Welcome to the Depth Chart Review! Every week we’ll be breaking down the biggest transactions, injuries, and lineup changes around the majors and how they affect fantasy baseball. This week we saw a pair of waiver trades, a pair of high profile injuries, and the promotion of a big pitching prospect.
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Didi Gregorius Placed on Disabled List
Following a collision at first base last Sunday, Didi Gregorius suffered a significantly bruised heel and was placed on the disabled list. There is currently no timetable for his return, but this doesn’t appear to be a minimum stay for Gregorius. This is another big blow to the Yankees since Aaron Judge doesn’t seem close to returning. The Yankees are moving rookie Gleyber Torres to shortstop, which is his natural position and shouldn’t affect his fantasy value other than to ensure Torres will keep shortstop eligibility next season. Neil Walker and Ronald Torreyes are going to split time at second base while Gregorius is out. Torreyes is hitting .329 this season in limited playing time, but that is heavily inflated by a .375 BABIP. Torreyes has a .258 xBA and has no power or stolen base ability to speak of, so he’s merely empty batting average.
Neil Walker is in the middle of his worst offensive season as a big leaguer, with career lows in every meaningful offensive category. His batting average (.220), OPS (.636), ISO (.116), and strikeout rate (23.1%) all point to a significant decline in skills. Perhaps based on track record there could be hope for a turnaround, however, nothing in his batted ball profile suggests that a rebound is imminent for Walker. The other option the Yankees have would be to play Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield, freeing up the DH spot for recently recalled Luke Voit. Voit had a .201 ISO at Triple-A in the Cardinals system before being traded to New York, and he also has a career .754 OPS and .216 ISO against left-handed pitching. At the least, he could be a platoon player for the Yankees. Ultimately no great fantasy options will emerge due to this injury, rather a mix of replacement level players will split time until Gregorius returns.
Nationals trade Daniel Murphy to Cubs and Matt Adams to Cardinals
The Nationals were busy on the waiver trade market on Tuesday, moving both Daniel Murphy to the Cubs and Matt Adams to the Cardinals. They are not going to trade Bryce Harper, but these moves solidify the Nationals’ fate as sellers. Murphy is the more fantasy relevant player and is universally owned in all leagues. It’s unclear whether Murphy will play every day for the Cubs, but at best this appears to be a lateral move. Murphy was already playing every day for the Nationals, and the Cubs have more infield depth than the Nationals. He will presumably play second base with Javier Baez shifting either to shortstop or third base.
David Bote has filled in admirably for Kris Bryant at the hot corner with an .839 OPS and 124 wRC+ in 109 PA, but the Cubs don’t have anything committed to him and could easily relegate him to a bench role. The other option would be to bench Addison Russell, whose anemic bat has failed to develop. After 1,900 career PAs, Russell’s development has stagnated, and he has a .685 OPS and 86 wRC+ this season. Russell’s one benefit to the Cubs is his defense. He has been worth 14 DRS this season at shortstop while Daniel Murphy has been absolutely atrocious at second base with -10 DRS in only 287 innings this season. The Cubs also have Ben Zobrist, who can fill in at second base as well. This move doesn’t kill Murphy’s value by any means, but it’ll probably mean less playing time for him. He may get pulled for defensive replacements more often.
Adams was wasting away on the Nationals’ bench with nowhere to play, but that is the story of his career. Such is life for a first base-only platoon hitter in the National League. Adams was hitting well when he played, posting an .842 OPS and 123 wRC+ in 277 PA. He was merely blocked by Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds for playing time. The Cardinals have the perfect platoon partner for Adams in Jedd Gyorko. They can move Matt Carpenter to third base against righties and play Adams at first. Adams has an .882 OPS and .274 ISO against righties while Gyorko has a .958 OPS and .247 ISO against lefties. The Cardinals could get All-Star level production by platooning these two. This move benefits Adams and he is now an interesting player to add for power down the stretch. He and Gyorko are both best in daily lineup leagues or in DFS since neither will play every day but both will play in ideal matchups.
