CCO Fantasy Baseball: Trade Deadline Week Fifteen

The All-Star week made fantasy baseball a 10-day week which makes for some big scores on the scoreboard. For my best of last week, I did just use the seven days of the last week and not the fantasy week. But now we are in the stretch run as teams make their final trades (and lots of them) and sprint to the finish line and hope to make the playoffs to continue their season.

This is a fun one, The All-Adam Duvall Team. I own Duvall and hope that he gets hot when it counts, but just like everyone else on this team, they can have some big swings in points from their best to their worst weeks.

I know most expected Prince Fielder to age poorly, but still sad to see how fast it has happened. Another neck surgery that will end his season and you have to wonder if his career.

Any reason to check this out? An updated Closer Depth Chart s is always useful and a place to check for the next great closer.

Here is the ESPN Player Rater that does use just the stats from this season. It is based on the ESPN standard league point system.

This is a weekly must read, going forward rankings on ESPN. This comes out mid-week and always worth checking out.

MLB Best of Last Week

Each week we will review the best performances of the week in all of MLB.

Top Batters

Trevor Story: 58 pts (6 HR, 2B, 12 RBI, 10 R, 2 SB)
Joey Votto: 46 pts (3 HR, 8 RBI, 9 R, SB)
Hanley Ramirez: 43 pts (5 HR, 12 RBI, 6 R)
Jedd Gyorko: 43 pts (5 HR, 8 RBI, 7 R)
Justin Turner: 41 pts (3 HR, 3 2B, 8 RBI, 7 R, SB)
Ryan Schimpf: 41 pts (4 HR, 2B, 7 RBI, 9 R, SB)

Trevor Story must have thought it was April again as he slugged six home runs and has taken over the lead at shortstop again. One thing to note, as great as his opening week was, last week was even better with a 58 point week. Joey Votto had the exact opposite start compared to Story, but the last three months he has been at the top of the charts for first baseman, but last week was his best week of the season with 46 points. Let’s continue the trend of best weeks of the season as Hanley Ramirez’s 43 points was his best week as well and Jedd Gyorko doubled his best week of the season with his 43 point week. Justin Turner just missed his best week of the season by one point but Ryan Schimpf only has five weeks and he has caught fire the last two full weeks.

Top Two Start Pitchers

Jose Fernandez: 45 pts (2 GS, 13.1 IP, 21 K, W)
Kevin Gausman: 43 pts (2GS, 13.2 IP, 13 K, W)
Scott Kazmir: 41 pts (2 GS, 12 IP, 11 K, 2 W)
Rick Porcello: 41 pts (2 GS, 13 IP, 11 K, 2 W)
Jose Quintana: 41 pts (2 GS, 12.2 IP, 11 K, W)
Kendall Graveman: 41 pts (2 GS, 16 IP, 9 K, 2 W)
Blake Snell: 41 pts (2 GS, 12.2 IP, 13 K, W)

One thing to note in this list is that the top two start pitcher averaged 22.5 points per game. That is good, actually great for the season, but for just two starts is nothing special, but is still much better weeks than the best one start guys. Jose Fernandez basically had a normal week just had two starts but most of the rest had great weeks. Kevin Gausman showed off his potential by having back to back good starts, Scott Kazmir has been very good since a slow start, Rick Porcello has been putting up solid start after solid start while Jose Quintana handled the trade rumors much better than his teammate. Kendall Graveman seems to go on these streaks of great starts, I just wonder when it ends, how ugly it can get. Blake Snell got the call in mid-June and is starting to put together solid starts, even a great outing in Colorado, something you rarely see from a young guy, but what makes it more impressive, it was his best start of the season.

Top One Start Pitchers

Zach Eflin: 36 pts (1 GS, 9 IP, 6 K, W)
Steven Wright: 32 pts (1 GS, 8 IP, 9 K, W)
Francisco Liriano: 31 pts (1 GS, 6.2 IP, 13 K, W)
Jeremy Hellickson: 31 pts (1 GS, 8 IP, 8 K, W)
Kyle Gibson: 31 pts (1 GS, 8 IP, 6 K, W)

Zach Eflin got the call at the same time as Snell, and has been even better. This time out he shut out the Pirates on just three hits and no walks. Steven Wright continues to baffle hitters with his knuckleball while Francisco Liriano showed how good he can be (but gave that all up on Tuesday night). Jeremy Hellickson is trying to pitch his way out of Philadelphia (the only way I see him in Chicago is if the Cubs do a three-team deal that sends out Jason Hammel and they bring in Jeremy Hellickson to fill his spot). Kyle Gibson had his best start of the season and is still available in many leagues.

Top Closers

Mark Melancon: 32 pts (4 IP, 5 K, W, 3 Saves)
Hector Rondon: 25 pts (4.2 IP, 6 K, 3 Saves)
Seung Hwan Oh: 25 pts (4 IP, 7 K, 2 Saves)
Aroldis Chapman: 23 pts (4 IP, 4 K, 2 Saves)
Kenley Jansen: 22 pts (4 IP, 4 K, 2 Saves)

So, notice anything on this list … Hector Rondon beat out his new teammate last week. Seung Hwan Oh is making his case to hold the closer role in St. Louis and Mark Melancon led the week with 32 points with three saves. So did you notice anything, no it wasn’t just that two of the top five are now Cubs, it is that four of the top five are NL Central and all five were National League.

