I’m sorry, but this is not an uplifting edition of ’10 Burning Questions for Fantasy Baseball’. Now that we’ve moved to August, it’s time to make tough calls for struggling performers. Some of the players below have been struggling for months and others have only been struggling for a few weeks. It’s time to move on in some cases, but not all. Read the ’10 Burning Questions’ below to see which struggling playing can be moved on from and more.

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Fantasy Baseball 10 Burning Questions

What happened to Kutter Crawford?

Kutter Crawford is in the middle of a disastrous stretch. At the All-Star break, he had a 3.04 ERA. In his four starts after the All-Star Break, he has a 10.61 ERA.

In Crawford’s first 19 starts, his worst efforts were when he gave up four earned runs which he did twice. He has given up five or six earned runs in each of his last four starts. A big issue has been allowing home runs. Those last four starts have only covered 18 innings, but he has given up 13 home runs. He isn’t usable now. If he doesn’t get the home runs under control he will be droppable in fantasy baseball.

Who replaces Grayson Rodriguez in the Orioles rotation?

Grayson Rodriguez was a late scratch from his start last week. The next day he was placed on the injured list (IL) with right lat discomfort. He has dealt with that injury in the past and it cost him over three months. With the win potential the Orioles’ offense provides, fantasy managers can look to his replacement for fantasy help.

The Orioles made recent changes to their rotation with the trade deadline additions of Trevor Rogers and Zach Eflin. One of the starting pitchers who was removed from the rotation was Albert Suarez. Suarez had started the year well but had fallen off recently. He is back in the rotation for now and performing well. He has not allowed an earned run in either of his last two starts. If Suarez’s struggles arise again we know Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott are only a call away.

What has happened to Will Smith?

Will Smith is in a slump that has his batting average, on-base percentage (OBP) and slugging percentages all at career lows. It has been nearly a two-month-long slump that has affected the usually rock-solid catching option.

The issue has been strikeouts, which are not typically a part of Smith’s profile. His seasonal strikeout percentage still sits at just under 20%. If you look from the beginning of July, the percentage jumps to 28%. That’s a level we haven’t seen from Smith since his rookie season. He’s still a very talented batter batting cleanup in one of the best lineups in baseball as a catcher. Even with the struggles he is still firmly a top-five catching option for the rest of the season.

Is Brice Turang sitting against left-handed pitchers?

Brice Turang is another batter in an extended slump. Since the All-Star break, he is batting only .162. In his case, it may have started affecting his playing time.

The Brewers have faced five left-handed pitchers since July 31st. Turang sat in four of those games. While he has certainly been better against right-handed pitchers, he hasn’t been awful against left-handers. He has a .239 batting average against left-handed pitching. Andruw Monasterio has replaced him in the lineup when Turang has been on the bench. While Monasterio is right-handed, he is only batting .200 against left-handed pitchers. With a performance like that, I think we’ll see Turang start against left-handed pitchers again.

Is Adolis Garcia droppable?

After a scorching start to the season, Adolis Garcia has fallen off. As fantasy managers, we now have to make the tough call on whether or not to keep rostering him.

Garcia has played in 83 games since the start of May. He has batted .195 over those games with just 10 home runs and 31 RBI. While his playing time hasn’t slipped yet, he has begun being dropped in the lineup. Over the last week, he batted sixth and seventh for the first time since April of 2022. We’ve reached the point of the season where nearly any player is droppable if they aren’t performing, and Garcia isn’t performing.

What do we do with Camilo Doval?

Camilo Doval was having the worst season of his young career. His ERA was sitting at 4.70 ERA, which was nearly two runs higher than his previous career worst. That being said, it was still surprising to see him demoted to Triple-A.

Typically, a closer with the track record of Doval would get moved into a low-leverage role before a full demotion. Too many baserunners have been an issue for him as evidenced by his 1.61 WHIP. He is giving up both more hits and issuing more walks than ever before. Considering the fantasy season is coming to an end, you can drop Doval.

Who steps into the Giants’ closer role?

Before Camilo Doval filled the closer role for the Giants, previous manager Gabe Kapler employed a committee approach. New Giants manager Bob Melvin doesn’t roll that way. He wants a set closer.

Even though he only had one career save before this week, his best option was Ryan Walker. Walker is a right-handed reliever who is quietly having a breakout season. He has pitched 61.1 innings with 73 strikeouts to only 14 walks. Walker stepped in Saturday and earned his second career save. Unlike Doval, with that elevated WHIP, Walker’s is a tidy 0.90. Walker leads all relief pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched in K-BB%.

Who is in the Dodgers’ rotation now?

It appeared the Los Angeles Dodgers had found another rotation member in River Ryan. That abruptly ended when he left his last start early with what was deemed a season-ending forearm injury. The Dodgers will need to fill another spot in their rotation.

The Dodgers’ injured rotation is better than many major league rotations with Tony Gonsolin, Emmet Sheehan, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dustin May already injured. They still have a formidable quartet with Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone and Jack Flaherty. The question is who fills the fifth rotation spot? The good news for Dodgers fans is that they have options. They recalled Landon Knack, who has had success as a starter earlier this season. Justin Wrobleski is still starting at Triple-A but has struggled with walks in his last starts. Most likely, the team is going to activate Walker Buehler from IL. Buehler’s struggled a bit with walks on his rehab assignment, but we’ve seen him be successful before.

Why the short start from Nathan Eovaldi?

Staying healthy has been a struggle for Nathan Eovaldi his entire career. That’s why red flags went off when he was removed after three innings in his previous start. We have since learned that side tightness was what ailed him.

Eovaldi has been sent back to Texas to be seen by the team doctor. The good news is the early indications are that this is not a season-ending issue and can be managed through workload. He may only need to miss a start or two. This could be a way to keep his innings in check down the stretch.

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