Young power/speed outfielders highlight this week’s “The Week That Was.”

Michael TaylorTaylor went 2-4 with 2 runs, a rbi and a dinger Friday night.  Do not look now but the Nationals OF is filling the shoes of Adam Eaton better than most thought he could.  In the week ended Friday, Taylor hit .400 with 2 dingers, 4 RBI, and 6 runs scored.  On the year, Taylor has 8 dingers and 5 swipes in just 184 at-bats.  I know things do not work out so neatly, but if you projected that production over a full season, you would be looking at about 28 dingers and 18 swipes.  I will take that all day every day.  Can this type of production continue?  I say yes.  Taylor is hitting the ball harder than he did last year and is going oppo more often.  More power and a more mature approach equals good odds of continued success.  Buy!

Keon Broxton: Broxton hit a three-run jack Friday night as his hot streak continues.  In the week ended Friday, Brox had 4 dingers, 9 RBI and a darn solid .300 batting average.  I know people talk about Lewis Brinson and Brinson could be the real deal.  However, he will not be stealing time from Broxton (maybe from others of course, but not relevant to this discussion).  Yes, the overall .230ish batting average is not pretty but Broxton, like Taylor, is going the other way and doing things in a more mature manner at the plate.  There will be some slumps, but by year end, when all is said and done, Broxton will put up some darn good counting numbers.  Buy!    

Matt Carpenter: Remember that slow start for Matt Carpenter.  Well forget it.  Carp went yard for the 13th time Friday, knocking in his 37th and 38th runs of the year.  In the week ended Friday, Carpenter hit a cool .462 with two dingers and 8 RBI.  Yes, the .250 average as of Saturday is nothing to write home about but Carpenter was banged up at the start of the year.  Now healthy, that season-long figure masks a hot, productive, multi-positional player.  Want more proof? Well, his BABIP is 50 points below his career average.  Translation:  he has also been unlucky.  Clearly, that luck is changing.  Buy!

Joc Pederson: Pederson returned from the DL with a bang Friday going yard and adding two hits, two runs and an RBI.   I know the Dodgers have a lot of mouths to feed but cream rises to the top and injuries (Toles, AGonz) create opportunities.  Now healthy, Joc is poised to take advantage.  In the four games through Friday night since coming off the DL, Joc has a wicked 1,000+  OPS, a dinger and a swipe.  Will he hit for power?  Yes.  Will he run?  More than you think at first blush (his 6 SB in the majors last year hides the fact that he swiped 30 or more in his last year in both AA and AAA).   Will his average improve over last year?  Well, the increased contact rate and decreased K rate says it will.  I am buying here too.

Zack Godley: Last week we wrote: “Zack Godley returned early from his bizarre demotion and picked up right where he left off.  Godley tossed 6 innings of 2 run ball, giving up just two hits and two runs while striking out 4 for the win.  That makes 6 quality starts in a row for Godley who’s stat line shines brightly with a 2.44 ERA and WHIP under 1.00.  I believe.  Buy now if you still can!  Teaching moment alert! Teaching moment alert!  Let me digress to point out that Godley is a classic case of how to find value when you do your pre-season study.  At first glance, Godley’s 2016 was darn right ugly on the surface:  6.39 ERA and 1.49 WHIP.  However, if you dug deeper, you saw a pitcher who was incredibly unlucky with a strand rate under 60%, a homer per flyball rate of almost 20%, and a BABIP 35+ points over his career average.  If you dug even deeper, you saw a pitcher with a strong 11% swinging strike rate and an even stronger 53%+ ground ball rate.  Finally, if you checked out his xFIP and SIERA, you would have seen they were more than two full runs below that unlucky ERA.  Bottom line – a big chasm between bad surface stats and strong skills presents a buying opportunity.  If you missed it, do not feel bad – none of the 12 owners in the granddaddy of expert leagues, LABR even bid $1 on Godley in a very deep NL only.  Fortunately, we practice what we preach and team CTW did pick up Godley on reserve in LABR. Boy, has he been a god-send (see what I did there?) with our $31 on Thor dripping down the drain with each “I don’t want no stinkin MRI” moment.”  Well, the window continues to close.  If you listened and grabbed up Godley, you earned 8K over 5 and 2/3 innings of one ER ball dropping his ERA from 2.44 to 2.34.  Convinced?

And now, the moment you likely have not been waiting for -- Schultz says: “Mid-June serves as an intersection point between the real world of Major League Baseball and the fantasy world of the game we love so much that we write and read columns about it in an effort to improve our fortunes.  It is this time of the year when honest, self-aware teams know deep down whether they have it then to contend for a title. Just as the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies recognize that 2017 isn't their year, rotisserie owners around the globe are starting to come to grips with the same harsh realization.

Admitting that it's time to "wait till next year" is a bitter pill to swallow.  For keeper leagues though, it's a double edged sword. Schultz always favors the be bold and strive for glory method of management but there are times when defeat must be conceded and eyes pointed towards the future. It is in pursuing the latter that too many owners fail themselves.

In making the dump deals that anger all other league mates, owners tend to focus their sights in the wrong direction. If you want to build a team around Lewis Brinson, Derek Fisher and Julio Urias, you may have a wonderful team of the future, just not 2018. Owners that wish to dump just once should be targeting their leagues undervalued talent. That could mean pitchers like Jose Berrios, Eduardo Rodriguez and Sean Manaea, who didn't immediately live up to hype or hitters like Aaron Judge, Jose Ramirez and Eric Thames that were simply not on anyone's radar. Dumping shrewdly means dumping rarely. Be SMART!”

Response: Love the use of the SMART system!  Welcome back Schultzie.