Week 8 Fantasy Stockwatch

Two inconsistent young shortstops and a former Cy Young winner highlight Eric Mack's latest Fantasy Stockwatch.

Every Monday we'll take a look at the Fantasy Baseball gainers and decliners in our Fantasy Stockwatch.

Picking up the flavor of the week can help you win in some week-to-week formats, especially if the Mr. Right Now maintains his streak for you through the next scoring period. But, it is the belief here, you will tend to buy guys who are due for a cooling off period. So, with this in mind, we focus the Week 8 Fantasy Stockwatch 'Buy Guys' on ones where their best should be yet to come.

Like: Max Scherzer losing his rotation spot to the return of a Doug Davis (thyroid cancer). That is bad news to his Fantasy owners now and makes him a candidate to be a decliner. But really what it means is an opportunity for you to buy a potential impact arm for the stretch run if someone is trying to sell.

In commodities dealing, you generally want to buy on rumor and sell on news. But, in the case of Scherzer, buy on the news he is headed for the bullpen and then stash until he is back in the rotation -- or installed as Brandon Lyon's closer replacement.

This week's potential 'Buy Guys'

	SS Khalil Greene, SD You might hate Greene's .251 career average. You certainly hate his .212 mark this season. What you should like is his potential to levy some serious payback while on your roster. No matter how low of an opinion you have of Greene, he is not a .212-10-68-32-7 player -- which is his current pace on his .212-3-19-9-2 line to date. Our preseason projections of .257-30-100-95-5 were a bit optimistic, but in the final 19 weeks of the season we can see him go .280-19-60-60-3. At a season-low 67 percent ownership this week, you will be getting some fat weeks ahead for the perfectly healthy 28-year-old if you buy low now.
	SP Bartolo Colon, BOS We like 90-plus mph arms in rotations of top contenders with a great offense -- especially a former Cy Young award winner. We cannot guarantee Colon will stay healthy here on out, but we are pretty sure you want to take the shot on him now to find out. Colon arrives Wednesday after top prospect Justin Masterson works Tuesday and gets sent back to the minors. Colon should remain the No. 5 starter for the world champion Red Sox for as long as he proves healthy and effective. Owned in just 48 percent of CBSSports.com's leagues going into this week, Colon and his 94 mph Triple-A stuff is undervalued right now. As a potential two-start pitcher in Fantasy Week 9 (May 26-June 1), you will want to take that flier before he makes his first start.
	3B Eric Chavez, OAK As with the brittle Milton Bradley play last week in this space, Chavez is an extremely risky player to hype as a potential impact slugger for Fantasy owners. Chavez is just too darn disappointing. Well, his back has finally allowed him to begin a Triple-A rehab assignment -- where he has gone 4-for-10 in three games over the weekend. Of the four hits, he has a homer and two doubles. Consider him an injury-risk sleeper for any league right now and a candidate to activate in Fantasy Week 9 (May 26-June 1).
	C Dioner Navarro, TB Unlike Greene, you might expect the .368-hitting Navarro to be due a serious market correction on his batting average and hit total. But don't expect that. The numbers you see now are a function of a former top catching prospect merely finding himself at the age of 24. Catchers, because of the other demands of the position (working with pitchers, game plans and generally having less time for BP), tend to develop offensively later than other position players. Navarro was a newfound Fantasy gem in the second half of last year, going .285-8-31-30. Save for a DL stint in April, he has picked up right where he left off. At 57 percent ownership, he is solid option in any league off the waiver wire.
	SS Bobby Crosby, OAK Like the 2004 shortstop rookie of the year candidate Greene (above), Crosby has been a disappointment as a prospect. The key now, though, is he is finally healthy. At least it appears he is healthy. Owned in just 67 percent of leagues like Greene, Crosby has the potential to get hot for you in the coming weeks. Unlike Greene, he is already a little bit on the warm side. He hit a homer Sunday to extend a hitting streak to eight games (12-for-32). If you miss out on Greene, or just don't trust him, perhaps Crosby is your guy.

Some more 'Buy Guys' we couldn't fit in: OF Jayson Werth, PHI; SP Doug Davis, ARI; 2B Akinori Iwamura, TB; SS Clint Barmes, COL; OF Jay Bruce, CIN; SP Claudio Vargas, NYM; OF Jose Guillen, KC; C Kenji Johjima, SEA; SP Clayton Kershaw, LAD; 2B Howie Kendrick, LAA; RP Max Scherzer, ARI; C Ronny Paulino, PIT; SP Greg Reynolds, COL; RP Chris Perez, STL; RP Rafael Soriano, ATL; 1B Dmitri Young, WAS.

