Bleacher Features - Know When to Say When
CBS SportsLine Fantasy Baseball
'Never Say Die' May 15, 1998

Lenny Ortiz plays in CBS SportsLine's Head-to-Head Challenge Game and is currently ranked 95th overall. His biggest point getter is Dante Bichette.

Don't ever give up! It sounds like an old saying that really doesn't mean much, but when it comes to baseball it really holds true. I

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Frank Thomas is having a power struggle and is only hitting .288. (Allsport)

find the idea of giving up on a team, or a player, after only a month is ridiculous. The fact that the baseball season is so long (five months) and every player and every team is going to have their ups and downs should tell you not to give up. This is just a matter of fact in baseball, and in almost any other sport, too. But the good players and the good teams endure those "down" periods or "slumps", and come back strong, usually when it counts more like toward the end of the season.

It doesn't take much to realize that just because guys like Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell only have a handful of homers that you should give up on them. Barring injury, players like this will still finish the season with 30+ homers and 100+ RBI and a batting average around .300.

The fact that a player or a team starts out slowly does not mean that much in my book. By the end of the season those 'good' players and teams will overcome their slow starts, and put up the numbers that would make any fan or Fantasy owner proud.