The Cut List (Week 17): Time to Let Go?

Welcome to Week 17 of the Cut List. This week I took a peek at Ender Inciarte, Jake Lamb, Carlos Santana, and Jurickson Profar. All four players should be cut in all shallow standard leagues.

Each player listed in the “better options” section will serve you better in the long run, so don’t gloss over that part of the piece.

Want some waiver wire advice to make up for those necessary cuts? Make sure you check out our waiver wire blog for the best pickup consultation around.

Time to Move On

Ender Inciarte (OF, ATL) - .193 BA, 15 runs, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 SB in last 30 days

Cut in 10-team leagues

Why you should cut him: Inciarte’s 23 stolen bases are a career-high, but he isn’t providing enough at the plate to warrant a roster spot in a shallow league. I only advise cutting Inciarte if you have valuable pieces sitting on the free agent list. I think adding Stephen Piscotty or Jason Heyward for Inciarte would be wise. If there are other players you like, go ahead and add them, but don’t rush to cut Inciarte.

Better OF options: Stephen Piscotty, Jason Heyward

Jake Lamb (3B, ARI) - .250 BA, 17 runs, 1 HR, 8 RBI in last 30 days

Cut in 12-team leagues

Why you should cut him: In what should be the best season of his career, Lamb has severely underperformed expectations through 52 games played. His .245 xBA and .335 xwOBA are clear indicators that managers should stay away from him in all shallow league formats until he turns his season around. Don’t waste a bench spot on him until he strings together a week or two of solid production.

Better 3B options: Scott Kingery, Colin Moran

Carlos Santana (1B, PHI) - .163 BA, 14 runs, 4 HR, 15 RBI in last 30 days

Cut in 10-team leagues

Why you should cut him: Despite an 18% walk rate and 13.9% strikeout rate, both career-bests, Santana has been one of the most unlucky players this season. A .205 BABIP has kept his batting average low, and his Baseball Savant expected metrics suggest positive regression is on the way. Until then, stash him on your bench or cut him for players who are producing now. Santana is good when he’s on, but he’s not a league-winning talent.

Better 1B option: C.J. Cron, Yuli Gurriel, Matt Adams

Jurickson Profar (SS/3B, TEX) - .267 BA, 13 runs, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 4 SB in last 30 days

Cut in 10-team leagues

Why you should cut him: Major props to Profar for keeping his MLB career alive after four straight atrocious seasons. He was the top prospect in the world back in 2013 and he’s just starting to show that promise in his age-25 season. That’s completely fine from a player development perspective. Some guys just need time and won’t come into the league mashing opposing pitchers like Rhys Hoskins and Rafael Devers did last year. That Profar took four years to fully develop isn’t the reason he should be cut in 10-team leagues. It’s his .217 BA, 3 runs, 1 HR, 1 RBI, and 0 SB over the last 15 days that have me worried.

Better SS/3B options: Paul DeJong, Ian Happ, Maikel Franco

Update on Last Week’s Cuts

Eric Hosmer (1B, SD)

• 2-for-10, 1 run, 0 HR, 0 RBI since July 15

Brandon Crawford (SS, SF)

• 3-for-9, 1 run, 0 HR, 1 RBI since July 15

Marcell Ozuna (OF, STL)

• 5-for-19, 2 runs, 0 HR, 2 RBI since July 15

Yangervis Solarte (2B/3B, TOR)

• 0-for-13, 1 run, 0 HR, 0 RBI since July 15

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