10-Team Leagues
Yuli Gurriel , HOU 1B (46% ownership), FAAB Bid - $13-14 - If you just track Gurriel’s progression throughout the year, you can tell he’s 100-percent healthy, FINALLY, and is ready to look like the player we’ve seen over the past two seasons since coming to the MLB. In the first month of the year, he hit .224 and was just getting over a hand injury. Now in June, he’s hitting .344 which has helped him bring his season average over .300. The power has come in June too. In April and May, Gurriel posted .379 and .363 marks in the slugging department respectively and now in June, that mark is .522. It’s all come together and it’s just taken a little bit of patience to reap the benefits. Luckily for you, over 50-percent of fantasy owners didn’t wait, so take advantage while you still can.
Marcus Stroman , TOR SP (50% ownership), FAAB Bid - $12-13 - So this might be preemptive, but Stroman looked like he was back for good in his return from the disabled list. Stroman threw five scoreless innings against the Angels while striking out five. Something Stroman was really focused on doing in his first start back was getting grounders, which is his bread and butter, and he ended up with a season-high 80-percent. If this is something he can continue to achieve, he could actually end up a high-end SP3 and even a low-end SP2.
Ian Desmond , COL 1B, OF (75% ownership), FAAB Bid - $12-13 - Although he’s hitting just .217 on the year, Desmond is doing a lot in terms of production offensively. Not only has he belted 16 homers, he’s also driven in 44 runs and stolen seven bases. That averages out to 33 homers, 90 RBI and 14 stolen bases by years end. Even if his average didn’t creep up much higher than what it is, that’s still someone I want in all formats. And speaking on the average front, he hit .178 in March, .215 in May and now he’s hitting .274 in June. He continues to get better the more at-bats he gets, so I’m betting he continues to get better in that department, especially looking at his track record of .270 or better in four out of his last six seasons.
12-Team Leagues
Manuel Margot , SDP OF (31% ownership), FAAB Bid - $10 - Before Tuesday’s goose egg, Margot had been riding a six game hitting streak. Over that hit streak, he had four multi-hit games, two homers, five runs scored and six runs driven in. He’s hitting atop the Padres lineup once again as his bat has woken up. Margot is someone who will also run as evident to his 17 steals last season. He only has six in 2018, but they will also come the more he reaches. He has 20/20 potential if he ever can stay healthy enough to play a full season.
Kiké Hernández , LAD 2B, SS, 3B, OF (23% ownership), FAAB Bid - $8-9 - Hernandez has been rollin’ lately hitting three homers in his last three games, but now he has 13 on the year. He’s already eclipsed his season-high of 11 and is on pace to hit 27 by years end. You can slot him in at essentially every position as well, so that’s obviously a huge bonus. We’re not going to get a ton of help in many categories other than runs, homers and runs batted in.
A.J. Minter , ATL RP (30% ownership), FAAB Bid - $6-10 - Because of how not permanent this is, the desire for Minter isn’t as high as it normally should be for closers on the open market. Not only is it temporary, but he’s splitting the opportunities with Dan Winkler . Minter has been better than Winkler of late and has gotten the last two save chances for Atlanta, so that says something. He’s struck out 35 batters over 32 innings as well, contributing in your league’s strikeout category as well.
15-Team Leagues
Félix Hernández , SEA SP (52% ownership), FAAB Bid - $6 - The only reason Hernandez is still 52-percent owned in leagues is because his name and his track record. If people actually watched him pitch, he would be an afterthought. That said, Hernandez has turned things around in June, notching very good outings in four of his five starts. He has a 3.41 ERA in June compared to 6.68 in May and 4.96 in March. His notable improvements are his walks are down, his groundball-to-flyball ratio is way up and because of that, he’s allowing less home runs. If he can continue doing all three of those things, maybe he’ll be worth more than 15-team league formats.
Franklin Barreto , OAK 2B, SS (4% ownership), FAAB Bid - $4-5 - Matt Chapman is coming back soon, but Barreto is playing to stay relevant in this Oakland lineup. Over his last seven games alone, he has five extra-base hits, three homers, 10 RBI and five runs scored. His multi-position eligibility is intriguing as well. I wouldn’t want to own him in much more than 15 team leagues only because I’m unsure if he’ll be sent down or not.
Shelby Miller , ARI SP (12% ownership), FAAB Bid - $4 - I can understand completely if you plan to take a wait and see approach with Miller, but he’s a risk worth taking in some instances. If your staff is depleted and looking for a spark, he could be the answer sometime in the near future. It wasn’t that long ago that we saw Miller notch back-to-back-to-back sub-4 ERA seasons before his move to Arizona and Tommy John surgery. The humidor could help him pitch in Arizona as well, something he did not do a good job of back in 2016. He’s worth a dart if you need some starting pitching help.
*Ownership percentages courtesy of Yahoo
** FAAB bids based on $100 budget