Welcome back to Week 23 of our Patience or Panic series, where we take a look at three struggling players and provide recommendations on how you should react to their middling seasons and subpar performance. This week, I’ll be breaking down three players who haven’t quite been themselves in the month of August heading into early September.
As always, feel free to let us know in the comments or by tagging us on social media what players you would like to see us focus on in the future! Let’s dive right in.
Alex Bregman, 3B, Boston Red Sox
Bregman, 31, has been everything and more the Red Sox could’ve asked for after signing a 3-year, $120 million deal with the organization this offseason. However, he’s fallen into a small slump lately (notably 4-for-39 through his last 10 games) and with playoffs coming up, that could be a threat to fantasy GMs.
Verdict: patience. I can understand where fantasy GMs get a bit worried — a star player like Breggy coming off injury and starting to drop in production with meaningful weeks coming up. With that being said, I have the utmost faith he can bounce back. The EVs are in the same range, he’s still walking at an exceptional amount, limiting strikeouts and whiffs, and he’s slowly but surely already finding a way to grind his way out of this offensive drought tallying hits in back-to-back games.
Xavier Edwards, INF, Miami Marlins
Edwards, 26, has been one of the brightest spots in Miami’s organization for the past two years. He’s slashing .284/.341/.309 with a sub-15% K rate and 24 SB in 121 games. Like Bregman above, unfortunately Edwards has had a mini dry spell offensively leaving some fantasy managers concerned. His splits are a little more drastic compared to Breggy’s as well.
Verdict: patience, mostly. Personally, keeping or dropping Edwards is all based on what else is available. I think he can definitely turn his production around sooner rather than later — he’s got four hits over his last three games and the underlying stuff isn’t all that different from when he was producing (95% zCon or decision value+, for example). That being said, if you have multiple second basemen available that are contributing right away and you need to win those categories, it’s now or never time… I’d make the move.
Mitch Keller, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
Keller, 29, was thrown into numerous trade rumors this deadline season but the Pirates did not elect to sell high on him, turning some heads. He’s been fine, posting a 4.21 ERA and 1.28 WHIP through 156 innings, but has seen a major inflation in ERA lately.
Verdict: panic. I’m not high on Keller in the first place, fantasy-wise or real life valuation-wise. He’s great for anchoring the middle-to-back end of a rotation and/or eating innings, but without any whiff-ability and naturally being a high WHIP arm, I’m out on what he can provide for you the rest of the year. There are plenty of quality replacements (even in deeper leagues), especially with a handful of dominant pitching prospects making their debuts recently.
Photo courtesy of Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X)
