Joe Camp won his league, probably because he reads us and listens to our podcasts here, I dunno, but that’s my guess, totally not because he’s an Associate Professor of electrical engineering. Anyway, he won his league, and his leaguemates started chirping about a couple trades he made that year that may have appeared lopsided at the time — my personal opinion is that vetoes suck, and are a dampener on league activity, and we should all be active and talking to each other as much as possible, so if you were on it, you would have made that lopsided trade first — and so Mr. Camp set out to prove he would have won the league anyway.

The way he did it? He took the worst team in the league and replaced everyone on the team with the best free agent pickups of the year. He then compared that team with everyone’s originally drafted teams. The free agents easily won — 96 points to 87 for the best drafted team.

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Ah, the final week of fantasy baseball. The time of year when guys you would normally never consider rostering become crucial lynchpins in your quest for championship glory. If you’re still reading fantasy content in the last week of September, chances are you’re in a highly competitive league, so I’m not going to waste your time talking about players that are likely owned. Instead, I’m focusing solely on players who are available in nearly every league. (If speed is your need, take a look at Mike Podhorzer’s column from this morning.)

Adam Rosales – San Diego Padres

Shocked doesn’t come close to describing my reaction to Rosales’ 2016 numbers. Entering this season, the 33-year-old journeyman infielder had a 0.9 Wins Above Replacement through 1,226 major-league plate appearances. This year, he’s sitting on a 2.3 WAR, with just 245 PA. In the past, Rosales always hit lefties better than righties, but it’s not like he mashed lefties either:

• vs LHP (pre-2016) – 529 PA – .242/.311/.375, .133 ISO, 15 HR
• vs RHP (pre-2016) – 697 PA – .215/.281/.317, .102 ISO, 12 HR

Now take a gander at his numbers from this season, his first in San Diego:

• vs LHP (2016) – 113 PA – .242/.354/.505, .263 ISO, 6 HR
• vs RHP (2016) – 132 PA – .224/.295/.500, .276 ISO, 7 HR

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9/11/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
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Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles/Game Play

• Rich Hill – yeah, we’re talking about it (2:50)
• Kevin Kiermaier (15:00)
• Hanley Ramirez (22:30)
• Robbie Ray (29:30)
• Byron Buxton (40:30)

Strategy Section:

• Middle Infield Power – Jason’s Rotowire piece [$] (46:00)

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In fantasy, I generally consider utility players to be more valuable than ever in September, when expanded rosters allow managers to schedule in a few more rest days for their regulars. Throw in the fact that these guys have already played five months of baseball, and the combination of nagging injuries and general fatigue further encourages managers to work in additional rest days.

The last thing you want in the fantasy playoffs is empty lineup slots. Of course, there’s the obvious caveat that it’s difficult to find productive utility players on waivers at this point in the season. In other words, don’t go picking up Cliff Pennington just because he’s eligible at four positions. Let’s not get carried away here.

The three players featured in this piece are all widely available, and capable of producing when they find their way into your lineup.

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It hasn’t exactly been an easy season for fans of East Bay baseball. Facing a rotation eviscerated by injuries and trades and clubhouse chemistry, once impervious to losing, lost, there hasn’t been much for A’s fans to gloat over. Not that expectations were all that high to begin with, but this? The best that can be said about 2016 is that at least the front office made a firm commitment to its youth as soon as it became obvious that meaningful baseball would not be played in the Coliseum at the same time meaningless football would be. And for that fantasy managers and particularly those digging for championships in deep leagues, should be thankful.

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Brian Dozier is a streaky hitter. We know this to be true, much like the world is round, or the sun rises in the east. In the last two seasons, he’s pushed the boundaries of what I thought ‘streaky’ could entail. About halfway through the 2015 campaign, Dozier’s production fell off a cliff. Check out his slash lines by month:

• April ’15 (95 PA) – .220/.305/.336 (.671 OPS), .146 ISO
• May ’15 (121 PA) – .287/.355/.630 (.985 OPS), .343 ISO
• June ’15 (121 PA) – .287/.355/.556 (.911 OPS), .269 ISO
• July ’15 (110 PA) – .206/.282/.433 (.715 OPS), .227 ISO
• August ’15 (120 PA) – .216/.275/.387 (.662 OPS), .171 ISO
• September ’15 (137 PA) – .197/.270/.295 (.565 OPS), .098 ISO

The batting average dropped down around the Mendoza line, while his power evaporated by the month. The really scary thing was the way Dozier began 2016:

• April ’16 (106 PA) – .191/.276/.340 (.617 OPS), .149 ISO
• May ’16 (92 PA) – .215/.315/.316 (.632 OPS), .101 ISO

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Check out last month’s tiers right here.

