No Time: Good Players to Avoid for the Stretch Drive
As your fantasy team marches into the playoffs, weekly matchups and playing time considerations become more important. Players fighting for playing time or battling nagging injuries can hurt you chances of taking home a title if they are giving you nothing or only playing three times per week. Especially leagues with weekly lineup locks.
While some players are easy to let go, the pedigree and past performance of others can make fantasy owners hesitant to cut or bench players of a certain caliber, but given the time of year, here are some top-150 players that you might consider cutting or benching to give you the best shot at winning in 2018.
Since returning from a back injury in August, Carlos Correa has struggled mightily. The Astros’ shortstop is slashing .178/.256/.228 with just a 39 wRC+ and one home run.
Unlike the other hitters on this list, Correa has continued to receive regular playing time despite both the lack of production and his injury. The poor offensive results are almost certainly correlated to the back injury that kept him out for over a month midseason. Correa recently acknowledged himself that his back continues to be an issue, and given the amount of time left in the season, its unlikely that it will resolve itself in time to help fantasy owners.
Correa was a first or second round pick this season after a stellar 2017 campaign, but given he is playing through pain, it might be worth finding another option for your 2018 fantasy playoffs, despite his tremendous upside and potential.
The 2017 rookie of the year struggled in the first half, but has come on in the second, where he has slashed .299/.380/.465. Bellinger’s ability to contribute in what is likely one your leagues more tightly bunched categories – stolen bases (11 steals this season) also makes him an important player to consider. But with expanded September rosters and the acquisitions of Brian Dozier and Manny Machado, Bellinger is seeing his playing time cut against left-handed pitching.
Bellinger has only started six of the Dodgers’ last eleven games (although he has appeared in all eleven, coming off the bench as a pinch hitter). After a strong rookie campaign where he posted a .260/.352/.610 line against left-handers, Bellinger has struggled against lefties this season (.222/.309/.389) and Dave Roberts has begun sitting him in order for the Dodgers to take advantage of the platoon split.
Bellinger’s talent and positional flexibility, combined with Matt Kemp’s struggles and Max Muncy cooling off mean Bellinger can still be productive down the stretch.
But he will likely continue to see less than full playing time for the Dodgers, however.
Despite being the fifth most valuable catcher eligible player according to the ESPN player rater, Gattis has seen his playing time plummet since Tyler White’s call up in August. Gattis was in the middle of a cold streak when White was re-called from Triple-A, but should have been expected to rebound – just like he did after an atrocious month of April. To make things more crowded, Brian McCann was activated from the disabled list last week and should factor into the catching and designated hitter rotation as well.
Gattis should hit if he plays but the Astros have more players than they have positions to fill them. As long as they are trying to hold off Oakland, they’ll likely need to keep playing the hot hand at Gattis’ expense.
Gattis was a must-start catcher for most of 2018 but given the playing time crunch it may be more beneficial to cut the slugger in favor of a catcher who has a chance to play four times per week.
Given he missed over two months with a broken foot, Dahl won’t be found atop fantasy leaderboards this season. But Dahl has been a valuable contributor in rotisserie leagues when healthy, hitting ten home runs and stealing five bases in 195 plate appearances.
The twenty-four-year-old is one of the Rockies’ top outfield options but he has been losing playing time to Gerardo Para, the recently signed Matt Holliday and occasionally Ian Desmond. Dahl has sat five times in the Rockies’ last eleven games. This is despite hitting .261/.327/.534 since returning from the DL in early August.
Dahl should matter, but he might be limited by the Rockies’ desire to get some of their veteran players into the lineup.
Gregorius, who was recently activated from the disabled list after missing time with a heel bruise, appears to be slowly working his way back into action– with Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone suggesting that they are treating Gregorius’ current status with the team “like a rehab”. In the Yankees’ four games since returning from the DL, Gregorius has sat once and started twice. Between Gleyber Torres, Adeiny Hechavarria and Ronald Torres, the Yankees have plenty of options available to spell Gregorius while he works his way back to full health.
On top of his injury rehab, Gregorius has cooled significantly since a hot April, hitting .251/.303/.408 since May 1st making his presence in the lineup less significant than it was earlier this season. Gregorius is the still the Yankees’ best option at short and ranks in the top-80 overall on ESPN’s player rater, but the combination of his injury and more pedestrian production means he may be worth benching down the stretch.
Nick thinks running a Major League or fantasy baseball team is incredibly easy. Until he is handed one of those coveted GM positions, his writing at RotoGraphs will illustrate how to do it properly. Fantasy baseball trade consultations and anything else can be sent to nick.dika@gmail.com or tweeted to @nickdika.
Agh, you are right about Gattis. With his slump and lack of playing time he’s hardly worth a start these days unless one is desperate for that home run once in awhile. It’s hard to let a Houston guy go, though, given that lineup.
