Sorry for not posting last week. I took a little mid-week vacation. These are the players being dropped in the 38 NFBC Main Event leagues which have 23 active players, seven bench spots, and no IL.

Hurt

• Joey Wendle (31): A broken hand for a borderline rosterable player equals waiver wire fodder.
• Roman Quinn (24): It’s easy to drop someone hitting .120/.185/.120 who heads to the IL with a strained groin.
• Ryan Zimmerman (18): He has been dealing with plantar fasciitis for bit and heads to the IL to hope it improves.
• Alex Wood (15): Owners gave up on him with his latest injury setback. He’s too close to replacement level to keep on a limited bench.
• Bo Bichette (15): The combination of a broken hand the Blue Jays conservative promotion schedule had owners dumping him.
• Jordan Zimmermann (13): Elbow issues have forced him and his 5.93 ERA to the wire.
• Matt Kemp (13): A rib injury has forced the struggling (.200/.210/.283) off rosters.
• Nathan Eovaldi (12): Elbow surgery
• Alex Reyes: Meet Hunter Strickland’s stepbrother.
• Cody Allen: Horrible results (6.00 ERA, 1.89 WHIP) and a back injury.

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It’s just two big popup names this week, Griffin Canning and Carter Kieboom. And some closer darts. The rest are just some players moving up or down a small bit. It’s just not an exciting week for FAAB, but injuries last weekend’s sent the bids into a huge cluster f___. Hopefully not this week.

As usual, I use ownership rates from CBS since some of their leagues are quickdraw leagues where players can be picked up at any time. The FAAB estimates are based off 15-team mixed NFBC leagues with $1000 FAAB. First, Here are the hitters who were owned in fewer than 50% of leagues and have seen the highest jumps in ownership.
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Angels

• Justin Bour could be droppable at this point. He is not starting against lefties and has only played in five of the last 10 games.
• David Fletcher (.301/.341/.410) has started 14 straight games. Fletcher has been playing at third with Tommy La Stella (.232/.329/.551) at second which means the struggling Zack Cozart (.109/.157/.125) is on the bench. Recently promoted Luis Rengifo looks to join the infield mix.

Astros

• The top-six spots are set.
• One outfield spot rotates with Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick, and Tony Kemp taking turns.
• Tyler White is a half-time DH with regulars rotating through it for a break.

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I believe there are some diamonds in the rough available this week. It’s tough to know who exactly. Will Michael Chavis grab Bostons second base job? Is Scott Kingery going to play full time? Will one of Robert Stephenson, Trevor Hildenberger, Ryan Pressly or Diego Castilla get Saves? Maybe one or two.

As usual, I use ownership rates from CBS since some of their leagues are quickdraw leagues where players can be picked up at any time. The FAAB estimates are based off 15-team mixed NFBC leagues with $1000 FAAB. First, Here are the pitchers who were owned in fewer than 50% of leagues and have seen the highest jumps in ownership.

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Angels

• They are getting decimated by injuries and ineffectiveness. Since Mike Trout has returned, he’s been the DH with Albert Pujols (.735 OPS) playing first base and Justin Bour (.628 OPS) on the bench.
• Tommy La Stella has secured the second base job by hitting a decent .226/.328/.472. The batting average may be a drag, he’s a perfect sub in OBP leagues.
• Brian Goodwin (.900) seems to have forced himself into the left field job while Justin Upton is on the DL and Peter Bourjos (.243 OPS) is struggling.
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After going over the pitchers who changed their velocity from 2018 to 2019, the pitchers who have seen changes this year get highlighted today. For the first week or so, pitchers who saw major adjustments were in the crosshairs of the fantasy community. But who from that list kept the changes? A pitcher’s talent shouldn’t get anchored to one early-season report. It’s time to dive in.

About the data

• I use the fastball’s average spin rate and velocity along with the pitcher’s overall Zone% to come up in the Injury metric. With spin rate, I’ve seen pitchers try to keep up their velocity while dealing with an injury and the pitch’s spin changes. As for Zone%, if a pitcher is having issues finding the plate, they may have something mechanically wrong.
• The Injury value ranges from a -100 (several negative forces are at work) to +100 (major improvements).
• A pitcher can have more than one fastball in the table
• When examining the 2019 data, I’m comparing velocities from the past week to fastballs thrown before this past week.
• All the numbers are available in this overall spreadsheet.

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It’s that time to dive into the 38 NFBC Main Events to see who is being dropped in 10 or more leagues and why.

Injury

• Dellin Betances (13): He’s out until late May with a shoulder injury.
• Ronald Guzman (13): He’ll be on the IL for two to three weeks with an injured hamstring. For teams in need of hitting, he might be worth a stash.
• Franchy Cordero (12): Cordero was due for some regression with his .300 AVG fuel up by a .556 BABIP and down by a 35% K%. It’s just tough to place a finger on his true talent with on the time on the IL.

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