The first week of baseball is in the books.  Now we turn our focus to the future and decide who we want to start or sit in the upcoming matchups of the week.  In fantasy baseball it is important to be able to win as much as you can so you establish a solid placement in your league.  If you fall behind early it will be difficult to catch back up.  It is important to know who to sit out when you notice there is a bad matchup for that player or you notice a start of a cold streak occurring.

For week two the following players you are going to want to consider benching for the time being:

Starting Pitcher

CC Sabathia, Yankees – It’s hard to think that there would be a time that you don’t want to start the ace pitcher of a team.  Sabathia has not been pitching like an ace pitcher going back to last year.  His ERA is through the roof and there is no sign of it coming down.  He is scheduled to pitch against two division teams this week.  Sunday he faces the Blue Jays and Friday he faces the Boston Red Sox.  He pitched against the Blue Jays once last season and went eight innings strong and got the win.  He pitched against Boston five times last season going 2-2 and a no decision.  In those five games though, Sabathia surrendered 23 earned runs.  That’s averaging 4.6 runs per start against the Red Sox and he already gave up six runs to the Astros in his first start this year.  You do not want that type of performance screwing up your pitching stats.

Relief Pitcher

Jonathan Papelbon, Phillies – Two games into the 2014 season and Papelbon already blew a save against the Texas Rangers.  It may not be his complete fault due to the poor coaching decisions by the Phillies to bring the infield in on one out when they easily could’ve turned a double play to end the game.  This week the Phillies host a decent lineup in the Milwaukee Brewers, and then the Miami Marlins who have surprisingly been hitting very well so far this season.  Four hitters in their lineup are batting over .300 and with Papelbon already blowing saves, it is not a good idea to keep him in your starting lineup this week.

Catcher

Evan Gattis, Braves – It seems that Gattis is splitting time with another catcher on the Braves roster which makes you have to pay attention as to whether he is going to start or not.  Either way you are going to want him on the bench for this week.  The Braves start the week against the Mets who have pitching issues with injuries to Matt Harvey and Jonathon Niese but Gattis is cold right now with one hit.  He could do something against the Mets but then faces one of the best pitching rotations in the MLB in the Washington Nationals.  I do not expect Gattis to get on a hot streak anytime soon.

First Base

Anthony Rizzo, Cubs – Rizzo and the Cubs host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second series of the season between the two.  In the opening series, Rizzo went 2-for-13 with a homerun and two RBI’s.  That is not very good stats besides the one homerun and Rizzo will be facing the same pitchers he already faced in the first series.  Chances are he will continue is lack of production against the Pirates which is why it would be a good idea to have him on the bench.  The Cubs then have their weekend series against the Cardinals who have one of the better rotations in the game.  Don’t count on Rizzo having a good week.

Second Base

Matt Carpenter, Cardinals – The Cardinals host the Cincinnati Reds this week for their second meeting of the season.  Carpenter had just two hits with no additional stats against the Reds the first time around.  He will see Tony Cingrani who had an excellent first outing, Homer Bailey who didn’t have a terrible outing, and Mike Leake.  Carpenter then faces the Rays in the weekend series where he sees the top of the rotation starting Friday.  This spells disaster for Carpenter so keep him on the sidelines.

Third Base

Josh Donaldson, Athletics – Donaldson is ice cold right now going just 2-for-18 in the opening series against the Indians.  Oakland faces Minnesota this week and then Seattle for the weekend where he will see Felix Hernandez and the top of the rotation on Friday.  Keep a close eye on Donaldson because he may be able to get some production from facing a weak Twins rotation.  Being that he is so cold of a hitter right now I just do not see that happening, especially when he gets to Seattle of Friday.

Shortstop

Derek Jeter, Yankees – In the opening series against the Houston Astros, Jeter and the Yankees dropped two of the three games in the series.  Jeter went 2-for-9 with an RBI as well.  This week the Yankees are looking at the Baltimore Orioles and then the rival Boston Red Sox on Friday and the weekend.  The Orioles starters had some rough patches in their first starts but are expected to settle down and perform better in their second outing.  Then Jeter will see the veteran pitching staff of the Red Sox that is top notch and ready for another run for a World Series.  Jeter usually does well against the Sox but being that he hasn’t proved much so far this year, don’t think about starting him yet.

Outfield

Billy Hamilton, Reds – Talk about starting off bad.  The Reds have high hopes Hamilton in his rookie season but has yet to contribute anything.  Opening Day he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and hasn’t recorded a hit yet this season.  This week he sees the Cardinals and the heart of the rotation of the Tampa Bay Rays for the weekend games.  The Reds are not going to evaluate the speedster too deeply this early in the season but you have to think that Hamilton is on a short leash if he doesn’t start getting on base.  With the strength of pitching he is seeing this week, that is not looking very promising.

Teams (hitters) with bad matchups: Royals, Dodgers, Reds

Teams (pitchers) with bad matchups: Phillies, Diamondbacks, Rangers