Rolling In The Deep: Gage-ing Your Progress

Hello again, friends, and welcome to another week of searching for anyone who might be able to help our deep league teams. Yesterday, I heard an announcer casually mention that we were already past the one-quarter mark of the season, and I have to say it made me feel slightly panicked. Let’s just say that I have a lot of players on multiple teams that haven’t quite given me a quarter year’s worth of production. I’m trying to stay active and improve my teams that are struggling where I can, and it’s definitely that time of the year when tough decisions need to be made about underperforming players. As always, the deeper the league, the fewer options you are likely to have, and sometimes that actually feels like a good thing. It can be a relief in a way, knowing you just have to stick it out with certain players who you might give up on if there were legitimate alternatives available. This week, let’s take our usual lap around the deep league pool and see if we can find anyone that might prove worthy of scooping up while we remember that there is still plenty of time left in the season.

AL

Gage Workman. Workman has had a small bump in ownership of late, and is now 8% owned in Fantrax leagues. He’s hitting fifth for the Tigers on Thursday, starting at second base (thought he qualifies just at third coming into the year in most leagues). It was Kerry Carpenter’s injury that opened up a roster spot for Workman, and he’s already delivered with his first major league homer, a huge two-run shot to beat the Royals earlier this week. The former Rule 5 draft pick is now 26, but was absolutely raking in triple A with a .358 average, .413 OBP, with 4 homers, 12 steals, and an OPS that starts with “1.” Also, he wears number 99, so that’s kinda fun.

Mickey Gasper. Gasper’s ownership has rocketed up from 2 to 3%, as he was called up with the Red Sox when Roman Anthony hit the IL. For that small niche of fantasy players who are searching for an AL-only catcher who may not play a ton but likely won’t hurt you, Gasper may be your guy. Yawn, I know, but he was hitting very well in the minors, as he had a .295 average at the time of his promotion. In his first game with the Sox, he had three hits, so if nothing else, the guy knows how to make a good first impression.

Nick Loftin. Yes, I’m already yawning again, especially because I’ve already mentioned Loftin once this year. But Loftin has been playing enough with the Royals lately to warrant another very deep league look if you’re searching for anyone getting at bats. He’s already played at first, second, third, and the outfield, and qualifies at 2B and OF in most leagues. He’s had one or two RBI in four of his last six games, so at least he’s mixing it up a bit and producing some counting stats, which it feels like many players on many of my rosters have simply forgotten how to do.

Ryan Zeferjahn. I’m sure Zeferjahn is long gone in anything resembling a deep AL-only league, but I was surprised to see that he’s still just 15% owned in Fantrax leagues, so I thought I’d give him a shout-out for those in slightly shallower leagues where he might be available. The Angels bullpen has been as disastrous as they come this season, which is really saying something this year, but Zeferjahn has been a rare bright spot. Maybe Ben Joyce, who is still rehabbing in the minors, will be the answer at the back of the bullpen at some point, but let me be the first to say that I’m getting a little sick of waiting around for Ben Joyce to be healthy and effective. Like, what are we going on, about a half-decade at this point? Anyhow, Zeferjahn’s now rocking a 1.062 WHIP with 29 Ks and a save in 21.2 innings, so I’m looking at the bird in my hand for now.

NL

Leo Jimenez. I’m not sure there’s anything to see here, even in the deepest leagues, but after a big game on Wednesday for the Marlins, where he had three hits and a steal, Jimenez finds himself in the starting lineup again on Thursday. The former Blue Jay is now hitting a not-bad .267 on the year with an even better .378 OBP, so I’m gonna keep an eye on him and where he fits in on the infield depth chart in Florida as the season progresses. Obviously, they’re already pretty set up in the middle, but Jimenez has also played five games at third base as well as DH’ing three times.

Huascar Brazoban. I’ve been having a tough time in some of my deeper leagues this year of trying to figure out when to grab a “good” middle reliever to play over a “bad” starter. Why, oh why couldn’t I have just held on to Aaron Ashby in the three or four leagues I grabbed him in to start the year? The middle reliever game is super fun when it works, and you grab a guy for a few days or a week, and he delivers a win or a save and a small pile of Ks, with a few clean innings to help your ratios. It’s not so fun when he delivers two or three earned runs and can’t even complete an inning. I haven’t had the best timing with a few guys this year (don’t get me started on Phil Maton), including Brazoban, but I’m still making him my middle reliever name of the week in hopes he can be a stabilizing force in a couple of my lineups. We’ll see if he can reward my faith by improving his current K/BB rate of 2, and keep it rolling with more vulture wins (he already has two) and his impressive, sub-1 WHIP.

Jorge Mateo. Mateo was originally signed by the Braves as a stopgap for the injured Ha-Seong Kim, who is now healthy and back with the team. I think it’s worth keeping an eye on Mateo, though, as we see how Kim fares in his return to big league action, and since utility man Mauricio Dubon has cooled off considerably since his hot start to the year. Mateo may not have a clear path to playing time right now, but I think it’s worth mentioning that in the last couple of weeks, he’s hitting .360 with a homer and two steals.

Bryce Johnson. Speaking of guys who don’t have an easy path to playing time, we move on to Johnson, who many probably didn’t even realize was up with the Padres and occasionally playing the outfield. He’s gotten a slight bump up the depth chart with Fernando Tatis being used at second on occasion this year, I suppose, and we certainly can’t expect too much from a 2% owned player. He’s in the lineup Thursday, albeit batting ninth, and I should also mention he’s 30 years old. The classic, end of the post and end of the lineup guy who is only on the radar for those of us in the deepest leagues chasing every single counting stat — like the four steals that Johnson has this year — that we can get.