June 11, 2017

Kyle Bishop looks at players whose fantasy owners should considering cutting or trading for Week 11 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season. These players are potential busts.

Welcome back to the Cut List. Each weekend from now until the end of the season, I’ll be offering my thoughts on players who don’t deserve to keep drawing a nonexistent salary on your fake baseball teams.

In addition to the players on the Cut List, we'll also spotlight a player on the Hot Seat: Someone whose situation is worth monitoring, even if it’s not time to hit the ejector seat just yet. Without further ado, here are your Week 11 cut or trade candidates.

Let's get to it.

The Cut List: Week 11

Hanley Ramirez, 1B, Boston Red Sox

On May 2, Ramirez went deep twice, giving him four home runs in his last four games and giving fantasy owners hope that he was turning things around. Unfortunately, he’s hit just .223/.360/.351 with three homers since then. Like most of Boston’s hitters, Ramirez has underperformed expectation. The veteran is on pace to fall well short of last year’s numbers across the board.

Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Colorado Rockies

Gonzalez typically starts slow, but he has also usually reeled off a hot streak by this point of the season. Alas, we’re nearly halfway through June and he’s shown no signs of life. Gonzalez has struggled to the tune of a .227/.307/.355 batting line, and has just five home runs to his name. Factoring in the adjustment for Coors Field, Gonzalez has been one of the worst hitters in baseball.

Aledmys Diaz, SS, St. Louis Cardinals

Diaz hit just .217 in April, but with four homers and three steals, he was at least contributing some category juice. More balls have started falling for him, and he’s got his average up t0 .258. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been especially useful in any other categories, with just two home runs, 23 R+RBI, and one stolen base in 34 games since the calendar flipped to May.

The Hot Seat: Week 11

Gerrit Cole, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates

After a rough start on Opening Day, Cole reeled off eight consecutive quality starts. Most of them came against top offenses, or in hitters’ parks – sometimes both. Which makes his recent struggles against softer competition all the more perplexing. Cole has allowed a whopping 23 runs and eight homers in his last four starts, totaling 19 1/3 innings.

Last Week

Rougned Odor hit two homers this week, but also struck out eight times. He remains firmly amongst the worst hitters in baseball right now.

Stephen Piscotty kept the reverse jinx streak alive, raising his OPS by 70 points this week.

John Lackey allowed five of seven runners who reached base to score in a loss to the Marlins, thanks largely to two homers. That brings his total to 16 HR allowed in just 70 innings this season.

Rick Porcello also allowed five runs and two homers in a loss. He extended his streak of allowing eight or more hits to six starts. That’s, uh…not what you wanna do.

More Week 11 Lineup Prep