We are now nine weeks into the 2018 baseball season.

As temperatures rise, so do more baseballs. Power numbers really get cranked into overdrive in June and July. Don’t sleep on power hitters off to slow starts. J.D. Martinez and Josh Donaldson both didn’t get hot until this time last year.

There are a few teams recently changed closers and a few more could lose their jobs soon due to poor performance and/or trades. Who should you target on the waiver wire?

We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe a couple young guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on June 3rd, 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.

 

SP Daniel Mengden – Oakland A’s – 65.2% owned – Mengdon is the best starting pitcher you may not know. He has been fantastic this season and his control is the reason. He doesn’t have strikeout stuff, but he’s been able to limit his walks and pitched to soft contact. As long as he induces grounders and can get ahead in counts, he should be very good. He has won his last four starts and is 6-4 with a 2.91 ERA and 0.97 WHIP on the year. He’s a guy that just graduated from ‘streaming option’ to ‘rostered starter’ in my book.

RP Fernando Rodney – Minnesota Twins – 49.7% owned – There’s always going to be a closer out there that has lost the faith of fantasy owners. The guy keeps notching up saves, but you’ve been burned by him in the past. Rodney is this year’s ‘I’m not going there again’ free agent closer. He’s not owned in half of leagues, but he has 12 saves on the year and sports a 2.84 ERA. He has only allowed one run since May 2nd (and recorded nine saves in that span). Rodney has a few relievers with closing experience breathing down his neck, but he just keeps converting saves. Is a collapse on the horizon? Maybe, but you can always drop him when/if it happens. I think it’s time we all just pick him up and reap the rewards.

OF Matt Kemp – Los Angeles Dodgers – 70.1% owned – I’m not sure why a guy with a .347 batting average and nine homers is available in over a quarter of leagues. If Matt Kemp wasn’t named ‘Matt Kemp’, I would wonder that as well. Kemp almost falls in the Fernando Rodney category since we have all had Kemp at some point in our fantasy baseball careers and he most likely burned you. He had a fantastic year and a half early in his career and injuries and malaise nearly ended his career. He isn’t stealing bases like he used to, but Kemp should be owned in all leagues. He’s second in the NL in batting average and is one of the top RBI guys on the Dodgers. Just last week, Kemp hit three homers and drove in eight RBIs.

SS Brandon Crawford – San Francisco Giants – 47.3% owned – This is the third week in a row that I’ve listed Crawford in this section. He has continued his hot streak and has hit safely in 16 of his last 18 games. Middle infield is a tad thin when it comes to the 2B/SS flex spot. Crawford is hitting .310 with six homers and 24 RBI.  He is playing everyday and rarely takes a seat (he rested one game last month). You should pick him up in all leagues while he’s hot. The Giants are getting healthy and their offense could start to catch fire. He could be a short-term guy that sticks in your lineup for a long time.

1B Mitch Moreland – Boston Red Sox – 52.6% owned – I’ve almost added Moreland in this section a few times this season. His numbers were great, but his issue was playing time. He was stuck in a lopsided platoon with Hanley Ramirez. Well, the Red Sox kicked Ramirez to the curb and gave Moreland the everyday job at first base. He has been pretty darn great since taking over the full-time job. He has increased his walk rate and has slashed his strikeout rate as well. He currently has an OPS of .961 and is batting .292. I expect those numbers to drop some, but now that he is playing everyday, you’re going to see an increase in all cumulative fantasy stat categories.

OF Adam Eaton – Washington Nationals – 58.5% owned – Eaton’s ankle never really full healed from his surgery last season. He was off to a hot start, but the discomfort was too great after he tweaked it on a slide. He underwent a procedure on his ankle on May 10th and he is already expected to be sent on a rehab assignment this week. He’s eligible to return off the 60 day-DL on June 8th, and he’s right on track. Eaton used to be a 100% owned fantasy player, but since he’s been on the DL since April 11th, nearly half of leagues dropped the former All-Star outfielder. The Nationals have a ‘good’ problem in their outfield now that Eaton is coming back. I expect their regular outfielders to be Eaton, Juan Soto and Bryce Harper. This would throw Michael Taylor back to the reserve outfielder role. It would also limit the at-bats of Matt Adams (who gets some extra at-bats in the outfield). The Nationals have dealt with so many injuries this season that it’s the first time this season they will have a glut of outfielders at their disposal.

