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Are you tired of columns telling you that the smart "pickups" each week are players who are already owned in your league … and more often than not sold for real money at auction? If you're hardcore, then this is column is for you: Real world pickups for deep AL or NL-only leagues.

Josh Fields, 3B, CHW: The former Oklahoma State quarterback made significant progress last year, posting career bests in batting average, home runs, doubles, stolen bases, OPS and walks per at-bat. Fields is a good athlete but only an adequate defender. His looping swing will always mean high strikeout totals, but he's become more selective at the plate with each passing year. Fields will be given the opportunity to play every day while Joe Crede is on the disabled list, and if he hits, he could stick in the majors for good. It's very unlikely that Fields will ever hit for much of an average in the big leagues, and he could well be overmatched in his first exposure to that level of pitching. Don't expect more than a .250 average, and it's very conceivable that he won't even hit enough to be a short-term solution for the Sox at third base. With his developing power and good baserunning skills, however, there's lots of fantasy potential here, so Fields makes an intriguing pickup in nearly all deep leagues. Keeper leaguers should definitely give him a shot. Just know that the bust factor is high in the short-term.

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