a picture of a city, representative of the fictional drop city

Fantasy Radar Week 10: Fantasy Drop City

0 0
Read Time:5 Minute, 15 Second

Welcome to drop city! Drop city is a bustling metropolis filled with hundreds of baseball players that have been dropped from fantasy rosters. We’d love for you to take a tour around our beautiful city!

Let’s start our tour with our world-famous cattle farms. 

Bull Pen

Taylor Rogers (62-76% rostered):

It seems like just months ago that Taylor Rogers was one of the best fantasy relievers in baseball. Well, that’s mostly because he was one of the best fantasy relievers in baseball a couple of months ago. Though as a result of the Josh Hader trade, Taylor Rogers has been sequestered to the setup role behind Devin Williams (an immediate pickup if available). Sparse one-inning appearances in the 8th just aren’t going to cut it. Taylor Rogers is an unexpected newcomer to drop city.   

Hospital

Chris Sale (41-59% rostered)

The superstar pitcher has had a tough go of it these past few years. Sale lost the shortened 2020 season and half of 2021 to Tommy John. Then, he was out till July of this year because of a rib injury that occurred during spring training. Sale still worked back to make his first start against the Rays in mid-July. In that comeback start, Sale showed impressive velocity numbers in five shutout innings against the Rays (added an extra MPH on his fastball velocity compared to 2021). 

Unfortunately, Sale would quickly make it back to the injured list after he was struck in the hand by an Aaron Hicks line drive. This IL stint was supposed to be temporary but Sale had to get surgery on his hand Aug 9 after suffering a freak biking accident. As a result of that bike accident, Sale will have to miss the rest of his ill-fated 2022 season and become an unfortunate fantasy drop. 

Michael Brantley (53-84% rostered)

Brantley has spent a decent amount of time on the 10-day IL for a shoulder injury that he sustained in mid-July. Prior to that injury, Brantley was having himself another great season for these dynastic Astros to the tune of a 124 OPS+. 

When asked if Brantley would be coming back this season, Astros GM James Click gave a less-than optimistic answer. 

Based on Click’s report, Michael Brantley may find his way back sometime in the postseason, but it’s delusional to think that Brantley is returning during the regular season. If you need to free up an IL spot, it may be time to part with Brantley. 

Retirement Center

Drop city is home to baseball’s biggest network of retirees. For the most part, these guys have sizable pensions (outside of the forgotten men who’ve been left without that pension for decades) and have been able to pick up other hobbies. To house some of these guys, drop city has built a state-of-the-art retirement home filled with big names of the past. In fact, I think you’d recognize our newest resident:

Nelson Cruz (55-64% rostered)

The 42-year-old slugger said before the season that he wouldn’t want to retire from baseball unless he had to. In his first – and hopefully, last– season for the lowly Nationals, Cruz has slashed a relatively abysmal .235/.319/.344 with an OPS+ mark that falls nearly 40 points below his career average. When the Nats inevitably turn down Cruz’s lucrative mutual option this winter, what sort of market will Cruz even have? 

It may just be a byproduct of being on a non-competitive team, but father time may have also just caught up with the ageless wonder. Cruz should be donning that managerial cap sooner than later. In the meantime, Cruz’s surroundings in Washington should make him a fantasy drop. 

Federal Penitentiary

Drop City’s federal prison is a towering and expansive prison campus built in the late 1990s to house the wrongdoers of the steroid era. Drop City jail has luckily been massively underused in the past few years but we recently had one of our most high-profile bookings. 

Fernando Tatis Jr. (49-65% rostered)

If you’re reading this article, I’m assuming you’ve already heard of Fernando Tatis Jr’s recent suspension. Tatis was handed a hefty 80-game suspension for his use of the performance-enhancing drug Clostebol. Tatis claimed that he used the drug to treat ringworm, but the drug used to treat ringworm is actually called Clobetasol (good luck to the PR person who confused the two). Regardless, Tatis is an obvious and automatic fantasy drop after his suspension. 

Saying Farewell…

Cue the Sarah McLachlan

Reid Detmers (47-62% rostered)

After an abysmal first half (4.11 ERA, 2.28 SO/BB), starting pitcher Reid Detmers has turned up the heat. Since the start of July, Detmers holds a 1.50 ERA with 34 SO in 24 innings. The most impressive accomplishment: Detmers has been able to accomplish this as a member of the Los Angeles Angels! With September matchups against the Tigers and Athletics, Detmers is a great late-season pickup. 

Joey Bart (4-15% rostered)

Joey Bart came into the 2022 season with towering expectations and 35 games of service time under his belt. A first-half BA of .185 would tone down the chants of Bart being ‘the next Buster Posey’; a weighty title that is too heavy for any young catcher to be carrying. Though in the past month, Joey Bart has given reason to name him the heir-apparent to the Buster Posey role. 

As a result of a mid-season tweak in his swing, Bart has posted a 212 WRC+ and has pushed his BA from .185 to .235 in an August to remember for the Giants catcher. A batting average increase of that magnitude makes Bart one of the best fantasy options at catcher for the rest of the season. 

 

see last week’s fantasy radar here

 

Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %

Average Rating

5 Star
0%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *