It happens every year. Bath time is disrupted by the ringing of my flip phone. Thinking it’s Subway getting back to me about my sandwich artist application, I rush out of the tub to answer. Alas, it’s just a college buddy wanting me to fill an abandoned team in his dynasty league. Now there’s water all over the floor. These teams are almost always terrible. It’s like buying a car and finding out there’s no engine and the seat cushions smell like homicide. Now what? We rebuild it baby! Whether the team’s suckiness is your own doing or the work of a deadbeat previous owner, rebuilding can be painful. If the team is just completely barren or is full of bloated contracts, there are players you can target now to speed up the process and get things moving in the right direction.
These are going to be players with some risk attached. They have flaws. But that’s likely what you’re left to work with in terms of available talent at this point. All of the players I’m going to mention are bats and it’s not by accident. If you can help it, avoid investing in closers, pitching prospects, and high-risk teenage hitting prospects unless you plan to flip them at peak value. Those assets can be even more risky and could keep you stuck in a perpetual rebuild if they don’t pan out. This week I’ll go over five names that should be available in shallower leagues before digging down even deeper with five more names next week. I’m using CBS and Fantrax ownership percentages since they are formats that cater to dynasty players.
Oswaldo Arcia, OF | Twins | CBS 14% Fantrax 37%
Arcia has the highest ownership percentages of this group, but he’s a frustrating player to own. On one hand, there’s real power and he slugged .452 with 20 homers in 2014. On the other hand, there are also real contact issues and he posted a .231 batting average and a 31% strikeout rate to go along with those 20 bombs. Arcia had a weird 2015. He entered the season as a popular late-round pick, but was derailed by injuries before finding himself leapfrogged by players like Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario, and of course Miguel Sano. He went on a tear at Triple-A in July but is slumping hard in August. At the end of the day this is a 24-year-old power hitter that has flashed his upside and could still figure things out, so he makes an interesting target if you can see past his warts.
Zack Cozart, SS | Reds | CBS 12% Fantrax 34%
Sometimes a rebuilding team needs to take on a player with a major injury in hopes that they return to form. Cozart is going to miss the remainder of 2015 and may not even be ready at the start of 2016 after tearing up his knee, but he was in the midst of a career year at 30 years old, hitting nine homers and driving in 28 runs in just 53 games. He had also lowered his strikeout percentage and increased his walk percentage for the third straight year. Between the major injury and the “he’s 30” scarlet letter, Cozart has probably been left for dead in a lot of leagues.
Danny Santana, OF | Twins | CBS 12% Fantrax 30%
Santana is similar to Arcia in that he had a great year in 2014 and then it all turned to goop. But like Arcia he’s also still on the right side of 25. True, his 2014 batting average was fueled by some serious BABIP and he strikes out too much, but here’s another case where a young player still has time to figure things out. In 22 games at Triple-A, he’s been punched out just 13% of the time while also taking more walks. Baby steps. He’s currently on the minor league disabled list with a wrist issue, so we’re pretty much at rock bottom in terms of his value. Could he end up being a quad-A guy? Sure. But this list is about finding treasure in the trash, and that’s going to take some courage.
Dalton Pompey, OF | Blue Jays | CBS 13% Fantrax 30%
I think I’d take just about anybody in that Blue Jays lineup right now to be honest. Pompey coasted all the way to the majors in 2014, but it proved to be premature after a brief 23-game stay. He struggled, went all the way down to Double-A, and eventually made it back up to Triple-A Buffalo midsummer. He’s been better since, hitting .294 with six steals in August and is once again on the verge of contributing to the major league club. Pompey’s best tool is his speed, but there’s upside for a .270 average and ~10 homers in addition to the 20+ steals.
Jurickson Profar, MI | Rangers | CBS 9% Fantrax 24%
Once a top prospect, shoulder injuries have kept Profar off the field for the better part of the past two years. He should return in 2016 however, and there might not be a better buy low in dynasty leagues right now. Of the five names here, this would be my primary target. Owners are likely questioning the shoulder, where he’ll play, and whether his ceiling has changed. Those are all legit concerns for a team that’s competing, but if you’re in rebuild mode those are risks that you can take on. You’re collecting as much cheap talent as you can get your hands on, and you can sort out the details later. After all the hype and injury over the past three years, Profar will still be just 23 years old entering the 2016 season.
