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Your take on Miguel Cabrera the rest of the season? Been kinda bad for a while.
@EricDio21

Miguel Cabrera has hit .214 with no homers and two RBI in July. It’s been a terrible two weeks.

I could care less.

People make way too much about small sample sizes. Usually it’s when a guy blows up and drive in 12 runners over two weeks. In that scenario everyone runs to the waiver-wire to add an inferior talent. However, sometimes folks get nervous when an established player struggles. This situation is harder for me to understand.

Yes, Cabrera has been bad of late.

Yes, his .289 average and .366 OBP are way below his career norms (.320 and .398).

No, I’m not concerned.

As “bad” as Cabrera has been the last two weeks he’s still on pace to hit .289-32-93 with 86 runs scored. If he’s really that “bad” this season that will be a somewhat disappointing effort. Alas, is that really bad? No it’s not, not in the least. Also note that Miguel has hit at least .313 in each of the past seven seasons. There’s still plenty of games for Cabrera to get his average back up to .300. I have little concern here.

Max Kepler or Michael Conforto the rest of the season?
@kettlehole

Kepler had a .619 OPS in April.
Kepler had a .771 OPS in June.
Kepler has a .844 OPS in July.

Those last 13 games have seen Kepler hit six homers while driving in 19 runners. He’s only hit .196 though, so his performance isn’t without warts in that time.

Let’s break down the Mets’ outfield situation. Conforto was just recalled as Brandon Nimmo was demoted. That would seem to open up a spot for Conforto. However, another situation has arisen. Yoenis Cespedes wants to play left field. Not only is he better there than in center field, let’s not forget that he won a Gold Glove in left field last season, but he also wants to play left. “If they give me the option, I’ll stay in left field,” Cespedes said. Cespedes also said that his quad, which kept him out of work for more than a week, still isn’t 100 percent. That would make is seem like the smartest thing to do would be to leave Cespedes in left. “I’d rather play left field because I feel more comfortable. And also it’s less work on my leg.” With Curtis Granderson playing right field, where would that leave Conforto who can’t play center? Not to mention that Conforto has hit .222 with a .296 OBP this season over 65 games. Conforto still can’t hit lefties either with a miserable career slash line of .121/.161/.121. That’s pathetic.

Go with Kepler.

Give $16 Yoenis Cespedes ($18, $36, $40 next 3 years) Get: $2 Wade Davis ($3, $4, $8 next 3 yrs) Have few closers and extra OF.
@JeffSchaffer13

I’m not a huge fan of Cespedes. He’s doesn’t run and isn’t a great option in the batting average category. He’s also seemingly always physically beat up. Still, his power is legit and he’s one of the better counting category producers in the outfield.

Davis had the arm hiccup that sent him to the disabled list, but he appears to be just fine now. Davis is 19-for-21 this season in save conversions, and he continues to be an absolute beast. Here are his numbers since the start of the 2014 season: 0.96 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 18 wins, 39 saves and 216 strikeouts in 168.1 innings. Since the start of the 2014 season Davis has been better than Clayton Kershaw… with 39 saves.

I’ll take Davis. So unbelievably cheap is he, and I find it virtually impossible to believe the Cespedes will produce anywhere near $76 dollars’ worth of production the final two years of his deal.

Trevor Story or Did Gregorius in a H2H league the rest of the season?
@Dwalensky

Story leads shortstop with 21 homers. He has 57 RBI, tied for third at the position. Story has scored 55 times as well with an .871 OPS, fifth at the position. Story is batting .261 with 116 punchouts leading to a pace for 207, an abysmal number. He’s also on pace for 37 homers and 101 RBI. Unfortunately, remove his first nine games this season, and Story has 14 homers and 44 RBI over 75 games, well off his season long pace. Over his last 12 games he’s also batting a mere .184.  

Didi has been fantastic this season, massively out producing expectations. Over 86 games he’s already hit a career best 11 homers, and tied his career best with five steals. He’s also just six doubles away from a career best. Then there is the batting average. Didi entered the season batting .252 over 346 games. This season he’s hit .299. It’s hard to believe he’s that guy, but there is no obvious reason to believe he won’t reach his career best in batting average this season.

I might be a notorious Story “hater” but he is still the right choice here.

Deep 5x5: GIVE Andrew Miller and get Matt Shoemaker & Brandon Maurer?
@sowen246

Miller is on every team I have this season (pretty close to all of them at least). I paired him and Betances everywhere I could. The results have been spectacular, especially for Miller who has a 1.34 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 15.62 K/9 and 1.56 BB/9 rate. You can make an argument that based purely on skills, that he’s been the best reliever in baseball since the start of the 2014 season (at least for a lefty). Rumors continue to swirl about the Yankees dealing either Miller, Betances or Aroldis Chapman. Perhaps even two of the arms could be dealt. What the means is that two weeks from now, after the trade deadline, that all three could be closing, or two, or just one. We shall see. Obviously if Miller is closing his value goes way up. That said, think of it like this. Miller has thrown 62.1 and 61.2 innings the past two seasons. This season he’s on pace for 71.1 innings. Let’s give him 71.1 innings this season. That means he has about 30 innings left. That’s not enough for his ratios to impact your team at all. The strikeouts would be about 47 the rest of the way if he were to maintain his current rate, and while that’s a good number will his 47 strikeouts, over the 25-30 you were thinking you would get from your other reliever (Maurer), move the needle much? The answer is no.

Maurer has the closer’s job in San Diego. Over his last 13 games he has a 0.71 ERA, 0.63 WHIP, 13 strikeouts and no walks over 12.2 innings as he’s converted all three save chances. Shoemaker is up to 110 strikeouts in 106 innings, and with less than 1.9 walks per nine innings he’s been able to keep his WHIP below the league average at 1.26, the same mark he posted last year.

I’d probably go with the duo side here.

Dynasty league. Fair to offer Nomar Mazara, Alex Colome and Marcus Stroman for his Jake Arrieta?
@zagordon514

Stroman is a strong talent who has underperformed this season with a 5.15 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 2.59 K/BB ratio. He’s much better than that. A solid fastball, a lack of walks, a good ground ball rate, a smooth delivery. He has a lot going for him.

Mazara is in a massive tailspin at the dish – he’s “hitting” .191 with a .250 OBP and .255 SLG his last 31 games – but he still owns a .277/.329/.411 slash line as a 21 year old rookie. That’s impressive any way you cut it.

Colome has been great this season with a 1.64 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 11.45 K/9 and 20 saves without blowing one.

Arrieta has struggled of late with a 6.75 ERA over his last four starts. At the same time, he’s been far too good for the past two seasons to worry substantially over four starts. He’s the best option here.

So hard to answer since I don’t know your rosters. I would say that if I was dealing Arrieta I would want more. Stroman is not helping now. Ditto Mazara. As for Colome, closers come and go so frequently it’s hard to toss a lot of value Colome’s way.

 

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).