Previous editions are here. As a reminder, with rare exceptions, I will highlight players at less than 30% ownership levels in Yahoo and ESPN leagues.
Starting Pitchers
Marcus Stroman
Dustin McGowan was an intriguing fantasy bet in 2007 and 2008. In one of my leagues, I added him to my watch list after he was hurt 2008, and he’s been there ever since. I could never quite bring myself to remove him, based on the promise of those early years. Well, six years later he’s finally healthy, and he stinks. Who knew that six consecutive injury-filled seasons would degrade a pitcher’s underlying skillset? The Jays are considering moving to a six-man rotation with J.A. Happ to spell him; Todd Redmond has also seen a few starts in the past. If you are cringing right now, you know how Alex Anthopoulos feels. The team is hovering around .500, and is intimately familiar with how quickly a season can go down the drain. Their window for contention isn’t exactly huge, either.
All that is a long way of saying that Stroman is probably coming up sooner rather than later. The knock on Stroman is that he’s small (5’9”, 185 lbs). Despite that, he’s dominated at every stop along the way, and even produced average ground ball rates. Now is the time to add him.
Drew Hutchison
Last Call!
Outfielders
Gregory Polanco
Polanco is likely the next “big” position-player callup, with Jose Tabata and Travis Snider hitting exactly like you would expect them to. Scouts said after last year’s futures game that he had more power than you might think, and that has proven true so far in limited 2014 minor-league action. Before the season, I would have expected him to be down until late June, but the struggling Pirates may be getting desperate enough to sacrifice a few million in arbitration dollars and pull the trigger.
Don’t embarrass yourself by confusing him with Gregor Blanco when searching available players.
Corey Dickerson
Has all the skills, and the hitting environment is right. Should be owned at the moment based on the slight chance that he defies the Rockies’ best efforts and maintains regular playing time.
Oswaldo Arcia
Arcia has been dropped in most leagues. My recommendation is tepid. Power is the only thing that makes him ownable, and wrist injuries can negate that in a hurry.
Corner Infielders
Juan Francisco
Francisco is filling in while Adam Lind is on the DL. Lind has back problems, which always have the potential to linger. Francisco has always had power, and the Jays have a history of turning powerful drifters* into absolute monsters.
*Is it just me, or is the term “journeyman” almost always misapplied in sports? A journeyman is a competent professional who is not a master of his craft. In the context of sports, it always seems to be used as: “this dude isn’t very good and has played for lots of different teams.” We do need a word for that, but I don’t think “journeyman” is appropriate. I’m tentatively going with “drifter,” but remain open to suggestions.
Middle Infielders
Scooter Gennett
Gennett has hit well enough to stay in the fat half of the second-base platoon near the top of the suddenly scary Brewers lineup.
Closers
What a miserable year for closers it has been.
Joe Smith
Taking over for Ernesto Frieri in Los Angeles of Anaheim. Smith signed a three-year deal this offseason, so the team obviously has some confidence in him. His numbers for the last two years are closer-worthy, as well. I still worry that the Halos will have an itchy trigger-finger on his stint at closer. In general, side-armers don’t get the benefit of a doubt, and Smith tends towards grounders rather than K’s. Despite my trepidation, he needs to be owned everywhere, and I prefer him to the options below.
Mark Melancon
The ridiculous numbers from 2013 have faded a bit, but are still more than good enough. Jason Grilli strained an oblique; average recovery time for that injury is one month.
Daisuke Matsuzaka
I’ve been pushing Carlos Torres as the player to add in preparation for the Farnsworth collapse, but thus far Terry Collins has so far preferred to use him in multiple-inning setup situations. It appears that the Mets won’t pitch the Farns on back-to-back days, and that has led to one save for Dice-K already.
Hector Rondon
Renteria hasn’t shown any indication that he plans to use Rondon as the closer, despite always throwing out his name when discussing the role. Rondon has been consistently used in lower-leverage situations than all of Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm, and James Russell, but Ricky’s hand may soon be forced. (And by hand, I mean the one that moves down his reliever depth chart/checklist every time the team gets bombed in a save situation. Playing-card metaphors imply a level of strategery that seems entirely absent from the cake-stained Cubs dugout). I addressed Grimm’s issues last week, and Strop’s are painfully obvious.