Pickup of the Day: April 11, 2009

Ok, it's a week into the season. Either you've picked up Emilio Bonifacio or you haven't. Either you've decided to roster Jordan Schafer or you decided he isn't worth it. Personally, I haven't gotten Bonifacio on any of my teams, and I don't really want him. He seems like the typical Chris Shelton of '06 type of guy that will wow for the first month and then fade into oblivion (or as Mike Tyson would say "into Bolivia"). I like Schafer, though. I have him on a few teams and I will go ahead and officially predict that he will win the NL Rookie of the Year.



But neither of these guys are going to be my first in-season POTD. I'm going with...



Adam Lind, OF, TOR



Boring, right? All the suspense, the glamour, the honor of being the first in-seaon pickup, and I'm going with Adam Lind? Really? In a word: Yes. In two words: I know. In three words: He's actually good. Ok, that's three and a half. But who cares? Lind has become the boring odd man out in fantasy discussions. The Jays have Vernon Wells and Alex Rios as must-own fantasy players in their outfield, and Travis Snider is the much-hyped prospect type. But, Wells is aging poorly, Rios is prone to slumps, and Snider is, well, he's good actually. But everyone already like's him, and nobody seems to have any love for Lind. So let me be the first to have some.



A couple years ago, Lind was being hyped almost as much as Snider is this year. He hasn't lived up to the potential yet, but he did hit .282 with 48 RBI and 40 Runs scored in 88 games last year. If he can hold down a full-time job this season, and he is supposed to, those numbers aveage out pretty well over a full season. He didn't show much pop last year, hitting only 9 HR's, but he showed consistent power in the minors, and he already has two dingers in '09. All of that, coupled with the fact that he is only 25 years old, tells me that he is ready for a breakout year this year. If he can stay in Toronto's lineup, he should be in your fantasy lineup as well.





Now, completely changing courses, I'm going to throw in a quick Nick Adenhart mention here. It's an incredibly sad story, and the tragedy is completely beyond the realm of fantasy baseball, so I don't want to take up a separate post. Just a quick story: I was glued to my Yahoo! statracker Wednesday night and out of my seven pitching slots, I already had six of them used up for the night and no earned runs allowed at all. By any of them. I have to be honest, I've rarely seen anyone ever have seven pitchers even go in one night, let alone have NONE of them allow an earned run. So, needless to say, Adenhart was my last pitcher to go, and when he came out of the game at the beginning of the 7th inning without allowing a run, I was beyond ecstatic. I was all set to write about it the next morning when the news broke that he had passed away. All I can say now is that I will always remember Nick Adenhart because of what now seems like a very insignificant feat. But all the same, I will always remember him. RIP Nick Adenhart.