What can a guy with a .223/.271/.354 career line against left-handed pitching do for you? Off the top, you'd probably think that there's a pretty good chance that someone with such an ineptitude against southpaws will be available for $1-2 in the endgame of your auction. You'd be right.

Conversely, there's a player that will probably cost $15-20 with a career line of .260/.328/.424 on the road. He's almost the same age as the first player, but there have been a healthy supply of rumors about a potential trade sending him across leagues and into a pitcher-friendly environment.

As you've probably guessed, Garrett Atkins is the second player. Somewhat surprisingly, Chad Tracy is the first.

Unless you're paying in Schrutte Bucks and Stanley Nickels, Atkins is a player to stay away from this season given his continued downward spiral:

2006 - .329/.409/.556, 79:76 BB:K, 29 HR, 120 RBI, 117 R (602 AB)

2007 - .301/.367/.486, 67:96 BB:K, 25 HR, 111 RBI, 83 R (605 AB)

2008 - .286/.328/.452, 40:100 BB:K, 21 HR, 99 RBI, 86 R (611 AB)

It's pretty clear that nothing is trending in the right direction there.

The concern with Tracy is that he had microfracture knee surgery in October of 2007. Ultimately, that limited him to a part-time role at first base once he returned to action last season. Once Opening Day rolls around, Tracy will be 18 months removed from surgery, while having the luxury of a full slate of offseason workouts to build up strength in his knee. There's actually a pretty good explanation of the injury and the recovery process in this article from the Fantasy Baseball Mafia

Tracy's recovery was brought along very carefully, as the D-Backs made sure to provide the proper rehabilitation equipment -- particularly, an anti-gravity treadmill which enabled him to run without bearing his entire weight -- and not to rush him back into a demanding everyday role too soon.

Imagine a scenario in which Eric Byrnes is the D-Backs' everyday starter in left field whenever the opposition starts a left-handed pitcher (his career .289/.351/.513 and $10M salary should afford him those at-bats at a bare minimum). Conor Jackson would then move back over to first base, while Chad Tracy gets the day off. It's not the worst possible outcome imaginable, since he won't be hurting your average with the unfavorable matchups. It's also worth considering the possibility of Tracy's surgically-repaired knee being strong enough for him to get playing time at third base against righties, relegating Mark Reynolds to a reserve role when he goes through prolonged slumps of excessive whiffing. Therein lies the fallback scenario for Tracy to stay in the lineup in the event that Byrnes recaptures his 2007 form and Jackson ends up playing first base again.

Arizona's lineup isn't loaded with consistent middle-of-the-order options and it leans pretty heavily to the right, so Tracy's left-handed presence should keep him around the No. 5 or No. 6 spot depending on how manager Bob Melvin wants to set things up.

As for Reynolds...

For the sake of comparison, I'm no less skeptical of Reynolds seeing another 400+ at-bats this season than I am of Tracy. Apparently, I'm running a naked bootleg:

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7619&position=3B

I don't question Reynolds' ability to hit the ball a very long way. I won't completely write him off given his age (25) since there's still a little bit of time for him to make some improvements to his contact rate. Still, the overarching issues with drafting him -- or paying the going rate for him on auction day -- are as follows:

1. Only Jack Cust (481 at-bats, .59 contact rate) had a lower contact rate among major league regulars last season. Kelly Shoppach matched Reynolds' .62 contract rate, but Reynolds had 539 at-bats compared to Shoppach's 352. Keep in mind that Shoppach's greatest asset is also power (relative to his position of course), and he's been particularly valuable in the past because of his endgame availability in drafts. Reynolds is far from a secret at this point and his fantasy value compared to cost may have already peaked when he came out of obscurity to hit 17 homers in 366 at-bats in 2007.

2. He's defensively one of the worst third basemen in baseball (34 errors in 150 games). Being very good with the glove has never hurt a streaky hitter keep an everyday job during a slump. Reynolds doesn't have that going for him.

3. Reynolds struggles much more against right-handed pitching than left-handed pitching. Struggling against lefties doesn't cripple fantasy value (think Brad Hawpe prior to last season) the way mashing them and going .226/.298/.409 against righties does.

4. When you haven't hit salary arbitration yet, there's no organizational pressure from the front office to keep you in the lineup longer than your performance merits it.

I offer these concerns fully understanding that Reynolds could by only a slight stretch of the imagination swat 40 homers and drive in 120 runs this season.

However, the risk of a collapse is simply too high for me to confidently pay market price. When I think about Reynolds' 2008 season, it conjures up memories of Carlos Pena's 2004 campaign:

Age 26, DET -- .241/.338/.472, 27 HR, 82 RBI, 89 R

Pena split 2005 between Toledo and Detroit, continued to provide power at the expense of a low average and wound up bouncing around a few organizations before resurfacing with Tampa Bay and finally delivering on his potential with an MVP-caliber effort in 2007:

Age 29, TAM -- .282/.411/.627, 46 HR, 121 RBI, 99 R

In the end, Reynolds is exactly the type of player that I'd be willing to throw a dollar or two at if he follows Pena's career path and eventually gets to compete for a starting job again down the road -- after seeing more time at Triple-A (a place he's managed to avoid thus far in his career).

As a low-risk, high-upside guy, he'd be on my roster nine times out of 10. Looking ahead to drafts -- particularly for deeper leagues -- in the coming months, I'm much more inclined to plug in Tracy (only eligible at first base for now, but a career .302 hitter against right-handed pitching) on the cheap than Atkins or Reynolds at full price. Tracy should be good for .280 or better along with 15-20 homers and 65-70 RBI. With the $15-20 you could save in the process, a significant upgrade elsewhere can provide better bang for your buck without the overwhelming risk.