SS/3B Johan Camargo – Atlanta Braves – 3.1% owned – Camargo is on a tear this week. He has hit three homers, scored six runs and drove in six RBI. He is trying to hold off top prospect Austin Riley and keep his job at third base. Camargo has been seeing the ball really, really well. He has more walks than strikeouts on the season. His overall numbers on the year aren’t great thanks to his .221 batting average, but BABIP could be dragging down that number (.234 BABIP). A batter can just be unlucky when his BABIP reaches a number that low. Based on his numbers this week, those BABIP numbers could start to correct themselves. If he can continue to hit near this rate, you will see his ownership percentage skyrocket.

1B Jesus Aguilar – Milwaukee Brewers – 61.3% owned – Aguilar is another guy who made the list against this week. He has stayed hot and hit two homers (again) in the last week. He plays everyday due to Eric Thames being out for an extended period of time. Aguilar is hitting .310 with ten homers and 32 RBI this season. He has plus power and the fact that he plays in a homer-friendly park, he could eclipse 30 homers this season. Aguilar is a nice 1B/3B flex spot play as I like him more than Matt Adams and Ian Desmond. He is a guy that now should be added in all leagues.

C Evan Gattis – Houston Astros – 67.9% owned – I’ve mentioned Gattis a few times in my weekly F/M/K article. He has never been in this section because he was hitting poorly and striking out like a mad man. I said that he was very streaky and I would drop him until he catches fire. Well, I hope you were able to add him sometime in the last two weeks. He has hit seven homers in his last 16 games. He really needed to catch fire since he was being replaced at DH way too much early this season. How long will this hot streak last? I believe he should continue his hot streak through next week as he plays a four-game series in the hitter-friendly Globe Life Park in Arlington versus the Rangers.

SP Marco Gonzales – Seattle Mariners – 30.8% owned – Gonzales was once one of the many good pitching prospects in the St. Louis farm system. He had very limited success at the Major League level as he was brought up and sent down numerous times from 2014 thru last season. The Cardinals shipped him to the Mariners for power-hitting outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who had a few cups of coffee with the Cardinals this season. Gonzales has been solid for the Mariners in 12 starts this year. He’s 6-3 with a 3.38 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 66.2 innings. He has only allowed one run in his last four starts (3-0 over 26 innings). He’s still a young pitcher, so he will have some ups and downs, but he’s placing the ball where he wants right now. His next start will be Friday at Tampa Bay, a team he just held to one run in 6.2 innings on Saturday.

1B Matt Olson – Oakland A’s – 60.3% owned – Olson has been streaky this season, but has been a player you could ride during his hot streak with a lot of success. He has hit safely in all but one game this past week and hit three homers and drove in six runs. He bumped his seasons numbers up as he now has a .248 batting average with 11 homers and 26 RBI. He has been very hot and very cold, so you may need to just figure out when to drop him. You should be fine this week as he faces Kansas City and Texas…two teams he has hit well against this season.

OF Brandon Nimmo – New York Mets – 56.4% owned – Nimmo has been on fire the last two weeks. He has hit safely in all but two games since May 23rd. He is right up there with Mike Trout and Andrew Benintendi in head-to-head stats the last two weeks. In that span, he has hit five homers, drove in nine RBI, stole four bases and hit .306. Nimmo doesn’t have a track record with this kind of success, so he may only be a short-term add. He has already eclipsed his personal-best season homer total and only needs a few more to eclipse his best season hit total.

OF Odubel Herrera – Philadelphia Phillies – 90.5% owned – Herrera got off to a bad start, but then went on to scorch every pitcher from late-April until mid-May. He has cooled off quite a bit, but he is still making contact. His overall numbers are still great (.306 AVG & 7 HRs), but he is only hitting .164 in his last 55 at-bats. Herrera has a track record as a streaky hitter, but he doesn’t quite bottom-out like other streaky hitters like Evan Gattis has in the past. He should be just fine and I wouldn’t cut bait with him as he could heat up again very soon. 

