Ottoneu Most Wanted: August 16, 2017

Contending teams in ottoneu are gearing up for the stretch run, and rebuilding teams are turning every stone over in the hunt for a keeper. Let’s take a look at the most added players in ottoneu over the past week and past month.

Let’s start by looking at the most added players over the past seven days:

Pitching is still a sought after commodity, so it’s no surprise that the top of this list is dominated by SP. Chad Kuhl’s results haven’t been great (4.06 Pts/IP in FGPts), but that’s still easily above replacement level in 2017, and he has the advantage of being young (24), throwing gas (95.5 mph average on his fastball), and pitching under the tutelage of Ray Searage. I’m not really a big believer in Kuhl in the long term, but he’s a capable innings eater if you’re pacing short of 1,500 IP.

Yes, Matt Belisle has been getting save opportunities with the Twins, but we’re still looking at a pitcher with a 4.70 ERA/ 4.13 FIP/ 4.50 xFIP. That is downright awful for a reliever in ottoneu, no matter what his role. In fairness to Belisle owners though, he has pitched much better over his past 10 appearances, with 100.1 pts in 11 IP (9.1 pts/IP) and 14 K to just 1 BB. Ride the clouser carousel at your own risk.

Speaking of carousels, Hyun-Jin Ryu has had an off and on again relationship with the Dodgers rotation, but has been a sneaky source of quality innings lately (4.55 pts/IP over his last ten starts dating back to May 31). The projections tend to be favorable for Ryu as well, so he is a must own right now.

Mikie Mahtook is a 27 year old outfielder with a career 101 wRC+, so why is he being added to 11% of leagues in the past week? Sometimes you just need to chase after players who are playing regularly and performing, and the Tigers outfielder checks both those boxes with regular playing time in CF and LF since the JD Martinez trade, and a .349 wOBA this season. Mahtook isn’t going to keep this up in all likelihood, but the variance is high for any player who is still relatively young and has a limited sample in MLB, so he’s an intriguing boom/bust pickup.

Are we once again seeing the promise that Ketel Marte flashed in ’15 (.330 wOBA) before he cratered in ’16 for the Mariners (.266 wOBA)? It’s only 112 PA this year for Arizona, but Marte has slashed .286/.366/.480 (.361 wOBA) and represents the Diamondbacks’ primary SS now that Chris Owings is on the shelf. Marte is still just 23 years old, his home park is favorable, and it doesn’t take much hitting to be useful at SS in ottoneu. Add it all up and Marte is one of the rare short term AND long term 48 hour auction targets, though he could turn back into a pumpkin at a moment’s notice.

Eddie Rosario is the center of the Venn diagram that connects Mahtook and Marte, as the former middle infielder turned outfielder splits the age difference (Rosario is 25) and offers Mahtook’s career league average hitting (101 wRC+) along with a dash of Marte’s prospect pedigree. Another similarity- Rosario has also been hot at the plate recently, with a .353 wOBA on the season and an even higher .420 wOBA over the past month. I’m not too confident that Rosario ends up as a valuable piece the rest of the way or into the offseason as a keeper, but there are much worse ways to spend a few dollars at this point in the season.

I’m just going to offer some very quick thoughts on a handful of these guys:

German Marquez– I’m not exactly sold on him, especially pitching half the time at Coors, but he’s got buzz and he’s been above replacement level for ottoneu even including his home starts

Shane Greene– A different version of Belisle with better BABIP/Strand rate/ HR per flyball suppression. I hate investing in poor skills closers, but if he’s super cheap and/or you’re in a 5×5 league I might take a flier.

Alex Claudio– Here’s a RP I do like. He’s hurt in FGPts given his low K/9, but he’s basically Sam Dyson 2.0 before he imploded. Worth a look, especially in SABR.

Paul DeJong– The plate discipline is wretched, but DeJong does pummel the ball when he makes contact. I think he’ll walk more and strike out less as he gets a better fell for MLB pitching, which makes him a very interesting lottery ticket MI.

Chad Green– Another RP I like, dare I say even love? Green has been electric in the Yankee bullpen, and still offers the future potential of a return to starting. He should absolutely be owned.

Austin Barnes– Did you realize that the Dodgers backup catchup now has 2B eligibility? Barnes hasn’t played a whole lot this year, but he has a .400 wOBA and at the very least is a great handcuff for Grandal owners.