Brandon McCarthy

Here is the recap of the second half of my recent TRAX Best Score draft, along with my thoughts on each pick. To read Part 1 of my recap, click here. Sign up for a TRAX Best Score league here! Round 21, Pick 242 – My pick: Felix Hernandez, SP Felix Hernandez is no longer King, but there are worse best ball gambles. Hernandez’s productivity has greatly declined from his other-worldly 2014, but he’s still just 31 years old. Granted, he’s an “old” 31, but if he can cut down the gopher balls (his FB/HR rate in 2017 was…

I'm a big fan of deep leagues, but one of the less attractive aspects of drafting a large player pool is finding players you can be enthused about in the later rounds. Usually, it's not a problem we need to sweat. Even in deep formats, savvy owners can usually fill the gaps they left with bad late picks through trades or FAAB bidding. So imagine being in a 15-team league with 50-player rosters that doesn't allow trading or add/drops. That is a reality for me and the 14 owners who paid a $150 entry fee for the chance at a…

The Braves have traded Matt Kemp to the Dodgers for Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, and Charlie Culberson. In the big scheme, this move happened so the Dodgers could get under the salary cap. For fantasy purposes, most of the players involved are barely fantasy relevant unless we’ve been time-warped back to 2011. The Braves feel so highly about Gonzalez (581 ADP), who posted a .242 batting average with three homers in 252 PAs in 2017, they're already planning to release him. With Gonzalez out of the…

In last week’s Fantrax top-10, we listed 10 affordable players that could give your team a speed boost. This week we switch to some affordable pitchers that could make a difference for your fantasy squad in the second half of the season. Pitching is a whole different animal in the fantasy world. If one hitter has an 0-for-5 night, no big deal. It won’t hurt your team too much. However, if one of your starters gets shelled to the tune of nine earned runs over two innings, that’s going to be tough to come back from in…

If you have Pittsburgh Pirates' outfielder Starling Marte or lefty starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner on your roster, take a depth breath and seriously consider your options before you panic.  Both of them have completely different circumstances.  Marte has been suspended for 80 games due to him testing positive for PEDs.  No leagues have spots to stash suspended players, so your options are to clog up your roster with Marte, try to deal him or simply cut him.  Bumgarner hurt his shoulder in a dirt bike accident and their is…