SP Fernando Romero – Minnesota Twins – 33.5% owned – Romero has been a revelation for a rotation that needed a change. Fernando Romero was a strikeout machine in the minors and he pitched 11.2 scoreless innings over his first two starts of the year. He has been inducing groundballs and has swing-and-miss stuff. The 23-year-old crashed down to Earth in his last start. He gave up eight runs on nine hits in only 1.2 innings. It’s hit first bad start of his career. His ERA jumped by three-and-a-half runs from that poor outing. His next start is against the poor-hitting White Sox and you should stick with him. Too many people will regret dumping him after his last start. He has electric stuff and think he will rebound in a big way this week.

3B Josh Donaldson – Toronto Blue Jays – 93.8% owned – Fantasy owners are clearly losing their patience with Donaldson as his ownership dropped a few points after landing on the DL again. He had a seven-game hitting streak before injuring his calf. His DL stint was backdated to May 29th, so he will be eligible to be come off it late this week. Before you think about dropping Donaldson, remember how poor he was hitting early last season? He turned it around and was one of the hottest hitters in the Majors after the All-Star Break. He’s an elite hitter, but has been pretty damn unlucky with injuries this year. He’s far too value to drop.

C Mike Zunino – Seattle Mariners – 43.4% owned – Zunino is on a four-game hitting streak, so his contact rate has improved the last week. He may still have a poor average, but his power numbers are hard to ignore. Catcher is thin as hell and the fact that he plays nearly every day and can be a difference-maker with his bat, should make him an automatic add. You will eat the bad average for the power numbers. I will continue to put him in this section until his ownership starts to consistently increase.

SP Kenta Maeda – Los Angeles Dodgers – 60.8% owned – Maeda injured his hip in a start last week and was placed on the 10-day DL. They think he will be ready to be activated on the first day he is available and he won’t need a rehab assignment. The Dodgers have a load of starters on the DL and Maeda should be the first of many to be activated. Before injuring his hip, he was coming off his two best starts of the season. He struck out 20 in 14.2 innings over those two games. Maeda is in the top tier of starters in the National League when he’s healthy. If you have an open DL-spot, you should add Maeda and wait until he’s activated in a week.

OF Jorge Soler – Kansas City Royals – 54.2% owned – Soler was one of the hottest hitters in May, but cooled off near the end of the month. He is hitting the ball well again as he hit three homers last week. He is an everyday outfielder for the Royals and it will improve his development. He has spent too much time being a reserve outfielder since he was signed out of Cuba. I believe his experience this season will be a great service to his overall development. Jorge Soler should be a 30+ homer hitter with an average above .270 and I think he reaches those numbers at the end of the season.

RP Hunter Strickland – San Francisco Giants – 70.4% owned – Strickland has been fantastic for the Giants since taking over the closing role. He has ten saves with a 2.42 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. His ownership dropped again this week. Mark Melancon was just activated from the 60-day DL, but isn’t expected to regain his role as closer anytime soon. Strickland did give up a run this week, but it was in a non-save situation. The Giants didn’t have many save situations last month, but Strickland is still worth the add as the Giants are starting to get healthy.

1B/3B Ryon Healy – Seattle Mariners – 32.6% owned – Healy was on fire in late-April and early-May, but has went cold the last two-and-a-half weeks. His bat is starting to come alive again with hits in four of his last five games (as well as a homer on Saturday). He has been super streaky this year, but he’s getting hot again. He should help you in every category and would be a nice 1B/3B flex option in all leagues.

2B Yoan Moncada – Chicago White Sox – 65.1% owned – Moncada was one of the hottest young hitters before landing on the DL in early-May. He has been ‘okay’ since being activated, but hasn’t had more than one hit in a game since May 17th. He’s had many one-hit games, but those don’t do much in fantasy. He’s a talented player and should eventually help you in all categories as he also has six steals on the season. He’s a player you shouldn’t cut. He’s a little cold right now, but at the most, you should just keep him on your bench until he heats up.

SP Bartolo Colon – Texas Rangers – 13.1% owned – Colon was a nice story early this year, but his age caught up to him. He has allowed 15 runs in just 15.1 over his last three starts. Colon works best when he’s ahead in the count, but his control hasn’t quite been there. He is a pitch-to-contact pitcher and his strikeout rate is very low. The Rangers aren’t a very good team, so he’s not going to earn you many wins. It’s time to cut bait with Colon. I would only start him in deep AL-only leagues at this point.

