Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday hasn’t gotten off to the start fantasy owners expected. His complete lack of power to start the year has been baffling. After never posted a slugging percentage under .488 over his career, Holliday has seen his slugging numbers drop to just .386 in 2014. With most players in this situation, it’s easy to preach patience. But Holliday is age-34, which leaves some creeping doubt about we’re starting to see the start of a decline.

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More injuries opening up opportunities! Pair these two studs and you have the potential to receive a serious power and speed boost. Or not. But maybe.

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When should we begin to buy a breakout? Indians outfielder Michael Brantley has played the part perfectly this year. After two seasons of solid performance, Brantley has emerged as an elite hitter at age-27. While that’s typically the time hitters come into their prime, Brantley’s surge comes as a surprise. The question, of course, is whether it’s legitimate. Has Brantley seen an inordinate amount of luck early, or have his skills progressed? Can’t it be both?

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It’s a fishy edition of the deep league waiver wire and the first time I’m heading back to the National League after my last three posts recommended two American Leaguers. The Marlins have been aggressive about promoting prospects, which is great for fantasy leaguers in that they keep on providing us with a new shiny toy to analyze.

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I couldn’t get to all the position players where my rank was significantly different than the consensus, and mostly because there are so many dang outfielders. So Tonto, let’s jump on it.

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I guess this is a full-blown series now, and why not? The theme kind of fascinates me. In the two previous entries, I’ve covered Jimmy Nelson and Domingo Santana, and today it’s Stephen Piscotty’s turn. I go to a whole lot of Triple-A games, and those games are packed with guys who are almost — but not quite — ready for the majors. In Nelson’s case, I suggested that an inconsistent release point could pose problems, while Santana needs to rein in his over-aggressive approach.

These are both players that I like a great deal as prospects, but sometimes it’s simply more interesting to think about what’s keeping a guy in the minors, rather than dreaming about his ceiling. And this comes from someone who is admittedly overly forgiving at times; I can find something to like about a crappy college first baseman, for example. I also typically enjoy Nicolas Cage movies, so it’s probably a good idea for me to focus a bit more on the negatives every once in awhile.

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Injuries are a deep leaguer’s best friend…as long as those injuries don’t occur to your own players of course. As has become par for the course here at the deep league waiver wire, these two recommendations are the latest pair of beneficiaries of the recently disabled.

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It’s not cool to cheer for injuries, but for us dumpster-divers, well, sometimes guys getting hurt is what it takes to unearth opportunities. As it happens, the Diamondbacks have seen a couple of guys knocked to the sidelines in recent days, and while that’s unfortunate, we’d be remiss if we didn’t look at two players who are stepping up — both of whom have potential value in NL-only leagues.
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When you start ranking outfielders, all you can think about is how many there are. It seems impossible. And then something funny happens, somewhere in the 60s for me — you run out of ones you really want in your lineup. And then there’s a ton left, yes, but they’re all mix and match fantasy platoon outfielders. And they aren’t super easy on the eyes.

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Rather than get dragged into a pizza-themed battle again, this month’s tiered rankings will be named after my favorite “Futurama” background characters. In order to qualify as a background character, they must appear in at least three episodes and cannot be a main character like Fry, Leela, etc.

Zapp Brannigan

Mike Trout

Still in a tier by himself — despite the recent back pain — even if he does end up on the disabled list. Rather than being his usual incredible self, this year Trout has merely been really, really good. Hopefully his back issues can be resolved without a trip to the DL.
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