RADIO
Blake Sullivan dives into weekly Points League strategy for your fantasy baseball leagues and looks at MLB players to target on the waiver wire or drop for the rest of the 2018 season.
Welcome back for another week of advice for points league waiver wire moves. This segment will include waiver wire adds, drops, and streaming pitchers for the upcoming week. This article will be geared specifically toward points leagues. Every points league is different, so keep that in mind. Walks and extra base hits are more valuable, whereas AVG and ERA are not important, so consider that as well. Some players will be suggested as streamers (while they are hot), or as rest-of-season adds (ride them all year).
As always, feel free to follow and message me on Twitter @BlakeSullivanFF for any fantasy advice or for further reasoning with this segment. Without further ado, let's take a look at some players that you should either add or drop.
For this week, let's focus on the first half of the season as a whole instead of just the previous few weeks. I'm also going to discuss projections for the second half of the season. I will cover some risers and fallers going into the second half of the year.
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Points League Players to Add (Risers For The Second Half)
C.J. Cron (1B/DH, TB) - 29% owned
C.J. Cron has had a good first half, and there's no reason it should stop now. Cron is slashing .253/.326/.475. He's well ahead of his career paces in runs and RBI with 43 and 46 respectively. Cron is mainly a power hitter as 18 of his 81 hits are home runs. The one drawback to Cron is his .23 BB/k ratio. He only has 22 walks on the year. He should continue to play everyday, and is available on waiver wires in most leagues. His 17 doubles thus far have him with a lot of potential value for the rest of the year.
Stephen Piscotty (OF, OAK) - 30% owned
Stephen Piscotty appears to finally be settling in. Piscotty has struggled at the plate over the past season or so while also dealing with family issues, but he has proven in the past when he was on the St. Louis Cardinals that he can produce at a high rate. He has a six game hitting streak in which he has four home runs. That brings his total to 11 on the year. He now sits at 40 runs and 43 RBI on the year. The Oakland Athletics are top 10 in runs scored. This gives Piscotty the chance to score more runs and get more RBI. Piscotty is gong to make a great addition in any leagues you can get him in.
Johan Camargo (SS/3B, ATL) - 17% owned
Johan Camargo is one of the rising stars of the game. At 24 years old, the switch-hitting infielder plays everyday for the sixth highest scoring offense. Switch-hitters always have extra value as matchups don't hurt them as often. Camargo also has middle and corner infield eligibility. Camargo appears to be getting comfortable in his second season in the league. He has raised his BB/K by .45 to a nice .69. Camargo didn't get to play a full season last year, so he gets overlooked. He's a steal at 17% ownership even for his current production. He's slashing .252/.353/.432. It isn't a great slash line, but he still has 30 runs and 39 RBI. The one thing that hurts his value is that he hits near the bottom of the order. Any move toward the top of the lineup would give him a huge boost. The Atlanta Braves will continue to be a hot offense and offer Camargo a chance to produce. He hasn't reached near his peak yet, and his value is really high in dynasty formats.
Points League Pitchers to Target (Risers For The Second Half)
German Marquez (SP, COL) - 10% owned
German Marquez is a great value in points leagues at only 10% ownership. He has an 8-8 record so far. In 19 games he has 106 strikeouts which is good for a 9.60 K/9. Marquez has a 46.2% ground ball rate which could be higher, but is still pretty good, and it's important for pitching at Coors Field in Denver. He's only 23 year old, so he holds a lot of value in dynasty formats. He benefits from the fact that the Colorado Rockies can give him run support. He has a 4.81 ERA which is a little higher than I would like to see, and he has a 1.39 WHIP. He has room to improve, but he has been consistent. There have only been four games this year out of his 19 that he hasn't finished the inning he was in. While this doesn't seem fantasy relevant, it definitely is. If he's able to get through full innings at the end of games it gives him an extra out or two to record with the possibility of strikeout points as well. Marquez is definitely a riser going into the second half of the season.
