Bernie on the Scene: 10 Players to Avoid

We are entering the last days before the "sprint" 2020 baseball season begins. I can't wait. I think this could be one of the most exciting seasons in a long, long time. Why? With a condensed schedule, it's possible teams that haven't come close to even sniffing a pennant will be competitive. 

This is really the last week for drafts and auctions, and I think there will be plenty of action on the fantasy front. 

There are certain players that I will treat in fantasy like live electricity wires lying on the ground. I won't touch them. I'll be very happy if someone else picks them up. The players that is, not the electric wires.

So, here are 10 players I will avoid.

10 PLAYERS TO AVOID

Martin Perez, LHP, Red Sox

I can't even imagine how Perez will do in Fenway Park. I think the Green Monster could get quite a beating from right-handed hitters having a field day against Perez. I'm thinking Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez in particular. 

The Red Sox pitching is so bad, Perez is listed as the team's No. 2 starting pitcher behind Nathan Eovaldi. That won't be sweat on the faces of hitters, it'll be drool. Perez will be followed by Ryan Weber, Brian Johnson and Matt Hall. Good luck with that.

Perez enters his ninth season in baseball with a 4.72 career ERA and a walk rate of 3.3 per nine innings. He's totally hittable. He strikes out an average of 5.8 hitters per nine.

Last year, pitching for Minnesota, Perez threw to a 5.12 ERA in 165.1 innings. He became a free agent in November and was signed by the pitching starved Red Sox. Good luck.

Cameron Maybin, CF, Tigers

Cameron Maybin returns to the team where he started it all, the Detroit Tigers. He is a 2005 first-round draft pick. Since then, Maybin has played for the Marlins, Padres, Braves, Tigers again, Angels, Astros,  Marlins again, Mariners, Yankees and now the Tigers yet again. Whew. And that's over a 13-year career in which he has compiled a .256 batting average in 4,117 plate appearances.

At 33, Maybin is set to lead off for the Tigers. He will be hitting in a very weak lineup, so I'm not even confident he will score the number of runs one would expect from a guy at the top of the order. He did hit well for the Yankees last year — 11 homers in 269 plate appearances.

I'd take that. But I don't see that happening in Detroit. Different team. Different vibe. I would guess, though, the Tigers will let him run if he gets on base. They can use the spark that stolen bases may offer. I just see limited production and I'm taking a pass.

Maikel Franco, 3B, Royals

It's now the Royals who will be wondering why and how Maikel Franco got so much buzz when he was a rookie with the Phillies. If they don't start the season with him on the bench, it won't be long until he finds a nice cozy spot there. He is now in his prime age-27 season. It won't matter.

Kansas City is a tough place to hunt home runs. It will be really tough from the bench, but if he does play, he won't hit it out of that park. Doubles? Maybe. But in 428 plate appearances last year, he hit 17 doubles and 17 home runs. He sunk to a .234 batting average and is a career .249 hitter. Speed? Franco has stolen three bases in his six seasons. In his career. No thanks.

Nicky Lopez, 2B, Royals

Why? Why will the Royals play Nicky Lopez at second base when they now have Franchy Cordero? They can move Whit Merrifield back to second from right field, put Cordero in the outfield and play Brett Phillips or Bubba Starling in the third outfield spot. Find out what you have in Cordero, Phillips and Starling. There is nothing to lose. 

Nicky Lopez will hurt your fantasy team. I won't promise you that, but after watching him hit, I'm pretty sure. He'll be on draft boards and in deep or only leagues, teams will take a chance. Really? He hit an empty .240 last year with two homers in 402 plate appearances. And that was with a juiced ball. He walked only 18 times. 18. Not good.

So I'm guessing that when July turns to August, after one week of games, Nicky Lopez will be out of the lineup and sitting next to Maikel Franco on the bench.

J.P. Crawford, SS, Mariners

There are plenty of scouts who really like J.P. Crawford. Not me.

Here are his three seasons in the big leagues: .214/356/300, .214/393/.712 and .226/313/,371.

I see a similar disaster as we head into 2020.

Why would the Phillies draft a guy at 1-16 in 2013 and trade him without him ever getting a chance to play on a regular basis? Maybe because he wasn't worth the 16th pick in the draft.  White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson went at No. 18 that year. I'm just sayin'.

The Mariners are not a good hitting (or pitching) team. Crawford won't help them win more games than they should. And he's hitting in the two-hole in their lineup, the third lefty hitter in a row after Shed Long and before Kyle Seager. I'm thinking bolder than J.P. Crawford.

Kevin Kiermaier, OF, Rays

When I was in Port Charlotte for spring training, every one I spoke with said the Rays couldn't give Kiermaeir away. Why? Kiermaier will make $10,166,000 this year. He has two additional years beyond this one in which he will be paid over $11M and more than $12M. All that for a player that has been on a steep decline the last two seasons.

Kiermaier is still a good defensive outfielder. However, fantasy is about offense. There are so many better offensive outfielders available that Kiermaier isn't anywhere near my draft list. And I'm not sure he'll keep his job.

