RADIO
The march to the fantasy playoffs continues. Either you're in the thick of the race, or hopefully you're in a keeper/dynasty and thinking about next year. If you're in the playoffs, you probably want to stick with the guys you have, but if your league's deadline hasn't passed yet, let me highlight some possible trade targets for you. These players are the risers/fallers of the past couple weeks, so let's get rolling!
Fantasy Baseball Players Trending Up
Robinson Cano (2B, SEA)
Everyone and their mother could have told you that Robinson Cano was going to have a down year in the power department after making the move to Safeco field. However, reports of Cano's demise as one of the top second base options for fantasy purposes were greatly exaggerated. He is a .300+ career hitter, and this year is no different, as he's slashing a whopping .330/.398/.476 with 11 HR, 60 runs scored, 67 RBI and 9 steals. That's a very solid year to date from the fairly thin 2B position, and it has Cano ranked third among all 2B, behind Jose Altuve and Anthony Rendon.
Lately, Cano has been even better than his numbers on the year. Since July 29th Robby has hit a paltry .340/.446/.617 with 4 HR, 9 runs scored, 9 RBI, and 2 steals. Did I say paltry? I meant he is scorching hot. My bad.
Rest of the season: The Mariners are in the thick of a playoff race, and they seem to be heating up at the right time. I would expect to see an uptick in Robby's RBI numbers as more people get on base in front of him. When you combine his diminished strikeout rate with the highest walk rate of his career, you start to see a picture suggesting that moving to Safeco has made Cano a more patient hitter. It should be smooth sailing for Cano from here on out, just don't expect too many HR at home, as evidenced by the 400 foot bomb he hit for a deep out the other day at Safeco.
Chase Utley (2B, PHI)
Sticking with the 2B theme, let's discuss Chase Utley shall we? At the beginning of the year, many in the fantasy community were telling me that Chase Utley wasn't going to be productive, that he'd aged too much overnight. Granted, gone are the years when Chase hit 30 + HR, 100 +RBI, and swiped double-digit bags, but this is still a productive player at a thin position. In 2013, Chase hit .284/.358/.475 with 18 HR, 73 runs scored, 69 RBI and 8 steals, which is certainly very useful. This year has seen him put up very similar numbers to date-- he's hitting .288/.358/.441 with 11 HR, 61 runs scored, 64 RBI, and 5 steals, and obviously the season isn't quite done yet.
So what has Chase done lately to grab my attention? In the two-week span since July 29th, he's gone .271/.379/.542 with 3 HR, 7 runs scored, 13 RBI and a steal. Sure, the average is down, but I think most owners would accept that in exchange for the increased on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Rest of the season: While I doubt the power numbers will continue like they have for the past two weeks, on the season Chase Utley has been the ninth most valuable 2B in Yahoo leagues, and I'd expect that to continue. He was a model of consistency earlier in his career. Yes, his skillset has declined a bit from his younger days, but he is still consistently putting up solid power numbers from a position where it's very hard to find power. I'd be chasing Chase if I didn't have one of the other top ten at the position.
Hyun-Jin Ryu (SP, LAD)
UPDATE: Ryu has been placed on the DL, but we decided to leave the analysis in the article as much of it will hold true for when he returns.
Hyun-Jin Ryu has been solid ever since joining the league last year. He is someone who will always help your team in ERA, and most likely help in WHIP, but the strikeouts are generally not much to write home about. So far this year, Ryu has pitched to 3.21 ERA, 7.86 K/9 and 1.18 WHIP, making him most likely a #2 or #3 SP.
Now for the fun part: news broke a few weeks ago that Ryu had been trying to learn pitches from his teammates Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Well, whatever they were teaching him must be working, because in his past five starts he's pitched to a 1.91 ERA, 8.73 K/9 and 0.85 WHIP. Those are ace level stats, and I hope the success continues-- it makes a great story that a pitcher is continually trying to improve himself by learning from his teammates.
Rest of the season: My only concern for Ryu is that on the year the line drive percentage against him is up, and the ground ball percentage is down from what he did last year. Batters are making harder contact against him, and as I mentioned he's not exactly a strikeout pitcher. However, he also has his home run rate down and his K-rate up just slightly, enough to compensate for those other numbers. Ryu is someone I trust to get me a quality start almost every time out, and so should you.
