We are now five weeks into the 2018 baseball season.
It’s time to think about dropping some under-performing players, even if you drafted them in the middle rounds. At the same time, there are guys that you need to show a little more patience. It’s a tricky spot as you don’t want to drop a guy in a slump who goes onto have an All-Star year.
We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe some guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on May 6th, 2018.
I’ll be posting a weekly fantasy baseball F/M/K every Sunday this baseball season…so keep coming back!
Before I begin, let’s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys that I list under “F*ck” are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. “Marry”, are guys that you need to stick with the whole season, even if they are struggling a bit. “Kill”, are guys that need to be dropped for better players in the free agent pool.
OF Jorge Soler – Kansas City Royals – 28.9% owned – Soler is finally starting to pay dividends for the Royals. He is walking at a career-high pace, so he is seeing better pitches to hit. He has hit safely in nine out of his last ten games. He currently has a .297 avg, four homers and 12 RBI on the year. He is playing every day and it’s time to pick up the former elite prospect. I have a feeling his bat will stay this hot through the Summer.
1B Matt Adams – Washington Nationals – 12.1% owned – The Nationals have dealt with injuries all season and Adams is finding consistent at-bats. He was awesome in fill-in duties last season for the Braves and he is showing his power with the Nationals. He has a .284 avg, seven homers and 17 RBI. Zimmerman is dealing with some tightness in his side, so Adams should be the replacement at first base if it continues to bother him. He’s an automatic NL-only league play and is a nice short-term replacement 1B/3B if you’re dealing with injuries or day off.
SP Miles Mikolas – St. Louis Cardinals – 55.4% owned – Mikolas has been great since after his first two mediocre starts at the beginning of the season. He has only given up four runs in his last 28 innings over four starts. He is coming off a performance against the Cubs where he threw seven scoreless innings on the way to a win. He is currently 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 31 strikeouts. His next start is at San Diego, which should be a must-start in every league.
C Wilson Ramos – Tampa Bay Rays – 63.2% owned – Catcher is super thin and if you don’t have the top six or seven catchers, you’re stuck streaming hot catchers. The current hot catcher is Wilson Ramos. He plays about four out of every six games. He currently has an eleven-game hitting streak. He brought his batting average up to .307 with four homers and 16 RBI. The Rays have a few fantasy-relevant guys on the team and Ramos is in that group.
1B/3B Ryon Healy – Seattle Mariners – 20.6% owned – Healy got off to a ‘bowling shoe ugly’ start. His average was below .100 until about two weeks ago. He has hit safely in seven out of his last nine games and has hit four homers during that stretch. His has brought his average up to .241 and this should be more of the norm for Healy. He’s a very good hitter and should have a solid average by the end of the year. He will also hit 20+ homers, so he’s worth an add to your bench in standard leagues and a start in deeper leagues.
OF Jose Bautista – Atlanta Braves – 13.3% owned – Bautista was just called up to the main roster after a short time in the minors. He should be an everyday player, but not in the outfield, but at third base. He should have eligibility there by mid-May. He is coming off a very bad season and had to sign a minor league deal last offseason. I think there’s still some life left in his bat. The 37-year-old may have a couple seasons left in him as his power is still there.
SP Jarlin Garcia – Miami Marlins – 48.4% owned – Garcia just keeps on having great performances. He currently has a 1.09 ERA with a 0.85 WHIP over six starts, but is only 1-0 thanks to being on a bad offensive team. He is a two-start pitcher next week against the Cubs and Braves. He already pitched six scoreless innings against the Cubs and only allowed one hit early this season. I think he’s a no-brainer start for all leagues. It stinks that he may struggle to get to double-digit wins, but his ERA and WHIP should keep him fantasy relevant.
SS/3B Eduardo Escobar – Minnesota Twins – 50.2% owned – Escobar should be the guy you target to replace Corey Seager. I listed him in this section last week and his ownership percentage jumped by over 35% in the last seven days. He’s currently hitting .314 with six homers and 18 RBI. He doubled his power numbers this week and he his hitting safely in about every game he starts. He has position-eligibility at a few places, which makes him even more valuable. Escobar needs to be added in all leagues.
1B/DH Logan Morrison – Minnesota Twins – 15.6% owned – Morrison is another guy that got off to a horrible start to the season. He had an average well under .100 until the last week and a half. He has raised his average to .179 and has hit two homers in his last three games. Thanks to injuries to Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, the Twins need at-bats from their bench. Morrison lost his starting job early in the year and is now in the lineup everyday. I think he’s due to have a big week.
SP CC Sabathia – New York Yankees – 40.6% owned – It’s sometimes very hard to have a lot of confidence in aging starters off to a hot start. Your memory is long and remember all the bad starts over the years. Sabathia is having a career year so far for the Yankees. He’s not striking out a ton of guys, but he is currently 2-0 with a 1.39 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP over his first six starts. He’s not going deep into games, so he’s not getting overexposed by facing hitters for a third time. He is just out there throwing strikes and pitching to contact and still have some heat to make a few batters miss a game.