Zach Britton (RP, BAL) - 33% owned
Zach Britton is a riser for the second half for a couple different reasons. The first reason is that his value is down from peoples perspective of his injury and start to the season. The second reason is that his opportunities were limited in the first half. He probably wont ever return to the guy he was in 2016 with 47 saves and a 1.54 ERA. There are plenty of teams in the league that believe he can be their closer however. Britton could get a huge bump in fantasy value if he were to get traded to a win now team and get to close out games. At 33% ownership he isn't bad to own even as a Baltimore Oriole, but if he should get traded his ownership will skyrocket. He has only pitched 12 2/3 innings this season, but has a 4.26 ERA and two saves. His ERA is inflated due to one poor game and a limited number of innings. Over his last five innings he has only given up two hits while striking out five batters. Definitely keep a close eye on him as the trade deadline inches nearer if you aren't confident enough in him to add now.
Points League Pitchers to Fade (Fallers For The Second Half)
Marcus Stroman (SP, TOR) - 42% owned
Marcus Stroman just isn't cutting it this season. While he can't get a whole lot worse, he still doesn't have much value. He's the unlucky owner of a 5.90 ERA. He has a poor 2-6 record with 48 strikeouts. He hasn't been terrible at striking out batters but 7.08 K/9 is nothing special. While Stroman has shown a lot of potential in his career, he has disappointed every time. This may be the final straw that makes him lose ownership. He can have games that he puts up double digit points, but he also has games with negative numbers. If you are going to take a risk having a pitcher like that you may as well have a spot on your roster for a streaming option every few days and take the best matchups available on waivers. Stroman should be dropped and replaced with someone more consistent or by a streaming option.
Rich Hill (SP, LAD) - 63% owned
Rich Hill is a borderline fade that I would recommend trading, not dropping. Hill has long been known for his high strikeout rates and rotation on his pitches. He is 38 years old, and while it's still impressive, his K/9 is down to 9.61. Not only is age a concern for Hill, but you should worry about his injury concerns from the past. It's almost inevitable that he'll miss some time with a blister that seems to pop up every few months. His ownership is probably lower in dynasty due to his age, but he's still owned in quite a few leagues. He may get some love in your trade markets. His ERA is a little high at 4.64. Hill has given up 28 runs over his last 10 starts. He may be fine to hold onto for a few more weeks, but proceed with caution. One injury or a few bad starts could ruin his value for the rest of the year or even his career.
Points League Players to Drop (Fallers For The Second Half)
Adrian Beltre (3B, TEX) - 61% owned
Adrian Beltre is still pretty good as a baseball player, but as far as his fantasy value goes he's pretty much done. His average is down a little bit at .288, which isn't an issue if he's sacrificing it for power. That's not the case however, and he only has four home runs. Furthermore, his doubles are down to only 11. He has a .324 wOBA which is one of the lowest in his career. At 39 years old every aspect of his game is slowing down. He's still owned in 61% of leagues largely due to fans and respect for his career. As far as trade value there may not be a whole lot of teams in your league that would want him. His real life trade value could be better. He's a player on the trading block, but he may go into a worse playing situation than he's currently in. He can be dropped, but it would be wise to wait until the trade deadline to make a move.
Michael Conforto (OF, NYM) - 40% owned
Michael Conforto has been pretty bad lately. He has a terrible .216 AVG on the season. His 10 home runs are low, and his slugging is down to .360. He only has 20 extra-base hits all year. Conforto has no speed upside as he has only stolen two bases this year, which ties his career high. He has a .61 BB/K. He doesn't exceed in any category that will get you points. Conforto has dealt with a few injuries, and that may be holding his power back, but he may get some of that back eventually. He has a higher value in Dynasty formats as he still has plenty of time to improve, but this season is beginning to look like a lost cause.
Josh Harrison (2B/3B, PIT) - 29% owned
Josh Harrison has been steadily losing value all season. His ownership has finally just started to reflect that. He no longer has his outfield eligibility which gave him quite a bit of value. Harrison's wOBA is down to .287. He's slashing just .262/.302/.358. His power is low with only four home runs. His speed hasn't shown with just three stolen bases. He hasn't even been getting walked. He has a .26 BB/K that wont score you many points. It's hard to see his value getting much better unless he all of a sudden catches fire. He may be a good trade tool as he could find himself in a better situation, but he should be moved on from. If there are no homes for him in your league it's alright to drop him.
