Bryce Harper, Top 100 Hitters, 2017 Fantasy Baseball

Happy Bryce Harper Replacement Week! :::sobs into the couch cushion I have been carrying around since watching the video of Harper tumbling over that base:::

The cruel baseball gods took Harper away from us just after we got Trout back. As of this writing, there is no timetable for his return from what they are calling a “significant bone bruise.” I’m no doctor (sorry to peel back the curtain), but how the heck did that non-contact injury get a bone bruise diagnosis? I thought for sure he tore every CL in his body. I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that he tore his UCL from reaching for his knee so fast. But a bone bruise? Interesting. Let’s just hope he wasn’t evaluated by the Mets’ training staff because “bone bruise” is going to very quickly become “Oh crap, his knee actually isn’t there anymore. We can’t find it anywhere.”

Now, there is no replacing Harper’s production on your fantasy team, especially in the middle of August. That much is obvious. If you’re lucky, you took Grey’s advice about selling a superstar to heart and cashed in at the deadline. I have Harper in a keeper league where I currently sit in first place, so I have to decide if I want to deal him now to make a playoff push, pray he comes back this season and helps me, or just accept the fact that he is done for the fantasy season but still keep him for next year. I am probably going with option B/C, if we’re being honest with each other here.

I’m removing him from our beloved 100 while we wait to see how he looks this week. Hopefully, the baseball gods decide to heal him from his mystery bruise quickly and we can have him back. But it seems more likely we are going to be without him for most, if not all, of the fantasy season. Now, enough crying about Harper (at least publicly). Anyway, to the notes…

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Nolan Arenado – Deep breath. X-Rays on his hand came back negative. That is the good news. The bad news is that hand injuries are never good news. Luckily, he was hit by a Vance Worley fastball and not someone with a real fastball. A fast fastball, you might say. :::insert laughter reel here::: Anyway, it sounds like he is going to be fine.

Willson Contreras – Heads to the disabled list with a hamstring injury just as he was becoming the Girl on Fire. 10 home runs and 29 RBIs to go with a .311 average in the second half, what a tease! Sounds like he could be out for a while, so it’s back to Frankencatcher streaming.

Joey Gallo – I went on the Friends With Fantasy Benefits podcast last week, and Gallo is one of the guys we talked about. You could lose a day in this kid’s Fangraphs page looking at his ridiculous peripherals. He either strikes out, walks, or homers about 60% of the time. For realsies, almost ? of his at bats end in the ball not being touched or going over the fence. The good news is that he has been crushing it lately. His batting average isn’t going to help anyone, but 32 long balls sure will. If you’re in OBP or OPS leagues, even better. While the Hard%, HR/FB%, and FB% numbers are fun, his BABIP surprised me at just .235. You would think that a guy who makes that kind of contact and puts the ball in the air would have better luck.

Nelson Cruz – Your PR15 champion, with a smooth 12.88. Seven home runs and roughly a gazillion RBIs. He’s doing his usual Cruz thing except he is about to easily set a career high for RBIs at age 37. Dude is aging like a fine wine. Who retires first, Tom Brady or Nelson Cruz?

Andrew Benintendi – Coming in at third overall in PR15 with an 11.96 (Giancarlo Stanton is second and will probably be first by Monday or Tuesday). The Great Bendini had fallen off a bit in the dog days of summer, but he is now getting hot at the right time. He went long ball twice against the Yankees the other day and also stole a base in four straight days. I told you guys to hold on him when he was struggling, so hopefully you took that good advice.

Eddie Rosario – If we’re going to stream some Bryce Harper replacements, can I interest you in some Eddie Rosario stock? His 7.68 is the 17th best PR15 in baseball, and he has five home runs in the last seven days. The Twinkies are hot, and he is hitting .293 on the year. He’s not going to replace Harper, but he’s a streaming option in the short term while we piece this thing together. Oh, and just a 15.6% ownership in ESPN leagues.

Melky Cabrera – His ownership is still below 75% in ESPN leagues, but he has been doing his usual thing at the plate (except for that year he did something very different). He’s 23rd in PR15 and should provide some vanilla production for you as a Harper replacement while not really killing you in any category. As just a guy, he’s fine.

Jarrod Dyson – I added Dyson to the Top 100 as a straight SAGNOF pick. 6.18 PR15 is nice, but it’s the steals we really want. I have been rostering him in a few leagues since April or May just for the steals, and he has served his purpose. He won’t do much else, but he also isn’t going to kill you. He is amazingly owned in just 19% of ESPN leagues, which is pretty remarkable. More people can’t use a guy who is going to steal 35+ bases? Come on.

Note: These rankings are considered ROS Trade Value

**Mike Maher’s Top ¹⁰⁰ Hitters**

(Rankings based on 12-team Roto. GREEN = player rising. RED = player dropping. BLUE = new to the Top 100 or Honorable Mentions.)

