Bottom of the Barrel - N.L. Edition

When you're in an only league, the free agents typically stink.

Any ideas for a replacement for Mat Gamel in an NL only league? Conor Gillaspie would be the best bet add now with Pablo Sandoval out for a stretch, but who do you like among part-timers? I think I'm down to Yamaico Navarro, Joe Mather, Jonathan Herrera, or Jason Giambi. It's an ugly choice, but it's all I've got in a deep league.

I know, I know.

In Tout Wars (N.L.-only), the best hitting free agents are probably Travis Ishikawa, Gillaspie and Bobby Abreu. Beyond those three, I wouldn't argue with your choice regardless of who it was. Pete Orr? Blake DeWitt? OK, fine by me.

The scene in my home league is a little better since we can't stash active Major Leaguers, but not by very much. Adding Marwin Gonzalez to my list of choices doesn't make my stomach hurt any less.

When I'm looking for an injury replacement, I'm typically looking for playing time over anything else. There are a few exceptions (an empty .230 batting average from a starting catcher is a big no), but for the most part grabbing those runs/RBI that will generally fall in over 15+ AB a week trumps anything else.

Mather seemed like the guy most likely to get PT after Marlon Byrd was traded, but he's glued to the bench this week. As a speculative pick, he's probably your best play even if he's not getting the time right now. Everyone else is a matter of preference. With Pedro Alvarez hitting, Navarro probably won't play much (though he does have nine AB so far this week). Herrera won't spell Marco Scutaro much and we're not close enough to interleague time yet to consider Giambi, even with that home run this week. I think I'd go in that order - Mather, Navarro, Herrera, Giambi - though it's clearly a preference with guys like this. You could completely reverse the order and I'd be fine with that.