Fantasy impact of Carlos Gomez's surprising exit in Houston
His fall from one of the top fantasy outfielders -- and a consensus first-round pick in 2014 -- to below replacement-level was swift and unexpected.
Carlos Gomez's fantasy value hit rock bottom on Wednesday when the Houston Astros designated him for assignment after he hit a paltry .210 with five homers and 13 stolen bases in 295 at-bats.
After an injury-plagued 2015 that ended with him being traded to Houston, I wasn't the only one who expected a bounce-back season from the 30-year-old Gomez.
This preseason, I had him ranked as the No. 8 fantasy outfielder -- just behind Mookie Betts and Jose Bautista, and just ahead of Chris Davis and Charlie Blackmon. After all, he finally seemed to be healthy. And he was just two years removed from back-to-back seasons in which he hit .284 with at least 23 homers and 34 steals.
Despite his struggles throughout 2016, there were plenty of fantasy owners who still believed in spite of the warning signs. At the time he was designated for assignment, Gomez was still owned in 50% of Yahoo leagues.
But the Astros, in their pursuit of a playoff berth, weren't convinced. They now have 10 days to trade or release Gomez, but his fantasy value for the rest of the season is close to zero in mixed leagues ... and he's only worth holding onto in AL-only formats in case he gets traded to a team in an extremely favorable environment.
Fantasy impact
At this stage of the season, fantasy owners should be looking at their rosters to identify underperforming players such as Gomez, and cutting bait. Yes, it's important to be patient with struggling stars, but if they haven't started turning things around by now, there's only a small chance it's going to happen.
Depending on the size of your league, a similar case could be made for dropping the likes of Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Corey Dickerson, Alcides Escobar, Andrew McCutchen, Sonny Gray, Patrick Corbin or Marcus Stroman.
If they aren't helping you, get someone who will.
With Gomez no longer around in Houston, Jake Marisnick will likely take over in center field on a regular basis. Since Colby Rasmus is on the disabled list, the left field job is up for grabs with Preston Tucker, Tony Kemp and possibly Alex Bregman all candidates for playing time.
Bregman has played mostly third base since being promoted from the minors, but he did get some work in the outfield earlier in the season. With third baseman Yulieski Gurriel likely on the way fairly soon, Bregman could end up getting most of Gomez's at-bats going forward.