Who is Being Dropped and Why (Preseason)
With the first major FAAB period running last night, it’s time to find some why owners soured on some players. Cole Hamels and Buster Posey are obvious choices but some of the others are just head-scratchers. It’s time to dive into who is headed to the waiver wire and why.
Normally, I use the NFBC Main Event, but it still needs to draft most of its leagues. With the Main Event drafts still happening, the maximum number of players dropped was four. For this week, I’m going to focus on the NFBC Online Championship. These drafts started around July 1st and should not be filled with many obvious drops as there would be for the March TGFBI drafts. Next week I’ll be back using the Main Event.
To start with, here are the players who were dropped in four more leagues or more.
| Player | Leagues |
|---|---|
| Hamels, Cole | 13 |
| Kopech, Michael | 12 |
| Posey, Buster | 11 |
| Hicks, Jordan | 10 |
| Chavis, Michael | 7 |
| Polanco, Gregory | 7 |
| Canning, Griffin | 7 |
| Wright, Kyle | 7 |
| Kikuchi, Yusei | 6 |
| Means, John | 6 |
| Dyson, Jarrod | 5 |
| McKay, Brendan | 5 |
| Harvey, Hunter | 5 |
| Gibson, Kyle | 5 |
| Gausman, Kevin | 5 |
| Kim, Kwang-Hyun | 5 |
| Lester, Jon | 5 |
| Mize, Casey | 5 |
| Gonsolin, Tony | 5 |
| Calhoun, Kole | 5 |
| Kieboom, Carter | 5 |
| Karinchak, James | 4 |
| Aquino, Aristides | 4 |
| Long, Shed | 4 |
| Hirano, Yoshihisa | 4 |
| DeShields, Delino | 4 |
| Archer, Chris | 4 |
| Samardzija, Jeff | 4 |
| Castro, Jason | 4 |
| Betances, Dellin | 4 |
| Adams, Austin | 4 |
| Urias, Luis | 4 |
| Shaw, Travis | 4 |
Here are some thoughts on the non-obvious drops
Overall Observation: I think potential closers were added via FAAB and something had to give. Below-average starters and hitters were were the casualties. Once the bullpens become set, I bet some relievers head back to the wire for these drops.
There must have been someone better in the waiver wire.
- Griffin Canning (7): I’m at a loss. If anything, his value has increased as the season nears. He is throwing in intrasquad games with no bad press.
- Yusei Kikuchi (6): Kikuchi has gotten the sleeper label after he went back to his old mechanics. Kikuchi was unplayable last season and needs to make a couple of changes. Maybe his owners dug into some of his Summer Training starts and didn’t like what they saw.
- Kyle Gibson (5): Again, nothing has changed with Gibson, so why the drop? Where available, grab him. In week three, he’s scheduled to have a two-start week against the Pirates and Royals. $$$$$$
- Kole Calhoun (5): A power bat that’ll give some team a bump in power.
Why was he drafted?
- Kyle Wright (7): Besides throwing 95 mph, what has Wright accomplished? Made a prospect top-100 list? He’s never been on my draft radar and is still not. He’ll likely get a few more chances in the bigs, but he’s got to perform better than a 7.71 ERA, 6.7 BB/9, and 2.1 HR/9.
- Kevin Gausman (5): Did those drafting him forget he starts for the Giants?
- Jon Lester (5): I’d rather have every other pitcher listed on this page before Lester. No upside at all here.
- Casey Mize (5): A rookie pitcher with a small chance of being promoted. Understandable drop, questionable draft.
Team specific need
- Jarrod Dyson (6): Dyson is supposed to be a speed only play but his counting stats will be decent since he’s the Pirates leadoff hitter.
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His normal role is part-time at-bats at the lineup’s bottom. Now he may add other counting stats to more than one category.
Not going to play as much
- Michael Chavis (7): The second-year player is still in consideration for the Red Sox second base job with Jose Peraza and first base with Mitch Moreland. The situation has remained constant (i.e. up-in-the-air) since Spring Training.
- Hunter Harvey (5): A bullpen dart whose owners soured on for the next over-hyped potential closer.
- Kwang-Hyun Kim (5): His exact role is up in the air but he could be the second-best Cardinals starter by season’s end.
- Tony Gonsolin (5): Demoted off the MLB roster.
- Carter Kieboom (5): The team moved him to a part-time role with Asdrubal Cabrera. He has just not been able to force himself onto the Nationals roster.
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
They’ll regret dropping McKay. I think he’ll be a top 50 pitcher this year, even spending part/most of it in the bullpen. He’s basically a Luzardo clone with a better chance at getting wins if he’s piggybacking Chirinos/Yarbrough. I think the reason for the drops is that he hasn’t reported to summer camp yet. Bc
I also think the Kim/Gibson owners will regret the drops. Gibson and the Rangers have a great schedule until Aug 28th, after which you can drop him because they play 13 games against the Dodgers/Astros in the final month of the season.
Well, not reporting is a big thing, and why would you think he would be the guy who would piggyback? In the past they used a RP in the first inning or two. They have changed it a fair amount, but word is Yarbrough is going to be a traditional starter, and I’d imagine Yonny needs to build up a bit. I could see Kay being good, he is a tough one for me. I don’t think he plays till midseason though.
Looks like it didn’t take long for those former Kim owners to regret their drops… though I am not sure anyone knew Kim was some kind of closer in waiting.