Zack Cozart

With the baseball season underway, it’s all about recognizing trends. We’re already seeing players quickly trend upwards and players just not living up to expectations. A player like Trevor Story is producing in ways that many baseball fans have never seen before which is causing owners to have quite the dilemma. I look to help you figure these things out in my Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 2.

As the inaugural fantasy baseball article, this is what you can expect from this week forward!
Must Adds: Players who have great match ups who you can definitely pick up and add to your lineup.
Drops: Under performers or players who have little to no fantasy value for you this week
Two Start Pitchers: Pitchers who have to starts in a week that can help you maximize value.
Trends: Who should you be watching right now? Is it time to sell high or buy low?
Also, I will be basing all ownership off of Yahoo!.

Must Adds:

Zack Cozart – SS – Cincinnati Reds
5% Owned
Schedule: 3 @ CHC, 3 @ STL

Zack Cozart won the leadoff position right out of spring training. Billy Hamilton still can’t pull together a respectable batting average. Cozart is an interesting player to have in your lineup. He’s not a traditional leadoff man in terms of speed but he makes up for it with his power. Before going down to injury last year, his isolated slugging rate was .201. To put that into comparison, Troy Tulowitzki’s career ISO is .212. Until Hamilton can work his way up to the leadoff position, Cozart is a great option at generally one of the weakest fantasy positions available.

Wilson Ramos – C – Washington Nationals
34% Owned
Schedule: 4 vs ATL, 3 @ PHI

If you’re looking for a replacement behind the plate as a Kyle Schwarber owner, look no further. Wilson Ramos had a terrible year last year. You and I would also have a terrible season if your vision decreased so badly that you needed off-season Lasik eye surgery in order to fix it. Against two bottom feeding teams, Ramos will have a great opportunity to really show fantasy owners what he can do. It wouldn’t be surprising if he finished the year as a top 10 catcher.

Drops:

Byron Buxton – OF – Minnesota Twins
53% Owned
Schedule: 3 vs CHW, 3 vs LAA

If you’re in a keeper league – ignore this completely. If you’re in a redraft league, you don’t want to miss this. Byron Buxton was likely drafted because of his promise. He certainly wasn’t drafted because of his shoddy spring training performance. Up until April 9th, Buxton has struck out nine times in his first 14 at bats. Until he shows a glimpse of that so-called promise, you’re better off with just about anyone.

Brett Lawrie – 2B/3B – Chicago White Sox
47% Owned
Schedule: 3 @ MIN, 3 @ TB

Brett Lawrie looks like, well, Brett Lawrie – and that’s not a good thing for fantasy owners. Last year he finished with the highest strikeout rate of his career (23.9%) and this year he’s on pace to beat that. He’s also batting in the bottom half of an otherwise weak (outside of Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier) White Sox lineup. There are better streaming options out there.

Two Start Pitchers:

Matt Moore – LHP – Tampa Bay Rays
39% Owned
Schedule: April 12 vs CLE, April 17 vs CHW

It’s easy to forget that Matt Moore was an All-Star in 2013. His first start admittedly wasn’t the greatest, but he ran into a Blue Jays offence that was clicking (more specifically, the reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson’s bat). His velocity in spring training mixed with his first start look promising though. After seeing his velocity regress in 2014-2015 due to injury among other things, his velocity is actually higher now than it was in 2013.

Shane Greene – RHP – Detroit Tigers
7% Owned
Schedule: April 12 vs PIT, April 17 vs HOU

Shane Greene had a great spring, a good enough spring to get the chance to hold the fort down until Daniel Norris returns. Brad Ausmus has also even said that he might keep Greene in the rotation even when Norris comes back. Greene is an odd duck. From 2014 to 2015 his k/9 went down by 4 and his ERA balooned. He tried to rework a lot of his stuff in 2015 and ended up setting himself back even more. It looks like in the spring he figured a lot of his stuff out. He posted a very impressive line of 19.1 IP, 1.86 ERA and 23 SO to close out the spring.

Trends:

Trevor Story – SS – Colorado Rockies
92% Owned
Schedule: 3 vs SF, 3 @ CHC

Trevor Story is off to a start that nobody has seen in a long time. Let’s throw it back. 2004 Barry Bonds, 1.422 OPS. Current day Trevor Story, 1.417 OPS (Thanks to The Ace of MLB Stats on Twitter). Story has also homered in each of his team’s first four games to start a season. Other names on that list? Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz, Mark McGwire and Willie Mays. I think you get the point. Story is off to a start that is completely unsustainable by any means. As soon as Jose Reyes returns, he’ll immediately challenge Story for at bats. With all the hype around him, why wouldn’t you be willing to sell high? Let’s remember that his ADP was around 254, aka Adam Lind territory. I’ve seen deals such as Story + Verlander for Scherzer + Segura. If you can package Story in a deal to land a big fish, you need to pull the trigger. I can promise you, he’s not Carlos Correa 2.0.

Also, check out my appearance on The FNTSY Sports Network with Pat Mayo. We chat the curious case of Trevor Story, two start pitchers and more!

Thanks for reading! If you have any MLB season long or DFS questions, feel free to contact me via Twitter @BESTofMATT