I feel like we’re in that extra dreadful part of the deep-league FAAB season: the real-life and (in most leagues) fantasy trade deadlines have passed, any player who might be slightly serviceable has been picked off the waiver wire, and folks who have any remaining FAAB money or waiver claims just need to hope that someone interesting comes along once MLB rosters expand. At this time of year, some leagues are as active as cutthroat as ever as owners scramble to do whatever they can to gain that extra point or two that might make a difference in the final standings. In other leagues, though, I’m seeing lots of completely checked-out owners. The beginning of football season will only exacerbate the situation, so why not take advantage of it? Even if you’re buried in the standings, this last chunk of the baseball season is no time to tune out completely. It’s never too early to reflect on what went right and wrong this year, and it’s also a great time to pay attention to what’s happening now — while other fantasy players are ignoring baseball altogether, why not start making notes on players and situations that may factor into your draft prep for 2022? While I’m still in a daily battle to make the right decisions in a few leagues where the money spots will come down to the final days (if not hours) of the year, I’m simultaneously already thinking about next season. And this week, we’ll switch it up a bit: instead of concentrating on a handful of guys at the very bottom of the waiver wire barrel, we’ll expand our horizons slightly by looking at one player in each league who’s closer to the 20% owned threshold.
Nicky Lopez. I knew Lopez had been hitting well of late, but I didn’t realize his ownership had climbed out of true deep league territory. If you go back four weeks, Lopez is hitting .291 over that span, with a homer and an eye-catching 10 steals. Overall, he ranks 5th among AL second baseman in that period of time in terms of standard 5×5 roto value. I had noticed that it seemed like every time I’d looked at a Royals box score recently I saw that Lopez had stolen at least one base, and then I also noticed that his ownership doubled last week, from 9% to 18%. I thought I’d take a closer look to see if he could help me in a couple of shallower leagues that I’m still fighting for points in, and/or if he was worth jotting down now as a name that I might consider at the end of a draft next year. (Mid-blurb interruption: it’s now Monday as I finish up this post, and Lopez is suddenly up to 27% ownership. I guess speed-hungry owners are paying attention and acting accordingly). Lopez is 26 and his base-stealing basically came out of nowhere compared to his last couple of years with the Royals: in 2019 and 2020 combined, he hit in the low .200’s with an OBP well under .300, and in 159 games (548 at bats) he had a grand total of one steal. So far in 2022, he’s played in 112 games (340 at bats) and has 18 steals and 5 triples — and he’s also hitting an impressive .282/.353 OBP on the season. For what it’s worth, this year’s stats are more in line with his minor league numbers, and I’m intrigued enough to wish I’d grabbed him while I could have in my AL-only league. When looking ahead to next year, it’s worth noting that he will likely only be eligible at shortstop (as opposed to SS and 2B, as he is in most leagues this year), but he’ll be on my radar as a middle infield option. As far as the remainder of 2021 goes, he looks like a legit source of speed for leagues of any size.
Connor Joe. Joe is extremely easy to root for — after excellent minor league seasons in 2018 and 2019, he spent 2020 not only navigating a pandemic and canceled minor league season, but also fighting and surviving a battle with testicular cancer. He’s continued to prove his resiliency in 2021: he’s finally getting a chance to play regularly for the Rockies after bouncing up and down from the majors to the minors this year (he also had a 1-for-8 cup of coffee with the Giants in 2019) — including being demoted in late June to open up playing time for the likes of Matt Adams. Perhaps it’s hard to get too excited about his future when you realize that he’s now already 29 years old, especially when you add that to the fact that the Dodgers — who have proven to be pretty darn adept at evaluating talent — gave up on him. But I think there’s a decent chance he continues to make an impact at the MLB level beyond 2021. After all, one of the ramifications of the Dodgers’ ability to acquire a surplus of talent is that they don’t have room for all of it and they have to unload some pretty good players. For a guy who’s only played in 36 games this year (13 at first, 23 in the outfield), it sure seems like I hear him mentioned an awful lot when I’m watching baseball highlights at the end of the day. And recently, he’s been one of the few bright spots for the Rockies, excelling while filling in for Raimel Tapia as their regular lead-off hitter and left fielder. If we do what we did with Lopez and go back 28 days, Joe is hitting .313 with a .390 OBP during that time, has 6 homers and 20 RBI, and is the 6th most valuable NL outfielder in 5×5 value over that period. Proving himself in Colorado is obviously a good thing for fantasy purposes, and let’s not forget that the presumed addition of the DH in the NL can only help his value. Joe is currently 18% owned in CBS leagues, but I’ve already grabbed him and have been playing him in my starting lineup in a 15-team mixed league, and I’ll also be keeping a close eye on him heading into 2022.
