Welcome back to the Cut List. Each weekend from now until the end of the season, I’ll be offering my thoughts on players who don’t deserve to keep drawing a nonexistent salary on your fake baseball teams.

Now that we’re beyond most league’s trade deadlines, the only way to improve your team is via the waiver wire. It’s a sprint now, not a marathon. Ratchet up your ruthlessness accordingly.

In addition to the players on the Cut List, we'll also spotlight a player on the Hot Seat: Someone whose situation is worth monitoring, even if it’s not time to hit the ejector seat just yet. Without further ado, here are your Week 24 cut candidates.

The Cut List: Week 24

Matt Carpenter, 1B/2B/3B, St. Louis Cardinals

I initially typed “Matt Crapenter” up there. A Freudian slip, perhaps, because Carpenter has played like doo-doo this year relative to expectations. He’s apparently been dealing with shoulder issues all season, which would seem a likely culprit for his diminished offensive production. Carpenter has kept his OBP at its typically high level with an increased walk rate, but he’s hitting just .238 and his counting stats are down across the board. Since August 1, Carpenter’s batting .183 and slugging under .400.

Matt Kemp, OF, Atlanta Braves

“But Kemp has three home runs in his last seven games!” you may be saying. “Surely that counts for something?” And yes, any of us will take a good week in September. Alas, even that recent uptick in the socking of dingers leaves Kemp’s second-half output at a meager .254/.285/.435.

Alex Wood, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers*

There was no way Wood could or should have been expected to maintain his stellar first-half performance. This sort of drop-off, though? Would that I could say I saw it coming. Perhaps I should have known that Wood, who only chucked 60 innings last season, could conceivably have reached a point whereupon he would feel as though he could chuck no more. Anyway, here’s a table that makes this point sans the poor wordplay:

*I looked for a pitcher named Matt to include here, just for the sake of continuity, but none of them met the 50% ownership threshold I mandate for inclusion in this column. The closest, however – Matt Harvey at 44%. If you are rostering him, you should cut him immediately because he is bad now.

The Hot Seat: Week 24

Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

I owned only a single share of McCutchen this year, and traded him away in that league on May 28. At that time, he had a slash line of .213/.286/.383 with seven homers and five steals in 49 games. From that point through the end of July, McCutchen found his MVP stroke and went buck-wild, hitting .369/.474/.684 with 15 homers and four steals. But since then, Cutch has looked even worse than he did in the first two months of the season, checking in at .221/.297/.275 with just one home run (all the way back on August 8!). McCutchen may well have another bounce left, but there’s precious little time to find out.

Last Week

Jonathan Lucroy had a pair of multi-hit games last week, but just one hit otherwise. Also, all of the hits were singles.

Gregory Polanco played only two games, going 3-for-8 and not registering anything in the counting stats.

Michael Fulmer visits Dr. James Andrews on Monday. If he throws another pitch in 2017, it will be a miracle.

Ryan Braun showed signs of life last week, homering twice, stealing two bases, and logging a pair of multi-hit games.

More Week 24 Lineup Prep