3 Fantasy baseball targets for week 8 and 2 you might want to sell.

With week 8 of the fantasy baseball season approaching, here are some players to target and a couple you may want to consider selling on.

Week 7 is in the books so we look forward to week 8 of the fantasy baseball season. By now you are starting to have a good idea of what your team actually is. Needs are becoming obvious, surpluses are burning a hole in your pocket. And other teams are settling into contenders and pretenders making your trade partners more visible. So what should you be doing?

On the rise.

Jorge Soler (56% Yahoo, 60% ESPN, 78% CBS, 76% Fantrax)

Jorge Soler is finally starting to look like this uber-hyped prospect who fled from Cuba in 2011. Signed by the Chicago Cubs for $30M, the expectations were enormous for the 20 year old. Unfortunately, he failed to live up to them once exposed to a significant amount of major league pitching. Since his brief call up in 2014, he has struggled to be even a league average hitter.

In 2017 he all but fell off the map, posting a 32 wRC+ in 35 games with the Royals. But here we are, 34 games into the 2018 season and he has a 157 wRC+. He has a .320 BA, .426 OBP, 5 HR, 18 R, and 17 RBI. With no stolen bases that leaves him contributing in four categories in traditional 5X5 leagues.

He’s still young.

It’s easy to forget that Soler is just 26 years old. He’s been on the radar for almost seven years now. But is the breakout for real? There are certainly some good signs. His hard hit percentage is up 6% and his average launch angle is much lower at 12.4 degrees. That might account for the boost in production as he’d be hitting less pop ups and more hard fly balls and line drives. He’s also not pulling the ball as much as last season. But his pull/center/oppo percentages have fluctuated wildly from year to year, so it’s hard to draw any conclusions from that.

With an expected wOBA of .378 as compared to the .405 actual wOBA he has thus far, there is likely some regression coming. But it looks very much like Jorge Soler has arrived. He’s a great bit of outfield depth in any league he’s still available in. Scoop him up if you can.

Matt Adams (74% Yahoo, 79% ESPN, 77% CBS, 75% Fantrax)

Matt Adams is absolutely destroying the baseball. At age 29 he’s a bit old for a massive breakout. However, his 185 wRC+ says that’s exactly what’s happening. This isn’t the first time it has appeared that the big lefty was busting out. Is there reason to believe this time it will stick?

In 2013 he had a 135 wRC+ with 17 HR in 108 games. He followed it by going 116, 79, 106 and 112 in the next four seasons. So what happened between last year and this year? For one his barrel percentage is way up. His previous high was 11.6%. This season he’s at 16.7%. So it’s not a surprise that his hard hit percentage has jumped 10 points. He has also seen his average exit velocity climb from 88.8 to 92 MPH.

This might be due to his increase in pull percentage. For his career, Matt Adams has an 1.167 OPS when pulling the ball. That includes 60 HR in 579 PA. He generates enormous power on fly balls to the pull side. If he keeps this up, a good chunk of his spike in production may well be sustainable.

Incoming roster crunch.

The big question with Adams, however, is playing time. To date, he has played in 33 of the 40 the Washington Nationals’ games. With the addition of Mark Reynolds and the eventual returns of Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy, playing time might be a bit harder to come by in a few weeks.

For now, Matt Adams should be owned in all leagues and may still provide some nice depth once the Nationals are healthy again. If you can find a taker for him in a trade, it may be wise to sell high.

Nick Markakis (80% Yahoo, 91% ESPN, 93% CBS, 87% Fantrax)

One of the more interesting surprises in fantasy baseball this season has been Nick Markakis. His 166 wRC+ is propped up by a .346 BABIP, which doesn’t seem too high considering his career rate is .319. So you might conclude that this breakout is for real. When we look a bit deeper, the sustainability of his early season run appears significantly more suspect.

His 40.7% hard hit percentage, 12.5 degree average launch angle, 90.3 MPH average exit velocity and 4.3% barrel percentage all look like good improvements over his 2017 season. They are normally indications of genuine improvement. The problem is that they look an awful lot like his 2016 numbers.

Two seasons ago he managed a 42.9% hard hit percentage, a 10.8 degree average launch angle, a 90.6 MPH average exit velocity and a 4.9% barrel percentage. His wRC+ was only 98 that year. The difference was a .300 BABIP, which is essentially league average. Now, with BABIP’s well above .300 in two of the last three years, and a .346 so far this year, we can probably conclude that he’s going to finish with something north of last year’s figure when all is said and done this year. But it seems there is significant regression backed into his current numbers.

So what can we expect?

The .346 BA and .420 OBP are almost certain to come down going forward. His 7 HR is just one shy of his 2017 total and a little more than half of his 2016 number. He may be barrelling the ball better than he did last year, but he’s very unlikely to stay on a 30 HR pace. He may continue to be a solid source of RBIs given the unexpected potency of the Atlanta Braves lineup. The same can be said for his R totals. So I’m not predicting he’s going to turn into a waste of a roster spot or anything. But chances are his value is as high as its going to get.

See if you can find an owner in need of outfield help. You aren’t likely to pull in a superstar for him in a swap, but if Nick Markakis is part of a deep outfield for you, use him to plug another hole. Maybe you need a closer or solid 2 or 3 type starting pitcher. He should be able to fetch that kind of return in most leagues. Sitting on him is also a valid way to go, but do so with the expectation that his current rate of production is going to slow down.

To trade or not to trade?

Shohei Ohtani (92%/56% Yahoo, 98% ESPN, 98% CBS, 98% Fantrax)

Shohei Ohtani has been every bit as good as we could have hoped. As a long term asset, especially in leagues where he is one player who can both hit and pitch, he’s a keeper. This segment is about his value in redraft leagues, as there is a hidden cost in owning him as a hitter.

Being on the west coast it is rare that the Los Angeles Angels lineups get posted comfortably before the east coast games get underway. That means that if you are using Ohtani in your UT spot and your alternative is an east coast player, you may be finding yourself stuck with Ohtani in that spot in games where he doesn’t end up playing.

When he’s in there, his bat is absolutely worth starting. He has a 181 wRC+ and there are no signs that it’s a fluke. But missing a game or two a week where you were hoping he’d start and he ends up sitting can turn the tide in a H2H matchup can kill you in points or roto leagues. Those missed days really add up.

Is he the right fit for you?

If you can stay on top of it and consistently be checking your lineups at 6:55 PM eastern time every day, it’s a manageable cost. If not, it might be worth selling high on him to an owner who maybe hasn’t considered the inconvenience. This is doubly true in Yahoo leagues where he exists as a hitter and a pitcher separately.

His upside on the mound is worth keeping but selling him as a hitter could net you a key piece for a playoff run or a finish in the money. Something like a closer, a solid starting pitcher or a replacement for an injured bat. In leagues where he is one player who does both, you can likely dangle him for a big impact player in return.

Next: Victor Mesa leaves Cuba

Give it some serious thought if you’ve seen the number of games where your UT spot has a sitting Ohtani taking up space rising.