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What a whirlwind this past week was, especially the last couple hours. Some were offering what seemed like their entire team (Padres), others inquired about every single player available (Mets) and other teams’ inactivity—or minimal activity—left people scratching their heads (Yankees). If you are in an NL-only league, this deadline left you aggravated and probably with a busted phone after throwing it against the wall. While much attention is given to the teams who won and lost at the deadline, let’s take a look at a few players who won or lost at the deadline.

Troy Tulowitzki will don a Toronto jersey the rest of the season. He is a significant upgrade to Jose Reyes and fantasy owners should be happy about this move. Sure, he is leaving the friendly confines of Coors Field, but leading off for a potent Toronto lineup will help Tulo. He won’t be a middle-of-the-order hitter like he was in Colorado, but Tulo will still hit his homers and drive in some runs, but owners can expect a large increase in his runs scored. Playing for a contender should also boost his morale down the stretch.

The Kansas City Royals were after a big time pitcher at the deadline, and they got one. Johnny Cueto will be the unquestioned ace of the Royals’ rotation moving forward, and there are things to like here. Kansas City has the 10th highest run scoring offense while Cincinnati is down at No. 20. When it comes to the stadium, Cueto should be thrilled to get out of Great American Ball Park.  His former stadium was definitely a hitter’s park, while his new home, Kauffman Stadium, has spacious power alleys, making it a weak venue for power bats.

The Toronto Blue Jays acquired a lot of necessary pieces, and every aspect of the Ben Revere trade had fantasy owners thrilled. Put the speedy Revere at the top of this powerful order in an everyday role and all signs point to success. However, it seems that he is going to be a part of a platoon in the Toronto outfield and hitting towards the bottom of the order. Even though he was playing for the porous Phillies, he had an everyday role, which kept his value constant. However, his value takes a hit in Toronto, unless injuries occur to give him a regular gig.

Let’s run through another edition of the MLB Weekly Preview for MLB Week 17:

GAME BREAKDOWN GRID

For week 17, here are the cold hard facts that you need to know and consider. These are applicable to both your seasonal leagues and daily lineups.

1. Since being traded, Troy Tulowitzki is hitting .357 (5-for-14) with three extra-base hits, three RBI and six runs scored.

2. From July 22-29, Carlos Gonzalez homered eight times. He makes for a great play on Wednesday when Taijuan Walker is pitching for the Mariners.

3. The Rays hit .227 in July, which was the third worst in all of baseball. This week they get to face Jose Quintana, Chris Sale, Carlos Rodon, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon. Yikes.

4. Since the All-Star Break, Home Run Derby runner-up Joc Pederson is hitting just .196 with one home run.

5. Home Run Derby champion Todd Frazier is hitting just .204 with two home runs since claiming the title.

6. Joey Votto is hitting .531 with four homers, nine RBI, 16 runs scored and 20 walks since the All-Star Break.

7. Miguel Sano is hitting .362 with four homers against right-handers this season.

8. Kyle Schwarber is always a great DFS play, but seeing as the Cubs face five righties this upcoming week, Schwarber’s value increases. He is hitting .353 against right-handers this season.

9. Yasmani Grandal has the eighth highest average hit velocity (94.1 mph) among all players and first among catchers.

10. The Tigers play six games at home in week 17 and it just so happens that J.D. Martinez has hit 16 of his 28 homers at home.

TEAM

# GAMES

HOME

AWAY

VS LEFT

VS RIGHT

Orioles

6

0

6

2

4

Yankees

6

6

0

2

4

Red Sox

6

0

6

2

4

Blue Jays

7

4

3

2

5

Rays

6

3

3

3

3

Tigers

6

6

0

2

4

Royals

6

3

3

2

4

White Sox

6

3

3

1

5

Indians

6

3

3

0

6

Twins

7

0

7

2

5

Angels

6

6

0

0

6

Mariners

6

3

3

3

3

Athletics

7

7

0

2

5

Rangers

6

3

3

2

4

Astros

7

0

7

0

7

Nationals

7

7

0

3

4

Marlins

7

3

4

1

6

Mets

6

0

6

2

4

Braves

7

7

0

2

5

Phillies

6

3

3

3

3

Cardinals

6

0

6

1

5

Pirates

6

6

0

2

4

Brewers

7

7

0

1

6

Reds

6

3

3

2

4

Cubs

7

4

3

2

5

Dodgers

6

0

6

2

4

Giants

7

0

7

1

6

Padres

7

3

4

2

5

Rockies

6

3

3

1

5

Diamondbacks

7

3

4

2

5

 

INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK

While Nelson Cruz will DH most of the time, he will play the field when the Mariners travel to a National League stadium. With Mark Trumbo’s struggles since becoming a Mariner, he often finds himself on the bench in an interleague series. However, since he does have four multi-hit efforts in his last five games, don’t be surprised if he finds his name on the lineup card for one of those games in Colorado. Tuesday would be the likely day he receives the start, since they would face Chris Rusin, a southpaw for the Rockies. If he does receive that start, he homers once every 19.2 at-bats against lefties, which is much better than that against righties.

From a defensive standpoint, Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe are much better than Daniel Murphy. With that being said, it would make sense for the Mets to put Murphy at DH for their weekend series against the Rays. Is that definitely going to happen? No, but it would make the most sense from a statistical standpoint. The Mets’ offense hasn’t made a huge splash this season, but the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes should help this team moving forward.

AWAY TEAM

HOME TEAM

# GAMES

DH?

PLAYER(S) IMPACTED

Mariners

Rockies

3

No

Nelson Cruz, Mark Trumbo

Mets

Rays

3

Yes

Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe

 

STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS

On Tuesday, we will see two of the game’s best strikeout pitchers square off against one another. The Rays will send Chris Archer (173 Ks) to the mound, while the White Sox will run Chris Sale (177 Ks) out there. This matchup will feature plenty of swing-and-misses and these two dominant arms should throw up a bunch of goose eggs on Tuesday. Archer has faced the White Sox once this year, allowing three earned runs while striking out five over seven innings in a no-decision. On the other hand, Sale was beaten by the Rays, despite allowing just two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 12 Rays in that outing and he is very capable of doing that again. Since 2012, Sale has punched out 50 Rays in just 31 1/3 innings.

If you haven’t noticed, Taylor Jungmann continues to slowly move up the rankings. In 35 2/3 July innings, Jungmann allowed just seven earned runs on 23 hits. He struck out 30 batters during that span and didn’t allow a single home run. Even though he pitches for the now Carlos Gomez-less Brewers, he still has plenty of fantasy relevance. As a team, the Padres have the fourth lowest batting average in all of baseball, and the fourth lowest average when facing a right-hander. If you are a real stat junkie, the Padres have the third lowest batting average in night games and the fifth lowest when playing on Tuesdays. Jungmann makes for a nice play this week.

Outside of the big name two-start starters, Patrick Corbin is a valuable value play this week. Sure, he goes up against Max Scherzer in his first start of the week, but the Washington Nationals’ offense isn’t even in the top half of the league in runs scored or batting average. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the Washington offense was anemic in the month of July. In his second start, he will square off against the Reds. What helps make this matchup more enticing is the fact that it is in Arizona, and not in the launching pad that is Great American Ball Park. Corbin is pitching really well of late, allowing just four earned runs on 11 hits in his last 18 innings pitched. He also has 21 strikeouts during that span, opposed to just four walks.

RANK

PITCHER

MATCHUP 1

MATCHUP 2

1

Max Scherzer

Diamondbacks (Corbin)

Rockies (Butler)

2

Clayton Kershaw

@Phillies (Harang)

 

3

Chris Sale

Rays (Archer)

 

4

Corey Kluber

@Angels (Richards)

Twins (Hughes)

5

Jose Fernandez

@Braves (Teheran)

 

6

Jacob deGrom

@Rays (Moore)

 

7

Jake Arrieta

@Pirates (Burnett)

Giants (Peavy)

8

Zack Greinke

@Pirates (Cole)

 

9

Felix Hernandez

@Rockies (Butler)

Rangers (Lewis)

10

Francisco Liriano

Cubs (Lester)

Dodgers (Wood)

11

David Price

Twins (Santana)

@Yankees (Nova)

12

Johnny Cueto

@Tigers (Simon)

 

13

Jon Lester

@Pirates (Liriano)

Giants (Cain)

14

Madison Bumgarner

@Braves (Perez)

 

15

Tyson Ross

@Brewers (Peralta)

Phillies (Nola)

16

Carlos Carrasco

@Angels (Weaver)

