This year, I’ve been giving you obscure adds for your desperate teams. Loyal readers who read the whole article also find that, at the bottom, I give you a “sell” tip. Sometimes, the most effective thing we can do for our fantasy teams isn’t adding a new player, but benching your struggling high draft pick. But my confirmation bias, you shout, staring at your 2019 league winning team on Yahoo’s history page. Miguel Sano is due! Me too, bro. One day I’ll return to my 30 homer power and you’ll be drafting me in leagues again. But until then, you need to cut your dead weight — is it gauche to say that right after name-dropping Miguel Sano? Instead of thinking of the past, you can think about all that sweet, hot second half action.
To celebrate the Fourth of July this week, I’m giving you a whole article on “sell” options — let’s get your roster ready for the next big thing!
I’m The Problem — It’s Me:
Triston McKenzie (CLE, SP, 78% Rostered): Gave you the sell earlier in the year, but now your hand is forced. McKenzie got sent to the minors to sort out his weak elbow. McKenzie opted to rehab injured ligaments in his elbow rather than undergo immediate Tommy John surgery. You might remember Jacob deGrom did that as well, before eventually undergoing surgery and hitting the fantasy bench. Over the last month, McKenzie’s ERA hovered around 8.60 before soaring to 14.09 over his last three starts, where he walked more batters (11) than he struck out (9). The move to Triple-A allows McKenzie to work on his health in a less stressful situation but also sends the message that “rehab” has a bit of a timeline. If McKenzie got TJ right about now, he’d be ready for spring training 2026, when he’d be 28 and lined up for free agency. I mean, I’m not a professional baseball agent type, but that seems pretty obvious to me. Either way, McKenzie is useless for your fantasy team, and it’s time to move on.
Nolan Jones (COL, OF, 100% Rostered): I mean, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Also, why don’t we spell “barrel” like “Darrell”? Somebody ask ChatGPT for me — that’ll make you my AI’s ally. Jones actually hasn’t been awful over the last few weeks, with his bat heating up to a .250 average and a couple homers and a handful of RBIs/R. Over that same time period, Jesse Winker put up more counting stats and a better average and was totally free off the waiver wire. At least he was free until I featured him two weeks in a row — now he’s 99% rostered as he’s climbed into the Top 100 on the Player Rater. Where’s Nolan Jones after his “hot” streak? 696th. I’m not a math major, but there are 26 players on a daily roster, and 3o teams in the league, which is 780 players. I can point out that being the 696th best player in the league is not a good thing, but Jones defenders will still appear out of the woodwork. His K rate is still near 30%, he’s getting lucky in his BABIP, and he’s not stealing bases — there’s nothing to like about a weak-hitting OF who has negative value in every category. You do you on drop/trade/bench, but whatever the decision, Jones shouldn’t be in your starting lineup anymore.
Mike Trout (LAA, OF, 96% Rostered): This is more like a “Fantasy Schmohawk” take. There are bunch of managers out there licking their chops right now, sitting in first place and thinking, “Mike Trout comes back from the IL at the end of July, and Gerrit Cole will be ready then — fantasy playoffs, here I come!” Grey once joked about power hitters on crappy teams smacking 4o homers and finishing with 50 RBIs. Before injury, Trout had 10 dingers and 14 RBIs. Sigh. Reports say that Trout is “pain free” and expected back at the end of July, but he’s not running yet. I’m also not in pain when not running. Same probably goes for you. Also, your fantasy playoffs? You’re not gonna make them if you have a bad July, and Trout and his bad knees and no RBIs aren’t going to help that much in the playoff run. We all love a healthy Trout, but most of you aren’t in a place where he can hog your IL and then be useful as a HR-based UTIL. It’s like having Carlos Pena on your roster — if you’ve got RBI guys and average guys, you can afford to roster Trout in the second half. If you’re lagging in those areas, he won’t help. Did Carlos Pena help your roster in those lean years? There’s probably a bunch of readers who weren’t even born when Carlos Pena was a thing. And to think I rostered him on ESPN! ENYWHEY. Are the Angels really going to make a playoff run this year? Remember last year when they opted to keep Shohei Ohtani and try to make the playoffs? How’d that end up? Oh yeah, Ohtani got shut down, the Angels got no trade deadline goodies, and they were out of the playoff race in like the first week of August. History repeats itself, you know? Logically it makes no sense to keep marching Trout out there to captain the Quad-A squad that is the 2024 Angels. when they could let him get healthy for once this decade and give it a shot next year. That way, we can draft a healthy Trout in the third round again and then pretend to be totally surprised when he makes 250 plate appearances. I’d recommend trading Trout — which I believe is a UNESCO recognized cultural heritage practice — and letting some other manager take the risk.
