In order to take advantage of having these types of players on your roster, it pays to know the rules of your league for what the minimum numbers of games is the threshold for a player to qualify at a position. The standard in most fantasy baseball leagues is a 10 game or 20 game minimum. Here is a look at some of the top players that qualify at more than one position in 2012 and that can have help make life easier for you setting your lineup on a weekly basis.

10 Games:

Catchers:

Joe Mauer – C, 1B

First Basemen:

Mark Trumbo – 1B, OF
Aubrey Huff – 1B, OF

Second Basemen:

Howie Kendrick – 2B, 1B, OF
Maicer Izturis – 2B, SS, 3B
Tyler Greene  2B, SS, OF
DJ LeMahieu – 2B, SS
Mike Aviles – 2B, SS, 3B

Shortstops:

Trevor Plouffe – SS, 2B, OF

Third Basemen:

Michael Young – 3B, 1B, 2B
Scott Sizemore – 3B, 2B
Kyle Seager – 3B, 2B
Daniel Descalso – 3B, 2B, SS
Mark Teahen – 3B, 1B, OF

Outfielders:

Michael Cuddyer – OF, 1B, 2B
Nick Swisher – OF, 1B
John Mayberry – OF, 1B
Luke Scott – OF, 1B

20 Games:

Catchers:

Carlos Santana – C, 1B
Mike Napoli – C, 1B

First Basemen:

Mike Morse – 1B, OF
Lance Berkman – 1B, OF
Carlos Lee – 1B, OF
Mike Carp – 1B, OF
Mitch Moreland – 1B, OF
Edwin Encarnacion – 1B, 3B
Chris Davis – 1B, 3B

Second Basemen:

Ben Zobrist – 2B, OF
Howie Kendrick – 2B, 1B
Ryan Roberts – 2B, 3B
Daniel Murphy – 2B, 3B, 1B
Ryan Raburn – 2B, OF
Sean Rodriguez – 2B, SS, 3B
Maicer Izturis – 2B, 3B
Justin Tuner – 2B, SS
Skip Schumaker – 2B, OF
Robert Andino – 2B, SS, 3B
Mike Aviles – 2B, 3B
Jonathan Herrera – 2B, SS
Tyler Greene – 2B, SS
Adam Kennedy – 2B, 3B, 1B
Chris Nelson – 2B, 3B
Ramon Santiago – 2B, SS

Shortstops:

Emilio Bonifacio SS, 3B, OF
Jed Lowrie – SS, 3B
Alexi Casilla – SS, 2B
Jamey Carroll – SS, 2B
Ruben Tejada – SS, 2B
Willie Bloomquist – SS, OF
Ryan Theriot – SS, 2B

Third Basemen:

Jose Bautista – 3B, OF
Michael Young – 3B, 1B
Mary Reynolds – 3B, 1B
Martin Prado – 3B, OF
Ty Wigginton – 3B, 1B, OF

Outfielders:

Michael Cuddyer – OF, 1B
Lucas Duda – OF, 1B
Garrett Jones – OF, 1B
Juan Rivera – OF, 1B
Brandon Belt – OF, 1B

Round 1 – Albert Pujols

Round 2 – Buster Posey – I went against my pre-season rule about waiting on catchers this year because I thought he had the most upside here and of course it did not turn out well. Really was hoping for Jose Reyes who went the pick before me.

Round 3 – Hunter Pence – was debating on Jimmy Rollins but I thought that Pence was more solid. Later I would come to regret not getting a shortstop in the top three rounds.

Round 4 – Angel Pagan – stolen bases were flying off the board and I figured Pagan would get me 25-30.

Round 5 – Matt Cain

Round 6 – Danny Espinosa – he ended up being about what I had expected him to be, power and speed with a low batting average. Really not liking the guy picking next to me as he took Gaby Sanchez in front of me.

Round 7 – Jose Tabata – again was looking to get speed for my team

Round 8 – Ryan Dempster – happy to have gotten him here, always seems to be underrated. Of course then he didn’t perform quite so good this season.

Round 9 - Garret Jones – roster flexibility, a little bit of power and speed.

Round 10 – Ian Kennedy – at this point of the draft I had decided I was not going to take a closer because all of them were pretty much gone and was going to instead focus on building a stronger pitching staff.

