Should You be Dropping Javier Baez and Hunter Goodman in Fantasy Baseball Leagues?

We took a look at fantasy baseball waiver wire pitching and hitting targets already, along with streaming options for Wednesday, so now it's time to go over some drop candidates.

We won't cover anyone who appeared in the drop story from earlier this 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 Tony Gonsolin?

Gonsolin has had up-and-down results over four MLB starts so far this season. He's rostered in 64% of leagues after a 3.4% dropoff today.

Across four starts, Gonsolin is 2-0 with a 4.05 earned run average over 20 innings. He's allowed nine runs on 17 hits and nine walks, while striking out 24 batters.

His last start against the Angels was a favorable one on paper, but he allowed four runs on four hits and five walks over just four innings. He struck out three batters and surrendered two homers.

He's topped out at six innings, and that came in his first start. He had 17 punchouts against the Marlins in two starts, but has just seven combined in starts against the Diamondbacks and Angels.

I thought Gonsolin would settle in as he got more starts in, but he's actually been regressing in his results. I'm not saying he needs to immediately be dropped, but he's not the best standard league keeper right now.

Probably upcoming starts against the Mets and maybe Yankees don't look great for his fantasy outlook, and that's another reason why he's trending down. I'd only feel comfortable starting him in some deeper leagues for each of those starts, and I'd honestly try to avoid him unless it was a really deep league.

He's worth keeping tabs on throughout the season, but for now, Gonsolin is looking like a better deep-league option who can be streamed in standard league when he's got average or favorable matchups.

Should You Drop Javier Baez?

Baez is rostered in 78% of leagues at the time of publication. He was over 80% a couple days ago.

Baez has turned back the clock in his age-32 season, but has struggled over the past three games. Over 11 at-bats, Baez has no hits, walks, RBIs or runs scored, and has struck out once.

He's hit between seventh-ninth in the lineup over his past four starts. That's not a very favorable spot for a fantasy hitter to be in, but in a surprisingly good Tigers' lineup, Baez was producing before this recent stretch. He was also part of the reason the Tigers were surging up. 

Baez has a .283 average and .317 on-base percentage this season. He has eight doubles and six homers among his 39 total knocks, along with 28 RBIs, a stolen base, 21 runs scored, five walks and 32 strikeouts.

He's a career .252 hitter with a .294 OBP, so he was always likely to regress from his early-season numbers. Baez had a .221 average and .262 OBP over the past three seasons coming into this year, which is what made his strong start such a surprise.

Baez is going to be a deep-league option more often than not this season, and can still be streamed in standard leagues when he's going well at the plate. I'd be fine dropping Baez now, as I think there's better long-term options out there on the fantasy waiver wire. You can keep holding him and hope for a bounceback moving forward if your team is solid right now.

You could look into trading Baez - he'd have his most value in deeper redraft leagues.

Should You Drop Dalton Rushing?

Rushing was called up to the big leagues last week, and is already being dropped. He's down to 26% owned after a 3.4% drop today.

He hasn't started in any of the team's last three games, which makes sense when Will Smith is the starting catcher, and Shohei Ohtani is the daily starter at designated hitter.

Rushing has appeared in just three games so far. He has four hits, including a double, a walk, two RBIs, four runs scored and three strikeouts in his plate appearances, but he's simply not playing enough.

I don't understand why teams call up highly-regarded prospects if they aren't going to play them. I'm sure it's a thrill to get called up, but annoying to not be getting playing time. Why not just leave them in the minor leagues so they can play daily, then call them up when a need arises?

The Dodgers are stacked, so it was always going to be tough for a prospect to work his way into the mix daily. Rushing is a good long-term fantasy asset, but he's not rosterable in most redraft leagues, and can only start a time or two a week.

I'd keep Rushing rostered in dynasty/keeper leagues and really deep redraft leagues, but drop him otherwise. It's just not worth rostering him right now.

Should You Drop Mitch Keller?

Keller is owned in 59% of leagues after a 2.4% drop today.

He's been solid on the mound of late, but is still trending down. Over his past three starts, Keller is 0-3, but has a 2.84 ERA over 19 innings. He has 19 punchouts over that span.

Keller's season numbers are solid too. In 10 starts, he's got a 3.88 ERA despite being 1-6. Keller has 48 punchouts over 58 innings, while allowing 28 runs (25 earned) on 59 hits and 17 walks.

His strikeout numbers are down from his career mark, but so are his walks and WHIP. If the Pirates simply had a better offense, Keller would be a much better fantasy asset.

Keller's win-loss record suggests he shouldn't be rostered in that many leagues. A pitcher with seven quality starts in 10 starts shouldn't be 1-6.

If your fantasy league docks fantasy starting pitchers for losses though, it makes sense to drop Keller. He's still probably producing solid results though, so he's worth streaming in most of his starts.

Starts against the Brewers and Padres are next for Keller most likely. Milwaukee is a bit more favorable matchup, while San Diego will be a tough test. I'd be fine starting Keller in most leagues for each start still, but would be most comfortable utilizing him in deeper leagues because Pittsburgh is unlikely to get him the win in either game.

There's a chance Keller is traded later in the season, and he'd be a huge waiver pickup if he landed with a big-time contender with a good offense, so keep tabs on that. If he sticks in Pittsburgh, expect his own percentage to keep dropping, and for him to be more of a streaming option than a keeper before the time the season is up.

Should You Drop Hunter Goodman?

Goodman was dropped in 2% of leagues, bringing his overall mark down to 85%.

His own percentage has risen steadily over the past couple of weeks. That was warranted, as he's a top-10 fantasy catcher this season so far.

He has a .285 average and .337 OBP across 46 games and 187 plate appearances so far. Goodman has seven homers, a triple and 11 doubles among his 49 total knocks. He also has 29 RBIs, 24 runs scored, 11 walks and 44 strikeouts to his name.

Goodman has been a bright spot for a really bad Colorado team and offense otherwise. He's gone hitless over his past two games, and he has three punchouts in that span, so you can see why he's being dropped a bit.

I'm not ready to move on from Goodman yet though. He's batting third and playing every game, which are very valuable things for fantasy owners. He'd need to struggle for a week or more before I'd really want to move on from him.

If anything, I'd look to trade Goodman. He's a top-10 fantasy catcher and has enough value to move for at least another waiver wire level player. Goodman will have more fantasy value in deeper leagues.