Do Not Draft: Snell, Scherzer and others to avoid in fantasy baseball - ESPN

Left-hander Blake Snell took the mound on May 31 in Miami last season with one win over his first 10 starts and an unsightly 5.04 ERA. Fantasy investors, quite obviously, were not pleased and many moved on. Snell had walked four-plus hitters in half of those outings and, while he had more strikeouts than innings pitched, a 1.60 WHIP does damage. Sure, Snell had won 21 games and the 2018 AL Cy Young Award with the Rays, but it had been a roller coaster of inconsistent fantasy numbers and low volume even since for the Rays and Padres.

Everything changed after that final day of May last season and Snell, who had permitted 28 earned runs over his first 10 starts, allowed only 17 earned runs over his next and final 22 outings. That is a ridiculous 1.18 ERA (2.70 FIP) with 180 strikeouts over 130 innings, one of the finest extended runs of pitching in the game's history. Snell finished with a 2.25 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and his second Cy Young Award, the seventh pitcher to win honors in both leagues.

As of this writing, Snell remains a free agent, as he and noted agent Scott Boras patiently wait for precisely the right contract offer. Perhaps everything works out for them. Fantasy managers should have a strong plan, too. It should include letting someone else deal with this worrisome situation. Snell would likely have led this «Do Not Draft» list even if he had remained on the Padres, or if employed by another organization months ago and leading a rotation.

Give Snell complete credit for a historic four-month run of excellence but, even as we assume he finds expensive work somewhere, there are reasons for concern moving forward. Snell was immensely fortunate last season, as he led the major leagues in both walks and walk rate,