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

Would you trade away Trevor Story to get Justin Upton?
@j-maw

At this point, don’t you all know what my answer will be? Do you trade away a guy with three weeks to his name for a guy who has been a stable, top end talent for seven years? Easy choice. You want Upton without question.

I really wanted to answer this just so I could talk about Story since the questions keep coming in about him – incessantly.

Story has 14 games of big league experience. That’s not enough to draw conclusions, but every does anyway so what the hell, I’ll jump in. Story is on pace for 93 home runs, 162 RBI and 150 runs scored. He won’t produce half of that. Now the reality check. He’s also on pace for 278 strikeouts which is godawful and would be the worst mark ever by 55. That’s embarrassing.

Remember I said Trevor has 14 games played? Look at his work the last eight games which is 57 percent of his big league work by the way: .250 average, .286 OBP and 16 strikeouts in 32 at-bats.

If you’re comfortable with that I don’t know what I can say.

It's early but Jason Heyward looks lost! Too much going on in his swing. Time to consider dropping with Randal Grichuk, Denard Span & Melvin Upton available?
@jaredkinder82

Heyward will play daily, we know it. He’s also the most talented of the four players listed. We know that. Keep in mind it’s been 14 games. Fourteen. After 14 games last season, for a quick comparison, Heyward was batting .213 with a .239 wOBA with one homer, one steal, three RBI and five runs. This season in 14 games the numbers are .170 with a .226 wOBA, zero homers, one steal, seven RBI and six runs. Honestly, same thing. In the end he hit .293 with 23 steals and 79 runs scored last season. He could do all of that again this season.

Truth. Span and Upton, at their best, likely match Heyward at his worst.

Grichuk should have more homers and RBI. He also is extremely unlikely to score as many runs and he has virtually no chance of matching Heyward in steals and batting average.

I would hold Heyward.

Ray, who would you suggest picking up from Cincinnati for closer help or just avoid it?
@babyhuey915

Back in January when we put together the 2016 Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide we put together a column entitled 2016 Bold Predictions. In that column I listed my “Cheap Source of Saves” as Tony Cingrani. I was trying to find a guy no one was talking about, who no one was drafting, so that was admittedly a shot in the dark. Still, when I selected Cingrani I thought he was the most talented arm in the Reds bullpen. I still think that is the case today.

J.J. Hoover continues to stink and it sounds like the Reds are ready to make a move, but we don’t know who they would choose, or if they would go with the dreaded committee approach. "I'd really love for [Hoover] to be the closer, which is what I'd really like to see, but I do need him to perform at a more consistent level,” said manager Bryan Price. “There haven't been a lot of save opportunities out there to start the ninth inning. I'd like him to be a little bit sharper." As the article points out the team could turn to Cingrani, but they could also give a shot to Blake Wood.

If speculating I would try Cingrani, but as your question suggested, I would also try to avoid the whole messy situation if I could.

* Late word, the Reds will go with a committee in the 9th inning. 

Drop Kolten Wong or Kiki Hernandez for Brandon Phillips or Neil Walker?
@ShowtimeDG

Wong is the most fantasy talented option of these four men. Wong is the only guy on the list who could legitimately go 10/20, and he has the talent to do even better. Alas, he’s been an utter mess to start the season. Through 12 games he’s batting .200 with a pathetic .277 OBP. Through 307 big league games the numbers aren’t much better as he’s hit .249 with a .302 OBP and .669 OPS. Even though he’s 25 and still capable of improving, he’s simply not showing any growth. Playing time could start to be an issue as well as Wong’s struggles lengthen since the Cardinals certainly aren’t against moving pieces around daily. The playing time crunch could become acute when Jhonny Peralta returns to man shortstop. Given that Wong has a mere .596 OPS against lefties for his career he could start to lose time immediately to Jedd Gyorko who hits well against left handers (.260-14-40 with a .781 OPS over 379 plate appearances).

Enrique Hernandez, known as Kiki to his friends (so I call him Enrique), is off to a strong start. However, I warned about the pitfalls of counting on him a few days ago in Kike Magic.

Phillips had a great bounce back season last year. As a 34 year old he did something we never see – he started running again. After swiping seven bases in 2013-14 he stole 23 bases last season, his best mark in six years. He’s kept running in the early going this season but he’s only been successful on two of four chances. He is batting .333 but as a .274 hitter who has failed to reach that mark in two of the last three seasons you need to know that number is going to regress. It should also be noted that Phillips hit a mere 20 homers the last two seasons. Moreover, he’s failed to reach 70 runs in either of the last two seasons as well. He’s kinda just a guy at this point if those steals regress as seems likely.

I’ve been getting so many questions from folks about whether they should add Walker. My retort is always ‘how is he on waivers?’ Let me quote myself from an article I wrote back on January 29th. “Walker is a 30-year-old second sacker with no discernable upside. He’s also a very productive, stable option at second base. The last six years he’s hit at least 12 homers. The last five years he’s scored at least 62 times. Five times the last six years he’s driven in at least 66 runs. Only once in the last six years has his average dipped below .269. Solid is as solid does.” Walker has been on a massive power spree to start the year with six homers in 13 games for the Mets, but he’s only hit 17 homers once and is unlikely to surpass his 23 homer career-high even with his hot start.

Wong is the most talented.

Hernandez the riskiest.

Phillips and Walker are the stable veterans of the four.

I would try to hold on to Wong who still is the most exciting. However, if you want to add a guy for depth it makes all the sense in the world. I would go with Walker, one of “my guys” – the old, boring stable guys that produce while others are chasing their pot of gold. 

 

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 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).