Last month, we took a break from our regularly scheduled deep league programming, and for one week talked instead about players that might already be shaping up to be early value buys next season. This week we’ll do something kind of similar, but also kind of opposite, if that’s not too oxymoronic for everyone. Yes, this week I’ll talk not about pitchers and hitters I’m already getting excited about drafting next year, but those players that I think I’ll be completely out on in 2025. Some of these guys were more expensive on draft day than others, and some were more damaging to one’s fantasy hopes than others, but the one thing they have in common is that for the most part, they have been a big disappointment to me and my teams in 2024. I’m not saying none will have any value in 2024, just that I’m already predicting that none will end up on my rosters, especially if they are drafted where I suspect they will be next year.
Freddy Peralta. Peralta’s strikeouts alone may keep him somewhere near the upper tiers of starting pitchers next year, which will likely keep him out of my price range. His numbers might end up looking pretty decent by the end of the year, but I’m starting to get impatient as I wait for his elite talent to translate into the stats of a true fantasy ace. He just makes too many pitches, particularly too many non-competitive pitches, gets into way too many full counts, and gives up too many homers. I have several Peralta shares this year, but next year I think I might grab a hitter at his price point instead, as I feel like I’m going to be able to find a similar SP profile a few rounds later.
Gleyber Torres. Am I really over Gleyber, or am I subconsciously just trying to reverse jinx him so that he goes on a massive tear and helps propel the multiple fantasy teams on which I have him rostered back into the thick of things? I was an apologist coming into the year as I felt that folks were holding him to an impossible-to-reach standard and considering him a huge disappointment, rather than focusing on the fact that he still was likely to produce solid fantasy value. This year I’m the one who’s hugely disappointed, and it’s hard to imagine targeting him at any price heading into next season.
Paul Goldschmidt. This obviously isn’t a particularly bold take as I don’t think many out there are holding out hope for a bounce back here. It is, however, a reminder to go with your instinct… I went into this year with Goldy on my “do not draft at any price” list but for some reason panicked and took him in one league because I fell victim to mid-draft, fake positional scarcity panic, and planted him on my roster at first base in a draft and hold league. That team is otherwise very solid, but making a better choice at that point in the draft might have been enough to turn it from a good team to a great one. Goldschmidt has been truly hard to watch this year (at least his also-disappointing teammate Nolan Arenado, who I gave up on prior to 2024, still has a plus batting average!)
Ozzie Albies. I’m starting to think the ‘always getting hurt’ thing isn’t just a coincidence; the guy is just fragile. Plus, there’s the fact that he wasn’t particularly good even when he was healthy this year. I’m assuming his price will fall drastically from 2024 to 2025, but I’m not sure it will drop low enough for me to be tempted. Even if he bounces back to some extent, I think there will just be too many other intriguing second base options to waste much time here.
Joe Musgrove. Writing this before Musgrove comes off the IL so that, just in case he looks healthy and pitches brilliantly, I remind myself to not be tempted into future shares. Sometimes you just have a gut instinct that you aren’t meant to be with someone, and that no matter how many good times you had in the past, you’re gonna be more emotionally healthy without that person as part of your future. Yes, he’s looked like a true ace for stretches, but I just don’t know if Musgrove will ever have the consistency when it comes to either health or performance to carve out a spot on my future rosters… sometimes there’s a reason players come with an “injury discount.”
Ryan McMahon. Yes, I know everyone else gave up on him a couple years ago, but I really thought he, with his multi-position eligibility, hitter-friendly home park, and past numbers that were a little better than you thought they were, was undervalued this year. I wasn’t expecting an MVP candidate, but I did think he would be a solid if not spectacular MI/CI in your garden variety 15-team mixed league. Next year, I can see streaming him for a day or even a week at a time, but his ridiculously long cold stretches are brutal and he’s been a serious drag on a couple of my teams this year.
Chris Bassitt. I really thought Bassitt would be a cheap but serviceable starter who would eat innings and be decent enough to help stabilize ERA and WHIP while being solid if not spectacular in terms of providing wins and Ks. His WHIP was between 1.06 and 1.19 each of the last five seasons, but it now stands at an incredibly ugly 1.44 here in mid-August. To make things worse, Bassitt has sprinkled in just enough good-to-great starts that I kept him in a few active lineups way longer than I should have. I’m finally turned off to the point where I can’t imagine I’ll even consider streaming him next year.
J.T. Realmuto. I’m not as adverse to spending for a catcher as most of my Razzball brethren, but I think I’m finally on board to avoid Realmuto on any team, in any draft situation. The fact that a 33-year old catcher, who has been hurt a ton this year and hasn’t been playing well when he has been “healthy,” is still 95% owned in CBS Sports leagues makes me think that folks will still end up comically and incorrectly reaching for him in 2025.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to let us all know who you think you’ve finally given up on as we head in to the last six weeks of the season!
