This article is part of our One Man's Trash series.
During the season, I'm going to look at some of the players being dropped by fantasy managers to see if their decisions were a little rash. Some of the players dropped will provide fantasy value going forward. Someone who will remain nameless decided it was a good idea to drop Robbie Ray and Tyler O'Neill last year in the first couple of weeks.
The players I'm looking at this week are a mix of immediate adds and those who are just a tweak or two away from taking a step forward.
For the information, I'm going to focus on players dropped at the NFBC and CBS. Both Yahoo and Fantrax's add and drop numbers are based on the past day or so and can be dominated by streaming starters. CBS and NFBC are based on the past week.
As a general rule, I will stay away from injured players and just focus on players expected to play.
Hitters
Jake Meyers (75 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
When Meyers came off the IL (shoulder surgery) in late June, he was immediately inserted back into the Astros' lineup. The hope was that Meyers would continue to perform as he did last season when he was on pace for 24 homers and 12 steals with a .260 average. He's not come close to that production this season.
In 111 plate appearances so far, he's hitting .214/.261/.320 with one homer and zero stolen bases. When digging a little deeper, nothing looks good. His
During the season, I'm going to look at some of the players being dropped by fantasy managers to see if their decisions were a little rash. Some of the players dropped will provide fantasy value going forward. Someone who will remain nameless decided it was a good idea to drop Robbie Ray and Tyler O'Neill last year in the first couple of weeks.
The players I'm looking at this week are a mix of immediate adds and those who are just a tweak or two away from taking a step forward.
For the information, I'm going to focus on players dropped at the NFBC and CBS. Both Yahoo and Fantrax's add and drop numbers are based on the past day or so and can be dominated by streaming starters. CBS and NFBC are based on the past week.
As a general rule, I will stay away from injured players and just focus on players expected to play.
Hitters
Jake Meyers (75 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
When Meyers came off the IL (shoulder surgery) in late June, he was immediately inserted back into the Astros' lineup. The hope was that Meyers would continue to perform as he did last season when he was on pace for 24 homers and 12 steals with a .260 average. He's not come close to that production this season.
In 111 plate appearances so far, he's hitting .214/.261/.320 with one homer and zero stolen bases. When digging a little deeper, nothing looks good. His plate discipline is worse, with the strikeouts up and walks down. He's not hitting for as much power, with his Max Exit Velocity and Hard Hit% down. Finally, when he does make contact, he's putting everything on the ground (52% GB%).
On top of all those issues, Mauricio Dubon has been stealing playing time from Meyers. Over the last 10 games (entering play Friday), Meyers has only started in six of the last 10 games.
The combination of bad production and limited playing time has him unrosterable except in the deepest of leagues.
Akil Baddoo (69 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
I was hoping that Baddoo could bring some of his Triple-A success (.300/.405/.500, three homers, seven steals to the majors, but that's not been the case. So far he's hitting just .143/.217/.190 with one homer and one steal. That's not going to cut it.
Because of his lack of production, he bats ninth and starts about half the time. He always sits against lefties (career .530 OPS vs LHP, .758 OPS vs RHP) and then some righties. He has only four starts in the last 10 games.
Re-evaluate when he's hitting and playing.
Carlos Santana (63 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
A hot June (.323/.450/.492) got Santana traded from the Royals to the Mariners, but he slowed down in July (.179/.293/.397). I can understand the drops because a .179 AVG can talk a fantasy team's batting average, but as a real-life contributor, Santana keeps delivering.
Santana has always posted a low batting average (career .244 AVG) but relies on the rest of his game to be productive. This season, he's seen his ISO increase each month (.073 to .108 to .169 to .218). Additionally, his walk rate has been over 12% each month. The real-world production means he's not going to head to the bench (started nine of the last 10 games).
A reasonable drop if the batting average is too much of a drain.
Brendan Donovan (57 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
Donovan started out the season hitting decent with a .285/.392/.391 slash line until July 9, when he missed a few days because of illness. While not a great hitter, he was qualified at first, second, third and outfield, so he seemed to be nice bench sub. The results have just fallen off for him.
Since returning from the illness July 14, he has hit just .240/.412/.240 and only started in one of the last four games. Before the illness, he was, at last, providing some batting average help. That's gone and he's yet to get an extra-base hit.
He's not good enough to be rostered as a part-time player.
Starters
JT Brubaker (69 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
Brubaker had a decent two-step last week against the Cubs and Phillies. The first start went fine when he limited the Cubs to two runs over six innings while striking out four. The second start against the Phillies didn't go as well.
He got BABIP'd to death (12 hits) over four innings, allowing seven runs. I'm sure many of his fantasy managers just wanted him off their rosters. In most cases, I decided to hold him with a scheduled start against the Diamondbacks because I like his overall body off work this season (4.40 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 1.49 WHIP).
It's not an ideal profile, especially the WHIP being inflated by a 3.6 BB/9, but with so few starting pitching options, it's a chance I took.
Glenn Otto (62 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
Otto had a two-start week (LAA and SEA) and he rewarded those brave souls who rostered him with a 6.10 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 10 strikeouts. This level of production should be expected from Otto looking at this season-long (5.50 ERA, 1.46 WHIP) and career (6.42 ERA, 1.52 WHIP) numbers.
His struggles simply come down to walking over a batter every other inning (4.8 BB/9). Few if any starters are productive with that many walks. Of the qualified starters so far this season, Dylan Cease has the largest walk rate at 3.9 BB/9. The next lowest is Dane Dunning at 3.6 BB/9.
I try to not roster pitchers with a walk rate over 3.5 BB/9 and Otto blows that limit out of the water. No need to roster until he gets his walks under control for at least a month.
Relievers
Colin Poche (76 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
My question with partial relievers like Poche (3.18 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 1.12 WHIP) is: why was he rostered at this point? He got five of his saves from May 25 to June 21. Since then, it has been just one save, though to be fair he has been used in high-leverage situations. One possible explanation is that Pete Fairbanks (12.0 K/9, 1.33 WHIP, 4.50 ERA) got the last two saves at the time of the drop.
It has been obvious for years that Tampa mixes and matches more than any other team in the league. The team's last save went to a proud Jason Adam, with Fairbanks pitching the eighth. I'd not be surprised one bit if Poche or someone else gets the next few tries. There should be a better closer situation to gamble on.
The drop is fine.
Tanner Houck (57 NFBC Drops, -% at CBS)
Houck managers must be pulling out their hair right now. Houck looked to be Boston's closer, but he didn't get a single save in July with Garrett Whitlock jumping in and getting two saves to close out the month. It looked like Houck was on the way out. Out of nowhere, he gets two saves to start this week.
On the season, Houck has been decent with a 2.70 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 8.9 K/9 as a reliever, so he should continue getting high-leverage appearances. The current usage pattern points to the pair sharing the closer's role. In some leagues this is useful. In others, not so much.
