Fantasy Baseball 2017: Rest of Season Rankings

Welcome back! Another week, another Top 250 update. Let’s jump right into it.

Quick reminder, these rankings are for standard 5x5 rotisserie. I’ll do my best to explain any large rankings changes and feel free to ask player specific questions in the comments. This is your weekly forum to sound off with any fantasy questions you have. I’m here to help you!

Quick Hits

• Dee Gordon has 40 SB 70 R and a .300 average. He is currently the #11 overall player in fantasy. He is top 20 for me going forward. The top 20 has so much talent a recently slumping Daniel Murphy fell to 21. The top 30 is pretty loaded to as seen by George Springer falling to 31 after going on the DL.
• Check out my thoughts on the Yu Darvish deal here and the Sonny Gray deal here. Turns out I was a bit too optimistic in my reaction to both of these trades. I thought I would move Darvish up but he stays at SP 12. I like him on the Dodgers more but I just trust the starters ahead of him more. As for Gray he did move up in the rankings but not as far as I first thought. He lands at SP 27 and could see his value move up or down based on how his 1st few outings go with the Yankees. I do think his value is up though.
• The trade deadline hit the RP rankings the hardest. 3 former closers dropped outside my top 250 because they were traded. The top 16 stayed mostly the same. The only 1 dropping was Andrew Miller due to being placed on the DL. Zach Britton moves up and Brad Brach drops. Britton has a tight grip on the Orioles closer role. Brad Hand benefited (for fantasy purposes) by not being traded. Trevor Rosenthal is looking great lately and is now a top 25 RP option for me. Sean Doolittle is my pick to close for the Nationals. If he can put up a few solid weeks as their closer his ranking will reflect because this team’s closer can have tremendous fantasy value.
• Rafael Devers looks to be sticking around. Despite a trade for Eduardo Nunez (who has been great in his own right), Devers will still get plenty of playing time while Dustin Pedroia is sidelined. Devers has also played well enough so far I believe the Red Sox will find a way to keep him heavily involved. He is now just outside the top 150 at #152.
• Manuel Margot is hitting .278 with 8 HR and 11 SB this season in just 74 games. He is hitting .309 with 4 HR and 6 SB in his 27 games since his return from the DL earlier this season. Margot has a great power-speed combo that fantasy owners need to take advantage of! Pick him up!

Losing Faith

Here are a few players who dropped in my rankings and, if their poor performances continue, could soon be outside my top 250:

• Justin Bour (3 weeks until baseball activies means he has maybe a month of fantasy value left)
• Johnny Cueto & David Price (worried their seasons are over)
• Max Kepler (.175 AVG 0 HR since the All-Star break)

Hello, Goodbye

The following players are new additions to the top 250:

• Manuel Margot (see above)
• Odubel Herrera
• J.A. Happ
• Shin-Soo Choo
• Charlie Morton
• Amed Rosario (#1 prospect in the minors)
• Rajai Davis
• Kenta Maeda (hope he stays in the rotation)
• Jose Peraza
• Mike Zunino

The following players are no longer in my top 250:

• Addison Reed (trade)
• Jordan Montgomery (losing rotation spot because of trades)
• Jim Johnson (removed as closer)
• Brandon Kintzler (trade)
• Chris Owings
• Justin Wilson (trade)
• Troy Tulowitzki
• Scott Schebler
• Jorge Bonifacio
• Randal Grichuk

See you next week!