Round 11 – Jhoulys Chacin – same logic as with the Kennedy pick.

Round 12 – Ben Francisco – figured he would end up with more at bats than most were projecting.

The rest of the draft was fill in players that I won’t waste space on as each of them provided little help during the season. I did end up with Chris Narveson in the 19th round for strikeouts and Mark Melancon in the 26th round as I figured there was no way Brandon Lyon was going to keep the closer job all season in Houston.

Looking back now at my draft, I hit on three of my four starting pitchers I took, had Pujols, but had no closers to start the season with.

The season started and all of my players started off slow. After five weeks into the season, my team sat in 9th place, 29.5 points out of first place. One lesson that I had learned from playing in previous fantasy baseball leagues that even after one month into the season, you can be that far down and still come back to win the league. So I wasn’t going to panic and start trading away a bunch of players because I would have been losing out in every trade at that point because so many players were under performing, I would have missed out on the better stats they were going to put up the rest of the season, assuming they performed as I forecasted.

Another reason why I held off on making any trades is because you have to believe in who you drafted. Unless you just totally blow your draft, you have to give your players some time to turn things around. Also, because this was an “expert” league, there was not much trading going on as well.

Fast forward another five weeks to week 10 and my team had climbed into second place, four points out of first place. For the next few weeks my team bounced between first and third before finally moving into first place in week 17 where it stayed for the rest of the season.

I ended up not making any trades for the entire season but I did have several pickups through the year that helped make a difference in the final standings. I picked up Fernando Salas the first week of May when he was dropped after it looked like Eduardo Sanchez was taking over as closer in St. Louis. I added Josh Collmenter a week later as well as Justin Turner who gave me some stability in the infield and then Jeff Karstens the week after that. I was able to grab David Hernandez in June and keep him on my reserve and was able to get some saves from him as well as Rafael Betancourt late in the season.

So despite starting the season with no closers, I still ended up with 8 out of 12 points in the category by grabbing players I thought would have value down the road as possible closer options. I never want to try to tank a category in a one year league as most times you can’t afford to give away too many points as the standings are typically relatively close. Pitching carried my team with 49 out of 60 points while I had 39 out of 60 points on offense for a total of 88 out of 120 points.

To recap, if you come out of the draft short in any one category, try to load up your reserve with players that may not have value now but could provide you with help in that category down the line. As in every season, saves are always possible to find out on the waiver wire, even if you are not playing in a mixed league format. The key is being able to grab the player a few weeks before they move into the role so you don’t miss out on him. Third, don’t panic early in the season. The baseball year is long and your team will have time to make up ground so if your team is relatively healthy and you had a solid draft, the stats will soon start to accumulate and you will find your team moving up in the standings.

Here are some names to consider picking up for the remainder of this season and for possible keepers for your 2012 rotisserie season.

Mixed Leagues – 12/15 teams:

Eduardo Nunez and Chris Dickerson (NYY) – With the New York Yankees wrapping up a playoff spot today, I would suspect the Yankees will rest their regulars before the playoffs. Nunez has played second, third and shortstop all season long and Dickerson has enough range to fill in for all the outfielders. I would expect to see both of them play three out of the next seven games.

American League:

1B – Chris Parmelee (MIN) – Parmelee has been playing first base and hitting 4^th in the Minnesota Twins lineup. In 42 at-bats, Parmelee has two home runs, eight RBI and is batting .380.

2B – Brian Dinkelman (MIN) – Dinkelman has also been playing everyday for the Twins and is currently hitting .370 through his first 48 at-bats.   If you need a roster fill in, look at the Twins roster and I’m sure you’ll find a few other Twins available on your waiver wire

National League:

OF – Jerry Sands (LAD) – Sands has also been playing regularly for the Los Angeles Dodgers and is batting over .450 with two home runs and six RBI over the last seven days.

SP – Randall Delgado (ATL) – Delgado is a rotation prospect for the Atlanta Braves next season. Delgado has a 2.70 ERA over 30 innings in six appearances this year.

SP – Anthony Bass (SD) – Bass won his second start of the season and holds an ERA under 1.70 Bass is a good keeper prospect for NL-only leagues since the Padres have a lot of question marks heading into next season in their rotation.