This week's potential 'Goodbye Guys'

	SP Jake Peavy, SD This is a tough one: The best pitcher in Fantasy Baseball last year is considered a "Goodbye Guy" right now. Hopefully you won't have to kiss him goodbye entirely amid his sore elbow. But, even if he is healthy enough to return in short order, his stock is a "sell" because the Padres are so terrible this season. Aces on non-contending teams are like blind dates: A lot of promise, but usually you are left unfulfilled. Cross your fingers for a healthy return and then, after a good outing or two, deal him for a lesser arm on a top contender -- a Daisuke Matsuzaka, perhaps? If his elbow injury is more serious? Well, we're sorry you bid so high on starting pitching. You should have heeded the Fantasy Baseball for Dummies cliff note: Pitching is risky and best avoided in the early rounds.
	C Jeff Clement, SEA We got all sorts of excited when this national high school homer record-setter was called up. He was mashing in Triple-A and Kenji Johjima was struggling mightily, despite having signed a new three-year contract. Well, the Mariners were in need of offense and called up Clement to be a part-time catcher, part-time DH. It didn't work out and Clement was ushered back to Triple-A on Sunday. Now, with Johjima unlikely give up the position in three years, we have questions of whether Clement will hit enough to be a Fantasy-pertinent DH or first baseman. Perhaps he needs to move to outfield. But will he ever be the elite Fantasy option he could have been at catcher? Too early to tell. He is nothing more than a second-half call-up now or an injury replacement for Johjima.
	OF Nate McLouth, PIT Yes, this is opposite week in some aspects. We figured we would keep with the theme. Rarely would we ever advise dealing the biggest breakout player of the year -- No. 2 hitter in all of Fantasy to Lance Berkman -- but this McLouth guy is just out of the world (in his own little world?) right now. He is a great candidate to sell high ... if someone is offering you an elite player. He is on pace for a .306-45-135-139-15 campaign and those are just ridiculous numbers to expect from him -- even if he turns 27 years old later this year and is entering his prime. That line looks more like a Prince Fielder projection. Heck, there is a good player to trade McLouth for. Turning a waiver guy, McLouth, into Fielder or a Mark Teixeira is a great move at this point and could be the move that keeps you atop your league for more than just the seven weeks to date. McLouth is a nice player on a serious hot streak -- remember Eric Byrnes a year ago? -- but he is not the talent of Prince or Big Tex.
	RP John Smoltz, ATL A shoulder injury that made Smoltz a candidate to move from risky 40-something starter to closer was not necessarily bad news, but the shoulder needs to prove healthy and strong first. Thus far it hasn't, and Smoltz is sounding more and more Mike Hampton-like discouraged with his health. We still think Smoltz can return and be a productive Fantasy option before the All-Star break, but a healthy -- unhealthy? -- measure of uncertainty is soaking in.
	SP Mark Prior, SD As if you needed another reason to despise Prior, he has another tear in his shoulder it was announced last week. Now, I know what you're saying: "Yo, that Prior ship sailed years ago, homey. Step off!" But there are people still hanging on for some reason. He is still owned in 5 percent of CBSSports.com leagues, which amounts to NL-only leagues with ample DL spots. At this point, we don't even think he is worthy of that spot.

Some more 'Goodbye Guys' we couldn't fit in: RP Rafael Betancourt, CLE; RP Masahide Kobayashi, CLE; RP Aaron Heilman, NYM; RP Manny Acosta, ATL; 1B Nick Johnson, WAS; SP Burke Badenhop, FLA; OF Corey Patterson, CIN; OF Ryan Freel, CIN.

Stock advisor

Drew, New York, N.Y.: I have Carlos Pena and Casey Kotchman on my team along with James Loney. We're allowed to start two at each position. I'm thinking of dropping one of them. Who would you drop?

Emack: Pena's 2007 and his cost this spring gives him a long leash this season. If you cannot trade him, then we would say cut Kotchman. He is hotter than Loney right now, but it is less of a sure thing Kotchman's power uptick is real at this point. Pena and Loney came into the season with more value. Kotchman has closed the gap, but if you are having to drop one of these guys, Kotchman would be the easiest to get back.

Raphe Shipman, Dallas: My question is whether I should pick the recently dropped Carlos Pena for more power at first base? His average is bad, but he might give me much more power. Other free-agent options are Casey Kotchman or Mike Jacobs. If I do, should I drop Todd Helton or Nick Swisher, because I do not have roster space for all of them.

Emack: Drop Helton for Pena for his potential to go on a serious power tear. Like the league above, your league appears to be thin enough to re-acquire whomever you drop.

Dan, Kansas City: My current outfield is Ryan Braun, Josh Willingham (DL), Corey Hart, Adam Dunn, Kosuke Fukudome, Ken Griffey, Rick Ankiel and Xavier Nady. I can play four of these. I am considering acquiring Ryan Church, Ryan Ludwick or Hunter Pence. Should I pick up one (or more) of these three guys, and if so, who should get their pink slips?

Emack: Church and Pence should be owned over Nady and Hart in most leagues right now. We would start Braun, Dunn, Church and Pence this week.

Jason Torres, Valparaiso, Indiana: I was offered a trade that would give me Pat Burrell for Brad Hawpe and Ted Lilly. Burrell can hit the ball out but can fall into major slumps. I don't know much about Hawpe as he is subbed in on days off. I am good in pitching, so Lilly is expendable. I am having trouble pulling the trigger though.

Emack: You should like the upgrade of Hawpe to Burrell. Both sluggers are streaky, but Burrell is in a contract year and a better offense to help his run production. Do that deal.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball Stockwatch questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Stockwatch in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.