Chicago Cubs Batters

Anthony Rizzo: 30 pts (3 HR, 2 2B, 10 RBI, 4 R)
Kris Bryant: 20 pts (2 2B, 5 R, 3 SB)
Addison Russell: 19 pts (3B, 2 2B, 3 RBI, R, SB)
Wilson Contreras: 16 pts (2 2B, 4 R, SB)
Dexter Fowler: 14 pts (HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R)
Tommy La Stella: 10 pts (2B, RBI, R)
Matt Szczur: 9 pts (2 2B, 3 R)
Javier Baez: 9 pts (RBI, R, SB)
Ben Zobrist: 8 pts (2 RBI, R)
Miguel Montero: 7 pts (RBI, 2 R)
Jason Heyward: 3 pts
Albert Almora Jr: 3 pts (RBI)
David Ross: 2 pts (RBI)

Sometimes we need to take a step back and look at other teams and their players to completely appreciate how good our team is right now. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are both Top 10 in points in MLB. That is pretty good. But it seems like many fans are expecting the Cubs to win by four or five runs every game and that is not sustainable. The Cubs were 4-2 last week and 6-3 since the All-Star break going into the Crosstown Series with the White Sox.

Starting Pitchers

Jon Lester: 26 pts (2 GS, 11.2 IP, 10 K, W)
Kyle Hendricks: 24 pts (1 GS, 6.1 IP, 7 K, W)
Jake Arrieta: 22 pts (1 GS, 7 IP, 8 K)
Jason Hammel: 15 pts (5 IP, 4 K, W)
John Lackey: 11 pts (1 GS, 6 IP, 5 K)

The rotation has looked better since the break, just not dominate. I really am expecting an addition to the rotation later this week, but easier said than done.

Bullpen

Hector Rondon: 25 pts (4.2 IP, 6 K, 3 Saves)
Pedro Strop: 13 pts (3.1 IP, 4 K)
Joe Nathan: 9 pts (1 IP, 3 K, W)
Travis Wood: 4 pts (2. 1 IP, 2 K)
Carl Edwards Jr.: 4 pts (2.1 IP, 2 K)
Adam Warren: 0 pts (1.2 IP, K)
Clayton Richard: -1 pt (0.2 IP)
Mike Montgomery: -2 pts (0.1 IP)

The bullpen had a good week and is looking much more solid with Aroldis Chapman now at the end of the game. Hector Rondon is the best set-up guy and Chapman is the most dominant closer. Add that to Pedro Strop in the seventh inning with Joe Nathan, Carl Edwards Jr. and Mike Montgomery and we have a much better bullpen than a few weeks ago.

CCO Fantasy Leagues

Six weeks left in the regular season, the trade deadline is coming fast.

Trades, not sure what happened in the CCO League (no trades??) but the other two leagues exploded with trades.

CCO Fans Trades Last Week

• Clark and Addison traded Freddie Freeman to This is Next Year! For Jeff Samardzija

• Oregon Coastal Cubbies traded Max Kepler, Michael Conforto, Marcus Stroman, Rubby De La Rosa to Dock Ellis D for Chris Carter, Michael Bourn and Kevin Kiermaier

• Widespread HisPanic traded Starling Marte and Jose Quintana to Team Ryno for Stephen Piscotty, Brandon Nimmo, Whit Merrifield and Scott Kazmir

• Dock Elllis D traded A.J. Reed, Lance McCullers, and Drew Pomeranz to Widespread HisPanic for Carlos Correa, Dellin Betances and Jerad Eickhoff

• Dock Ellis D traded Michael Conforto and Marcus Stroman to Jake and the Batmen for Justin Upton and Archie Bradley

• Oregon Coastal Cubbies traded Kris Bryant, Yasmany Tomas, Carlos Carrasco and Jon Gray to Dock Ellis D for Maikel Franco, Danny Duffy, Archie Bradley and Max Kepler

CCO Trades Last Week

• No trades this week.

CCO Auction Keeper Trades Last Week

• Callicubs traded Kendry Morales to California Penal League for Didi Gregorius

• Widspread HisPanic traded Cole Hamels to Don’t Bogaerts The Funyuns for Devon Travis and Chris Archer

• Hunt’s Hosers traded David Ortiz to Chris Kulawik’s Crushers for Albert Pujols and Eugenio Suarez

• Widespread HisPanic traded Byung Ho Park, Danny Salazar and Hector Rondon to California Penal League for Freddie Freeman, Trayce Thompson, Brandon Maurer

• BigJon’s Clubber Lang’s traded Mike Trout to Don’t Bogaerts The Funyuns for Andrew McCutchen and Masahiro Tanaka

• Calicubs traded Kyle Schwarber to Widespread HisPanic for Christian Yelich and Chris Archer

• Oregon Coastal Cubbies traded Domingo Santana and Tyler Glasnow to Widespread HisPanic for Melvin Upton Jr, Dee Gordon

• Widespread HisPanic traded Dellin Betances to Calicubs for Angel Pagan, Blake Snell and Tony Cingrani

• Oregon Coastal Cubbies traded Carlos Estevez, Sonny Gray, Jonathan Villar and Dee Gordon to Eamus Catuli for Elvis Andrus, Carlos Beltran, Zach Britton and Hisashi Iwakuma