Closer Frank Francisco picked up two saves for the Toronto Blue Jays last week and has been quietly effective since the All-Star break, posting a 1.48 ERA to go with a 0.86 WHIP with 22 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings. His control has been much better as well with only four walks allowed in that stretch.

Drew Storen of the Washington Nationals snared four saves last week giving him a total of 38 for the season in 43 chances. Storen has picked up his strikeout pace since the All-Star break, fanning 33 in 24 innings of work, but he has been easier to hit as well with a .242 batting average against compared to a .193 mark in the first half of the season.

Jose Valverde collected three saves for the Detroit Tigers last week and has now converted all 46 save chances for the season. Valverde has a 2.41 ERA and 1.20 WHIP for the season and you can bet that the team will be picking up $9M club option for 2012.

2 start pitchers week 26: the list below is focused on mixed leagues since in AL or NL only leagues in most cases you do not have the option to rotate starting pitchers with the smaller player pool. The pitchers below are listed in alphabetical order by team name per category.

American League:

Start them:

Ricky Romero (TOR) ~ LAA (Pineiro), @TB (Davis)

Roll the Dice:

Jeremy Guthrie (BAL) ~ @BOS (TBD), @DET (Penny)
Gavin Floyd (CHW) ~ @CLE (Carmona), KC (Chen)
Phil Hughes (NYY) ~ MIN (Pavano), BOS (Wakefield)
Wade Davis (TB) ~ @NYY (Burnett), TOR (Romero)
Derek Holland (TEX) ~ @OAK (Harden), SEA (Furbush)

Holland is 3-0 in his last four starts and tossed seven shutout innings in his last start against the Red Sox. Davis has two tough matchups next week against the Yankees who he has yet to face this season and the Blue Jays who he has a 4.91 ERA and 1.56 WHIP against in four starts this season. Hughes was better in his last two starts allowing three runs in 12 innings on the heels of getting rokced his two previous outings. He faced Boston three starts ago and allowed six runs in 5 2/3 innings and one run in 7 2/3 innings the last time he faced the Twins. Floyd did not make it to the sixth inning in either of his last three starts and faced Cleveland three times in his 10 starts, allowing six runs in 19 innings. Guthrie has allowed three runs or less in five straight starts, though he was knocked around the last time he faced the Tigers, allowing six runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Sit Them:

Rick VandenHurk (BAL) ~ @BOS (Weiland), @DET (Verlander)
David Huff (CLE) ~ SEA (Furbush), MIN (Pavano)
Fausto Carmona (CLE) ~ CWS (Floyd), MIN (Hendriks)
Brad Penny (DET) ~ @KC (Hochevar), BAL (Guthrie)
Jerome Williams (LAA) ~ @TOR (Morrow), OAK (Moscoso)
Joel Pineiro (LAA) ~ @TOR (Romero), OAK (Harden)
Liam Hendriks (MIN) ~ SEA (Vargas), @CLE (Carmona)
Carl Pavano (MIN) ~ @NYY (Hughes), @CLE (Huff)
A.J. Burnett (NYY) ~ TB (Davis), BOS (Lackey)
Rich Harden (OAK) ~ TEX (Holland), @LAA (Pineiro)
Charlie Furbush (SEA) ~ @CLE (Huff), @TEX (Holland)
Brandon Morrow (TOR) ~ LAA (Williams), @TB (Moore)

Pineiro has had two decent starts, an average start and one bad start since moving back into the Angels rotation. I would only look to start him if you are desperate for wins. Every once in awhile vintage Harden pops up from days gone by, but unless you can make up a lot of ground in strikeouts, it is tough to risk your ratios to two starts from him. He allowed four runs in four innings the last time he faced the Rangers. Williams has struggled on the road in two starts with a 7.62 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP and has a tough match up against Toronto next week. Carmona has not won since August 17th and has a 8.68 ERA and 2.09 WHIP for four starts in September. Despite Huff’s numbers overall on the season, I am not comfortable recommending him next week as has gotten exposed in his last three starts, allowing 10 runs in 16 1/3 innings. Morrow has been trending the wrong direction, allowing five runs or more in four of his last five starts. Furbush has lost five straight starts and allowed six runs in four innings the last time he faced Texas.