Gattis really helped push my team into the playoffs, but catcher has been a black hole for me ever since. I was really hoping Jansen would hit more when he was called up.
I just picked up that big guy in Minnesota, Willians Astudillo, in the hopes that he swings like Gattis 4 out of 7 days instead of the new Gattis norm of 1 out of 7 days.
Nick, any thoughts on dropping Ryan Zimmerman for either Rowdy Tellez or Ryan O’Hearn (7×7 h2h redraft) for the stretch run? Worried about Nats players starting to mail it in. Thanks!
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for reading! I’d be a little hesitant to pick up Tellez. I know he’s been hot but there isn’t enough ABs to go around 1B/DH in Toronto with Smoak, Morales and all of their extra catchers (Marin, Maile, Jansen and Reese McGuire). In terms of O’Hearn vs. Zimmerman, I think if you need power go with O’Hearn, but if you need anything else go with Zimm.
An aside: Terribly productive hitters who have ugly platoon splits (e.g. Bellinger) are reason alone to eschew weekly fantasy. Daily lineups are heaven!
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What are y’all’s thoughts on Kris Bryant, Jesus Aguilar, and Brantley? The Indians are about to clinch, which makes me think I should drop Brantley for Piscotti or Pollock. Additionally, Bryant’s data are limited and he has been inconsistent since his return from injury. Aguilar has been slumping, but he is still a top 10 player in HR per PA and slugs well.
Kluber will be rested soon. Will it be worth dropping him for the championship playoff game?
Re: Aguilar … If he’s not hurt and not involved in any sort of structured job share, then you start him as much as you would any other week.
Personally, I agree with you and think that Bryant is likely in a similar position to Correa but he hasn’t shown he’s debilitated to the point Correa has so he’s worth taking the chance on.
I wouldn’t drop Kluber until you know for certain he ain’t pitching.
Stanton, Altuve…
Altuve hasn’t been that bad (110 wRC+) since he returned? Admittedly he hasn’t helped much in fantasy categories, but I think he’s shown enough that we can assume he can still be good down the stretch.
Right, he’s not helping much and was just awful up utnil this week. But a guy like Villar or another hot hand might be worth more than Altuve at this point. I still started Altuve this week but it was a tough decision. And I did sit Stanton.
I started Altuve this week, based on a decent series against a tough Red Sox team. I feel he is getting his groove back. However, I’m keeping an eye on his strikeouts and stolen bases. Probably should check his statcast speed as well.
Agree on Correa. He’s simply not himself. He has a .247 xWOBA since he came back from the back injury, which is #264 out of 273 qualified hitters. In other words, he’s hitting like Billy Hamilton
Let me preface this by saying that this probably only applies in shallower leagues (which mine is) because the guy is still playing every day but I waived Ozzie Albies a couple weeks ago. He really hasn’t been all that special since his monster start to the season. Since mid-May he’s put up a .268/.306/.408 triple slash with 55 R , 9 HR, 37 RBI and 7 SB in 99 games and 418 PA. That’s not a small sample size. I mean, you can’t pretend that the huge start doesn’t count either but that’s 4 solid months of very much “meh” and that even includes a nice run there from mid-June thru mid-July where he was raking.
Now, when I dumped him the Braves had just dropped him to 6/7 in the order and I figured he just isn’t worth it batting that low . Camargo just got hurt and is going to be out until at least Friday and Inciarte hasn’t been much better so Albies is back in there at 2nd today. He’s got 5 hits the last 3 games with 4 XBH so maybe he’s warming up but the long-term trend is more playable rather than star.
It has been an interesting yeah for Albies. You’re right to point out he has been pretty average for the majority of the season. I’m curious to see how he’s treated in drafts next year.
David Dahl hasn’t been playing a ton because the Rockies have been facing an unusual amount of lefty starters. He might be a good play for the final week for those lucky enough to reach the championship. He’ll have seven games at Coors, facing two teams that have zero southpaw SPs.
Good call. Now I just need to get to my championship round 🙂
This is a useful comment.
Is Correa a straight out drop?
It depends on how deep your league is, but with his back injury still affecting him and less than three weeks left in the season, I think there’s a good chance you’ll find better production elsewhere in all but the deepest of leagues.
Didi’s fine it’s his May that was bad and it drags down his number since. Since June 1st he has a slash of .290/.348/.496
You’re right about May dragging down his line. I’d still keep an eye on his usage as the Yankees have been talking like they are going to bring him back slowly. They also have other decent SS options to fill in as well (although none are as good an all-around player as Didi).
I would throw Dee Gordon into the mix as well. He just hasn’t been himself since the beginning of August.
Plus they have dropped him to 9th in the order.