Zach Godley, SP, ARI
Godley struck out 7 in 7 scoreless innings on Thursday while allowing just 4 hits and 2 BB's in the ballgame and lowering his ERA to 3.06. While he did allow 10 ER's over his past two starts combined, the peripherals paint a different picture, as Godley now owns a 26:6 K:BB ratio over 18.2 IP in his last 3 starts, and his xFIP for the season is down to 3.18, which would be top-10 in MLB if he qualified. He is striking out over a batter per inning, his GB% is elite at 57.5%, and perhaps most importantly, his SwStr% is at an exceptional 14.5%. Somehow, you have to make room for him on your roster.
Brad Hand, RP, SD
Hand struck out 2 in a scoreless 9th inning against the Mets on Thursday, earning his 5th save and extending his scoreless innings streak to 18.1 IP. With a 2.04 ERA and 69:14 K:BB through 53 IP this season, Hand is certainly a valuable fantasy commodity, and his current standing as the Padres closer would easily be enough to make him a must-own. Of course, that change at any moment as a trade to a contender would likely relegate Hand into a setup role. On the other hand, it sounds like there's no guarantee that Hand will be dealt prior to this week's deadline. If he does remain a Padre, he automatically becomes an upper-echelon RP, and considering that he'll provide value regardless, he should probably be owned in a majority of leagues at the current time.
Kyle Schwarber, OF, CHC
Schwarber hit 2 HR's and a triple on Thursday, and is now hitting .280 with 5 HR's in 14 games since returning from his demotion to the minors in early July. This is much better than what he was doing before being sent down, although he is still striking out at a 26.3% clip in this current stint with the Cubs. At this point, the improvement seems to be more of a correction to the ridiculously low .193 BABIP that Schwarber posted before his demotion, but he is still a risk of posting a damaging BA. His spot in the middle of the Cubs lineup gives him good opportunities to drive in and score runs and the power has never really been in question, so owning Schwarber is right now mostly an issue of a BA liability.
Travis Shaw, 1B, 3B, MIL
Shaw continues his remarkable climb to becoming one of the baseball's bigger sluggers, hitting his 24th HR on Thursday and collecting his 74th RBI of the season. He has turned it up a notch over the past couple of months, turning in a 1.055 OPS with 15 HR's and 38 RBI in 44 games since June 1. Incredibly, Shaw now ranks as the #2 1B on the ESPN Player Rater after Paul Goldschmidt. We shouldn't expect Shaw to produce another 35-HR season next year (although he looks primed to approach that mark in 2017) as his 25.0% HR/FB will be hard to repeat and he's actually hitting fly balls at a lower rate than previous seasons. But his Hard% has increased significantly and his solid 7.9% SwStr% indicates that he could see some positive regression to his 22.0% K%. He shouldn't be considered a top-2 first baseman going forward, but it seems obvious that he should remain a stalwart in fantasy lineups.
Justin Turner, 3B, LAD
Turner has demolished southpaws this season with an insane .430/.513/.806 slash line and 9 HR's in 93 AB's against them this season. I also couldn't believe it when I read that. On Friday the Dodgers will host the Giants and face off against LHP Matt Moore who has compiled a 7.61 ERA on the road this season. The matchups don't get much better than this. DraftKings Value Play Salary $4,100.
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