National League:

Start them:

Ian Kennedy (ARI) ~ PIT (Karstens), SF (Lincecum)
Clayton Kershaw (LAD) ~ SF (Lincecum), @SD (Luebke)
Cliff Lee (PHI) ~ WAS (Peacock), @NYM (Pelfrey)
Roy Halladay (PHI) ~ STL (Lohse), @NYM (Gee)
Cory Luebke (SD) ~ @COL (Millwood), LAD (Kershaw)
Tim Lincecum (SF) ~ @LAD (Kershaw), @ARI (Kennedy)
Edwin Jackson (STL) ~ NYM (Pelfrey), CHC (Coleman)

Roll the Dice:

Mike Minor (ATL) ~ @FLA (Nolasco), @WAS (Peacock)
Jhoulys Chacin (COL) ~ SD (Latos), @HOU (Norris)
Kevin Millwood (COL) ~ SD (Luebke), @HOU (Happ)
Bud Norris (HOU) ~ @CIN (Bailey), COL (Chacin)
Chris Narveson (MIL) ~ @CHC (Coleman), FLA (Hand)
Kyle Lohse (STL) ~ @PHI (Halladay), CHC (Dempster)
Brad Peacock (WAS) ~ @PHI (Lee), ATL (Minor)

Narveson had his last start skipped because of an off day and has not made it to the sixth inning in his last four starts making him a somewhat risky play. Millwood tossed seven shutout innings in his last start against the Padres, though it will be a little tougher at Coors Field this time. Chacin has been slowing down the second half of the season as the innings have piled up with a 4.76 ERA and 1.60 WHIP. I would be tempted to bench him if you have another alternative. Minor is 5-0 in his last eight starts and allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings in his last start against the Marlins.

Sit Them:

Casey Coleman (CHC) ~ MIL (Narveson), @STL (Jackson)
J.A. Happ (HOU) ~ @CIN (Maloney), COL (Millwood)
Mike Pelfrey (NYM) ~ @STL (Jackson), PHI (Lee)

Pelfrey faces St. Louis for the first time this season, but has struggled in five starts against the Phillies with a 6.84 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP. Happ has been better in his last four starts allowing six runs in 24 innings, but two starts came against the Pirates and one against the Giants.

Mixed Leagues – 12/15 teams:

RP - Joel Peralta (TB) – With the Tampa Bay Rays still in the wild card hunt and with Kyle Farnsworth hurting, Peralta will see the majority of the save opportunities for the Rays until Farnsworth is healthy.

American League:

SP – Matt Moore (TB) – Moore is considered the Rays top pitching prospects and one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. Even though Moore struggled in his debut last night in relief he is worth grabbing especially if you are in a keeper or dynasty league.

OF – Nolan Reimold and Matt Angle (BAL) – Reimold has been playing regularly for the Baltimore Orioles since mid July. Even though is hitting .239, if you are looking for regular at bats with the potential to hit a home run or steal a base, Reimold is a nice option. He has ten home runs and five stolen bases in 230 at bats.

Matt Angle has filled in for Felix Pie’s spot as the 4^th outfielder for the O’s. He is hitting under the Mendoza Line, but has six stolen bases in 49 at-bats.

National League:

C – Wilin Rosario (COL) – The Colorado Rockies are committed to taking a long look at Rosario, which means he should see most of the playing time over Chris Iannetta the rest of the way. The 22-year-old had 21 homers in Double-A this season after hitting 19 in 2010. Rosario hit his second home run in the majors last night.

RP – Santiago Casilla (SF) – Casilla picked up his third save for the San Francisco Giants last night. Although he is not considered the full time closer in San Francisco with Brian Wilson out, he could get a few more saves when Sergio Romo is over worked, plus Casilla sports a 1.36 ERA on the season.

Bobby Parnell blew two saves last week for the New York Mets, although in the last outing both runs were unearned, but he now has five blown saves in 10 chances for the season to go with six losses. Manny Acosta up one save for the Mets but also blew two saves as well leaving the New York bullpen in a state of flux.