If there is any weakness I see with the Rays, it is the lack of quality outfield depth. Their pitching is superb. Superb. Their infield is acceptable. But an outfield of Hunter Renfroe, Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot to start the season leaves me with hives. They have to get Austin Meadows back from COVID-19 healthy and quickly. He leaves a huge hole in the Rays lineup. And as I write this, Jose Martinez has not yet reported to camp. That's why Kiermaier remains important to Tampa Bay. But not to me.

Colin Moran, 3B, Pirates

And so they wait. Pittsburgh fans continue hyperventilate when they think of the trade of Gerrit Cole to the Houston Astros for the package of Michael Feliz, Jason Martin, Joe Musgrove and the highly underachieving Colin Moran. Musgrove has made himself into a quality starter with great movement on his pitches.

I wish to remind my readers that Moran went 1-6 to the Marlins in the 2013 draft. Austin Meadows went 1-8 to the Pirates, who traded him. 

Full disclosure here — I have never, ever, ever been a fan of Colin Moran. Did I say never. Never.

I first grew to not trust him in the 2013 Arizona Fall League, where he hit an empty .230 in 99 plate appearances. He was totally overmatched at age 20. Now, after four big league seasons he looks … totally overmatched. 

As a big-league third baseman, Moran has 25 home runs in 1,005 plate appearances. He did drive in 80 runs for a weak Pirates team last year.  

The Pirates aren't going anywhere this year. Why not give overrated third base prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes the job at third base and see how he does against big league pitching? No, I'm not a great fan of Hayes, but I think he's be better than Moran.

Lewis Brinson, OF, Marlins

Outfielder Lewis Brinson is on the injured list for the Marlins. His ailment has not been disclosed. However, should he return in time to play any part of the 2020 season, I am avoiding him. If he's healthy, I think he'll get chances to play. They have to find out if Brinson is part of their future. Or not.

When he was part of the Brewers' deal with Miami for Christian Yelich, Brinson was to have been a feature player for the Marlins. He was the focal point of the deal. It appeared to me then that If I had to choose, I would rather have Monte Harrison (also in that deal) than Brinson.

I think the Marlins are going to be a solid baseball club. Maybe not in 2020 because the pitching needs more time to develop. But I just don't see Brinson hitting major league breaking balls on a consistent basis. He is now 26 and should be reaching his prime. But he struggles to find consistency. 

Yusei Kikuchi, LHP, Mariners

After signing with Seattle after pitching in Japan for nine seasons, it is fair to say that Kikuchi wasn't quite what general manager Jerry Dipoto expected when the Mariners signed the 6-foot-0 lefty. In fact, he threw to a 6-11 record with a 5.46 ERA and 1.51 WHIP in 32 starts covering 161.2 innings.

Now, Kikuchi is viewed by the club as their No. 2 starter. Plenty of fantasy teams will be looking to Kikuchi to bounce back with a big season.  I don't see it. And I've watched Kikuchi pitch plenty.

Kikuchi has a normal four-pitch repertoire of fastball, slider, curve and changeup. The problem is inconsistent movement. I have seen his secondary pitches "fall off the table" and I have seen them hang like a taut string. When he hangs his pitches, he gets clobbered. He doesn't have enough velocity on his fastball to be able to pitch up in the zone or throw that pitch without deception and movement. He's a fastball/slider pitcher, but he's very hittable.

Until he shows he can get hitters out stateside, I'll let the next guy take the flier.

Jason Kipnis, 2B, Cubs

No list of players I don't want on my fantasy teams could be complete without Jason Kipnis.

The Jeff Erickson look-alike (check it out, it's amazing how much Kipnis looks like Jeff) is now playing in his home environment. Born and raised in Northbrook, Ill., Kipnis returns to play in front of his high school buddies. Or at least until he loses his job to a player like David Bote, Nico Hoerner or Daniel Descalso.

Kipnis is maddening for fans and fantasy players. Why? He'll get sizzling hot for a week and pound the ball to the gaps and over the fence. Fantasy managers will pluck him off the waiver wire and he'll return to the quarter-inch club at the bottom of hitting statistics.

There was a reason Kipnis had to wait until mid-February to sign a free-agent contract.

He'll lose his job as much for his lack of range at second base in addition to his hot and cold offense. Manager David Ross will get tired of seeing balls shoot to Kipnis' right and to his left without as much as a touch of Kipnis' glove. Take him at your own risk. But at best, I think you're getting a platoon player. Worst case? He'll get to strike up conversations with his teammates on the bench.

POPUPS

Franchy Cordero is an outstanding pickup for the Kansas City Royals. He can hit and hit with power if they let him play and leave him alone. Cordero can become a legitimate player on a team that lacks depth and household names.

Left-handed reliever Tim Hill is an equally solid addition for the Padres. He can really help in the Padres bullpen with his sidearm delivery that is especially difficult for left-handed hitters to pick up out of his hand. The depth he adds to San Diego will be outstanding.

What a relief that players like Freddie Freeman, DJ LeMahieu and Juan Soto have returned to action. They are outstanding fantasy options and I'm glad they're back.

IN THE DUGOUT

Well, the article I wanted to write last Thursday for forbes.com will appear Thursday, July 23. I hope you read it. I hate the new "gimmick" rules in baseball, but I am offering a new rule of my own. I want to see what you think. Let me know in the comments below.

Follow me on twitter @BerniePleskoff

And I'll end today with a plea for us to help each other — wear that mask.