by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

It’s easy to make cut decisions on injured players this time of year, but what about those who are still on the field and struggling to produce (or whose outlook has simply changed)?  Let’s take a look at a few players who we’d be comfortable moving away from in redraft formats (obviously keeper leagues have different rules and many of these players would be worth stashing):

Nick Williams – Philadelphia Phillies – Outfielder
A highly touted prospect he’s had a nice rookie campaign, hitting .287 with 10 HR, 48 RBI, 39 R and 1 SB over 298 PA.  However strikeouts have been an issue (28.2%), and his September plate discipline has been downright horrific:

• SwStr% – 20.5%
• O-Swing% – 51.8%

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by Ray Kuhn

History. When it comes to baseball, history is all around us. Perhaps the best thing about it, is that you never know when or in what form it will come. While, other than success of the Cleveland Indians’ individual players, their now 22 game winning streak hasn’t mattered in the realm of fantasy baseball, it certainly has been exciting to follow. Let’s jump right into some of the stories from a fantasy perspective that stood out from a busy Thursday in baseball:

1)      Garcia Has Finally Arrived…
While the days of referring to Avisail Garcia as “Baby Miggy” have passed, we must first remember that the onetime top prospect is still just 26 years old. So if we are going to refer to 2017 as a breakout campaign for Garcia, it could be a logical conclusion to draw. It is quite possible that what we are seeing this season is the ceiling for Garcia, I’m not sure we can expect much more from him in 2018, and even though it his performance might not reach the levels we thought when he made his debut in 2012, he has developed into a productive outfielder. Yesterday though, Garcia had his best game of the season as he went 5 for 5 with a walk. Garcia hit a three run home run in the 6^th inning (his 17^th of the season), and he also singled four times while driving in four more runs. On the season, Garcia has 77 RBI and is batting .333 while benefitting from a .397 BABIP. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

Yesterday was a strange day in baseball. Neither Rhys Hoskins or Giancarlo Stanton went deep last night, as at this point, we truly had become accustomed to automatic home runs from each of them. Also on a day where the Mets confirmed that Yoenis Cespedes would join the ranks of their players sidelined for the season, we actually saw one of their players go the other way. Based on how poorly he did to start the season, there might actually not be any fantasy impact, but Matt Harvey is returning to the mound on Friday. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that did stand out from a relatively busy Monday in baseball:

1) Another Win for Nola…

Just as with Hoskins, it felt like a reoccurring theme here with Aaron Nola. For a stretch, every fifth day, Nola threw another strong outing that we had to highlight here as he is one of the few bright spots of Philadelphia’s rebuilding season. Nola picked up his 10 victory of the season with seven strong innings against Atlanta on Monday as he allowed just one run on five hits. The right-hander, who didn’t walk a batter, struck out six while lowering his ERA to 3.46. After going 10 starts in which he didn’t allow more than two runs, it was a good sign to see Nola rebound after allowing 12 runs in 11.1 innings in his two most recent starts. With 148 innings, Nola is already past the 111 innings he threw last year in Triple-A, but in 2015 Nola logged a combined 187 innings, so I wouldn’t be worried about him down the stretch. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

Just because there was a reduced schedule of games, although we did have a double-header in Chicago start two hours than normal to mess everyone up, we had yet another busy night of action around baseball. At this point in the season, either you are invested in every pitch as you compete for a fantasy title, or you are busy watching pre-season football. Even if you fall into the latter camp, you still should at least be abreast of what is going on, as it could shape the 2018 season. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that stood out from Monday’s action:

1) Is Rodon Becoming an Asset…

Carlos Rodon was one of the pitchers we looked at over the weekend as he was making two starts this week, and his first came last night against the Twins. The southpaw didn’t disappoint as he picked up his second victory of the season while allowing two runs in 6.1 innings of work. Rodon kept the base runners to a minimum, four hits and three walks, as he struck out nine batters and lowered his ERA to 3.88. That now gives Rodon 68 strikeouts in 60.1 innings, and while his WHIP is 1.36, Rodon’s xFIP is 3.79, so you could argue that his ERA is right where it should be. However, the 55 hits Rodon has allowed so far this season is something he will need to improve upon, although so far in August it is down to 24 hits in 29.1 innings. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Are you someone constantly on the lookout for the next potential closer? That’s what we are trying to pinpoint here, with our Top 5 Closer In Waiting Power Rankings. These rankings look at the pitchers who appear capable of taking over their team’s respective closing duties (though in some cases, will need some help to get there). Keep in mind, if a pitcher is currently part of a committee they will not be included in these rankings despite not currently “holding” the job outright.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at how things stand (the number in parenthesis is their ranking from our last update, which came on June 26): Read more

by Ray Kuhn

What is better than a full night of baseball? The answer, obviously, is not too many things as we had all 30 teams in action last night. It made for an exciting nigh, well unless your team didn’t perform too well, as there was something for everyone. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that stood out:

1) An Unlikely Hero…

Did you really think we weren’t going to start with Scooter Gennett? Despite the fact that he doesn’t have much of a fantasy pedigree, it is very likely he made someone a lot of money last night in DFS. As crazy as it may seem on the surface, Gennett had the platoon advantage last night in a hitters park against Adam Wainwright, and he was batting fifth in the order. One home run would have been expected, but four? That is just unreal. While we know this was clearly an isolated incident, this isn’t a situation fantasy owners should ignore either. Gennett left the park four times on Monday, which gives him seven home runs on the season, and thanks to the fact that one of those was a grand slam, he drove in 10 runs which brought his RBI total to 30. The utility player also added a single for good measure as he saw his average go from .270 to .302. Gennett is a solid player with a little track record and some pop, and it appears Cincinnati is going to deploy him all across the diamond, so in deeper leagues there is a little value. But overall, just enjoy the performance. Read more