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The RotoBaller Cut List has been helping fantasy managers make tough decisions all season. Using projections, advanced statistical analysis and potential trade analysis, we are able to make tough fantasy baseball management decisions look easy.
Over the last seven days core bats on the Boston Red Sox Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Brock Holt and Pablo Sandoval are among the top 50 worst fantasy producers on the planet. Individually each of these players should be on your fantasy bench and one even makes it to this week’s cutlist.
As a collective, the Red Sox are losers of seven in a row and are 11.5 games out of first place. Pathetic on defense and inept at the plate, the Red Sox are barely watchable. Somehow the strategy of playing a second baseman at center field, a designated hitter at left field, an unproven cuban prospect at right and a fat guy at 3B didn’t translate into a good defense. Then, with all the question marks on defense, they built a shaky rotation with no considerable ace among them. Then they mixed in a shallow bullpen with no big strikeout arms. Do you think the Red Sox management is surprised this didn’t translate into a championship caliber pitching staff?
The Red Sox brass basically built a pitching staff reliant on good defense and a defense reliant on dominant pitching. Management is so reliant on advanced metrics to create a team that they need to figure in a stat for depression for having to play on a team that is put together with duct tape and string.
Time to cut the fat guy at third base. On to the Cut list!
The Week 16 Cut List
Pablo Sandoval, 3B Boston Red Sox
It's been a while since we cut fellow Red Sox Mike Napoli, Rusney Castillo and Red Sox Ace, Rick Porcello. Sandoval marks the fourth highly paid Sox player to be completely useless in fantasy. I had such high hopes for Sandoval in Boston but with a .263/.304/.378 line and only 7 HR and 30 RBI, I had hoped for more. Experts anticipated a boost in numbers because of an increase in games at Fenway. I thought he would pepper the green monster with line drives all day. Turns out the only peppering he did was on his steak and cheese.
All-Star Detroit Tiger Jose Iglesias, would be an ideal replacement. He will hit for less power than Sandoval but with a much higher average and more speed.
Lucas Duda, 1B New York Mets
I dropped him in my 12 team league, you should too. Duda keeps showing signs he is breaking out of his season long slump, but then he just climbs back into his suck sack. His power potential probably means another owner will pick him up, but who cares, you can get better production and more positional flexibility out of Tampa Bay's 1B/2B Logan Forsythe or Toronto’s OF/1B Chris Colabello. Each are only 30-40% owned in Yahoo leagues.
Over his last 89 at bats, the Dude is sporting a .163/.248/.247 slash with two home runs and eight RBI at a time the Mets need him most. You would get the same production out of Billy Butler and Pedro Alvarez, who are two other 1B you should see sitting right next to Duda on the waiver wire.
Yordano Ventura, SP Kansas City Royals
If you are in a shallow league, you can risk dropping little Pedro, but if you are in a deep league or keeper league, I would second guess cutting Yordano Ventura at this point. One of my favorite pitchers to watch and one of the most exciting young arms in baseball, Yordano Ventura is a pitcher I absolutely love. So it pains me to see him struggle and get sent to the minors, then get called back up. I just hope he can fix these problems quickly.
With a 5.19 ERA and only four quality starts on the year, options like Toronto’s Marco Estrada and Angels’ Matt Shoemaker might be superior.
Starlin Castro, SS Chicago Cubs
I traded Addison Russell straight up for Castro about a month and a half ago. I got hated on by the league for the move, but I figured by the end of the season, Castro would prove to be the better SS. The only silver lining to the deal so far is that Russell is equally inept. If Russell had immediately had an impact like Carlos Correa, I would have wept.
With SS bats like Erick Aybar and Jean Segura available in more than 50% of Yahoo leagues, its alright if you drop Castro at this point. If you are in a dynasty format, Castro still has much too much value to cut loose so you will have to ride it out.
On the year, Castro is batting a .239/.272/.310 slash with a .255 wOBA putting him slightly ahead of Alexei Ramirez, who is dead last among qualified SS.
Avisail Garcia, OF Chicago White Sox
Garcia's line of .269/.319/.377 is boosted by his inflated .342 BABIP. I would bet on a decrease in batting average and if he continues to produce similar power numbers, you would be better off with a Dexter Fowler 40% owned in Yahoo or Shin-Soo Choo (59% owned in yahoo) who are both a better play down the stretch. Garcia is still a player that could potentially be a poor man’s Starling Marte. He is a line drive hitter with speed and the ability to get on base. If he starts hitting for more power, he could be a great fantasy OF.
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