I know I promised to teach you today how to move up quickly in the standings. I will share this important information with you soon, but today I wanted to continue with the important subject of evaluating free agents. We’ll call this part 2 of the series (and there may be a part 3, part 4, etc.)
Today, I want to do a case study on how I chose to replace a player on my roster. Of the 25 players on my roster yesterday, 19 had been acquired via free agency and six were drafted before the season began. One of the six was Nomar Mazara, the 23-year-old outfielder for the Texas Rangers.
Mazara is hitting .270, with 46 runs scored, 15 home runs, 57 RBI and 1 stolen base. He has made a significant contribution to my team. Now, consider another player. Stephen Piscotty was drafted and dropped back in April. He got off to a terrible start in the 2018 season and nobody wanted him.
Several weeks ago, Piscotty started to turn things around. In the past 30 days, he is hitting .304, with 16 runs scored, 7 home runs, 17 RBI and 0 stolen bases. His OPS is .998. During that same period, Mazara is hitting 283, with 9 runs scored, 1 home run and 15 RBI. His average is good, but the power is gone.
While Mazara’s season numbers are better across the board, and his batting average is still good, something is wrong. He has just one home run in the last 30 days. Granted, Piscotty is playing for a better team than Mazara, but the latter may be injured. Mazara’s OPS during the past month is .649.
Tomorrow: Evaluating free agents, part 3.
Doubting Thomas' Fantasy Sports 