3B Maikel Franco – Philadelphia Phillies – 34.8% owned – Franco was an annoying player to have on your fantasy team the first two weeks of the season. The Phillies were sitting him too much. He has since only sat once in the last ten games. He is hot and is currently hitting .271 with five homers and 25 RBI. Franco had a very good rookie season in 2015, but really hasn’t put together a good fantasy season since, but the guy can do it. I think you need to ride him while he’s hot and see if he can do it for a few months straight.
SP Walker Buehler – Los Angeles Dodgers – 40.4% owned – Buehler was only supposed to be a spot starter to fill-in for an injury, but he has pitched his way into the starting rotation. Over three starts, he is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He isn’t going very deep in games, but he has been great so far pitching five or six innings. He could be stretched out to seven innings, but I doubt you’ll see him go any deeper than that this season. They don’t want to tire out the young righty. They will need to cap his innings as he didn’t exceed 100 innings last year.
OF Delino DeShields – Texas Rangers – 37.1% owned – DeShields found himself on the disabled list early this season, but has been back for the last two weeks or so. He will be a very good source of steals and runs this season. He is currently hitting .306 with two homers, ten runs and four stolen bases. He is in the middle of a nine-game hitting streak. He should be added in all leagues as he should end the season with 30+ steals.
2B/3B/OF Eduardo Nunez – Boston Red Sox – 86.0% owned – Nunez hasn’t been very consistent this season. He is only hitting .228, but has managed to get safely in seven of his last ten games. I have faith he will fix his issues as his BABIP is lower than his career average. He has position flexibility and should be owned in all leagues. He has been losing ownership percentage points slowly the last two weeks. You should keep him now and maybe cut him if he hasn’t improved in a couple weeks.
2B Paul DeJong – St. Louis Cardinals – 85.4% owned – DeJong was one of my sleeper picks to have a breakout year this season. He got off to a hot start, but has fallen into a slump. He is hitless in his last four games (0 for 11), but his overall numbers aren’t bad. He is hitting .248 with seven homers and 14 RBI. People keep slowly dropping DeJong and his ownership percentage keeps dropping little by little. I wouldn’t go looking for gold my adding a ‘flavor of the week’ young middle infielder…keep DeJong. His end-of-the-season numbers will be good.
1B Justin Bour – Miami Marlins – 49.5% owned – Bour was an early-season target for many fantasy players. He started the season right on track, but a back injury has limited him over the last week. Impatient fantasy players have been dropping Bour at a fast pace. Don’t be so impatient as he has hit two homers this week and his track record shows he will have a very good season. He has already hit six homers this year and I think he could easily hit 30 by the end of the season.
OF Adam Eaton – Washington Nationals – 85.1% owned – Eaton has been on the disabled list for nearly a month with a bone bruise on his ankle. The word last week was that he should have already been back, but he is still in a walking boot. I guess he is dealing with some soreness. His ownership percentage keeps falling the longer he is on the DL. Eaton will be a top-25 fantasy outfielder when he’s healthy, so a fantasy team really has to have been bitten by the injury bug for me to even think about dropping Eaton. He’s been sitting in my DL spot on a couple teams and he will stay there until he’s healthy. I know DL spots are at a premium, but there are very few other guys I’d put in there over Eaton.
SP Drew Pomeranz – Boston Red Sox – 33.2% owned – Pomeranz started the year on the disabled list and only has three starts under his belt. Boston is still in the process of stretching him out as he has only pitched in 14.2 innings over three starts. He is expected to soon get into the seventh inning or more, maybe in his next start. He currently has a 6.14 ERA with a 1.70 WHIP, but it is such a small sample size. Pomeranz will be a good starter for the Red Sox this year and be a guy you should target every week as a spot starter and eventually roster full-time.
2B Jonathan Schoop – Baltimore Orioles – 85.3% owned – Schoop has been on the disabled list for a couple weeks and he just started his rehab assignment last week. He is expected to be activated on Tuesday in time for a series against the Royals. Schoop is a top-ten second baseman and it’s surprising so many people are leaving him out there to be sniped on the waiver wire. Schoop will be a very productive middle infielder and will make it worth the time sitting in your DL spot.
RP Brad Hand – San Diego Padres – 90.8% owned – Hand currently has eight saves and has only allowed runs in just one single appearance. He has been near-automatic and has been striking guys out at a nice rate. I’m not sure who all these fantasy owners are dropping Hand for, but it’s a mistake. I’d hold onto Hand as there are zero guys waiting in the wings in case he struggles. He is a nice source of saves.
SP Garrett Richards – Los Angeles Angels – 82.3% owned – Richards has the skills to be a full-time rostered pitcher in all leagues. He’s 4-1 with a 3.91 ERA with 45 strikeouts over seven starts. He has really only had two bad outings that skewed his overall numbers. He is averaging double-digit strikeouts per nine and is coming off a scoreless performance at Seattle. His ownership dipped after his last start at home against the Yankees, but should bounce back after the performance at Seattle. He’s worth holding onto as I think he will be a top-25 fantasy starting pitcher.
