Fantasy Baseball Drop Candidates: Should You be Moving on from Michael Busch and Trevor Story?

After looking at some fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters and pitchers to possibly add, let's now go over a new group of drop candidates.

We won't cover anyone who appeared in the first drop story of the week.

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. 

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant.

Should You Drop Ryan Pressly?

Pressly is down 3.6% today, bringing his overall mark to 67%.

Pressly is coming off maybe one of the worst relief appearances in the history of the MLB. He faced eight batters, allowing five hits, a walk and a hit batter. Pressly allowed nine runs (eight earned) in the team's extra-inning loss to the Giants on May 6.

That blowup outing makes Pressly's season-long numbers look terrible. He's 2-2 with a 7.62 earned run average and four saves. Pressly has allowed 13 runs (11 earned) on 17 hits and eight walks over 13 frames overall. He's struck out only five batters.

If we take away the bad outing, Pressly is 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA and four saves. His seven walks and five strikeouts are not great marks, but he'd not been allowing many runs at least.

Pressly appears to still have a firm grasp on the closer role for the Cubs, but the so-so fantasy results followed by the blowup outing has fantasy owners bailing on him in a hurry.

He's still a good fantasy asset in deeper leagues, and that's what he might top out as this season. Pressly could be utilized in standard leagues for stretches where he's picking up saves in bunches and not allowing many runs.

We'll discuss him a bit more in our weekly closer report, which is coming out later Thursday.

Should You Drop Gavin Lux?

Lux was dropped in 2.6% of leagues and is now at 43% overall.

Lux had been one of the hotter hitters in the game for a stretch, but he's cooled off a bit. Overall, Lux has a .302 average and .396 OBP across 34 games and 134 plate appearances.

He's collected nine doubles and a triple and homer among his 35 total knocks. Lux also has 16 RBIs, a stolen base, 15 runs scored, 18 walks and 31 strikeouts this season.

He had a good game on Wednesday, doubling among his two hits, while also driving in a run and scoring once. Lux had just one hit (a triple) across the six games and 25 plate appearances before that though.

That's simply not enough production for standard leagues owners, Lux still has really good season-long numbers, and despite much power, I'm not quite ready to bail on Lux in deeper leagues. Especially after he posted two hits on Wednesday, I'd want to give Lux at least a couple more days on my roster before I decided to move on from him.

He's likely eligible to play at least second base and left field, which makes him a bit more valuable in deeper leagues. I think Lux will eventually be somewhere between the red-hot hitter he was and then the extremely cold hitter he was of late.

That means he'll be a good deep-league option, who can be streamed for stretches in standard leagues, especially if he hits a power surge.

Should You Drop Trevor Story?

Story was let go in 2.3% of leagues, bringing his new overall percentage to 57.

Story has cooled off a bit of late, and is now producing closer to his career numbers. In 36 games and 151 plate appearances so far, Story has a .252 average and .291 OBP. He has a career .264 average and .331 OBP.

Story has five homers and two doubles among his 36 total knocks for the season. He also has 16 RBIs, seven stolen bases, 16 runs scored, six walks and 45 strikeouts.

He has no hits over his past two games, and has struck out seven times over his past three appearances. Story has just a .111 average and .172 OBP over his past 13 games and 58 plate appearances, so it makes sense to see Story's own percentage trending down.

His career numbers are a bit better than his current marks, so I expect Story to snap out of things eventually. What his inconsistent early-season results show is that he's a better deep-league fantasy asset. He's another guy who can be utilized in standard leagues for stretches where he's hot at the plate.

Should You Drop Sean Murphy?

Murphy is down 2.1% and is now rostered in 53% of leagues. 

Murphy has been pretty solid since returning from the injured list. Across 21 games and 87 plate appearances so far, Murphy has a .224 average and .322 OBP. He has a career .233 average and .329 OBP, so those line up pretty well.

Murphy has seven homers and two doubles among his 17 total knocks, along with 14 RBIs, 11 runs scored, eight walks and 28 strikeouts.

He has just two hits over his last four appearances, but they both came in his last game. Murphy has a walk, no RBIs or runs scored and five strikeouts in that short span.

Murphy has been hitting fifth or sixth when in the lineup of late. While Atlanta's lineup hasn't been all that productive early this season, that's still a pretty favorable fantasy spot for Murphy to be in.

At a weaker fantasy catcher position, I'm not big on letting go of Murphy. I know his average isn't great, but he still gets on base plenty, and provides some pop to offset the lower average.

I'd do my best to keep holding Murphy in deeper redraft leagues - you can just bench him until he's a bit hotter at the plate. He can be a standard league streamer when going well too, so everyone at least needs to keep tabs on Murphy.

Should You Drop Michael Busch?

Busch is also down 2.1%, bringing his overall mark to 69%.

Busch has put up pretty similar numbers to his 2024 season. I thought there was a chance he'd lose some playing time with the addition of prospect Matt Shaw and veteran Justin Turner, but Shaw struggled at the plate and was sent down, and Busch has retained a near everyday role since.

In 36 games and 138 plate appearances this season, Busch has a .250 average and .348 OBP. He has six homers, seven doubles and a triple among his 30 total knocks, along with 22 RBIs, two stolen bases, 16 runs scored, 15 walks and 35 strikeouts.

He's been in a funk of late, going hitless over his past five games and 15 plate appearances. Busch has three walks and seven punchouts in that span.

Busch hasn't started against the last two left-handed opposing starting pitchers, but he's still appeared in those couple games. Only hitting against righties limits his fantasy ceiling, but as you can see by his own percentage, that hasn't stopped standard league owners from utilizing him.

Busch is a bit better than a deep-league keeper, but he's closer to that level than being a daily starter and keeper in standard leagues. He can be utilized in standard leagues for long stretches, but should only be kept all season in deeper leagues.

If you like Busch in your standard league, then I'd just bench him until he heats up again.