With Cooper Kupp out, Woods should have a nice performance. Photo via LA Rams/Facebook
Week 7 is fast approaching and I have more sleeper plays for you. Let’s take a peek at how I did last week, and then look ahead to this week’s slate of games. My standard for a good fantasy game is around 100 total yards and/or a TD, and this is for PPR scoring. Of course, the bar is a little lower for TEs.
Week 6 Results
RB
Sony Michel (JAX): Right, great game! He was my play of the week.
Aaron Jones (SF): Wrong, he scored but it was overturned.
Alfred Morris (PIT): Wrong! Shanahanigans strike again. The dude didn’t even get a touch and Breida decided to play at the last minute. Let me say this again, I write this on Wednesday or Thursday. Make sure you check who’s active before the games.
Marshawn Lynch (TEN): Wrong, the revenge factor hasn’t been a big theme in 2018 for some reason. Of course, the Raiders were getting destroyed and had to give up on running the ball.
WR
Calvin Ridley (ATL): Wrong, he hurt his ankle and had to leave the game.
Sterling Shepard (NYG): Wrong, bad Eli showed his ugly face.
Julian Edelman (NE): Right, over 60 total yards and a TD.
Emmanuel Sanders (DEN): Right, 7 catches for 115 and a TD. I liked him more than most analyst.
Sammy Watkins (KC): Wrong, all the love went to Hill with three TDs.
Tyler Boyd (CIN): Right, big-ass game! He got in the end zone twice.
TE
Austin Hooper (ATL): Right, he did it again! He’s gone from unusable to a weekly starter in two weeks. That’s how bad TE is.
Cameron Brate (TB): Right, he scored! I didn’t think O.J. Howard would play and Brate still came through.
QB
Jameis Winston (TB): Right, Huge first game back as the starter for Jameis!
Andy Dalton (CIN): Right, 2TDs and no interceptions.
I went 8-5 this week or 8-6 if you count Alfred Morris against me. I said in last week’s article that I liked Morris because of opportunity with Breida out, not for any other reason. Once Breida was active, all bets were off. Still, it was another good week picking sleepers. Let’s take a look at Week 7. These players are in no particular order.
Week 7
RB
Kerryon Johnson (DET): It's a great matchup and I just have a feeling.
David Johnson (ARI): It’s crazy to think Johnson would be in a sleeper article, but he hasn’t been as good as expected this year. Plus, the Broncos have given up two consecutive 200-yard rushing games over the past couple weeks. Yes, 200 yards to Gurley and Crowell.
Frank Gore (MIA): The Lions are allowing over 30FPTS/G to RBs over the last month, so he’s definitely worth a shot with several teams on bye this week.
LeSean McCoy (BUF): This is good week to use McCoy, and I think he makes an impact in the passing game.
WR
Jarvis Landry (CLE): He has a fantastic matchup playing the Bucs who are giving up over 51FPTS/G to the WR position over their last three games. He’s coming off a down week, but at least he was targeted heavily in his poor performance.
Robert Woods (LAR): The 49ers’ secondary is nothing to be afraid of. San Francisco gives up almost 39FPTS/G to the position in their last 5 games, and he should get a bump in targets with Cooper Kupp out.
Marquis Goodwin (KC): The Rams are getting killed by WRs. Over the last month they average giving up over 50FPTS/G to the position. He’s worth a shot this week, for sure.
Julian Edelman (NE): He should continue to produce, and Brady will most likely have to get the ball out against the Bears defense.
Tyler Boyd (CIN): He was great last week, and I think he’s worth using again against the Chiefs underwhelming defense. The Chiefs are the 10th best matchup for WRs this season.
TE
David Njoku (CLE): There’s a reason the Bucs fired their DC. This defense it horrible, and they give up the most points to TEs over the last four games.
Trey Burton (CHI) The Pats have allowed 4 TDs to TEs in the last 5 games, so he’s worth using this week.
QB
Kirk Cousins (TB): Have to love the matchup here with the Jets allowing over 24FPTS/G to the QB position over the last 5 games, and his WRs are great.
Andy Dalton (CIN): He’s a great guy to use this week with so many players on bye, and there should be a lot of points scored here.
That’s all I have for this week. For more fantasy info, make sure you check out my show Moneyline on ESPN 97.5 every Sunday from 10-noon. Jerry Bo and I will get you ready for kickoff and answer any questions you may have. Also, follow us on Twitter.
Good luck in Week 7!
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or nine games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after a 4-8 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez (though not Breggy Bad). A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.