Who is Being Dropped and Why

With FAAB-ageddon over, it’s time to see who were the most dropped players in the 38 NFBC Main Event leagues.

Injury

• Jonathan Loaisiga (32): Shoulder issues have him out at least two months.
• Miguel Andujar (29): Out for the season with shoulder surgery.
• Anibal Sanchez (18): All ready barely startable and the injury made him expendable.
• David Robertson (18): Non-closer on the IL is worthless.
• Jed Lowrie (17): Bum knee and hamstring.

Demoted

• Teoscar Hernandez (22): I was using him as a spot starter on a couple of my teams hoping he’d get hot. It was nice to have the Blue Jays to make the decision to move on for me.
• Jeimer Candelario (20): Another borderline talent coming into the season who was sent down.

Note: In “The Process”, we wrote: “Any major leaguer with an OPS below .635 looks to be below average and could be replaceable.” Candelario was at .573 and Hernandez was at .562. The current low OPS list (min 100 PA) is littered with hitters who have been demoted (Justin Bour and Mallex Smith) or “injured” (Travis Shaw and Ender Inciarte). Any player under a .635 OPS and especially a .600 OPS could be at risk for losing their job.

• Nick Margevicius (16): Optioned to the minors with his 4.96 ERA and matching ERA estimators.
• Delino DeShields (14): A .605 OPS (see the above Note).
• Garrett Hampson (14): A .493 OPS (see the above Note).
• A.J. Minter (13): BS + L = 5. W + HLD + SV = 4. 9.32 ERA. Not the numbers a team wants from their closer.
• Kelvin Gutierrez (11): Nicky Lopez gets the call, Gutierrez heads down.

Other

• Francisco Cervelli (17): He’s not hitting (.505) and losing playing time to Elias Diaz (.537 OPS). It’s a pillow fight between these two.
• Aledmys Diaz (16): He could have been placed under the Injury heading since a hamstring issue may bench him some this week. And Jose Altuve may be back at the week’s end killing all of Diaz’s current fantasy value.
• Nick Kingham (15): He was demoted mid-week to the bullpen but now he may be starting on Wednesday.
• Brandon Kintzler (14): This Saves grab didn’t pan out.
• Derek Holland (14): Moved to the bullpen after struggling (7.36 ERA).
• Ryan O’Hearn (13): While his .648 OPS is above the demotion line, he’s useless to fantasy owners.
• Erik Swanson (13): Nine runs in three innings in his last start. He can’t even be streamed at this point.
• Eric Thames (12): He’s played in 18 games this month and started in only nine of them. The results (.189/.434/.270) are Joey Votto-ish.
• Austin Hedges (11): There are even a baseline catcher hitting thresholds and a .531 OPS doesn’t cut it.
• John Means (11): One start this week at Colorado. A reasonable drop but might be a cheap add later if he gets pounded.
• Julio Urias (11): Administrative leave for domestic battery.
• Junior Guerra (11):’He’s got a couple of Saves but Josh Hader looks to be the closer.
• Lou Trivino (11): Some owners were slow at dropping Trivino after picking him up when Blake Treinen had an injury scare.
• Emilio Pagan (10): Not the official closer but might get 10 Saves with elite counting stats (13.5 K/9, 0.68 WHP, and 0.61 ERA).
• Ian Kennedy (10): Another potential closer in which some owners were tired of holding on to.
• Jackie Bradley Jr. (10): A .421 OPS
• Jeremy Hellickson (10): Owners who took the Hellickson two-step were rewarded with a 4 K’s, 2.13 WHIP, and 9.00 ERA. Congrats.
• Trevor Cahill (10): I was looking to add Cahill when possible this past FAAB period. While I’m not keen on his matchup this week (home versus Minnesota), he has a nice two-step at Oakland and at Seattle next week.

Here are the players dropped in five or more leagues.