Marry, Bury, Date: Week 9

Welcome back to another week of Marry, Bury, Date -- the childhood game I've hijacked to provide the framework for my initial foray into providing expert fantasy baseball advice.

The premise of the game is simple.  Three names are thrown out and the participants must pick which one they would Marry (ie commit to long-term), Bury (get rid of forever), or Date (could be fun in the short-term).  When considering trade offers or waiver wire pick-ups, fantasy players are faced with these same three decisions all the time, so in an effort to help aid these choices, I'll name one player who I like for the rest of the season, one player who I think could help in the short-term, and one guy I wouldn't touch in this space each week.

After I'm done, if you want to whisper to the player that I "like 'em, like 'em" that's up to you.  If you do, I look forward to the awkwardness that ensues all the way through the Junior High Prom.  Maybe I'll get my courage up and ask them to dance during Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight."

This week's picks are below.

Marry

Edwin Jackson - Earlier this year in the expert league, Edwin Jackson was actually dropped.  I debated for two days whether I should burn my number one priority to pick him up (literally, I set up podiums and everything.  Got two sock puppet -- one representing Lincoln, the other Douglas -- and hashed it out.  It got weird).  In the end, I passed, which was a bad choice.

After 74.1 innings pitched on the year, Jackson has a 1.04 WHIP and a 2.34 ERA.  Unless you are playing one-on-one fantasy, there is no way these numbers belong on the waiver wire.  But somehow Jackson remains unowned in a substantial number of leagues.  Make sure he is not in yours.  Even if he is owned, make an offer to the owner that just picked him up who might believe he's selling high.  He's not, Jackson is legit.

Bury

Daisuke Matsuzaka - How do you say "thank you Ricky Nolasco" in Japanese?  If it wasn't for the Marlins ace's struggles, everyone would be talking about how Dice-K is the biggest bust in fantasy this year.  He's always been a WHIP killer, but his current number (2.33) is out of control.  It's never good when a player's WHIP is where you wish a pitchers ERA was and his ERA would make an excellent K/9 (8.82).

It's not just that Matsuzaka has been bad, he's been consistently bad and has shown no real signs of turning it around.  Because of all the hype surrounding his arrival and because he plays for the Red Sox, Dice still has some name-brand recognition.  If you own him, you should try to capitalize on it while you still can.  May I suggest offering to trade him for Edwin Jackson?  I'd much rather own the Tigers young hurler for the rest of the year.

Date

Brett Gardner - People discuss the Yankees center field position with such reverence, you would think the pearly gates were located at the edge of the warning track.  But lately it's been more Indian burial ground than hallowed ground as the Yanks have struggled to find a player worthy of his predecessors.  I'm not convinced Gardner is that guy, but he does have the gig for right now and is currently tearing up the base paths.  As long as he's playing, he'll provide you a solid boost in stolen bases without really hurting you anywhere.  Since he's free to pick up in most leagues, he's worth a flyer to see if he can continue to perform well enough to keep his high-profile job.