For the past number of years, Brandon Phillips has teetered between elite and second tier second baseman, which to me puts him in the elite category due to his consistency. Being able to consistently bi the 3-7 range at second base as Phillips has been over the majority of his career makes him a big target on draft day. While he no longer possesses 30 home run power, he has hit exactly 18 home runs in each of the past three years while stealing 16, 14, and 15 bases respectively.

Another great attribute about Phillips has been his health, which has allowed him to play no fewer than 141 games in each year since 2006, amassing over 600 plate appearances in each year aside from his first full season in which he accrued 587. His average dropped to .281 this year, which is still very respectable, and his .300 average from a year ago looks like a clear outlier compared to the rest of his career. Going forward, expecting his average to sit at around his career average of .273 seems to be reasonable, considering his age and three year average of .285. His walk rate dipping back to the 4.5% rate is a bit concerning, but not concerning enough for it to alter his value much. He will never be a big walker, but monitoring his walk rate in the early part of next year is recommended.

The age is one thing to consider with Phillips, as he will play half of next season at age 31 and the other half at age 32. Being on the wrong side of 30, his play could begin to deteriorate as may his health. The good thing is that there is not much to point to this happening next year.

Overall, he seems like a good target due to his name becoming less flashy compared to the Cano’s and Kinsler’s and his upside being capped. You know what you are getting with Phillips, which is valuable in and of itself. Taking some of the risk out of a position like second base, where overall production is usually lighter and the difference between the elite and the back end fantasy starters is large, is absolutely a positive that needs considering.

This was not a great year for Phillips and it was not a bad year. It was a Phillips year, where he contributed to every category solidly. Without one special tool, the value in having a guy like Phillips who provides consistency to your team in both his production year to year and in his ability to produce in every category has made him a great fantasy add for his entire career.

It’s been a pretty odd season for both Nate McLouth and Justin Smoak, but they have both made themselves roto relevant during the season’s final few weeks. They have hit four and five home runs respectively, and could provide a nice boost to your lineup if you need a player for the season’s final six games.
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Neither of these pitchers are tremendous long term candidates for rotation spots, but with the season winding down speculating on a potential quality start could earn you just enough to win your league. Two guys I like this week are Andrew Werner of the Padres and Tyler Cloyd of the Phillies. Both have decent strikeout rates in a small number of innings, so there is a chance they help even if they blow up. While those are not quite the words you want to hear when you are anticipating picking up a late season starter, it does at least raise their downside bar a tiny bit.
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I covered Erasmo Ramirez for the main site earlier this week, disecting his repertoire and comparing him to Kris Medlen. In fantasy leagues, I picked up Ramirez before his lastest start, an impressive eight inning, two runs allowed, six strikeout performance against the Orioles at Safeco Field on Tuesday night. He is owned in just 2% of Yahoo! leagues, so if you are still alive in fantasy or are looking to bolster your rotation at the end of the roto season, Ramirez has to be one of the top targets on the waiver wire.

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Today, two widely available starters are on the hill and could be in line for very impressive performances. I have essentially adopted a semi-streaming strategy in my head-to-head league and many others are in a similar situation, and after succeeding with Erasmo Ramirez last night I think John Lannan and Chris Archer are solid bets tonight.
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He isn’t the best player and he most certainly does not play in a favorable stadium, but Michael Saunders is worth adding in mixed leagues if you need outfield help. With a wRC+ above 100 and 14 homers and 19 steals, it is rather surprising that Saunders is available in so many leagues. He is owned in just 9% of Yahoo! leagues, so picking him up and dropping a struggling outfielder or another replaceable player should be worth it as the season comes to a close.
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Similar to yesterday’s post in which I advocated picking up Lance Lynn and streaming him in daily leagues, I am going to touch on two pitchers that are owned in a majority of leagues that I am shying away from this weekend. There are of course leagues in which you simply have to start these guys, since you may find difficulty finding replacements or need every attempt at strikeouts and wins to keep you alive for another week, but if you have the ability to avoid starting these pitchers, I would advise to do so this weekend.
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I am more of a head-to-head guy than a roto player, and my main leagues over the years have mostly been daily leagues rather than weekly. That’s rather odd for the industry, but there are certainly a lot of leagues out there that are similar and sometimes get neglected in fantasy writing. One of the main reasons people run from these kinds of leagues are streams, but with weekly caps on player additions I feel these kinds of leagues are sort of “making a comeback.” With that said, there are still ways to stream pitchers and at this time of year, if you don’t have a strong pitching staff or one of your rotation members just got shut down – looking at you Jeff Samardzija and Stephen Strasburg – finding a replacement is extremely difficult.

One pitcher I would gamble on is Lance Lynn, who is scheduled to start this week in place of Jake Westbrook. Lynn has spent the past few weeks in the bullpen, so he is available in a lot of leagues and if any pitcher on the waiver wire has the upside of Lynn, I don’t know what kind of league you’re playing in. Sure there are guys with solid matchups, but Lynn has been pitching to major leaguers all year and for the most part was very effective against them. He sputtered after the All-Star break and his move to the bullpen as warranted, but if I am looking for one good start off of a waiver wire member I am most certainly willing to put my faith in Lynn against the Dodgers on Thursday.

Even in his struggles, he was still striking out batters at a decent clip. The 5.23 ERA over his last eight starts is ugly, but 39 strikeouts in 41.1 innings at least gives the ability to get a big strikeout night and could potentially push you ahead of your opponent in that category given the right circumstances. Most of the time when I look at the waiver wire this time of year I end a post with “this guy is probably not a team saver,” but I honestly believe Lynn could be that guy that saves your team. If you have an offense that should perform well against your opponent, streaming a guy like Lynn could provide you with enough juice on the pitching end to squeak by. That’s the situation I am in in my head-to-head league and I am confident Lynn succeeds against the Dodgers this Thursday. If you are looking for someone to stream, go with Lynn if he is available. If it doesn’t work, feel free to blame me. I think it will.

Somehow, despite having the top OPS over the past calendar month, Mark Reynolds is still owned in just 51% of Yahoo! Leagues. Now, in most very competitive leagues, Reynolds is off the waiver wire and impossible to acquire, but there are still shallow leagues or slightly less competitive leagues where he is available. 49% of Yahoo! Leagues have not simply been given up on with a month left in the year.

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This time of the year, the season long production of a player means a lot less than how they have played over the past few weeks. Colby Rasmus, Zach McAllister, and Jose Quintana have all had solid years, but it’s time to cut bait and pick up more useful players for the stretch run of the season.
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