Jim Johnson collected two saves for the Baltimore Orioles last week and should see a good portion of saves the last couple of weeks of the season after Kevin Gregg blew another save over the weekend. Johnson has thrown a career high 81 2/3 innings this season and currently sports a 2.76 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.

Kyle Farnsworth blew his only two save chances for the Tampa Bay Rays last week, allowing three home runs in 1 1/3 innings. Farnsworth has picked up only one save since August 19th but should the remaining save chances the rest of the way for the Rays as the try to hunt down the Boston Red Sox for the wild card spot.

On a side note, I will be doing some fantasy football work over at a new site that just launched at www.insidethehuddle.tv. The site is dedicated to information on the Green Bay Packers but it will have a lot of fantasy football coverage as well.

2 start pitchers week 25: the list below is focused on mixed leagues since in AL or NL only leagues in most cases you do not have the option to rotate starting pitchers with the smaller player pool. The pitchers below are listed in alphabetical order by team name per category.

American League:

Start them:

Justin Verlander (DET) ~ @CWS (Danks), @OAK (Moscoso)
Gio Gonzalez (OAK) ~ LAA (Pineiro), DET (Porcello)
Felix Hernandez (SEA) ~ NYY (Hughes), TEX (Harrison)
David Price (TB) ~ @BAL (Simon), @BOS (Lester)

Gonzalez has thrived when pitching at the Oakland Coliseum this season with a 2.80 ERA amd a 1.21 WHIP ratio.

Roll the Dice:

Zach Britton (BAL) ~ TB (Niemann), LAA (Pineiro)
Justin Masterson (CLE) ~ @TEX (Harrison), @MIN (Swarzak)
Bruce Chen (KC) ~ MIN (Diamond), CWS (TBD)
Guillermo Moscoso (OAK) ~ LAA (Williams), DET (Verlander)
Rick Porcello (DET) ~ @CWS (TBD), @OAK (Gonzalez)
Matt Harrison (TEX) ~ CLE (Masterson), @SEA (Hernandez)
Jeff Niemann (TB) ~ @BAL (Britton), @BOS (Weiland)

Harrison has struggled of late, making it past the sixth inning in only one of his last five starts. Niemann has been much better on the road this season where he has two starts next week and owns a 3.36 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Moscoso has allowed two runs or five of his last six starts, while collecting four wins. Chen had been on a five game winning streak before losing his last two outings. He tossed six shutout innings against the White Sox the last time he faced them. Porcell has been better on the road this year with a 4.01 ERA and 1.31 WHIP compared to 5.91 and 1.51 at Comerica Park. Britton has been better since coming back to the Orioles rotation August 22, going 3-0 in four starts.

Sit Them:

Tim Wakefield (BOS) ~ TOR (Morrow), TB (Price)
Joel Pineiro (LAA) ~ @OAK (Gonzalez), @BAL (Britton)

Pineiro has been okay in his last three starts, but struggled when he faced Oakland and Baltimore in July on the road, allowing a combined 10 runs in 5 2/3 innings. Wakefield is winless since June 24th and has not made it to the sixth inning in four straight starts.

National League:

Start them:

Brandon Beachy (ATL) ~ FLA (Volstad), NYM (Gee)
Johnny Cueto (CIN) ~ CHC (Dempster), MIL (Gallardo)
Cole Hamels (PHI) ~ @HOU (Happ), STL (Lohse)
Matt Cain (SF) ~ SD (Luebke), @COL (Cook)

Roll the Dice:

Joe Saunders (ARI) ~ @LAD (Lilly), @SD (Harang)
Ryan Dempster (CHC) ~ @CIN (Cueto), MIL (Gallardo)
Brett Myers (HOU) ~ PHI (Oswalt), @CHC (Dempster)
Chad Billingsley (LAD) ~ ARI (Kennedy), PIT (Karstens)
Ted Lilly (LAD) ~ ARU (Saunders), PIT (Lincoln)
R.A. Dickey (NYM) ~ WAS (Wang), @ATL (Hudson)
Roy Oswalt (PHI) ~ @HOU (Myers), STL (Westbrook)
Brad Lincoln (PIT) ~ STL (Lohse), @LAD (Lilly)
Aaron Harang (SD) ~ @SF (Surkamp), ARI (Saunders)
Eric Surkamp (SF) ~ SD (Harang), @COL (White)
Kyle Lohse (STL) ~ @PIT (Lincoln), @PHI (Hamels)

