I am a little short on time this week as I am on vacation. Just like Major League teams and players, fantasy baseball takes four days off to refresh for the stretch run that starts out with a 10 day week.
(Please remember that in our CCO Leagues you are allowed 10 starts for the week not 14 as ESPN doubles the limit as it thinks it is a 14 day week.)
So let’s get right to the trades from last week and instead of me giving some commentary on deals, I would love to hear from some teams that made trades and others that want to critique them below.
CCO Fans Trades last week
• Widespread HisPanic traded Jimmy Paredes to Clark and Addison for Lucas Duda and Jung Ho Kang
• Joe and Joe traded Erick Aybar to Oregon Coastal Cubbies for D.J. LeMahieu
• Clark and Addison traded Xander Bogaerts to Oregon Coastal Cubbies for Brandon Moss
• Oregon Coastal Cubbies trades David Price to Dock Ellis D for Dee Gordon and Jaime Garcia
CCO Trades last week
• Northside Bleacher Bums traded David DeJesus, Chris Davis, Jeremy Hellickson to Daverj’s Batsmen for Dexter Fowler, Torii Hunter, Jesse Chavez
• Bullpen MacGyvers traded Wilin Rosario to What’s Optimism? for Alcides Escobar
• The Wrong Team traded Joey Votto, Melky Cabrera and Brad Ziegler to Daverj’s Batsmen for Mike Napoli, David DeJesus and Danny Salazar.
MLB Best of Last Week
Each week we will review the best performances of the week in all of MLB.
The best player in baseball leads the week and by a wide margin, putting up 46 points by hitting five home runs on the week. The next seven players all had between 32-35 points and are a mix of fantasy studs and waiver wire pick-ups.
The top two names should look familiar as we watched Chris Sale dominate the Cubs on Saturday and Jake Arrieta dominate the White Sox on Sunday. I think Arrieta had the better week if you add in the long ball he hit. The other name that is of interest to Cubs fans is Jonathon Niese. When he pitches like this, he shows why he would be a great addition to our rotation, but the question is how often can he pitch like this.
Chicago Cubs Batters
The offense has been slumping and that doesn’t leave many good options to play in fantasy baseball. Only four players had more than 10 points this week. Anthony Rizzo led the way with 23 points but with only one extra base hit. Dexter Fowler had a much better week but also only one extra base hit. Kris Bryant did something that you won’t see very often, hit two triples with no doubles or home runs on the week. On the week we had one home run from the entire lineup and one from Jake Arrieta.
Chicago Cubs Pitchers
The pitching staff had a down week and still posted a 3.28 ERA on our way to a 3-4 week. Jake Arrieta led the way by picking up two of the three wins on the week, followed by Jon Lester who had a 2.57 ERA in his two outings and 41 points on the week, yet it is still now enough for some of his critics who expect perfection. But this week the starters outpaced the relievers by posting a 1.93 ERA compared to the bullpen’s 6.00 ERA.
CCO Fantasy Leagues
Just a reminder that All-Star week gets rolled into the following week and is a 10 day week!!! You are allowed to have 10 starts in the long week! As we end the first half of the season and have seven weeks left on the regular season in fantasy leagues, let’s take a look at the current playoff scenarios.
CCO League Current Playoff Seedings
- Daverj’s Batmen 11-3
- What’s Optimism? Vivid Reality 9-5
- CubfaninSeattle John 10-4
- FL JimBoC 9-5
- Since 2015 Castleworld 9-5
- Varmit Cnty Ninji Walkers 9-5
- Myrtle Beach Mermen 8-6
- The Wrong Team 8-6
There are four teams with seven wins and three teams with six wins that makes 15 teams still within shouting distance with seven weeks left. Only two teams in the playoffs this year were in the playoffs last year. That is to be expected in a league that is this competitive.
CCO Fans League Current Playoff Seedings
- The Calicubs 11-3
- Team Vaughn 9-5
- Dock Ellis D 11-3
- Joe and Joe 9-5
- Team Doughty 8-5-1
- Old Style 8-6
- Woody’s Way 8-6
- Widespread HisPanic 8-6
There is one more team sitting at 8-6 (Oregon Coastal Cubbies) sitting on the outside looking in, to along with three more teams with seven wins and three more teams with six wins (one with two ties, so basically seven wins).