Corners Report: August Shopping

Let’s begin with a brief rundown of players who were dealt at the deadline. First the player, then a synopsis for how this will affect their fantasy value.

Luis Garcia, Jr. was dealt to the Yankees. On first blush, a left-handed power bat in Yankee Stadium seems tailor-made, and he could well be that. There are two factors that give me pause. First, he’s going from the only situation he’s ever known, one where he’s never contended, to the pressure cooker that is New York. Lesser men have fallen prey to this situation. Second, his defense was poor enough to move him to first base this year, but Ben Rice occupies that spot and is the number 1 rated player there. So, he’s going back to the keystone. Will he play? Is this a platoon situation? Paul Goldschmidt could bash lefties, and Garcia righties. I’m wary of this one, despite his HR in his first game.

Luis Arraez packs his bags, moving from the West Coast to Philadelphia. This is a great move for him, assuming he hits at the top of the order. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber will feast on their newfound RBI opportunities. Harper, by the way, will move to right field to accommodate, giving him some nice flexibility. Benefits all around here!

Nathaniel Lowe is now in Cleveland, and he has no value besides sucking the helium from a recent Kyle Manzardo hot streak. After all, if you can add several bat only first basemen, you just have to do it. Watch and see, I guess.

Connor Norby went from Florida to the Rockies. He doesn’t seem to have a position to play, and that’s it, really. Let’s go to some interesting players.

Alec Bohm is a player that could have a great end of the season. He’s severely underperforming his expected stats according to our BABIP vs. AVG tool that you should have been subscribing to all season. They just got Arraez as well, making the lineup even more juicy. Finally, I think his lawsuit against his parents is done, and that had to have been weighing on his mind early on. Maybe not, though, as he was that guy who was benched in the playoffs because of his Pout-Pout-Fish demeanor, so he might just be like this now. But if you need a guy who has upside, he’s the best bet based on that metric.

Injuries? You want injuries? Nick Kurtz visited a hand specialist Monday. Even if he avoids a trip to the IL, this is awful for Kurtz owners. Hands kinda grip the bat right? All you can do is wait and hope. He’s a prime shutdown candidate.

Kevin McGonigle is now the face of the Tigers and is doing his best to salve their fans’ wounds from dealing their ace. He’s already hitting nearly .300 his last thirty days and flashing some pop. That’s what we can expect at minimum: .300 average. 20 dingers, 10-15 steals. Just need some lineup support to get past his 60 projected RBI for the season, though 97 runs is good. He’s gotta be untouchable in keepers and will go high next spring in drafts.

I dropped Sal Stewart in a 14-teamer and kinda regret it. Dropping the Rookie of the Year is dumb. He’s gonna be a 30-100 guy. While he won’t help for batting average as much as McGonigle, he’s plenty valuable and is a top-ten bat the last seven days. He’ll be a good power bat in the middle rounds next season.

That’s all for this week! I’ll be on a family vacay next week, so gonna take a week away. But after that…….ranks!