2015 Fantasy Baseball – Underperforming Players
It can be a tough decision to sit a pitcher for a start or make a position player ride the pine for a stretch of games. The even harder decision comes when a player is slumping so bad that another guy on the waiver wire might help your team more. Benching and dropping players is just part of the game and we have some advice as to what you should do with certain players.
Stephen Strasburg, Wsh SP
Fantasy owners need to consider benching Strasburg for his next couple starts, if he’s not riding the pine already. The former No. 1 overall pick in 2009 has been terribly inconsistent this season and now carries a 6.50 earned run average to go with a 3-5 record.
Strasburg isn’t walking a ton of guys, he’s just getting hit hard in his sloppier starts and his fastball hasn’t lost any steam in the mid to high-90s. It is time to give him a rest from your lineup until he can put together a quality start, which he last did on April 19th against Philly. He does not hold a lot of fantasy value right now, so owners shouldn’t expect to get a whole lot in return.
Rick Porcello, Bos SP
The trade that sent Yoenis Cespedes to Detroit for Porcello is looking pretty lopsided in the Tigers’ favor at this moment in time and that could change in the future. Porcello got shelled for a combined 13 earned runs his past two starts and now has an ERA of 5.37. His up-and-down season might be him adjusting to new surroundings, a new ballpark, but the 10 long balls allowed so far is cause for concern.
You’ll need to stash and/or bench Porcello in deeper leagues, but don’t be afraid to drop him for more upside if it’s available.
Taijuan Walker, Sea SP
It might be hard to drop Walker for those of you that have held onto the young hurler hoping for him to turn around what has been a terrible couple months. Dropping Walker is necessary because he is 1-5 with an unsightly 7.33 ERA and 1.84 WHIP and not showing any signs of turning it around. It’s time to cut your losses.
Melky Cabrera, CWS OF
It’s time to take a long look at whether you should hang onto Cabrera because he’s not providing much value. His .244 batting average and .288 on-base percentage is way below his career numbers and his one homerun and 16 RBIs aren’t making any noise.
You could bench him and hope he rebounds, which is possible for sure. Or maybe he is slowing down and the steroids were dramatically helping him earn those nice contracts.
Jake Marisnick, Hou OF
You may have relied on him heavily in April when he hit .379 with an on-base percentage of .422, but Marisinick has been hurting you ever since. He’s hitting under the Mendoza line for the month of May and is losing at-bats to Preston Tucker at the moment.
The first month of the season could have been a fluke as the 24-year-old was never a premier hitter in the Minors. Fantasy owners in deeper leagues may want to stash Marisnick while a lot of you can drop him and find someone more productive on the wire.
Devin Mesoraco, Cin C
One of last year’s breakout stars will have season-ending surgery on his injured hip in the near future. Fantasy owners need to look elsewhere for a catcher, if they haven’t already, as Mesoraco never got it going this season anyhow.
The young catcher hit .178 without a homerun and only two runs batted in only 23 games this season. Last season, Mesoraco launched 25 bombs last year to go with 80 run batted in in just 384 at-bats (114 games).
Danny Santana, Min SS/OF
The second-year shortstop had a tremendous rookie season where he batted .319 with 41 extra-base hits and 20 steals, but it’s been the opposite story this season. Santana is hitting a meager .237 with an on-base percentage of .256 and only four stolen bases.
The recent demotion from leadoff man to batting ninth in the lineup makes him even less of a fantasy asset in most leagues. If anything, bench him at this point.
Jedd Gyorko, SD 2B
That $35 million contract is looking more and more like a huge waste of money as Gyorko hasn’t done much at all this season. He has a pair of homeruns and a .204 batting average as manager Bud Black has already started syphoning his playing time away.
Gyorko was never a guy who could hit for average, but only power like when he hit 23 big flies as a rookie in 2013. There’s a chance he makes a comeback to fantasy stardom, just don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon as he’s worth dropping in most leagues.
We’ll be coming out with more fantasy baseball videos and articles soon so stay tuned!
Stephen Strasburg top banner photo credit: MudflapDC
