A look at the second group of second basemen reveals why there might be a lot of movement at the position around the trade deadline. Second base might be the weakest position on the diamond for fantasy baseball teams, Some teams want to move beyond an absolute hole and into something resembling league average. There will be some key names missing from the second list that might surprise you. Primarily, you will notice that Aaron Hill and Jedd Gyorko are missing. Coming into the season, they were definitely supposed to be a part of at least the second group.

Both the Padres and the Dbacks are paying those guys a pretty penny, so they can’t give up on them completely. If the Dbacks are willing to pay a portion of Hill’s salary going forward, they may be able to find a taker. Otherwise, they are stuck with them. Based on the math, when you remove those names, there are at least eight teams that don’t have a top twenty second baseman. If any of them are playoff contenders you might see them make a deal.

For those of you joining us late, real offensive value is the combination of batting average and secondary average. In short, it encompasses everything a player contributes offensively. The league average is .245, so as you can see, a majority of the regulars at second base actually don’t meet the league average. That obviously has some effect on not only how teams approach the position, but on how you approach the position.

Dustin Pedroia– Boston Red Sox

Depending on what you pay attention to, Pedroia is either above average or below average. We could split the difference and say he was average. Even if he were above average that would still fall below what we’d expect from him. Simply put, it is one of the many reasons why the Red Sox aren’t what they were a year ago. Every player reaches a point where they aren’t what they once were. It looks like Pedroia has reached that point in his career.

Brian Roberts– New York Yankees

We’re going to party like its 2009. Well, not quite, but he needs just a few more plate appearances to have the most that he’s had since 2009. In 2009, Roberts had 56 doubles and 30 stolen bases. Those days are gone forever, but he is as close to average as you will find at the position. Just being healthy for the first time in five years is bonus enough for the Yankees, but they might be looking for an upgrade themselves.

Brandon Hicks– San Francisco Giants

MLBdepthcharts.com lists Joe Panik as the regular second baseman, but Hicks has more at bats. Panik is actually doing worse than Hicks was, so this situation bears watching. Of all of the contenders, the Giants might be the most in need of a second baseman (them or the Braves), so it will be interesting to see where this goes. Someone like a Rickie Weeks might fit pretty well here.

Brandon Phillips– Cincinnati Reds

If the runs produced minus runs created metric was invented for anyone it was invented for Phillips. There is no single player that represents the gap between raw numbers and actual value better than Phillips. The Reds tried to deal him to the Yankees in the offseason and the Yankees didn’t want to surrender Brett Gardner in exchange. The Yankees are still in desperate need of offense and they didn’t want any part of that. It seems that everyone is on the same page as it pertains to the gap between hype and reality.

Emilio Bonifacio– Chicago Cubs

On a long enough timeline, the survival rate drops to zero. If we reduced baseball to a gambling analogy, Bonifacio would be the equivalent of playing craps. The house always wins, but for short spurts you can win. Bonifacio is the same way. On a long enough timeline, he becomes more or less irrelevant, but for a few weeks at a time he can resemble a pretty darn good player.