TIER ONE
Jose Altuve

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece on this very website entitled “Jose Altuve: Fantasy Baseball’s Most Valuable Hitter.” It is a celebratory collection of fun facts about the best position player in fantasy, and I invite you all to partake in its many enjoyable info nuggets. Altuve should claim the No. 1 overall spot soon, which is currently held by the injured Clayton Kershaw. (Kershaw is seriously still the top performer in 2016 in traditional 5×5 formats, despite the fact that he last pitched five weeks ago.)

TIER TWO
Daniel Murphy
Ian Kinsler
Robinson Cano
Dustin Pedroia

The Murphy/Kinsler/Cano trio have held down this tier for months, and now Pedroia moves up to join them. The soon-to-be 33-year-old socked five homers in July, while hitting over .300 for the third time in the season’s four months. Pedroia also has more walks than strikeouts over the last two months. He’s now sitting on a .303/.373/.453 season slash, with 12 homers, 70 runs and 46 RBI. With his prime position in the two-hole of Boston’s powerful lineup, Pedroia’s four-category contributions should continue to pay big dividends for his owners.

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No matter your league size, there’s likely someone on the waiver wire who can give you a boost at second base. This week, I’ve identified three under-owned second-sackers who could bolster your production at the position.

Devon Travis (31% Yahoo, 30.3% ESPN, 66% CBS)

For a while, it seemed like Travis had a shot at leading off for the Jays, as he picked up five starts atop the lineup in Jose Bautista’s absence. However, the 25-year-old was unable to fend off Ezequiel Carrera as the team’s primary leadoff man, and now Bautista is due back soon. Manager John Gibbons recently indicated he’ll likely slot Bautista back into the leadoff spot when he returns.

The dream of “Devon Travis, leadoff hitter” may be a thing of the past, but despite bouncing around between every spot in the order other than third and fourth, Travis is producing well above his ownership rates. Players on CBS have clearly noticed, but there’s no reason he should be so widely available in Yahoo/ESPN leagues. Over the last 30 days, Travis is hitting .325 with three homers, two steals, 15 runs and nine RBI. Pretty darn good for a second baseman who’s likely floating around on your waiver wire.

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Whenever I write my monthly second-base rankings, I find myself awestruck by how much better Jose Altuve is than any other option at the position. This usually leads me down an Altuve-based statistical rabbit hole, and today I’d simply like to invite you to join me, as I explore the reasons why the 26-year-old is the most productive 2016 fantasy bat to date. (Yes, he’s seriously producing better than the likes of Josh Donaldson, Mike Trout, and David Ortiz in traditional 5×5 formats.)

First off, let’s compare the man to himself. Just 92 games into the season, his 15 home runs already equal last year’s career high. With 70 runs and 54 RBI, he’s on pace to shatter his career marks in both categories, which were also set last year (86 R, 66 RBI). He’s hitting .346, even better than the .341 he hit in 2014, when he won the American League batting title.

He’s already drawn more walks (42) than in any of his previous four full seasons. On-base percentage, slugging percentage, isolated power — all are miles beyond anything he’s done before. His 4.7 wins above replacement already tops last year’s 4.3 WAR.

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Howie Kendrick has had an atypical season in 2016, defensively and offensively. He has played the vast majority of his career at second base, but this year he has filled the super utility role, with 253 innings in the outfield, 46 on first, 91 on third, and 139 on second. His manager, Dave Roberts, has had many positive things to say about Kendrick’s defense thus far, especially with his work filling in left field for the Dodgers.  He has shown range and an arm good enough to make a few nifty plays. Namely, throwing out Wilson Ramos at home. Ramos isn’t a speedster, and the throw was from very shallow left field, but the play did a lot to contribute to a win.  His offense, though, has been a bit of a let down. Especially for a guy who has been so consistent over the course of his career. Kendrick has never finished a season with a wOBA below .313, and only twice has his wOBA have been below average: 2006 (league average .332, Kendrick .313) and 2010 (league average .321, Kendrick .316). This year, to date, his wOBA has been .277, 42 points below average. Nonetheless, this isn’t the worst start to a season in his career.  At this point in 2009, he had a very similar slash line as he does today:

In the second half of 2009, he produced .356/.393/.544, finishing the season .291/.334/.444 with a .340 wOBA. Obviously, the Dodgers would be ecstatic to see that level of production in the second half of this season, but does he have it in him?

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