April doesn’t always tell truth in fantasy baseball

Knowing which storm to weather and which one to scurry away from usually separates the top fantasy owners from the bottom dwellers.

Here’s three players who are having a difficult April, and we’ll look at whether you should weather the storm or run away.

Jose Quintana

Jose Quintana was supposed to get some relief as a No. 3 pitcher in the Chicago White Sox rotation. That led to him being drafted in pretty much all fantasy baseball drafts, despite his inability to load up on strikeouts during his career.

So far this season, Quintana has been anything but a reliable arm on fantasy teams. And owners are dropping him at an alarming rate.

If he’s available in your fantasy league, go ahead and pick him up. The Tigers just have Quintana’s number, and it showed during the outing on April 19 when he allowed nine earned runs in four innings.

But Quintana has proven through the years to be a reliable pitcher in producing a decent ERA and WHIP. That’s why he was picked up in drafts and many expected the White Sox to produce a better offense.

The offense has sputtered, but it’s only April and Quintana should be expected to be a decent arm on any fantasy roster going forward. Go ahead and weather this storm.

Justin Morneau

Fantasy owners were delighted with Morneau’s performance last year.

Despite being a quality player in the past, many thought injuries had derailed Morneau’s career before last year, making him a cheap option in auction drafts and off the waiver wire.

Last year, he batted .319, with 82 RBIs and he totaled 62 runs. His total bases were 249, the most since 2009, when he was a perennial All-Star.

He hadn’t totaled numbers like that since 2010 when he succumbed to injuries. His career just wasn’t the same. That was until last year.

Now, he’s back to the form he had when injuries were piling up.

He’s batting .231, with three RBIs and five runs. He’s recorded only 17 total bases, and he’s struck out five times, compared to working one walk.

Colorado is a great place to hit, but Morneau’s season last year was just a blip on the radar in his decline during the years. Stay away from Morneau, since he won’t put up enough numbers as a first baseman to help a fantasy team.

Asdrubal Cabrera

Cabrera found himself on many fantasy league teams this year, possibly because of his versatility of being a short stop and second baseman.

That’s about the only reason for people to pick him up, though. He’s already at a .217 batting average with 14 strikeouts in 63 plate appearances. He’s now being benched to break him out of the slump.

He doesn’t steal bases and his on-base percentage hasn’t been something for fantasy owners to depend on when having him on a roster.

His best batting average is .308 in 2009. However, he’s only garnered above .275 two other times in his career — 2007 and 2010. He does usually have an above .300 on-base percentage, but his lack of skills in other areas make him someone to drop today and stay away from for the future.