Replacing Trea Turner

If you don’t know by now here’s the news: Trea Turner was hit by a pitch in yesterday’s game against the Cubs and suffered a broken right wrist. As of now the Nationals, and fantasy owners, are anxiously awaiting news on a timetable for his return. I wrote a bit about this in this morning’s Roto Report and again in my latest Top 250. In short, Turner is going to be out a while. I’m thinking 2 months. Now, this would leave him with just a month of production left. Turner is currently the #6 overall player in roto league and has been the #1 overall player in that format over the past 30 days. He’s an easy stash on the DL and look forward to a great boost in September. What I look to do here is help you get to September without him.

Trea Turner qualifies at 3 positions in most leagues across all sites: 2B, SS, and OF. He also left leading the league in one of the hardest categories to find, steals. Let’s take a look at some readily available players at all 3 positions with an emphasis on SB.

Cameron Maybin, LAA OF - ESPN 63.5% CBS 69% Yahoo! 63%

Maybin is owned in most league by now but he would be a great fit for a Turner owner needing OF help. Maybin needs to be owned in all roto leagues. Maybin has 24 SB on the season, good for 4th in baseball and 1st in the AL. He is hitting .299 with 3 HR and 11 SB over the past 30 days. Pick him up if he is out there.

Chris Taylor, LAD 2B, 3B, OF - ESPN 55.8% CBS 63% Yahoo! 65%

Taylor is hitting .273 with 9 HR and 10 SB on the season. 9 of those 10 SB have come in the past 30 days. Unfortunately, Taylor has been in a bit of a slump going 3 for his last 30. The power numbers to go with the steady amount of SB is a positive if he can get it going again. Plus, he qualifies at SS in Yahoo! leagues.

Michael Taylor, WAS OF - ESPN 32.6% CBS 40% Yahoo! 45%

Turner’s teammate Michael Taylor has been on an absolute tear recently. Taylor is hitting .326 with 5 HR and 5 SB over the past 15 days. This trend is starting to get noticed as he is one of the most added players across all 3 main sites. Taylor has a world of potential hitting 33 HR with 39 SB in the majors since 2014. The bad is that his average over that period is just .239 and he strikes out A LOT. 32% of the time for his career. That number has remained the same this season. Grab him now but be prepared to cut loose once his hot streak ends.

Orlando Arcia, MIL SS - ESPN 9.2% CBS 25% Yahoo! 8%

Arcia is a bit of a high upside play here. He has 10 HR and 13 SB in 133 big league games. This season he’s batting .275 with 6 HR and 5 SB. Still just 22 years old, Arcia had 109 SB in 5 years in the minors. That pace would make him a 27 SB player in the majors. His current MLB career suggests he has yet to reach that ceiling but again just 22 years old! The improved batting average this year is a great sign for him. He’s not going to replace the speed of Turner, but he’s still a widely available SS who can help your team in other ways while Turner is out.

Delino DeShields, TEX OF - ESPN 7.2% CBS 21% Yahoo! 8%

I think we are seeing a trend that outside of OF steals are hard to find. DeShields is the most available of this group. He has 18 SB on the season and 10 SB in the past 30 days. He also is not a regular player for his the Rangers. He has just 22 AB over his past 13 games. He does have 3 SB in that time frame though. His season average of .278 is fine but he is an add for those super desperate for speed.