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Here's advice on slow-starting Mets and Yankees

Adam Ronis | FANTASY BASEBALL

11:20 PM EDT, May 10, 2008

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The Mets and Yankees are hovering around the .500 mark and have yet to show any signs of putting forth an extended winning streak. The fans are angry and whining about several players who aren't producing.

Imagine you are a fan of that team and also are a fantasy owner of those players. That explains the broken television screens, shattered coffee tables and the dents in the walls. If you thought the fans were bad, listen to a fantasy owner complain.

Several members of the Mets and Yankees are off to slow starts. Unlike the irrational fans, you need to exude patience on some.

Carlos Beltran was drafted in the first two rounds of drafts and is being outperformed by Ryan Church and Ryan Ludwick. Entering Saturday, Beltran was hitting .181 in the last 28 games and .218 with two homers and 13 RBIs for the season. Beltran has the reputation of needing to be 100 percent physically to perform. A paper cut can alter his performance.

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He had surgery on both knees in the offseason to clean out debris and missed the beginning of spring training. The knees could still be bothering him and the cold weather doesn't help. Beltran struggled adapting to the pressures of playing in New York in 2005, but he hit 41 and 33 home runs the last two years.

Beltran is very streaky as shown by his batting averages from April to September last season: .356, .234, .238, .208, .338 and .282. He is in one of those downward spirals now. He will turn it around, so buy low.

The outlook isn't as bright for the other Carlos. Carlos Delgado has shown signs of slippage each year with the Mets. He is batting .216 with four home runs and 16 RBIs. He doesn't catch up to the inside fastball and his slugging percentage has dipped from .548 two years ago to .448 last season to .362 this season. Don't expect good numbers.

If you know anything about Robinson Cano, you shouldn't be alarmed by the slow start. Cano hit .276 with six homers and 40 RBIs before the All-Star break last season. After the break, he hit .343 with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs.

Cano has a poor K/BB ratio, but it hasn't stopped him from eclipsing .300 the last two seasons. He is actually striking out less and walking more this season, too, which means his average is bound to rise. His batting average on balls in play is below .200, which is well below the league average. It means he is extremely unlucky right now. He will rebound and is a good candidate to buy low.

Jose Reyes was drafted as a top-five fantasy player and he isn't. If he doesn't steal more than 60 bases and score 115 runs, he will not live up to the lofty expectations fantasy owners envisioned. He doesn't hit for average or power, so he needs to be extraordinary in the other categories. He's starting to steal more bases, but won't match the 78 of last season. He hit .251 after the All-Star break last season and is showing the same inconsistency so far. Find an optimistic Mets fan -- if there are any -- and see what you can acquire.

Another overrated New York fantasy player is Derek Jeter. He doesn't hit for power and doesn't steal bases often. He has only seven extra-base hits in 124 at-bats. He could come close to last season's numbers. Find a Yankees fan willing to overpay and deal him.

Jason Giambi is usable only in very deep mixed leagues and AL-only leagues. He still has some power, but he'll hurt your average. He doesn't play every day and he has been on the decline.

Both Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner are two of the most reliable fantasy closers. I didn't say in the playoffs Yankees fans, where Wagner can't be compared to Rivera. They'll both finish with excellent numbers.