Who is Being Dropped & Why (Week 21)

After going through the drops, most of them seemed obvious with players going to the IL or the minors. I think it’s because many teams are checking out for football season with both adds and drop not being made. Next week I’ll drop the threshold down to six to nine drops.

For this weekly feature, I use the NFBC Main Event because of the number of identical leagues. Additionally, the managers stay engaged longer on the whole since each spent $1700 per team. I tried to find that sweet spot between the obvious and bizarre drops and will focus on players dropped in seven to ten leagues. Previously the number was six to nine, but I adjusted with the Main Event adding four leagues since I did the report.

Hitters

Hoy Park: While he led off immediately after being traded to the Pirates, he’s now batting eighth and starting only every other game.

Tyler Wade: Two weeks ago, he was great, but then Andrew Velazquez broke out (hitting .300/.333/.550 over the past week) and Wade’s playing time got axed along with his fantasy value.

Seth Brown: On the strong side of an outfield platoon with Chad Pinder. The problem is that Oakland is scheduled to face three lefties in six games this week.

Alec Bohm: Demoted to the minors. Easy drop.

Oscar Mercado: Over the last half dozen games, he’s been on the short side of a platoon with Daniel Johnson.

Edward Olivares: He’s back in the minors. In a week or so, he’ll get promoted again to just be sent down again three days later.

Luis Garcia: He’s still playing every day, but he’s not been productive (.206/.260/.361 with 3 HR in 104 PA). There has to be some hope he can improve on his .227 BABIP.

Trevor Larnach: Strikeouts got the best of him (35% K%) and he was demoted back to AAA.

Andrés Giménez: He’s not hitting since being recalled (.194/.333/.194) and is now splitting time with whoever Ernie Clement is… can’t be a real player, right?

Nick Ahmed: After a series at Colorado (9 PA with 0 hits), he is back where he belongs on the waiver wire.

Leury García: He’s still on the concussion IL.

Dylan Moore: He’s playing about half the time but he does have those shiny 18 steals and 10 homers that will keep some manager interested.

Evan Longoria: While he dealt with a hand injury and is on the COVID-IL, he’s an interesting drop because he could return without missing any more games. Considering how he’s performed until this point (.289 AVG and 10 HR in 199 PA), he’ll be snatched up next week.

Tyrone Taylor: An oblique injury will have him on the IL for almost a month.

Starters

Reid Detmers: I dug into Detmers for this week’s waiver wire report and found that his struggles are related to his fastball usage. On Saturday he threw the fastball 50% of the time and he got lit up. Great potential, but he needs to improve his fastball or keep its usage under 40%.

Braxton Garrett: He had one start against Atlanta. He allowed 3 R in 3 IP while issuing 6 BB. He was then demoted to AAA.

Jacob deGrom: He’s most likely done for the season, so some managers are opening up a roster spot.

Michael Pineda: He’s on the IL (oblique) while having a decent season (4.13 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 7.7 K/9).

Kyle Muller: Demoted to AAA. His profile looks decent besides the high walk rate (4.9 BB/9).

Matt Manning: After at least striking out one batter per inning while progressing through the minors, he has a 4.9 K/9 in 53 MLB innings. He’s not even close to living up to his prospect status. None of his pitches have a swinging-strike rate over 8%. Additionally, he’s moving around on the mound for some reason.

Jaime Barria: I saw he was being added and I didn’t understand why. He had a couple of decent starts to end July but those two starts should not outweigh a career of incompetence.

Alex Cobb: On the IL and his return timetable got extended. Since it’s so late into the season, he’s a reasonable cut.

Relievers

Rowan Wick: He might be the Cubs closer but we may never know as long as the Cubs keep losing games.

Diego Castillo: On the IL with a fatigued shoulder.

Matt Wisler: A middle reliever on the IL is an easy drop.

Kwang Hyun Kim 김광현: He came off the IL, but will be moving to the bullpen for now.

Kendall Graveman: He’s just now being dropped by some teams after losing his job over three weeks ago. Yeah, everyone is paying attention.

Jonathan Loaisiga: Even though he’s no longer getting Saves with Chapman off the IL, he’s still one of the league’s better middle relievers for Wins (8).

Michael Fulmer: Still a decent middle reliever, but it’s tough to roster someone who has only five games in the upcoming week.