1B/OF Ian Desmond – Colorado Rockies – 70.8% owned – Desmond is a tricky player to figure out. He’s actually hitting better away from the thin air of Colorado. I’ve been waiting for him to ‘go off’ since he signed with Colorado a year ago. Injuries killed a large portion of last season and he’s not seeing the ball well this year. That being said, he can still be an asset on your team. Yes, he’s only hitting .177, but he has double digit runs and RBI and will probably finish the year with double digit steals and homers. I would hold onto him for another week. I want to see if Dahl sticks with the Major League squad, he could start taking away at-bats from Desmond…then it might be time to drop him.
2B/SS Scott Kingery – Philadelphia Phillies – 39.0% owned – It kills me to suggest this as he was one of my preseason sleepers. Kingery has been ice cold lately and it could be time for him to get some more seasoning down in Triple-A. He has all the upside in the world, but it might be a year too early for him. He had a great Spring and forced the Phillies hand to keep him on the Major League roster, but he’s just not being productive. I think it’s time to dump Kingery and pickup someone like Tim Anderson or Jason Kipnis.
SP Danny Duffy – Kansas City Royals – 46.1% owned – Duffy has fallen back down to Earth after a decent start. He’s just isn’t missing bats as he has allow double-digit hits in two of his last three starts. He has also allowed 15 earned runs over his last three starts. He’s a two-start pitcher next week, but I want nothing to do with him. Batters are seeing his pitches too well and driving in runs.
3B Matt Chapman – Oakland A’s – 83.0% owned – It’s time to jump off the Chapman bandwagon. He was great in April, but is 1 for 18 in May. He only has two RBI in the last two weeks. I’d rather pickup Eduardo Esobar, Evan Longoria or Ryon Healy than Chapman right now.
2B/SS/3B Zack Cozart – Los Angeles Angels – 56.0% owned – I was very down on Cozart this offseason. I didn’t see him recreating the elevated production he had last season. He was a replacement-level player for a couple years before last season. He started off this year with solid numbers, but has been on the bench a few too many times to be owned by 56% of teams. Now that Ian Kinsler and Luis Valbuena are both healthy, Cozart became a super utility player. He is also dealing with a back issue and is missing games. I’d rather own Eugenio Suarez or Maikel Franco this week.
C Brian McCann – Houston Astros – 49.0% owned – As I said before, catcher is thin as hell. It’s crazy that I’m recommending two catcher drops in this section, but there are better ones out there. McCann is far from the days when he was a fantasy stud. He has been hitless in five of his last eight games and has shown very little power. I’d rather pickup Wilson Ramos, Francisco Cervelli or James McCann.
SP David Price – Boston Red Sox – 90.9% owned – Price looked like his old self in his first two starts by pitching a combined 14 scoreless innings. He has since given up at least four runs in four of his next five starts. He’s even allowing some bad teams to put up some crooked numbers against him. I don’t like him right now and teams are spraying hits all over the diamond. I’d rather drop him and pick up guys to stream like Caleb Smith, CC Sabathia or Miles Mikolas.
OF Jackie Bradley Jr. – Boston Red Sox – 31.8% owned – Bradley was drafted in almost every league to start the year, but he has steadily been dropped. He is striking out too much and has not been getting his bat on much. He is 2 for his last 32 at-bats, but thanks to his superb defense, he is still getting plenty of at-bats. I want nothing to do with him. You should target Nick Markakis, Eddie Rosario or Jorge Soler.
C/DH Evan Gattis – Houston Astros – 57.2% owned – Gattis is one of the streakiest hitters in baseball. He can go a month hitting lower than .200, but then can heat up and hit a dozen homers the following month. The issue I have with Gattis right now is that he isn’t making contact, at all. His last hit was way back on April 27th. Also, Houston has been rotating the DH-spot around the lineup giving everyone at least one day off from the field every nine games. Catcher is thin as hell, but Gattis is not adding anything to your team. There are better options out there.
2B Ian Kisler – Los Angeles Angels – 54.0% owned – Kinsler has been one of the worst middle infielders over the last two weeks. He’s not doing anything positive for any fantasy category. He’s owned in over half of leagues and I’m sure guys are still hoping he turns back the clock and becomes fantasy relevant again…but I don’t see that happening. He has only driven in two runs, he’s batting .210 and only has one homer. I’d rather add Jose Peraza, Cesar Hernandez or Starling Castro.
OF Michael Conforto – New York Mets – 76.5% owned – It’s time to wipe your hands clean of Conforto. You probably drafted him somewhat early in the middle rounds and you waited a couple weeks to activate him off the disabled list. You were hoping he would be great right out of the gates, but he has been bad. He is 0 for 12 in his last three games. He is hitting .187 with only one homer and six RBI. He is starting to lose at-bats to Brandon Nimmo. It stings to drop a young guy with potential, but I’d rather have Michael Brantley, Franchy Cordero or Teoscar Hernandez.
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.