Fantasy Baseball Players Trending Down
Charlie Blackmon (OF, COL)
Between the beginning of the season and the end of May, Charlie Blackmon endeared himself to the fantasy community by hitting .317/.355/.523 with 10 HR, 36 runs scored, 37 RBI and 10 steals, establishing himself as a five-category contributor. This led many people to become adamant Blackmon defenders. However, that faith might be misplaced. Since the beginning of June, Blackmon has hit .253/.305/.349 with 4 HR, 21 runs scored, 19 RBI and 10 steals. He is still contributing, but not quite at the clip that led many to overvalue him. The last two weeks have seen Blackmon slump even harder, as he's hit well below the mendoza line, with next to no production aside from his recent 6 hit outburst over the past 3 games with 2 RBIs and 2 SBs. Keeping Blackmon in your lineup during this recent stretch has had a considerable negative impact on your fantasy score.
Rest of the season: I should mention that the outlook is not totally grim, because in July Blackmon did slash .315/.367/.438 with 2 HR, 9 runs scored, 9 RBI and 5 steals. It's just June and the beginning of August that have really hurt his season numbers. This is still a breakout year for Blackmon, as the 14 HR are a career high (including both majors and minors), so I'm not sure I'd really expect him to keep the power numbers up. Nevertheless, the line drive percentage is way down, and his ground ball and fly ball percentages are way up. This leads me to believe what you see is what you get with Blackmon: he will have months where he is very hot and he will have months where he is very cold-- i.e., not the sort of player I'd want to be relying on in the fantasy playoffs as anything but my third outfielder.
Adam Jones (OF, BAL)
Adam Jones is continually taken early in the draft, and for good reason. Everyone wants a five-category contributor like Jones, and the Orioles have a nice home ballpark for hitters. On the year, Jones is slashing .288/.316/.480 with 22 HR, 68 runs scored, 72 RBI and 6 steals-- not quite matching his 2013 pace of 33 HR, 100 runs scored, 108 RBI, and 14 steals, but his line this year still qualifies him as a top-ten outfielder in the Yahoo game this season.
But just as teammate Chris Davis seems to be heating up a bit, Jones seems to have run into a bit of a cold spell. Over the last two weeks Jones is slashing close to .250/..300/.440 with 4 HR, 8 runs scored and 11 RBI. Those numbers are still pretty solid, but the dip in average combined with the lack of steals makes it somewhat of a down 2-week stretch for our favorite ghost-eater, which really only goes to show how good he has been all year long.
Rest of the season: The good news for Jones owners is that his numbers are almost exactly in line with what he did during his career year last year. The only variables that have noticeably changed are that his ISO is down a bit, and he is hitting fewer line drives and more fly balls. I wouldn't expect a full repeat of next year by the end of the season, but I'd imagine his numbers will look similar enough to make anyone who drafted or traded for Adam Jones as happy as a kid with two rolls of quarters at the arcade.
Zack Greinke (SP, LAD)
With the likes of Clayton Kershaw and Hyu-Jin Ryu as teammates, you'd think that it'd be hard for Zack Greinke to get the attention he deserves on the Dodgers. On the year, Greinke has been his usual valuable self, pitching to a 2.75 ERA, 9.8 K/9 (his highest since 2011) and 1.16 WHIP, which most likely makes him the ace of your staff unless your team is stacked. But perhaps Greinke should spend less time teaching Ryu his pitches and focus more on himself. It may be pure coincidence, but over his past five starts (excluding last night where he threw 5 scoreless innings but with an uncharacteristic 6:5 K:BB ratio), Greinke had pitched to a 3.21 ERA, and he allowed four runs to the light-hitting Brewers a couple starts back.
Rest of the season: The numbers in his recent stretch minus the ERA look eerily similar to his season line, and Greinke's xFIP over that span indicates he should have been more of a 2.32 pitcher. On the year, Greinke's xFIP suggests he's actually pitching better than his 2.84 ERA would indicate. What does all of this mean? It's a very long winded way of saying that Greinke is still the valuable pitcher that he has always been, and while he is currently just outside of the top ten most starting pitchers, he easily could have made the cut. Put your trust in Greinke, and he will reward you for the rest of the season.
You guys know the drill by now. Hit me up on twitter @RekedFantasy to get a dialogue going. Until next time Rotoballers.