SS/1B/2B/OF Marwin Gonzalez – Houston Astros – 69.9% owned – Gonzalez has been a nice Swiss Army knife the last two seasons in fantasy baseball. You can plug him at just about every position and he put up some nice numbers last season. He isn’t hitting very well this season and hasn’t been in the lineup as often either. He is currently dealing with a knee issue that could land him on the disabled list. Houston has players that can fill-in at all the positions Gonzalez helped out with last season. The Astros can lean on Tony Kemp and J.D. Davis, so there’s not a huge need for Gonzalez to play all over the diamond. I’d rather have Ben Zobrist or Jurickson Profar right now.

2B Dustin Pedroia – Boston Red Sox – 16.7% owned – In late May, Pedroia was activated off the DL for the first time this season. He had surgery on his left knee during the offseason and spent the beginning of the year rehabbing the injury. Well, Pedroia is back on the disabled list due to lingering soreness in his surgically-repaired knee. I don’t like it when a player still has healing issues in a surgically-repaired knee. There’s always a high risk of needing to go under the knife again. Pedroia was only going to be a replacement-level middle infielder, so you should pick up Tim Anderson or Joe Panik.

RP Felipe Vazquez – Pittsburgh Pirates – 81.3% owned – Vazquez has been the worst closer in the Majors. He has blown four out of his last five save opportunities. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle gave him the dreaded vote of confidence, but how long can they really go with him attempting to close out games? He was very good last year, but I don’t have much faith in him successfully closing out games at the moment. I’d drop Vazquez and pick up Fernando Rodney, Seranthony Dominguez or Keone Kela.

SP Sean Manaea – Oakland A’s – 77.4% owned – I advocated to keep Manaea just two weeks ago, but his numbers keep falling. He was below average in the month of May and hasn’t given up less than three runs in a start in the month. On top of the rising ERA, his strikeout numbers have taken a nosedive. He hasn’t struck out more than four batters in a game during May. He only had 21 strikeouts over six starts (31.1 innings). He has a high ceiling and I thought this was the year for him to reach it, but he has been getting worse all month. I think it’s time to dump him.

OF Gregory Polanco – Pittsburgh Pirates – 80.4% owned – Austin Meadows is taking a huge bite out of Polanco’s playing time. He’s not doing himself any favors by struggling when he does get some at-bats. He hasn’t been the same since returning from the disabled list. He took a seat for three games last week. He’s the fourth outfielder right now. It might be a little premature to outright drop Polanco, since you could probably shop him around for a couple days. I don’t see his playing time improving much while Meadows has a hot bat.

1B/OF Trey Mancini – Baltimore Orioles – 59.6% owned – You had an idea what you would be getting when you drafted Mancini. He would hit 20-30 homers and hit for .280 or better in an above average offense. Well, Mancini is failing at just about every expectation. He’s only batting .229 and is starting to lose at-bats to Jace freakin’ Peterson. Mancini is striking out too much and isn’t making hard contact. He has seven dingers on the year, but only one of those have come since May 13th. Mancini isn’t exactly a ‘sexy’ fantasy player to have on your team, so you can afford to drop him without risk of immediate waiver wire add. There are just better guys out there that will make your team much better. I’d rather have Austin Meadows, Matt Kemp or Juan Soto on my team than Mancini.

SS/2B/3B Zack Cozart – Los Angeles Angels – 47.3% owned – Cozart has been one of the mainstays in this section. I took his name off last week since he did have a couple multi-hit games, but I couldn’t let him slide this week. I just don’t get why so many people have Cozart on their fantasy team. His ownership finally just dropped below 50% for the first time this season. He’s dealing with a forearm injury and hasn’t played since Wednesday. I guess it took him actually missing games to see his ownership significantly drop. I hope he’s healthy (since I don’t wish ill towards anyone), but you should dump him in favor of guys like Yairo Munoz, Johan Camargo or Joey Wendle.

OF Kevin Pillar – Toronto Blue Jays – 71.1% owned – Pillar was a nice pickup in April as he was hitting the ball well and was stealing bases. He went ice cold and had only eight hits in nearly an entire month. Also, he hasn’t hit a homer and has just one stolen base during that time. His defense is about the only thing keeping him in the lineup. He’s not helping any fantasy category for you. You should drop Pillar and pick up Shin-Soo Choo, Jon Jay or Carlos Gonzalez.

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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.