by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

At this time of year any injury or setback could ultimately end a player’s season.  It’s extremely frustrating for fantasy owners, especially given the uncertainty, as we decide whether to hold a player or not.  Of course simple inability could give us a quick trigger as well, as every AB or IP is vital.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few players we are ready to move on from (keep in mind this is geared towards those in redraft formats, and all stats are through Monday):

Tyler Naquin – Cleveland Indians – Outfielder
There was a time that he was among the hottest hitters in baseball, but that time feels like it’s long gone now.  He slashed just .193/.238/.351 in August and the recent acquisition of Coco Crisp could potentially lead to fewer AB if he doesn’t turn things around (Crisp did play 36 games in centerfield this season).  As it is Naquin has already showed that he’s a more of a platoon player than someone who deserves regular AB:

• vs. RHP – .313
• vs. LHP – .222

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by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Are you someone who looks to stream pitchers every week?  It can be a high risk, high reward strategy and you have to be willing and ready to swing and miss from time to time.  With that in mind let’s take a look at some of the recommended streaming options for the coming week, though that doesn’t mean that they are “safe” or guarantees to produce (please note all stats are through Saturday, unless otherwise noted):

Monday, August 29
Joe Musgrove – Houston Astros – vs. Oakland
Musgrove has been miserable as of late, but this certainly represents an opportunity for him to get back on track.  Oakland has been one of the worst offenses in August, slashing .241/.297/.385 while scoring a league worst 85 runs.  He also brings strikeouts and control, so as long as he keeps the ball in the ballpark there shouldn’t be an issue. Read more

Are you following @Rotoprofessor on Twitter? If not you should be, as we Tweet out all the important bullpen notes every morning from the previous day’s games. Who is in jeopardy of losing their job? Who is worth the speculative add? Here are this morning tweets (Please note we won’t be posting these on the website every day, so make sure you follow @Rotoprofessor to ensure you don’t miss a thing):

ATL: Cabrera pitches 8th ahead of Johnson (SV). Johnson likely to be traded so interesting if Cabrera gets opps #FantasyBaseball #closer

— Rotoprofessor (@Rotoprofessor) July 30, 2016

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by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Prior to the season Aaron Altherr was one of our favorite sleepers.  We actually had him marked as a “5-Star Sleeper”, saying:

“The Phillies have options for their outfield, which makes it easy to overlook Altherr (who arguably has the highest initial upside).  Between Double-A, Triple-A & the Majors last season he combined to hit 19 HR with 22 SB.  That shows 15/15 upside, at the least, which alone should explain to you why he’s an ideal late round flier.”

Altherr has been out all season due to a torn tendon sheath in his wrist, but he’s due back today and returns to an outfield that definitely has holes (outside of Odubel Herrera):

• Left Fielders – .343 SLG (fourth lowest in the league)
• Right Fielders – .367 SLG (third lowest in the league)

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by Ray Kuhn

With just four more days left prior to the All-Star break, things are really beginning to heat up. However, going four days without games that actually count will be a good thing for fantasy owners as it allows time to truly evaluate, plan, and set yourself up for the second half of the season. Let’s take a look at what happened around the majors last night.

1) Wilmer Flores Goes Deep Twice

Just because Flores doesn’t have a regular position with the return of Jose Reyes, who did double twice yesterday, it doesn’t mean Flores will be out of the lineup. Instead, he will just be moved around the infield. After playing at second base on Tuesday, Flores was set to play first yesterday but instead filled in at shortstop. it didn’t seem to impact him at the plate as Flores went deep twice to give him seven home runs on the season. Flores is now hitting .256 on the season, and in his last seven games he is batting .321 with four home runs and seven RBI. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

There wasn’t much offense yesterday as only two teams managed eight runs and 15 teams scored two runs or less. Good pitching outings were commonplace, but that also doesn’t mean that we were without some individual offensive games worthy of some attention. Let’s take at some of those performances.

1) Adam Wainwright Dominates

Hopefully for Wainwright owners, you have yet to give up on the right-hander. To say the least, it has been a difficult start to the season for Wainwright, but last night he handled the Rockies (away from Coors Field) with relative ease. In 6.2 innings of work, Wainwright kept Colorado off the scoreboard while scattering six hits and one walk and striking out give. The fact that Wainwright’s ERA only dropped to 5.92 illustrates how bad his struggles have been. By no means is Wainwright out of the woods as that was just his fifth quality start and only appearance this season where he has allowed less than three runs. Perhaps though, Wainwright and his 61.6% strand rate have hit rock bottom? Read more