Who is Being Dropped & Why
Another week, another list of drops in the NFBC Main Event. I’m not sure if it was owners moving onto football or the lack of news, but there weren’t many moves this week. For that reason, I wrote up any player dropped in eight or more of the 38 leagues instead of the normal 10 leagues.
Injury
- Jonathan Lucroy (17): Out at least three weeks after having nose surgery.
- Jose Alvarado (12): An oblique strain has him on the IL for at least six weeks.
Demotion
- Jose Urquidy (14): Sent to AAA after some BABIP (.565) induced struggles in his first two major league starts leading to a 10.50 ERA.
- Rowdy Tellez (13): His sub-.300 OBP just didn’t cut it has a DH/1B.
- Adbert Alzolay (11): He’s back in the minors after struggling with homers (3.2 HR/9) and walks (5.6 BB/9).
- Matt Beaty (10): With the return of A.J. Pollock and Corey Seager, there was no need for him.
Other
- Elieser Hernandez (24): A move to the bullpen kills his fantasy value.
- Matt Strahm (20): Another arm moved to the bullpen.
- Jordan Lyles (17): He’s not going to make friends by allowing seven runs (94.50 ERA) in less than an inning.
- Michael Wacha (14): Another starter heading to the bullpen.
- Tommy Edman (13): With Matt Carpenter returning from the IL, Edman is out of a fulltime role and now is just splitting time with Kolten Wong at second base.
- Dylan Bundy (13): Seven runs in one inning. At least he got one more out than Lyles.
- Jason Vargas (11): Miami lit him up for six runs in five innings. Part of his struggles may be from declining fastball velocity.
- Drew Pomeranz (11): And yet another struggling starter no longer starting.
- Wade LeBlanc (10): He allowed six runs in four innings against the Angels.
- John Gant (9): Carlos Martinez got two Saves since the break so Gant is likely not going to be the closer.
- Ariel Jurado (9): In his one post-break start, he allowed five runs in four innings.
- J.P. Crawford (9): He’s struggling in July with a .097/.167/.258 triple slash line.
- Adrian Sampson (9): Moved to the bullpen until Texas needs a fifth starter.
- Billy Hamilton (8): Bubba Starling has started three straight games in center field making Hamilton expendable.
- Pedro Severino (8): Chance Sisco has cut into Severino’s playing time with Severino only starting four of the last 10 games.
- Matt Adams (8): Adams is sharing time with Ryan Zimmerman at first.
| Name | Drops (38 leagues) |
|---|---|
| Elieser Hernandez | 24 |
| Matt Strahm | 20 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 17 |
| Jordan Lyles | 17 |
| Jose Urquidy | 14 |
| Michael Wacha | 14 |
| Tommy Edman | 13 |
| Dylan Bundy | 13 |
| Rowdy Tellez | 13 |
| Jose Alvarado | 12 |
| Jason Vargas | 11 |
| Drew Pomeranz | 11 |
| Adbert Alzolay | 11 |
| Wade LeBlanc | 10 |
| Matt Beaty | 10 |
| John Gant | 9 |
| Ariel Jurado | 9 |
| J.P. Crawford | 9 |
| Adrian Sampson | 9 |
| Billy Hamilton | 8 |
| Pedro Severino | 8 |
| Matt Adams | 8 |
| Sean Manaea | 7 |
| Yadier Molina | 7 |
| Austin Barnes | 7 |
| Homer Bailey | 7 |
| Brandon Workman | 7 |
| Kyle Seager | 7 |
| Anthony Santander | 7 |
| Stephen Piscotty | 7 |
| Aaron Civale | 6 |
| Brett Anderson | 6 |
| Teoscar Hernandez | 6 |
| Framber Valdez | 6 |
| Rich Hill | 6 |
| Michael Lorenzen | 6 |
| Dwight Smith Jr. | 6 |
| Jhoulys Chacin | 6 |
| Blake Treinen | 6 |
| Logan Allen | 6 |
| Harold Ramirez | 5 |
| Brendan Rodgers | 5 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 5 |
| David Bote | 5 |
| Jalen Beeks | 5 |
| Nicky Lopez | 5 |
| Pedro Strop | 5 |
| Reyes Moronta | 5 |
| Jaime Barria | 5 |
| Freddy Peralta | 5 |
| Yoshihisa Hirano | 5 |
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.