Welcome back to Buy & Sell, and I’m glad you’re still here! Things get really crazy now so don’t be afraid of doing something drastic… anything can happen in two weeks! So let’s not waste time before you start thinking about football and get on to the list!
BUY
10-team
Tommy Edman (2B/SS, Los Angeles Dodgers)
Tommy may have been a flawed musical just as Tommy Edman is a flawed player, but both have some great moments. It’s mostly been a lost year for him due to a preseason injury that just didn’t go away, and so he’s managed only six homers and five stolen bases on the season to go with a .274 AB, although that’s not bad for just 104 AB (110 PA). But here’s the thing… He’s hit all of those six homers in the past two weeks, and I don’t think anyone is complaining about a player on pace to hit 12 dingers in a month.
Granted, I don’t think it’s a sudden change, as most of his Statcast rates suggest he’s been the same (worse if anything), but at the very least he’s benefiting by being a surprisingly relevant player in a still-electric lineup with a much better home park for homers than he had in St. Louis. Given his cushy situation and potential to make a real power/speed impact, he’s a must-own in all leagues if he’s still around.
Luisangel Acuña (SS, New York Mets)
Score one for those who overrate baseball bloodlines over stats and scouting! The young speedster finally got the call and has hit the ground running… or rather, ground the run hitting? What I’m trying to say is that we thought he’d be stealing bases a plenty, but we didn’t expect him to hit .467 with two homers in just 15 AB, but that’s what he’s done, and been positively electric while doing so. I do think he probably will cool down but with so little time left, it’s worth hoping he’s a small sample Ronald Part 2: AMetsTrick Boogaloo.
Andrew Benintendi (OF, Chicago White Sox)
I really wasn’t Benintending to write about him as a shallow league play, but here we are. I had figured it may be a fluke when I wrote him up several weeks ago noting the power, but he’s only gotten better, hitting a fantastic .333 with three homers this week, continuing a shockingly strong second half compared to a shockingly weak (even for him) first half. In fact, with his 19 homers, he’s likely to set a career-high in homers from his career year in which he hit 20, back in 2017. You know, back when one of the top movies was “American Sniper”. Yeesh.
While I wouldn’t count on the high batting average to continue, his xwOBA has been slowly rising, and we mustn’t forget that despite the fact that the White Sox have no offense, the park itsef is still quite friendly to homers and allows him to get some cheapies. He’s been good enough that he’s even drawing some walks, making him an entirely viable play in 12-team formats as well as five-OF 10-team formats.
Luke Raley (OF/1B, Seattle Mariners)
Although he’s still not quite an everyday player, he’s been so good that he’s worth adding anyway. Not only is he hitting a fantastic .306/.375/.714 with five homers the past three weeks, he’s hitting an even better .333 with two HR and two SB with five RBI in just 18 AB this week. The dual-eligibility makes him extra-useful in all leagues.
12-team
Michael Busch (1B/3B, Chicago Cubs)
He’s beating the ball and it’s hard for pitchers to get around the Busch. He’s walloping the ball to the tune of .400 with three homers and nine RBI in 20 AB this week, helping him clear the 20 homer plateau with a .256 batting average. Although he’s not impressing Statcast much, which considers him a league average bat in terms of xwOBA even now and gives him an ugly .224 xBA, he’s in a great situation, and it’s not easy to get a corner infielder capable of his run production when he’s on a heater. He’s a fine streamer (which is basically indistinguishable from an add at this point in 10-teamer AVG leagues and 12-teamers.
Parker Meadows (OF, Detroit Tigers)
It may still fall short of his pre-season expectations, but at least now Meadows’s production has been good enough to keep him from getting put out to pasture. He’s hit an impressive .302/.356/.566 with three homers and 14 RBI in 53 AB the past two weeks, even if the previous week was a tad better. What’s important is the Tigers offense is running hot (you read that right) and he’s a big part of it. The only downside is a surprising lack of action on the basepaths, as he hasn’t stolen a single base in the past three weeks, although he has nine on the season (four CS) in 231 AB. His role atop the lineup gives him inherent accumulator value in 12-team formats.
Pavin Smith (1B/OF, Arizona Diamondbacks)
Even though I just wrote him up last week, I felt he needed another mention, since even though he hasn’t homered this week, it’s hard to complain about his .467 AVG and four walks to just two strikeouts. BOOM.
Hunter Goodman (C/OF, Colorado Rockies)
A power-hitting catcher who is finally getting playing time and has a homestand at Colorado? Sounds goodman. Add in all two-catcher and 15-team formats and a viable power category streamer in 12-team.
15-team
Mike Yastrzemski (OF, San Francisco Giants)
Although he’s had a lackluster year, he’s finishing strong. He’s clobbered five homers to go with 10 walks over the past three weeks, but it’s also come with a .196 AVG. As is often the case with him, his value differs wildly depending on whether you’re in a batting average league or an OBP league, but in the latter, he’s a fine 12-league play for power.
Isaac Paredes (2B/3B, Chicago Cubs)
I still like him a lot less than I did in TB, but it’s likely he got cut in even some deeper formats after his Lane Thomas-eque offensive plummet that saw his average fall from .290 all the way to sub .230. But it does seem like he rediscovered his footing and still has potential in the middle of a good lineup.
Angel Martinez (2B/OF, Cleveland Guardians)
He’s not a particularly exciting option, it’s true, but with Kwan out it seems like he’s going to be a regular. Frankly it was rather surprising that he was demoted before as he was still better than some others on the roster, and it seems he’s rejuvenated by the reset. He’s hitting 7-for-14 with two walks and just one strikeout since his return, and he’s a good utility player due to his higher floor and a sprinkly of pop and speed.
