The season grinds on, and if your teams look like most of mine, the injury situation keeps getting worse before it gets better. Here’s to hoping you are still in the thick of things in at least one deep league; let’s do our RITD thing and look at some names that may be of interest to those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.
NL
Frank Schwindel. Weirdly, the only league where I own Schwindel is an AL-only keeper league, because I added him mid-year when he was up with the A’s and I was (obviously) desperate for some corner infield depth. He’s on the Cubs now, and after a huge week (which included raising his average about 50 points over the course of 5 games, and hitting 3 homers over 4 games) he suddenly went from 1% to 10% owned in CBS leagues. This, of course, means he’s probably long gone in your garden variety NL-only league, but is he worth adding in slightly shallower formats if he’s available? He’s a 29-year old whose total major league experience before this year was going 1 for 15 for the Royals in 2019, but he was having a very nice triple A season (and has shown both power and an ability to hit for average for several years in the minors now). He appears to have earned himself a regular gig as the Cubs first baseman for the remainder of the season, so it probably doesn’t hurt to try to get in on the action while he’s playing regularly and hitting well.
Corey Knebel. Knebel is back from injury and not only pitching well for the Dodgers, he’s already at the back end of games (and got a one-out save this weekend in an extra inning game against the Mets). We’ll see if he proves to be a decent NL-only middle reliever after a three and a half month absence due to a lat issue, but if you’re looking for a nice K rate Knebel has always been able to provide one in the past. He’s only pitched 8 innings in 2021 between April and his return this month, but he already has 13 strikeouts, and the only two appearances in which he gave up runs were his last two in April before he hit the IL.
Shogo Akiyama. As the season began, I truly believed Akiyama would have at least a smidge of deep league value at some point during the season, and now we’re running out of time for him to prove me right. He may have limited at bats with the Reds, but I’m going to give him one last chance to get it in gear and show us he’s capable of throwing together a stretch where he scores enough runs and steals a base or two that could make a difference in a deep NL-only league. I thought it was interesting that the Reds chose to send Nick Senzel to the minors upon activating him off the IL over the weekend, and that would suggest to me that Akiyama will for the moment continue to get occasional starts or mid-game appearances to rest other players and/or keep him fresh for the stretch run. Even this much may be wishful thinking given that Akiyama hasn’t stolen a single base since July 7th, but he did have a very solid September last year, for what that’s worth.
Joneshwy Fargas. It’s always nice to mention at least one 0% owned player to really feel like we’re living the deep-league dream here, and Fargas fits into that category. The Cubs claimed him from the Mets at the end of July, and even if Fargas is just temporary outfield depth for them, that depth is currently getting tested, which means Fargas is seeing some big league at bats. He’s holding his own so far in the majors in 2021, with a .295 average at least, so if you’re desperate to fill an outfield roster spot he might be better than nothing.
AL
Reynaldo Lopez. Lopez went just three innings in a spot start for the White Sox, and if he gets additional starts this week he’ll likely be stretched out slowly (and those starts would likely be against the Oakland and Tampa Bay, so not ideal opponents for him). The positive news is that he’s been pitching very well this year (in 20 total innings, mostly out of the bullpen, he has 22 strikeouts and a 1.35/0.75 WHIP). He’s said he’s made some “mechanical tweaks” that he thinks are working, and while we’ve all heard that from plenty of pitchers plenty of times before, his career numbers are awful enough (including a dreadful K rate) that he really has nowhere to go but up. He’s still just 27 though, and I’m going to keep an eye on him over the final six weeks of the season in case he emerges as a decent AL-only option for now or even in the future.
Joe Barlow. Those mining for saves should note that Barlow has received and converted the last two such opportunities for the Texas Rangers. He was at 5% owned in CBS leagues when I jotted down his name to write this blurb, and I see he’s already up to 9%, so evidently some folks are taking notice. He’s only pitched 14.2 innings this year, but his stats are spectacular: the lone run he gave up on July 3rd is the only earned run he’s allowed all year, and he’s only given up 5 hits and 7 walks to go along with 22 Ks. It should also be noted that he was 7 for 7 in save opportunities at triple A in 2021.
Tyler Wade. Wade is another player whose ownership climbed significantly over the weekend, due in large part to the fact that he stole 5 bases over the course of just 6 games last week. He’s been a true utility man for the Yankees, having appeared in 73 games now (just 97 official at bats) and being used almost equally between second (18 appearances), third (20), short (19), and the outfield (17). Obviously his stolen bases can’t continue on the pace that he was racking them up last week, but he could still be a decent deep-league speed source for the remainder of the season.
Victor Reyes. Reyes is 26 now and somehow is once again in the position where he hasn’t shown anything impressive this year in terms of taking his hitting to the next level, and yet finds himself on a major league team getting a fair amount of playing time (seeing regular at bats in the Detroit outfield after the horrible Akil Baddoo/Derek Hill collision). So far he’s taking decent advantage of the opportunity: while he’s still at just .207 average/.236 OBP on the year overall (135 at bats), he’s currently 6 for his last 18. I’m not expecting much from him, but he’s been a decent AL-only fill in/flier for speed in the past if you can get him in your lineup at the right time (which I’m hoping will happen over the next week or two, as I picked him up in a fantasy-baseball-meets-real-life-baseball replacement for Baddoo in my AL-only league).
