Fantasy Baseball Mailbag, Week 9

You can reach Ray Flowers on Twitter (@baseballguys).

Giancarlo Stanton or Anthony Rizzo the rest of the season?
@Swagswagsauce

The answer here is the same answer I would have given in January, February, March, April, May… it’s Rizzo.

Since the start of last season…

Why is this even a question?

I really don’t get it.

I didn’t get it back during draft time either which is why I wrote Stanton’s 2016 Fantasy Value. I tried to warn everyone. As we enter June, Stanton continues to miss games, 7-straight, with a side issue. As I’ve said every time I’m asked, the guy is as reliable as Troy Tulowitzki. Seriously. Stanton has averaged 115 games played the last four years and is trending toward that mark yet again. As I also pointed out in the preseason, the guys career batting average was lower than Josh Reddick. Forty three games in to this season he’s hitting a pathetic .214 with a career worst 33.5 percent K-rate, a mark that would have led baseball last season.

No one hits the ball harder or farther than Stanton, but the simple fact is that Rizzo is a more stable, and frankly better, fantasy option. Period.

Is Eduardo Nunez worth picking up in a 12 team H2H league?
@SOTweetMeMaybe

I always love the questions with no specificity, no context, but I’ll do my best here.

Sure?

Nunez is nearly 29 years old, and though he stole 22 bases in 2011 for the Yankees, his time with the Twins had been rather boring. Things have all changed this season as he’s hit .340 with 20 RBI, 22 runs and nine steals in just 170 plate appearances. He qualifies at shortstop everywhere, and after playing 17 games at third this season and five games at second this season he very easily could qualify at all three spots which is terrific.

Nunez is a career .276 hitter. He’s batting .340 right now. How is that happening? Well, his line drive rate is 18.5 percent. That’s below the league average and only two hundredths off his career mark. He has a 0.17 BB/K ratio that is only half his career mark of 0.38, a number that is league average. So how is he hitting .340? It’s all about the .081 point increase in his BABIP which currently sits at .386. His average is going to plummet.

He’s not a homer hitter with 23 big flies in 1,303 at-bats.

He’s not a run producer, not with a .403 SLG and .127 Isolated Power mark for his career.

He can steal a base, a 15-20 season is doable, so he can do that.

Sure you can add him. Realize though that you’ve missed the best he has to offer and rough times likely lie ahead.

I was offered Kole Calhoun for my Prince Fielder, accept?
@diss72003

I’m a big defender of Fielder, always have been. Still, it’s just not happening. The .194/.263/.298 slash line is dreadful, and as much as I want to make an argument for him, it’s hard to if you can deal him to get Calhoun. The argument for the outfielder certainly increases if this league starts five outfielders, as it should. While Calhoun only has four homers to this point, the guy is batting .298 with a .805 OPS, very solid numbers. He’s also on pace to drive in 75 runs while scoring about 100 times.

I’d take the deal.

THE 2016 FANTASY ALARM BASEBALL RANKINGS ARE UPDATED FOR JUNE. CLICK ON THE LINK TO SEE MORE THAN 600 PLAYERS RANKED FOR THE REST OF 2016.

Are you higher on Tyler Duffey or Anthony DeSclafani? ROS? Thanks
@jjthorn17

I broke down Duffey this morning in the Daily Trends piece.

Desclafani hopes to join the Reds rotation next week against the Cardinals. It’s now June, and Anthony hasn’t made one meaningful start for the Reds due to an oblique issue. If we roll back the clock three months there was lots of excitement about Desclafani as the young righty posted a 7.36 K/9, 2.68 BB/9, 1.34 GB/FB and 0.83 HR/9 in 2015. Nothing he does jumps out, but it was a very solid second season and one that showed promise.

It’s hard to trust a guy who has been hurt and out of action for so long, but I would slightly favor the NL arm over the NL one here.

10 team roto. Should I drop Carlos Beltran, Carlos Gomez or Jonathan Gray (great start on Sunday coming up) for Will Smith after today's news?
@aholman02

Let’s start with the news. Tom Haudicourt reported the following. “Counsell said when Will Smith gets feet on the ground, he’d feel just as comfortable closing games with him as Jeremy Jeffress. Back to original plan.” I have this to say about manager Craig Counsell – I’m not sold he has a full grasp of the job. Regardless what the plan was in March we’re in a different place now. Back then there was great debate over whether Smith or Jeffress would close. Smith came down with a knee injury that he is just now returning from, and in the interim Jeffress has excelled in the 9^th inning; Jeremy is 12-for-13 in saves chances with a 2.28 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and impressive 2.86 GB/FB ratio. Mr. Counsell, Jeffress has done NOTHING to lose his 9^th inning role, not to mention that Smith has thrown a total of four professional innings this season. I can easily see Smith getting some 9^th inning work but until Jeffress fails I cannot see Smith taking over.

In the end Smith isn’t worth adding in the overwhelming majority of 10-team leagues. This is one of those instances.

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).