The fourth 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 three the following players you are going to want to consider benching for the time being:

Starting Pitcher

Matt Garza, Brewers – Garza has been having some issues early this season.  He has been progressively getting worse with every start, giving up more runs each time.  His strikeout totals are way below his standard and has given up eight or more hits in three of his four starts.  Garza has yet to record a win this season and it will be hard to get one again this week.  He is only slated for one start this week and it is Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals who have a very capable lineup.  Garza has faced the Cardinals once already this season and he gave up four runs on eight hits in seven innings.  Best to keep him on the bench for this start.

Relief Pitcher

Glen Perkins, Twins – So far this season, Perkins has been doing an excellent job in as the closer for the Twins.  After blowing a save in his first appearance of the season, Perkins hasn't been scored upon in his past seven outings, bringing his ERA down to a respectable 3.60 on the season.  He hasn't seen too many save opportunities with the 10-10 Twins, but has made the most of his recent appearances, and should continue to have a long leash moving forward.  This week he will see a slate of tougher hitting teams in the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Baltimore Orioles.  Be cautious this week with Perkins.

Catcher

Carlos Santana, Indians – Santana is not doing fantasy owners any favors lately unless you are playing an opponent who has him on their roster.  The past two weeks I had him on our sit list and I was right.  This week I am predicting the same slump he is in.  Last week Santana was holding a .219 batting average with two runs scored and only a single RBI.  Now he is at a .137 batting average with three RBI’s and nine runs scored and a homerun.  Being that he is so cold right now, it is probably best to keep him on the bench until you notice him warming up and collecting some more hits and runs.

First Base

Eric Hosmer, Royals – Hosmer is one of the last big-name players without a home run this season, but he's giving owners a great batting average (.311).  The home runs will come at some point, but instead of hitting 20-30 bombs, he'll probably just knock out 10-20.  He only has six RBI’s and eight runs scored this season so his production is only helping in the batting averages category.  Hosmer will see average pitching against the Toronto Blue Jays early this week but will see much tougher pitching later in the week against the Detroit Tigers including Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

Second Base

Aaron Hill, Diamondbacks – Hill is off to a slow start this season, just like the rest of the Diamondbacks team who have the worst record in baseball right now at 7-18 as of Friday.  The day off Tuesday appeared to help Hill clear his head, as he went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI in the D-Backs' comeback win over the Cubs on Wednesday.  For the season, Hill is hitting just .240 with a homer, nine RBI’s, and seven runs scored but there's no indication of health or mechanical issues causing the slow start to this point.  Due to this it would be best to keep Hill on the bench.

Third Base

Pablo Sandoval, Giants – Sandoval’s struggles are killing fantasy owners so far this season.  As of Friday, he has a .165 batting average with two homeruns, six RBI’s, and eight runs scored.  That is not much production at all this far into the season especially with such a low batting average.  He will face the San Diego Padres early in the week and see a better pitching staff in the Atlanta Braves for the weekend series.  I know we all hope that Kung-Fu Panda will turn it around eventually this season but as of now it doesn’t look so good.

Shortstop

J.J. Hardy, Orioles – This past week, Hardy had some issues with a hamstring injury and missed a few games because of it.  He has returned to the lineup and is 1-for-9 with an RBI as of Friday.  It doesn’t seem that Hardy is still being bothered by the hamstring but it is something to keep an eye on moving forward.  He is batting an average of .231 with five RBI’s and four runs scored.  Numbers like this scare us fantasy owners and don’t want to see them in our lineup.  Last season, Hardy had been in the same situation where he started off slow and eventually picked it back up.  The same thing will most likely happen this year but it is just a matter of when it will begin.

Outfield

Alex Gordon, Royals – Gordon is entertaining a .275 batting average with one homerun, 11 RBI’s, and nine runs scored.  That is not too bad to start the season off for us fantasy owners but it most likely won’t get any better.  This is about what we should expect all season from Gordon but as for this week the production will be a little less than average.  He will see the Toronto Blue Jays early in the week but then will face the tough pitching staff of the Detroit Tigers.  Be careful when starting him this week.

Teams (hitters) with bad matchups: Cubs, Houston, Royals

Teams (pitchers) with bad matchups: Twins, Indians, Rangers