RADIO
We are nearing the home stretch, which means precious few days of baseball left! If you're still fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot, here are some players that could warrant starting, sitting, adding, or dropping, depending on your league and team's circumstance.
Scouting players who may be undervalued and re-assessing players who may be overvalued is a weekly exercise that you should pursue. Fortunately, I have you covered. Here are a few players who are good buy or sell candidates based on their current performance compared to ownership levels. This could mean scooping them off waivers if possible or actively seeking a trade to acquire or discard certain players in order to maximize value.
I will include one player at each key position group (Infield, Outfield, Pitcher). Ownership levels are taken from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.
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Underrated Players - Week 25
Robinson Chirinos (C, TEX) 31% owned - It took some time, but Chirinos is finally rewarding the Rangers' faith by trading away Jonathan Lucroy and not moving towards youth at the catcher position. He's working on a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base in 28 straight as of Friday afternoon. His season numbers aren't eye-popping, but as a regular starter since August began, he's batting .361 and has an even 20:20 BB:K. If you play in a league that counts additional averages, his .380 OBP and .931 OPS are great, not just for a catcher either. If you stream the position and he's on your waiver wire, consider closing strong with him as your backstop.
Avisail Garcia (OF, CHW) 68% owned - This isn't all about his seven-RBI game last night, although that doesn't hurt my case... Garcia was on fire throughout the first half and all the while experts were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Meanwhile, I advocated for him back in April and haven't regretted it since. Only limited health has prevented him from enjoying quite as productive of a second half. When he's been on the field, he's been just as good, hitting .373 with 26 RBI and 27 runs scored in 43 games since the break. The fact that he's been this good despite playing on a team that was tanking before the season even started makes it clear he's the real deal. His power potential seems to have a 20-HR ceiling, but he's still a solid all-around producer that could be a great cheap keeper.
Tyler Lyons (RP, STL) 10% owned - Is there a new closer in St. Louis? Injury-prone Trevor Rosenthal and contact-prone Seung Hwan Oh have taken turns disappointing in the role this season, but Lyons has settled things down in the later innings. Just in the last 10 days, he's earned a hold, save, and win in relief. Lyons is no spring chicken at 29, but the team may rely on him down the stretch if he continues to prove effective. He isn't allowing home runs or big innings and has upped his K rate to 10.6 K/9 this season. If your league counts holds, he should already be owned, but don't be surprised if he picks up a couple more saves or relief wins as well.
Overrated Players - Week 25
Hanley Ramirez (1B, BOS) 66% owned - Another blast from the past, I was wary of Hanley Ramirez before the season started. Things didn't look too bad until a June swoon hit, but his second half has been downright atrocious. He's batting .206 in the second half and has just two extra-base hits in September so far. With the Sox trying to lock down playoff positioning, HanRam is starting to take a seat on the bench every third day, so he's hard to keep in weekly lineups for head-to-head leagues. If you aren't in a really deep league with slim pickings on the waiver wire, there's no need to keep him around.
Melky Cabrera (OF, KC) 59% owned - On the surface, there's nothing truly wrong with Cabrera. He simply seems to be slumping with a .220 average over the last couple of weeks. I normally wouldn't advocate dropping someone like this, but at this point in the season you have to look at the big picture, at least in rotisserie leagues. Cabrera is not a big power threat (17 HR this year is one shy of his career high) and no longer steals bases (one all season). If he's not hitting for a high average, he's not scoring runs either and therefore has almost no value. Even if the average comes back, there's not much difference he'll make in that category at this point in the year. You may be better off rolling with someone who at least presents more upside in multiple areas.
Lance McCullers (SP, HOU) 81% owned - While he was set to come back from injury (again) this week, McCullers was scratched due to arm fatigue. There's no denying McCullers has a wicked curveball and can be one of the better starters in the game when he's on point, but the risk outweighs the reward at this point. The last three starts he did make, dating back to late July, McCullers has an 8.40 ERA, .339 BAA, and seven BB in 15 IP. While it's easy to say "don't start him the rest of the season" considering he may not even pitch before the playoffs, I'd go a step further and say he's worth dropping. If you're in a keeper league, the constant injury woes make him too risky to roster unless you got him for a $1 off the wire at some point.
More Risers and Fallers
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