Welcome back to the Fantasy Baseball Weekly Mailbag! The mailbag is an opportunity to ask a FantasyPros analyst anything about the ongoing season to make the best and most informed decisions possible. Questions from fantasy baseball managers this week can be seen below.
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Fantasy Baseball Mailbag
Let’s dive into the latest edition of our fantasy baseball mailbag and answer questions from our fantasy baseball community.
Is Tanner Bibee droppable?
No way. Don’t do it.
Bibee was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 2023. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of keeping a player just because he was good last year. I don’t think it’s a trap in this case. Young players take time to be consistently good, and that is especially the case with pitching. Give Bibee more of a chance.
Who do I drop out of Bryan Woo, Jordan Hicks, and Reid Detmers to activate Paul Skenes and pick up either Nick Pivetta or Kyle Bradish?
First off, Woo might have to stay on IL if he is hurt. Wait to see if he makes his next start slated for Wednesday (5/15). The Mariners claim that Woo remains healthy after facing forearm tightness in his return from the IL, but I will believe it when I see it. Woo’s status could change the dynamics of this question.
Detmers is on quite the cold streak lately. I feel comfortable dropping him if needed, even in deeper leagues. Although he has the talent, his skills are yet to fully come together.
Hicks has been hot and cold. Also, keep in mind that he has an innings limit this year. Even if he is not pitching by September, I feel better about Hicks than Detmers.
Pivetta is not that good in my opinion. I don’t see him being an upgrade over anyone besides Detmers. However, Bradish is great. Make sure to get him in any league where he is available. Drop Detmers for Bradish and drop Hicks to activate Skenes (if Woo is healthy).
Is it time to drop Gleyber Torres?
If fantasy managers cut Torres, I can’t say I blame them. His numbers have been dreadful this year. His underlying statistics don’t look much better.
A glance at Torres’ Statcast page shows that he has been hitting the ball very softly and for poor contact along with too many strikeouts. He has almost 200 plate appearances on the year and has shown very few signs of life outside of a homer or two.
Torres playing in New York with a track record and age on his side (only 27) plays a part in why people like him. Plus, he was a top-100 draft pick in many leagues and most expected him to be a solid second-base option.
I am a cautious and conservative manager, so I would still hold on to Torres. I do understand cutting him though. It is far from unreasonable to do so.
What to do with Paul Goldschmidt, Alex Bregman, and Oneil Cruz?
Bregman should be okay. He has career stats far below his usual talent in spring going back to 2022, perhaps showing that he is taking longer to adjust to the season as he ages. Bregman’s advanced stats reveal he is making good contact. Hopefully, everything else will catch up.
Bregman should get hotter as the weather gets hotter. He just had a two-homer game on May 13. My concern level is a 3 out of 10.
I am much more worried about Goldschmidt on the other hand. He’s 36 years old and turning 37 in September. He has been playing since 2011. This instance is not the first time we have seen a great player lose some of their ability with age.
I see Goldy improving, but I am not optimistic the improvement will be that drastic. My concern for Goldschmidt is a 7 out of 10.
My concern for Cruz is about a 0 out of 10. He has lowered my stress lately with some better games and plate appearances. I doubt Cruz will live up to the hype surrounding him, but he will emerge as a good yet streaky player.
Alex Lange or Carlos Estevez for saves?
Go for Estevez. Lange does not get many saves because, despite recent struggles, Jason Foley is the closer for the Tigers.
Estevez is far from being the best closer in baseball, but I prefer him because he gets more saves for the Angels than Lange does for the Tigers.
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