Should Fantasy Baseball Owners be Dropping Jonathan Aranda and Kerry Carpenter?

After taking a look at weekly fantasy baseball projections and some waiver wire options, let's now check out some drop candidates.

More droppable player data can be located on the waiver wire trends most dropped tab, which can be found on any fantasy baseball page here at FantasySP. 

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Should You Drop Kyren Paris?

Paris was dropped in 3.4% of fantasy baseball leagues today, bringing his overall mark down to 32%.

Paris was one of the league's hottest hitters early on. In his first 15 games and 49 plate appearances, the young infielder had a .366 batting average and .458 on-base percentage. He collected five homers, a triple and a double among his 15 knocks in that span, along with adding eight RBIs, five stolen bases and walks, 13 runs scored and 12 strikeouts.

Since then, Paris has played nine games and gotten just 25 plate appearances. He's hitless and also hasn't drawn a walk in that span. Paris has also struck out 14 times over that stretch.

It's been two very different stretches of baseball for Paris, and he's gone from owned in nearly 90% of all leagues to just a deep-league option who isn't startable at the moment.

In his first 36 games and 105 plate appearances the past two seasons, Paris had a .110 average and .214 OBP, so his recent struggles are what most people expected out of him this season. 

I wouldn't even say Paris is worth a spot in deeper leagues at this point - it'd have to be a crazy deep setup for me to consider stashing Paris still. He might heat up again one day, but you can just scoop him off the waiver wire if that happens.

Don't keep holding out hope that Paris will get rolling again. His stretch of being a fantasy star is over, and I don't think it will ever return.

Should You Drop Tyler Fitzgerald?

Fitzgerald is down 3.2% and is now sitting at 52% overall. He's working through a chest injury, and hasn't started a couple games in a row.

In 23 games and 64 plate appearances this season, Fitzgerald has a .289 average and .341 OBP. He's got four doubles, two homers and a triple among his 22 total knocks, along with seven RBIs, five stolen bases, six walks, 13 runs scored and 18 strikeouts.

He was a waiver wire pickup last week, so the injury is awful timing for his fantasy owners. The injury is not expected to keep him out long, so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Fitzgerald is a deep-league option at worst at this point. He's simply producing too much to consider moving on from him already. He really is a solid standard league option at the moment - he just needs to be in the lineup to justify that.

But getting back to him being a drop candidate, I understand if standard league owners want to make that move. I expect him to be back in the lineup on Tuesday (the team's next game), and if you are in need of an extra infield bat (maybe outfield too), I'd do my best to hold Fitzgerald, even in some standard leagues.

He can be dropped in standard leagues when he cools off at the plate, but Fitzgerald should remain a pretty good deep-league option all season, even if it's in a backup role.

Should You Drop Kerry Carpenter?

Carpenter was let go in 2.3% of leagues, bringing his overall percentage down to 74. He's gone hitless over his past four appearances, so it makes sense to see him as a drop candidate.

In 26 games and 90 plate appearances this season, Carpenter has a .271 average and .300 OBP. He's also got three doubles and five home runs among his 23 total hits, along with 11 RBIs, two walks, 11 runs scored and 18 strikeouts.

Carpenter is still only starting against right-handed starting pitchers, so his fantasy ceiling is capped a bit. If he's not hitting, like he hasn't over the past four games, it makes sense to drop Carpenter in some standard leagues.

Standard leagues are the only ones you should be considering dropping Carpenter in - he's too valuable to drop in deeper setups. Carpenter is worth holding in most standard leagues because he's batting near the top of the lineup when he's starting.

I'd personally do my best to hang on to Carpenter in any league setup. He's a good fantasy asset when he's healthy, even if he's only playing against righties. If anything, I'd just bench him when he's not starting or hitting well.

Should You Drop Nolan Schanuel?

Schanuel is rostered in 17% of leagues after a 2.1% drop. He's working through a knee injury - Schanuel didn't play on Sunday because of it.

In 26 games and 101 plate appearances so far, Schanuel has a .247 average and .327 OBP, which lines up pretty well with his career marks. He also has four doubles, two homers and a triple among his 22 total knocks this season. Schanuel has eight RBIs, a stolen base, 10 walks, 11 runs scored and 17 strikeouts as well.

Schanuel is starting everyday when he's healthy, and is usually hitting sixth for the Angels. LA is not a great offensive team, so batting in the lower half of the lineup is not great for his fantasy outlook. His season-long numbers show he's just a deep-league option, but I also thought he was a bit undervalued looking at his own percentage.

Sure, he's not producing a ton of fantasy points, but he's playing everyday and doing enough to at least have him as a bench option in deep leagues.

I get dropping him while he's not playing, especially if you are after another player. But when he's back out there, I think his own percentage should go up a decent amount - it would also help if he heated up at the plate.

Should You Drop Jonathan Aranda?

Aranda is owned in 66% of fantasy leagues - he's more of a steady drop candidate of late after sitting at about 73% owned five or so days ago.

Aranda has great season totals so far, with a .309 average and .412 OBP across 26 games and 97 plate appearances. He also has eight doubles and four homers among his 25 total knocks. Aranda has collected 13 RBIs, 12 walks, 14 runs scored and 20 strikeouts as well.

I mentioned him as more of a steady drop than a big drop today. Over the past week, he posted three hits (all singles) across 19 at-bats and 24 plate appearances. He had three walks and was plunked by two pitches, while also scoring twice and striking out eight times.

The numbers over the past week are not great, but he's still getting on base plenty. He's just starting against righties, but he's been hitting third or fourth every day he starts.

I like what Aranda has done this season, and think standard league owners should roster him for a bit longer. If his struggles continue another week, then I'd understandard dropping him. Right now though, dropping him seems premature.

Aranda could be a good backup fantasy first basemen most of the season, and could start when he's going well at the plate. He should remain a deep-league option, at worst, all season.