques Jones Rich Harden Al Reyes Scott Baker David Eckstein	Freddy Bynum Scott Linebrink Ben Francisco Paul Byrd Matt Albers
7	5	5	Marlon Byrd Dan Johnson Kevin Millwood Adam Loewen Clay Buchholz	Sean Rodriguez German Duran Alan Embree Frank Francisco Joey Devine
8	3	3	Ben Broussard Phil Hughes Chris Ray	Alex Cintron Phil Hughes Gavin Floyd
9	4	3	Scott Moore Jerry Owens Jake Westbrook Santiago Casilla	Mike Sweeney Jarrod Saltalamacchia** Armando Galarraga
10	4	3	Vernon Wells Danny Richar Pat Neshek Matt Tolbert	Juan Rivera Matt Tolbert Kason Gabbard
11	5	5	Jason Botts Alex Rodriguez Rocco Baldelli Josh Fields Curt Schilling	Brian Anderson Jack Hannahan Gabe Gross Jay Payton Kyle Farnsworth
12	2	2	Wilson Betemit Chris Denorfia	Chris Shelton Brandon Boggs

*Replaced through trade
**Farm player

You have to squint pretty hard to see the open slots. Team #6 is already in dump mode. That leaves three injured players who weren't replaced, and two of these players are middle infielders.

What will be worth looking at at the end of the year, is the ROI on these players. It's obvious that Curt Schilling should be reserved, but Kyle Farnsworth hardly seems like the answer. Guys like Brandon Boggs and Gavin Floyd worked out nicely, but weren't guys many serious analysts would have endorsed at the time they were picked up.

But that's why we snatch these guys up. We're always optimistic with our pick-ups, and it's worth taking a stab at Boggs instead of just sitting on a dead spot. If Boggs doesn't work out, we curse the fates but try again in a week or two.