 

17

Sonny Gray

Astros (McHugh)

 

18

Cole Hamels

@Mariners (Montgomery)

 

19

Gerrit Cole

Dodgers (Greinke)

 

20

Chris Archer

@White Sox (Sale)

 

21

Noah Syndergaard

@Rays (Karns)

 

22

Matt Harvey

@Marlins (Phelps)

 

23

Garrett Richards

Indians (Kluber)

Orioles (Tillman)

24

Dallas Keuchel

@Athletics (Brooks)

 

25

Alex Wood

@Phillies (Morgan)

@Pirates (Liriano)

26

Masahiro Tanaka

Red Sox (Porcello)

Blue Jays (Estrada)

27

Jose Quintana

Rays (Odorizzi)

@Royals (Duffy)

28

Carlos Martinez

@Reds (Holmberg)

 

29

Michael Wacha

@Reds (Lorenzen)

 

30

Danny Salazar

@Angels (Shoemaker)

 

31

Jesse Chavez

Orioles (Tillman)

Astros (Fiers)

32

Scott Kazmir

@Rangers (Martinez)

 

33

Lance Lynn

@Brewers (Lohse)

 

34

Mike Fiers

@Rangers (Lewis)

@Athletics (Chavez)

35

Jake Odorizzi

@White Sox (Quintana)

Mets (Colon)

36

Shelby Miller

Giants (Peavy)

Marlins (Nicolino)

37

Andrew Heaney

Orioles (Jimenez)

 

38

Taylor Jungmann

Padres (Kennedy)

 

39

Patrick Corbin

@Nationals (Scherzer)

Reds (DeSclafani)

40

Brett Anderson

@Phillies (Williams)

 

41

Jeff Samardzija

@Royals (Guthrie)

 

42

John Lackey

@Reds (DeSclafani)

@Brewers (Nelson)

43

Andrew Cashner

@Brewers (Nelson)

Phillies (Morgan)

44

Collin McHugh

@Athletics (Gray)

 

45

Matt Shoemaker

Indians (Salazar)

 

46

Julio Teheran

Marlins (Fernandez)

 

47

Matt Cain

@Braves (Foltynewicz)

@Cubs (Lester)

48

Nathan Karns

Mets (Syndergaard)

 

49

Aaron Nola

@Padres (Ross)

 

50

Jordan Zimmermann

Rockies (De La Rosa)

 

51

Jimmy Nelson

Padres (Cashner)

Cardinals (Lackey)

52

Marco Estrada

Twins (Hughes)

@Yankees (Tanaka)

53

Jason Hammel

@Pirates (Locke)

 

54

Lance McCullers

@Rangers (Gallardo)

@Athletics (Bassitt)

55

Mat Latos

@Pirates (Morton)

 

56

Chris Heston

@Cubs (Hendricks)

 

57

Hector Santiago

Orioles (Gausman)

 

58

Carlos Rodon

Rays (Ramirez)

 

59

Hisashi Iwakuma

Rangers (Perez)

 

60

Jaime Garcia

@Brewers (Peralta)

 

 

What’s the Verdict?

Here is the verdict on a few players in week 17 and whether or not you should play them:

Joe Ross—Thu- ARI (Hellickson)

Ross is an extremely valuable asset when he is in the Washington rotation. In his last five starts, he has allowed 11 earned runs on 28 hits in 32 2/3 innings. During that span, he has posted a superb 34:3 K/BB ratio. The Diamondbacks have the ninth most strikeouts in baseball and the fourth most against right handers. Ross has proven that he can strike out batters and he makes for a valuable SP2 in DFS on Thursday.

VERDICT: Yes.

Taijuan Walker— Wed- @COL (Kendrick)

Walker dominated the Twins in his final July start. He allowed just one hit in a complete game effort, where he punched out 11 Twins while surrendering just one walk. While it was a great start for him, his month of July was terrible before this start. He had a 6.26 ERA in 27 1/3 innings before his masterpiece. The big problem for Walker this year has been the long ball and even in his one-hitter, the one hit was a home run, to future star Miguel Sano. Walker has surrendered 21 homers in just 130 2/3 innings this season, and his next start is at Coors Field in Colorado. Even without Troy Tulowitzki, that lineup can still do a number on an opposing pitcher.

VERDICT: Stay away.

Best of luck in week 17.