As the MLB season wears on, the stats players accumulate begin to hold more significance. Flukes are not easy to sustain for a month and a half of play, while slumps edging into this part of the season may be trends. Each Thursday, SWN will be highlighting some potential trade targets that may be buy-low or sell-high candidates.
This Thursday's focus will be on three players whose success should be taken seriously-and traded for.
Brian Dozier, 2B, Minnesota Twins
Dozier may be batting just .239, but he's been an incredibly valuable fantasy asset. For starters you drafted him super late. Second, he's provided speed out of your 2B spot (15 steals) as well as power (15 home runs). His .OPS is on par with studs like Robinson Cano and Chase Utley, and he's shown more power than both of them combined. His average is low sure, but his BABIP is at a brutal .245 and he's become a more selective hitter at the dish who has increased contact on swings outside the zone.
He flashed power in 2013, making him a relatively popular late sleeper in drafts this year, but he's three away from his full season total from 2013. Go get Dozier if his owner in your league thinks he's selling high.
Melky Cabrera, OF, Toronto Blue Jays
Cabrera has returned as a high-end fantasy outfielder-he may not be hitting the peaks of his time with the San Francisco Giants, but he's been an all-around contributor. It's kind of odd, seeing as how he has a batting average 20 points higher than what he finished with last year in a comparable amount of at-bats, but the numbers don't lie. The key difference is a power spike-on Thursday Melky swatted his 11th home run.
His ISO is at a career-high .174 and so is his home run to fly ball ratio (13.8 percent), although neither spike is begging for regression. The power jump is real since Toronto's such a power-hitter friendly ballpark. He may not be a masher, but 20-plus dingers with a near-.300 average is damn good.
Scott Kazmir, SP, Oakland A's
Kazmir is dominant, and it's for real. He seems to have solved the control issues that used to ruin him, and while his strikeout numbers are down from 2013, he's walking fewer batters than ever before while refusing to surrender long balls.
The nearly two-run drop in his ERA from last season to this one is backed up by his FIP (2.98) and xFIP (3.42), both solid numbers even if they're not his 2.08 ERA. Wins are notoriously fickle as well, but he's pitching for a premier American League club so nobody should be surprised he's racked up a 9-2 record.
Need more convincing? He's ramped up his ground-ball rate, inducing nearly 50 percent of his outs on the ground. That's slightly less effective for fantasy, but with his increased control it just makes for a very, very good pitcher.
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