If you took a risk on Scott Kazmir on draft day, he has without a doubt surpassed every expectation you could have had for him this season. His rebound season last year was nice, but was not exactly too useful from a fantasy perspective. The peripherals suggested he should improve this year and he has certainly lived up to the pre-draft hype that some industry experts had for him.
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With Hanley Ramirez out another week with his oblique injury, picking up and starting Chris Taylor as the Mariners play in Philadelphia and Boston looks like a decent replacement option in weekly leagues. I like Taylor not only this week but as a solid down the stretch middle infield option for deeper leagues.
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The Braves have fallen 3.5 games behind the Nationals in the NL East on the heels of being swept by both the Dodgers and the Padres. The lineup does not have many areas internally that they can improve upon. The one spot that the Braves can likely get more value than they have currently received is in center field. B.J. Upton has been terrible again and the Braves may soon look to put Emilio Bonifacio in the outfield on a regular basis and put Upton on the bench, as they did toward the end of the season last year.
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Obviously there are a variety of fantasy leagues out there, and while it is not necessarily the most popular among hardcore fantasy fans, the daily leagues do exist and Seth Smith is a guy that should be owned across the board in such formats.
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I drafted Kevin Kiermaier in my dynasty league this season, hoping he would get a shot with the Rays eventually and show off the speed he displayed in the minors. He battled some caught stealing issues to start last season at double-A but went seven of eight in his 39 triple-A games to close out the season.
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I went more-or-less all in on Danny Salazar this year. I loved his strikeout ability and while I was worried about his home runs I was not worried enough to avoid him in any drafts. In my redraft and keeper leagues I drafted him without hesitation and expected him to be one of my top performers, which I similarly did with Michael Wacha. Unfortunately, Salazar struggled mightily and earned himself a demotion after just 10 starts.
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It has only been 155 plate appearances since his call up, but not much about Jon Singleton’s first 38 games in the majors has been impressive. He certainly has power, as evident by the six homers he has hit and the strength he has shown on those homers, but even his ISO of .176 is uninspiring.
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As a rather big fan of Carlos Martinez, it was disappointing to see him relegated to bullpen duty to start the season. Fortunately, that created a bit of leeway to get him on the cheap once he became a starter. I grabbed him right when the Cardinals opted to go with him over Tim Cooney, who I also own in dynasty and think will be a good starter if he gets his triple-A homer issues under control, and I have enjoyed a solid couple of weeks out of Martinez.
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Coming off a .289 season with a 139 wRC+, Belt was an attractive later round target for 1B and UTIL in standard redraft leagues. To me he was a poor man’s Eric Hosmer, who could be drafted much later. I went pretty much all in on Belt in any leagues that I had the availability to draft him. Thankfully he got off to a monster start but unfortunately he broke his thumb and missed a good portion of the season.
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After undergoing uretha surgery and then injuring his shoulder as he tried to ramp up for spring training, Mike Minor has been uninspiring in his first 11 starts this season. It is difficult for those that drafted him and stuck with him during his extended stay on the disabled list, but when should we start worrying and even start considering dropping Minor?
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