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Fantasy baseball free-agent finds: A renaissance for Hunter Pence

Hunter Pence is exceeding pretty much all expectations this season. Can you trust him going forward? Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Few among us expected to be analyzing Texas Rangers outfielder Hunter Pence a week into May. It seemed far from assured he would even make the Rangers at all. Pence used to be one of my favorites, on and off the field. A great guy and fun to interview, he rocked statistically for a while as well, even as recently as 2014 when he hit .277 with 20 home runs, 74 RBIs, 13 steals and 106 runs for the World Series champion San Francisco Giants. Pence got MVP votes that season -- the real ones -- and he was a top-20 fantasy outfielder as well. And then, it seemed to quickly end, which is fine because like many of us, he had a good ride. Appreciate the achievements.

His final four years in San Francisco went poorly,