Harang has allowed two runs or less in four straight starts and allowed one run in seven innings in his last start against the Giants. Dickey is 3-0 in his last five starts and has allowed three runs or less in 10 straight starts. Lohse is 4-1 in his last five starts and has two wins over the Pirates in his last four appearances. Myers picked up his first win since June 17th in his last start and has allowed three runs in his last 16 2/3 innings of work. Dempster is winless in his last five starts, buit has allowed three runs or less eight of his last nine outings. Saunders has been much better on the road this season with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP.

Sit Them:

Rodrigo Lopez (CHC) ~ @CIN (Willis), HOU (Sosa)
Dontrelle Willis (CIN) ~ CHC (Lopez), MIL (Gallardo)
Chris Volstad (FLA) ~ @ATL (Beachy), @WAS (Strasburg)
Brad Hand (FLA) ~ @ATL (Minor), @WAS (Wang)
Dillon Gee (NYM) ~ WAS (Detwiler), @ATL (Beachy)
Jeff Karstens (PIT) ~ STL (Carpenter), @LAD (Billingsley)
Chien-Ming Wang (WAS) ~ @NYM (Gee), FLA (Hand)

Gee gets Washington and Atlanta again after facing each team in his last two starts in which he allowed eight runs in 11 innings. Volstad has not collected a win since July 19th and will struggle to do so facing Beachy and Strasburg next week.

Mixed Leagues – 12/15 teams:

3B/OF - Dayan Viciedo (CWS) – Everyone was wondering why it took the Chicago White Sox so long to call up Viciedo with all the problems they have had at third base this season. Viciedo has helped out in the outfield as well with Carlos Quentin sidelined. Viciedo is hitting over .350 in his first nine games and hit .289 with 14 home runs in Triple-A this season.

RP - Jason Motte (STL) – Since St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Motte would start to see more save chances, Motte has gone 3-for-3 in save opportunities. Motte has a 1.70 ERA over 58 innings this season so grab him now if he is still siting out on the waiver wire on your league.

American League:

OF – Leonys Martin (TEX) – Martin is a top three prospect in the Texas Rangers organization and is considered one of the best hitting prospects. Martin is worth stashing and will likely play regularly once the Rangers wrap up the AL West.

C – Jose Lobaton (TB) – Lobaton is not a highly touted rookie at age 26, but the Tampa Bay Rays have said that they are going to give him an extended look for the remainder of the season to see if he can be a backup option next season. Lobaton was hitting .293 with eight home runs in Triple-A this season.

National League:

SP - Eric Surkamp (SF) – Surkamp has been filling in as the 5^th starter for the San Francisco Giants since being called up. In two starts Surkamp is 1 – 0 with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP.

SP - Brad Lincoln (PIT) – Lincoln struggled last year for the Pittsburgh Pirates but has been solid this season and has had five quality starts in a row and currently has a 3.53 ERA. Consider using Lincoln in the right match up situation.

RP - Manny Acosta (NYM) – With Bobby Parnell being pulled from the closers role for the New York Mets, Acosta is next in line and picked up a save tonight. Acosta will likely pick up a few more saves until Parnell rights the ship and it will then likely be a closer by committee.

Colorado Rockies current closer Rafael Betancourt picked up two saves last week with two perfect innings of work and it looks like he will keep Huston Street in a setup role for another week at least. Street is signed through 2013 so I would not worry about him being out of a job in 2012 if you own in him keeper leagues.

One guy who has quietly flown under the radar this year has been Jonathan Papelbon of the Boston Red Sox. Papelbon has bounced back from his struggles last season and has converted 29 of 30 saves with a .90 WHIP and a .202 batting average against.

It’s much easier to carry one or two starting pitchers on your fantasy roster who aren’t strikeout pitchers when you have a stud closer that can rack up a lot of whiffs each week. For example, last week Craig Kimbrel of the Atlanta Braves finished with two saves plus 10 strikeouts in five innings. For the season, Kimbrel now has 113 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings. and he finished the month of August a perfect 10-for-10 in saves with no runs allowed in 12 2/3 innings of work.