Who is Being Dropped & Why (Week 22)

A lot of players, especially starters, were dropped who shouldn’t have even been rostered. It seems like managers are looking anywhere for starters and keep lowering their standards while there are middle relievers available who will be more productive. I can see taking a chance on a two-start guy, but most of the suspect guys dropped were one-start streamers.

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 six to nine leagues. Previously the number was six to nine, but I adjusted with the Main Event adding four leagues since I did the report.

Hitters

Andrés Giménez: He’s on the strong side of a platoon with Owen Miller. While Gimenez has seven steals on the season, he’s just hitting .186/.269/.288.

Asdrúbal Cabrera: He was released and picked up by the Reds who will utilize his bat off the bench.

Adam Engel: On the IL (shoulder) and not that good of a talent to not be replaced.

Paul DeJong: Edmundo Sosa has taken over the shortstop duties with DeJong just hitting .201/.293/.388.

Maikel Franco: Released by the lowly Orioles. The question remains, why was he rostered to begin with?

Cavan Biggio: Remains on the IL and was not productive when he was healthy (.215/.316/.350).

Justin Upton: He’s only started in six of the last 10 games while hitting .213/.299/.413 on the season.

Jonah Heim: While he has hit like a catcher (8 HR, .208 AVG), he’s now on the COVID-IL.

Alec Bohm: He’s been in AAA for a couple of weeks now.

José Iglesias: He’s the epitome of a replacement-level player. He’s not a complete zero on power (8 HR), speed (5 SB), or AVG (.259), but he’s not going to help win a league. He’s a fine fill-in for an injured player.

Lars Nootbaar: He’s no longer starting with Dylan Carlson off the IL. The deal is that Nootbar has outplayed Carlson (.764 vs .795 OPS), but Carlson has been anointed a franchise cornerstone, so he’ll start every day until he is a free agent.

Yonny Hernandez: He was hurting for playing time with the promotion of Nick Solak, but then Andy Ibáñez went on the IL so Hernandez and his speed (25 total SB this season) are back to hitting leading off.

Alex Jackson: With Jorge Alfaro and Sandy León on Miami’s roster, Jackson doesn’t even start half the time. And to make matters even worse, he’s hitting just .043/.214/.043.

Eugenio Suárez: While he has 23 HR on the season, it comes with a .169 AVG in over 487 PA. It doesn’t seem like the regression is coming and a fantasy team can no longer take the batting average drag.

Starters

Dallas Keuchel: While he takes the ball every fifth day and has 8 Wins on the season, he’s provided no other usable production: 5.00 ERA with matching ERA indicators. A 1.41 WHIP. Just a 5.5 K/9. He ranks 41st in innings pitched but 119th in strikeouts.

Pablo López: Slowly progressing on the IL (shoulder).

Jon Gray: On the IL (forearm).

Ryan Weathers: In 24 second-half innings he has an 11.31 ERA and 4.0 HR/9.

Dane Dunning: He was having a nice season (8.5 K/9, 4.31 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, and 54% GB%) but was just placed on the COVID-IL.

Patrick Sandoval: A back injury has him out for the season.

Justin Steele: Over his last three games, he has a 6.39 ERA because of the deadly combination of walking too many batters (4.3 BB/9) and allowing too many homers (2.8 HR/9).

Brett Anderson: Another starter who has struggled over his last three starts (8.53 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 1.82 WHIP).

J.A. Happ: His managers have felt that they needed to get out while the getting is good. With the Cardinals so far, he has a 2.22 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 7.3 K/9 while facing the Pirates three times. This week’s game at Cincinnati had managers running away.

Andrew Heaney: Why was he being rostered? He’s never been good (career 4.65 ERA and 1.6 HR/9) and is now in a tougher division with a small home park (6.43 ERA with the Yankees). Also, he wasn’t guaranteed a Yankees rotation spot.

José Suarez: He’s an example of why people need to dig into guys who have been starting and relieving. As a reliever, Suarez has a 1.98 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 8.6 K/9. When starting the numbers degrade to 5.33 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and 7.8 K/9. Fantasy managers need to try a little harder.

Steven Brault: While I had some interest in him coming off the IL, his velocity has dropped 1 mph (sort of trending up) bringing his strikeouts down to 5.8 K/9. His career ERA is 4.67 and it’s 4.57 this season. He’s settled into being a subpar pitcher MLB pitcher.

Relievers

David Price: I saw he was being added a couple of weeks back, but his short start/middle reliever role keeps him from being fantasy relevant. Better pitchers are available who have the same roles and better talent.

Anthony Bender: It’s been obvious Dylan Floro is the Marlins closer, there was no reason to continue to roster Bender with better reliever options available.

Rowan Wick: He might be the Cubs closer with Codi Heuer being the other option, but the Cubs haven’t recorded a Save since August 17th.

Tejay Antone: Set for Tommy John surgery.

Joe Barlow: He was on the IL (finger), but comes off it a day after being dropped. We’ll see if he immediately moves back into the closer’s job.