Jose Abreu hasn’t lived up to expectations but is on fire at the moment. Injuries have derailed Hunter Pence’s season for the most part but he is hot right now. 650 players are ranked in the final monthly rankings of the season. Check out the BIG3 VIDEO.

SLOWING TO A TRICKLE

Justin Bour might, let me emphasize might, actually make it back out onto the field for the Marlins next week. I could really care less at this point. Out since July 2nd with an ankle issue, where is Bour’s swing at the moment? Where is his conditioning? Where is his confidence level? Where is he physically? Bour hit 15 homers in 213 at-bats, a huge number, but also an obviously unsustainable pace aided by a not sustainable 24.2 percent HR/FB ratio. Yes, I say that knowing full well the mark was 21.5 percent last season. Bour might pop some long balls in September, but you really shouldn’t be looking at him as anything other than a DFS option.

Wil Myers hit a homer Thursday, his first homer since August 13th. That’s a symbol of the struggles he’s dealt with of late. Since the All-Star Game he has hit five homers with 15 RBI in 41 games. Boring. He has 55 punchouts. That’s very poor. He has hit .208. That’s terrible. He has a .307 OBP. That’s below the league average. He has a .351 SLG. For a player of his talent that’s simply not acceptable. Still, not that if he maintained the pace he has flashed in that time, and play 162 games, he would hit 20 homers with 35 steals (he has nine steals in 41 games). Would you really be complaining about Myers if he did that? That speed is key. Yes, his performance with his bat since the Break is poor. The nine steals though continue to make him relevant. Do you realize he’s one homer, one steal away from a 25/25 season? I don’t want to hear any more complaining with Myers. He should be productive over the final month, even if he doesn’t hit .300 like you want him to.

Mike Foltynewicz looks to take off as a starter. Ervin Santana is a rockstar at the moment in the fantasy game. All the stats say to start Jeff Samardzija despite your how you feel. Check out the DAILY DIVE VIDEO.

Paulo Orlando was batting .357 on Jun 21st. He was hitting .334 as last as August 14th. It’s been a nightmare of epic proportions since then. I’m talking Titanic like implosion. Over his last 11 games Orlando has three hits leading to a .070 batting average his last 43 at-bats, which is just ghastly. Orlando has 11 steals and is batting .303 on the year, but he’s useless unless he’s banging out base hits as he has four homers, 28 RBI, 37 runs and a .329 OBP through 377 plate appearances. Goodness.

Marcell Ozuna continues to miss time with a wrist issue as he’s been out of the lineup two games in a row. His performance has caved as well. Ozuna went .269-23-85-72 in 2014. He was on the rise. Last season was a disaster as he went .259-10-44. This season he’s rebounded to his ’14 levels with a .268-22-67 line through 129 games putting him on pace for .268-27-82-78 pace, virtually identical to his 2014 effort. So it’s all good, right? Wrong. Since hitting .411 in May Ozuna has batted .225 from June 1st on. Since the start of June he has hit just six homers over the course of 53 games. In the month of August he hit .162 with nine RBI. At this point he’s likely not even startable in mixed leagues, even with five outfielders. Maybe it would be best for all involved if they just announced his wrist was jacked up.

Neil Walker is done for the year with a back issue. The hope was that he would be able to battle through it and keep playing, but it’s just not possible. “There was a suggestion from all three that I could attempt to play through it, but that was also immediately followed by ‘But if you do, you could be putting yourself at much greater risk of more than just back issues,’” Walker said. Walker ends the year with a career best tying 23 homers though he, rather amazingly, had only nine doubles after averaging 29 the previous six years. Still, his .282/.347/.476 slash line is much better than his career averages (.273/.339/.436). Sounds like Kelly Johnson and Wilmer Flores will share work at second base the rest of the way. By the by, Flores has three homers, 11 RBI and a .432 wOBA his last nine games.

*** ONE NOTE: Players may or may not be placed on the disabled list this point forward. With rosters expanding, many teams no longer take advantage of the disabled list so keep a close eye on how teams handle their injured players and the severity of the malady each man is dealing with as you might have to cut players who aren’t put on the disabled list but are not likely to play.

THE FINAL PLAYER RANKINGS UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE. HERE ARE THE REST OF THE WAY RANKINGS FOR FANTASY ALARM.

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: Jason Castro has a hit in each of his last five games including two doubles and a homer. He also has a .772 OPS against righties. Lefties have had a lot of fun taking on A.J. Griffin this season with a .282/.343/.531 slash line. In five August starts he had a 5.34 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and allowed a .302 batting average.

FIRST BASE: The last 15 games Eric Hosmer has four homers and 14 RBI. He’s also posted a .518 SLG and a .369 wOBA. He has an .811 OPS against righties this season. He’s faced Anibal Sanchez 39 times with a .306/.359/.500 slash line.

SECOND BASE: Matt Carpenter has hit .285 with a .399 OBP and .570 SLG this season against righties with 14 homers and 21 doubles over 256 at-bats. He takes on righty Anthony DeSclafani whom he’s hit two homers against with a double and triple amongst five hits in nine at-bats. He’s also walked twice leading to a .667 OBP in 12 plate appearances.   

THIRD BASE: Evan Longoria has hit .294/.339/.569 with 28 homers in 401 at-bats against righties. He’s mashing them. He faces Marcus Stroman with a .500-2-4 line with a 1.529 OPS over 17 plate appearances.

SHORTSTOP: Over the last 13 games Jean Segura has hit two homers, stolen five bases, has driven in six and scored nine times. He also has a .442 wOBA in that time. He’s hit .286 with a .341 OBP this season against lefties (he faces Jorge De La Rosa) and he’s hit .368 with a .987 OPS at Coors Field (17 games).
  
OUTFIELD: Denard Span hit .336 with a .887 OPS in August. He has scored four runs his last four games. He takes on Jon Lester who he has long had success against (.333/.484 with two steals in 31 plate appearances).

OUTFIELD: Hernan Perez had six homers and eight steals in August. He’s only had seven at-bats against Jameson Taillon but he has hit three homers, has five hits, and seven RBI. #BvP    

OUTFIELD: Charlie Blackmon obliterates Robbie Ray with nine hits in 14 at-bats including a homer. He’s also stolen three bases. Check out his August numbers against everyone: .360/.408/.730 with 11 homers and 30 runs scored in 26 games.    

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).