On the Nationals end, there isn’t much fantasy relevant fallout. Wilmer Difo will get the majority of playing time at second base, but with a .642 OPS and 71 wRC+ he doesn’t offer much beyond volume. He does have some speed, including a 49-steal season in 2014 at High-A, but he hasn’t been as prolific a runner in the majors with just 19 steals in 778 career PA. He does have an 86% success rate for his career so perhaps with more playing time Difo will run more, however, we need to see that happen before considering him. Mark Reynolds also took grounders at second base following the Murphy trade, and Reynolds has some pop with 11 homers and a .243 ISO in 171 PA this season. Reynolds has 15 career innings at second base in the majors, but he can’t be much worse than Daniel Murphy was defensively. Again, we’d have to see Reynolds get consistent playing time before considering him as an add.
Joey Votto Hits Disabled List, Eugenio Suarez Plays Shortstop
Joey Votto’s disappointing season took a turn for the worse last week as he hit the disabled list with leg soreness. Votto was hit by a pitch on August 4 and apparently, that incident caused lingering pain that culminated with a trip to the disabled list. Votto plans to return after the minimum ten days, but it’s hard to trust a 34-year-old that had been playing through this injury for nearly two weeks before hitting the disabled list. Perhaps the hope is that rest will allow the injury to heal rather than trying to play through the pain. Votto’s down year has been categorized by an utter lack of power. He has a higher OBP (.422) than SLG (.419) and only nine home runs in 509 PA. The evaporation of Votto’s power came out of nowhere and doesn’t make any sense. He is still crushing the ball with a 40% hard contact rate and 32.5% line drive rate. Based on his batted ball profile Votto should be competing for the batting title, not floundering as a first baseman. To be fair Votto still has the third highest OBP among qualified hitters and has a .132 wRC+, this is just a down year by his lofty standards. His .533 xSLG and .423 xwOBA suggest that Votto has been unlucky. While there is no way he can fully salvage this season more power should be on the way. It’s certainly been frustrating but there is no way an owner should drop Votto. Whenever in doubt of a stud just remember, Matt Carpenter was hitting .140 on May 15. Trust the peripherals and the results should come. Most leagues probably already saw the trade deadline pass, but in case your league still has trading Votto is an aggressive buy-low target.
The Reds also played Eugenio Suarez at shortstop on Tuesday, his first game at the position since April 2016. This was just to give starting shortstop Jose Peraza a breather since Peraza appeared in all but three of the Reds’ games this year. It’s unlikely that Suarez plays shortstop regularly unless an injury occurs. If he can somehow collect five or 10 appearances at the position he would gain shortstop eligibility and potentially carry it into next year depending on league settings.
White Sox Promote Michael Kopech
The White Sox promoted one the game’s most heralded pitching prospects in Michael Kopech. Originally acquired in the Chris Sale trade, Kopech is most known for his big fastball. While rumors of his max velocity have reached Paul Bunyan levels of exaggeration, he verifiably throws in the 96-99 MPH range. MLB Pipeline gives him an 80-grade fastball, the highest grade one can achieve. He has drawn comparisons to Noah Syndergaard, not only for his velocity but for his filthy slider that, along with his heater, is the source of his massive strikeout totals. Kopech also has a deadly changeup that averages more than 90 MPH with good drop; it’s another weapon to obtain strikeouts. Kopech had a 3.70 ERA and 3.29 FIP at Triple-A in 24 starts. He averaged 12.11 K/9 at Triple-A and only gave up nine homers. Walks have been an issue for him throughout the minor leagues, and this season has been no different as he walked 11% of the batters he faced. As he matures Kopech should hopefully maintain a walk rate below 10%, but for now, walks may be an issue.
Kopech pitched two innings before a rain delay, however, it took him 52 pitches to get through two frames. This is purely anecdotal from watching the game, but he was laboring from the beginning and was drenched in sweat before throwing one pitch. We can chalk that up to debut jitters. Of the three hits he gave up two were fluky, probably 50/50 balls that didn’t go his way. He also got four strikeouts in these two innings, throwing high fastballs and mixing in sliders and one or two changeups. While thing weren’t perfect over these two innings, all tales of the raw stuff appear to be true. He’s worth picking up in all leagues because there is huge strikeout potential. Kopech is among the most talented rookie pitchers to debut this year if not the most talented, and could be this year’s Luis Castillo.
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Elliott Baas is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Elliott, check out his archive and follow him @elliottbaasbb.