Lenyn Sosa (2B/SS, Chicago White Sox)
I don’t think he’s a particularly exciting bat, but he has undoubtedly been on a heater for batting average, hitting an eye-popping .405 with a homer in 42 AB over the past two weeks. Note however that it didn’t come with a single homer or a single walk, and only four RBI, which is why I can’t recommend him in anything shallower.
Deep Leagues
Yuli Gurriel (1B, Kansas City Royals)
If you’re in DFS, he’s interesting in that he’s actually hitting the ball much harder than usual, but his inconsitent playing time makes him hard to roster in other formats… Maybe AL-only with daily lineups.
Javier Sanoja (SS, Miami Marlins)
Even though I think he’s more interesting in keeper formats, for this year, he’s a slappy hitter who avoids strikeouts enough that he can be an asset there, but don’t expect power. That could make him seem more like Arraez, but it could be more like Jacob Wilson, so only add him in deep leagues where the volume is most important.
Michael Siani (OF, St. Louis Cardinals)
He has one use… If you need to go all-in on stolen bases, and don’t care anything else about your other categories, he’s a fine play. In some leagues, especially Roto, that may be your situation right now. In all other situations, he’s pretty bad.
SELL
10-team
Xavier Edwards (2B/SS, Miami Marlins)
Did he get messed up from the injury? Or is this just the regression monster coming to collect his rent? It’s hard to say but what we do know is that players of Edwards’ ilk are always tough to depend on since it rests so heavily on batted ball luck. Even when he was on fire, Statcast thought he was a sub-.250 hitter by xBA, While he’s hit .250 this past week, that’s now a .224 mark over the past three weeks with no homers and six SBs. Given that you were hoping for a high batting average, you may have been misled since his strikeout rate of five Ks per week isn’t so compatible with that, making him more of an SB-only play in shallow formats and a drop in 10-team and 12-team if you don’t need them.
Jake Burger (3B, Miami Marlins)
Where’s the beef? After having an August that led me to hope against hope that my prediction that he’d hit 40 homers was still a possibility, he seems to have regressed back pretty heavily. Granted, he is doing decently hitting .292 with a homer this week, but that homer was the first one he’s hit in three weeks, and even with the good week is still hitting .221 over that three-week span with 17 Ks and one BB. The surrounding cast is simply too bad to stick with him if he’s not serving up whoppers.
12-team
Anthony Volpe (SS, New York Yankees)
Maybe he’s really a vole-pe, because he just keeps digging himself deeper. He’s been generally underwhelming in the second half, but it’s even worse now with a horrifying .108/.128/.108 line with no homers and just one RBI in his last 37 AB, which may have already gotten you eliminated in playoffs if you were rostering him. He may be a fine bounceback candidate next year, but only under the assumption he admits he was playing through some kind of injury because I don’t get how else he could be this punchless for such a stretch.
Matt Wallner (OF, Minnesota Twins)
Well, we all knew the good times wouldn’t last like this, right? I mean he did go 3-for-4 last night, but without a single hard hit so I’m guessing that was more of a fluke. With 18 Ks in his last 43 AB (42% K%) he simply can’t be trusted to not take your batting average, and is really doing his best Joey Gallo imitation. If you are in a close race for batting average, he’s no longer worth running out in 10-team and 12-team AVG formats.
15-team
Maikel Garcia (2B/3B, Kansas City Royals)
You might think I’m crazy, since he is hitting .308 this week with 3 SB in 13 AB. It’s the last part of that sentence that explains my reasoning. Batting average doesn’t mean much when you’re racking up partial playing time, and he’s only valuable for stolen bases without his run-producing leadoff spot like he had in the first half of the season.
Jake McCarthy (OF, Arizona Diamondbacks)
McCarthy is one another one of his awful cold stretches which seem to be one of his trademarks, as he’s hitting just .125 this week and .188 with no homers and just one SB. It’s rather shocking but it seems that with two SB and two CS over the past three weeks, he may be getting the red light more, and with Pavin Smith tearing the cover off the ball, it’s easy to push him out of playing time.
Jake Cronenworth (1B/2B, San Diego Padres)
He fooled me earlier this season into thinking maybe he was finally turning things around, but he found a way to return to mediocrity as usual. He’s hitting .217 with a homer and just three RBI and one SB over the past three weeks, but has been just getting worse, hitting .087 this week without any homers, stolen bases, or RBI. Just because the Padres keep trotting him out there, I don’t see a good reason that you should.
Deep Leagues
Jackson Holliday (SS, Baltimore Orioles)
Holliday failed to complete the Jackson trio, as his performance is nothing like fellow talented youngsters Chourio or Merrill. He really just looks lost at the plate and the free-falling Orioles are right to not play him while they’re trying to hold onto a playoff spot.
Hunter Renfroe (OF, Kansas City Royals)
It seemed his arrival would push someone else out of a role, but after hitting just .214 with a homer over the past two weeks and just .083 (1-for-12) this past week, he seems to have solved that logjam by choosing to be a bench.
Ivan Herrera (C, St. Louis Cardinals)
I like him as a hitter far more than Pedro Pages, but it seems the Cardinals have made their choice for who to get the lion’s share of at-bats. As is often the case with St. Louis, it’s the wrong choice. Try to buy back on him next year, but for now you may as well cut him.