When I opened up the ADP Trend Report today, I found it quite interesting that it took all of two weeks for Ryan Braun to reach the top of the heap. That's right, after a 597.6|PERCENT| increase in just the past week, Braun has an ADP of 2.11 which is good enough for first in the overall rankings. He just shoved Matt Kemp (-37.4|PERCENT|) right out of his way. The obvious belief is that this failed drug test was an aberration and, in no way, should give you any reason to doubt Braun's abilities. Interesting that there aren't more skeptics, right? So with that, I looked through the trend report to find some other interesting fluctuations and decided to give you my All Interesting Fluctuation Team so far and here's what I came up with…
C Ryan Hanigan (-17.0|PERCENT|) – I haven't seen anything saying that Devin Mesoraco has the lead job all to himself and nothing that indicates that this situation will be anything but a platoon. Dusty Baker loves his veterans and has gone with Hanigan for a few years now. Yes, Mesoraco has the upside and should own the job sooner than later, but he might need a full year in the majors before he does. And it's not even like Mesoraco is having some phenomenal start to the spring either. In fact, while neither has been particularly strong to start the spring, Hanigan is still outhitting his counterpart.
1B Albert Pujols (-22.2|PERCENT|) – The ascension of Braun has obviously caused this drop, but when was the last time, over the last decade, that you saw Pujols ranked as low as fourth in the ADP ranks? Age, injuries and a move to the AL have certainly been working against him in drafts this year, and without some incredible surge by him this season, we're looking at the beginning of the end of Albert's tenure as the most coveted fantasy player in the game.
2B Tyler Greene (+26.6|PERCENT|) – Despite speculation that either Skip Schumaker or Daniel Descalso will win the job come the end of spring, Greene is getting all the ADP love in St. Louis. In fact, neither Schumaker nor Descalso are getting any kind of draft love according to the ADP reports. Despite rumors that manager Mike Matheny just likes Greene more, this is an open competition this spring and right now Descalso is looking like the strongest candidate of the three.
SS Ryan Theriot (+11.4|PERCENT|) – This upward trend is obviously less of a belief in Theriot as it is a lack of faith in the Giants current middle infield situation. Brandon Crawford, the youngster supposedly being handed the reins at short this year, is about as light hitting a shortstop as you can get. His skills lie with his glove, but when the Giants are scratching and clawing for runs this season, Bruce Bochy is likely to turn to the veteran with a little stronger of a bat. Then, over at the keystone, there's the always fragile Freddy Sanchez. Mike Fontenot is likely his primary backup, but Theriot has second base experience and also a little more offensive upside. The over/under on games played by Sanchez is hovering around 90 right now.
3B Ian Stewart (+6.3|PERCENT|) – Maybe this is more of an interesting ADP as opposed to the slight upward trend Stewart has seen in the last two weeks. Are people so far down on this guy that even an announcement by manager Dale Sveum saying that Stewart has the job and will not be platooned isn't good enough to push him higher than a 377.71 in the ADP ranks? Didn't he pop 25 home runs just a short time ago? Stewart was totally misused in the Rockies organization and flipping him between third and the outfield while not even playing him regularly did more harm than good to him as a youngster. I can't believe guys like Brent Morel and even Jose Lopez are coming off the board before him.
OF Ryan Braun (+1187.0|PERCENT|) – I may have said it all in the introductory paragraph, but it doesn't mean he doesn't get the nod here as well.
OF Andres Torres (-10.2|PERCENT|) – Perhaps everyone is understanding what it took the Giants all of 2011 to learn. Torres may have had a fantastic season back in 2010, but he never really got a chance to play a full season for a team for a reason. He's just not that good. At 34 years old, he's lost a step or two in the speed department, has an awful OBP history and is really only batting leadoff for the Mets because they have no other options. Not very interesting a fluctuation? Probably not. But what I found most interesting was the list of the names of better players still available when he goes off the board.
OF Will Venable (+15.1|PERCENT|) – I'm aware that I just spoke about Venable a few articles ago, but I'm still somewhat surprised that he continues to trend upwards. He does make for a solid plug-and-play candidate, but are his 20-odd stolen bases so coveted that he's going ahead of full-time starting outfielders in drafts? He could get the bulk of playing time in right field, but with Chris Denorfia, Mark Kotsay and even Kyle Blanks around, Venable might struggle for playing time some weeks.
SP Bronson Arroyo (+1.9|PERCENT|) – The overall trend isn't really that noticeable, but with a 5.6|PERCENT| increase this past week, plenty of people are scratching their heads. How is this guy even being drafted in most leagues? Yes, he eats innings. Yes, he is more than capable of picking up some wins due to his team's overall talent level. But this guy hasn't seen an FIP below 4.00 since 2004 and he's certainly not getting any better. With respect to Arroyo, the only thing that makes me smile is that someone else in my league owns him and that immediately gives me an advantage.
RP Rafael Soriano, (+10.2|PERCENT|) -- There's not too much interesting movement amongst the actual closers right now. Sure, Vinnie Pestano and Brett Myers are trending upwards with recent news, but nothing more than that. In the vulture category, it's a little different though as news of David Robertson's bone bruise and that his foot is in a walking boot has seemingly shot Soriano up in the rankings already. Some reports have it being deemed a serious injury while others say that just a bruise is encouraging. Either way, the fickle ways of fantasy owners is already shining through here.
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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites including Rotowire,FanGraphs and The Fantasy Baseball Buzz. You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or email him at [email protected].