Rank	Name	Team	Pos
1	Mike Trout	LAA	OF
2	Paul Goldschmidt	ARI	1B
3	Jose Altuve	HOU	2B
4	Giancarlo Stanton	MIA	OF
5	Nolan Arenado	COL	3B
6	Mookie Betts	BOS	OF
7	Charlie Blackmon	COL	OF
8	Daniel Murphy	WSH	1B/2B
9	J.D. Martinez	ARI	OF
10	Joey Votto	CIN	1B
11	Cody Bellinger	LAD	1B
12	Freddie Freeman	ATL	1B
13	Anthony Rizzo	CHC	1B
14	Aaron Judge	NYY	OF
15	Kris Bryant	CHC	3B/OF
16	George Springer	HOU	OF
17	Corey Seager	LAD	SS
18	Nelson Cruz	SEA	OF
19	Jose Ramirez	CLE	3B/OF
20	Francisco Lindor	CLE	SS
21	Robinson Cano	SEA	2B
22	Marcell Ozuna	MIA	OF
23	Jean Segura	SEA	2B/SS
24	Dee Gordon	MIA	2B
25	Manny Machado	BAL	3B/SS
26	Anthony Rendon	WSH	3B
27	Jake Lamb	ARI	3B
28	Edwin Encarnacion	CLE	1B
29	Justin Turner	LAD	3B
30	Mike Moustakas	KC	3B
31	Miguel Sano	MIN	3B/OF
32	Billy Hamilton	CIN	OF
33	Kyle Seager	SEA	3B
34	Khris Davis	OAK	OF
35	Brian Dozier	MIN	2B
36	Jose Abreu	CWS	1B
37	Justin Upton	DET	OF
38	Christian Yelich	MIA	OF
39	Travis Shaw	MIL	1B/3B
40	Ryan Braun	MIL	OF
41	Wil Myers	SD	1B/OF
42	Adam Duvall	CIN	OF
43	Josh Donaldson	TOR	3B
44	Rougned Odor	TEX	2B
45	Starling Marte	PIT	OF
46	Tommy Pham	STL	OF
47	Gary Sanchez	NYY	C
48	Eric Thames	MIL	1B/OF
49	Ryan Zimmerman	WAS	1B
50	Andrew Benintendi	BOS	OF
51	Lorenzo Cain	KC	OF
52	Eric Hosmer	KC	1B
53	Elvis Andrus	TEX	SS
54	Jonathan Schoop	BAL	2B
55	Justin Smoak	TOR	1B
56	Jay Bruce	CLE	1B/OF
57	A.J. Pollock	ARI	OF
58	Eduardo Nunez	SF	3B/SS/OF
59	Miguel Cabrera	DET	1B
60	Xander Bogaerts	BOS	SS
61	Buster Posey	SF	C/1B
62	Andrew McCutchen	PIT	OF
63	Chris Taylor	LAD	3B/2B/OF
64	Matt Carpenter	STL	1B/2B/3B
65	Michael Conforto	NYM	OF
66	Adrian Beltre	TEX	3B
67	Domingo Santana	MIL	OF
68	Corey Dickerson	TB	OF
69	Mark Reynolds	COL	1B
70	Whit Merrifield	KC	2B/OF
71	Adam Jones	BAL	OF
72	Ian Happ	CHC	2B/OF
73	Didi Gregorious	NYY	SS
74	Andrelton Simmons	LAA	SS
75	Yonder Alonso	SEA	1B
76	Michael Brantley	CLE	OF
77	Brett Gardner	NYY	OF
78	Logan Morrison	TB	1B
79	Rafael Devers	BOS	3B
80	Avisail Garcia	CHW	OF
81	Paul DeJong	STL	3B/SS/2B
82	Marwin Gonzalez	HOU	1B/3B/OF
83	Yasiel Puig	LAD	OF
84	Steven Souza Jr.	TB	OF
85	Jedd Gyorko	STL	2B/3B/SS
86	Yoenis Cespedes	NYM	OF
87	Evan Longoria	TB	3B
88	Mark Trumbo	BAL	OF
89	Ian Kinsler	DET	2B
90	Carlos Gomez	TEX	OF
91	Hanley Ramirez	BOS	1B
92	Matt Adams	ATL	1B
93	Alex Bregman	HOU	3B
94	Yoan Moncada	CHW	3B
95	Joey Gallo	TEX	3B
96	Justin Bour	MIA	1B
97	Josh Harrison	PIT	2B/3B
98	Ender Inciarte	ATL	OF
99	Carlos Santana	CLE	1B
100	Jarrod Dyson	SEA	OF

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

Rank	Name	Team	Pos
101	DJ LeMahieu	COL	2B
102	Gerardo Parra	COL	1B/OF
104	Cesar Hernandez	PHI	2B
105	Manuel Margot	SD	OF
103	Eugenio Suarez	CIN	3B

Dropped from the rankings: Bryce Harper, Willson Contreras, Gregory Polanco

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If you want to talk fantasy baseball or football or have players you want Mike to feature, hit him up on Twitter at @mikeMaher or post a comment below!

Mike Maher’s Top 100 Hitters

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

**Mike Maher’s Top ¹⁰⁰ Hitters**