Buy-Low Candidates

Here are some guys who are off to rough starts who you might be able to acquire at a discount:

Prince Fielder - With a .241 average and only one homer, the stalky young man is not living up to his owners' expectations. While he may come up short of 50 homers this year, Fielder is too good not to at least approach 40. If you'd like about 40 more homeruns over the course of the season, off up a trade to your local Prince owner.

Brandon Phillips - Despite hitting in the cleanup spot, Phillips has managed only 5 RBI to date. Assuming he stays in that place in the order (and I think he probably will), Phillips should start racking up RBI just by virtue of his position in the lineup.

Mark Teixeira - Another cleanup hitter who isn't doing a ton of cleaning up. Chipper Jones is an on-base machine and Teixeira has Francoeur protecting him, so there's no reason to think that he won't put up some big numbers in his contract year.

Victor Martinez - He was hurt for a little while, but seems fine now. His batting average is great (.368) - he just hasn't hit any homers. Hope that the Martinez owner is getting impatient and package your catcher with someone else to acquire him.

Robinson Cano - Too good of a hitter to struggle for long. Look for him to go on a tear.

C.C. Sabathia - As far as anyone can tell, Sabathia's problems are not injury-related. If that's the case, I fully expect him to right the ship and pitch like the C.C. that we all know and love. That said, I'd be a little cautious since there is a possibility that there is something wrong with him physically (or mentally, I suppose).

Justin Verlander - I'm not a huge Verlander fan, but I'm pretty sure he's better than he's shown so far. And I still think the Tigers' offense will turn things around and score a bunch of runs. Put him in the same boat as Sabathia, though, and be a little cautious in acquiring.

James Shields - Shields has been thoroughly unexciting, earning only one win, with an ERA of 3.52 and a WHIP of 1.48. The ERA is good, but with only one win, his owners may be overlooking (and, therefore, undervaluing) him.

Slow starts on which I would NOT be buying low (unless you can get them ridiculously cheap):
Rich Hill
Jose Reyes
David Ortiz
Russell Martin
Troy Tulowitzki
Hunter Pence
Gary Sheffield
Brad Hawpe
Dan Uggla
Andruw Jones