Fantasy Baseball Week 10 was a good week to own Astros Hitters. Fantasy Baseball Week 10 was a bad week to own Astros Pitchers.
Offense
For yet another week, the Astros proved that they hold one of the top fantasy middle infields in all of baseball, as Lowrie and Altuve again ranked among the league's best at their positions. Both had an OPS over 1.000 along with the counting stats that usually come with such. Lowrie's three home runs led all major league shortstops last week. That kind of production from a typically power-less position is gold to fantasy managers. Had there been more players on base for Lowrie to drive in, he would have ranked as one of the very top players in the game last week. Altuve continues to provide managers with a boost to their Batting Average stat.
| Hitter | Rank | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| Jose Altuve | 35 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0.407 | 1.096 |
| Brett Wallace | 49 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0.364 | 1.235 |
| Jed Lowrie | 90 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.280 | 1.041 |
| Justin Maxwell | 98 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.238 | 0.857 |
| Brian Bogusevic | 147 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.250 | 0.800 |
| Chris Snyder | 666 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.267 | 0.646 |
| Jason Castro | 711 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.500 | 1.000 |
| Chris Johnson | 757 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.200 | 0.638 |
| J.D. Martinez | 791 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.167 | 0.551 |
| Marwin Gonzalez | 853 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.000 |
| Jordan Schafer | 1247 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.222 |
The big surprise last week came from a 6-2-4-.364-1.235 line from Brett Wallace. He has been able to translate his AAA success into big-league production since being called up to replace injured Carlos Lee. His fantasy value will be directly tied to his playing time as Lee comes back, but as long as Wallace is in the lineup, he is an interesting risk/upside play. As a bonus, if he can grab 9 more appearances or 5 starts at 3B, he would add even more value in fantasy leagues.
A big week was also provided by Justin Maxwell, who made the most of his piddling .238 batting average. If his playing time continues, don't expect many 5-2-5 weeks from him so he still looks like a handy bench player, but not a fantasy regular. Continue to bench J.D. Martinez until his slump is over and Schafer until he proves healthy. Chris Johnson had an atypical bad week, but he is still a great 3B in deeper leagues.
More after the jump...
Pitching
Nothing good to say here, please look away.
| Pitcher | Rank | W | L | SV | ERA | WHIP | K/9 |
| Brett Myers | 163 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3.86 | 0.86 | 3.86 |
| Brandon Lyon | 199 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.43 | 11.57 |
| Bud Norris | 334 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.00 | 1.17 | 18.00 |
| Wilton Lopez | 336 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 1.12 | 10.13 |
| Lucas Harrell | 691 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 1.12 | 4.05 |
| Fernando Rodriguez | 766 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 1.12 | 10.13 |
| Wandy Rodriguez | 768 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 1.88 | 3.38 |
| Wesley Wright | 786 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 2.00 | 9.00 |
| J.A. Happ | 1238 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.71 | 2.14 | 11.57 |
| David Carpenter | 1294 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 3.00 | 13.50 |
| Jordan Lyles | 1316 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.31 | 2.31 | 0.00 |
| Rhiner Cruz | 1343 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48.60 | 6.60 | 16.20 |
It has gotten increasingly difficult to recommend any Astros pitcher to a fantasy manager. Myers saves come at the expense of a huge hit to K/9 (not a trade I'm willing to make on my fantasy teams), and none of the other "Regulators" are "regular" enough to provide consistent good performance. Wilton Lopez is rosterable if you are looking for a middle-reliever, but that's it.
All of the Astros starters have earned their way onto my "DNP" list except for Bud Norris, who still can provide good WHIP and K/9. If you are looking for a 5th starter to fill innings, he'd be a good pick. Wandy Rodriguez needs to figure out what's gone wrong before I'll trust him on my rosters again.
Looking Forward
It should be an interesting week. The Astros pitchers will probably rebound at San Francisco (great park for pitchers, plus an anemic opponent offense). Play Bud Norris with only a little trepidation. But then the Astros go to Arlington. Perhaps the hitters can duplicate their success from Chicago when they visit another hitter's park, but the Rangers' pitching staff is much stronger than the White Sox'. Continue with the regulars - Altuve, Lowrie, Johnson, plus whichever is in the lineup between Lee and Wallace.
The Crawfish Boxes Leagues
The Crawfish Boxes - I'm still in first, but my lead has shrunk to only 5 games. Nobody in the league had a blowout win last week. The biggest margin was HMC Wrecking Crew (2nd place) winning 8-3 over Tu Many Altooves (great name). BustaPozee's BOMBERS is winning my favorite category, most moves made, with a whopping 53. The Ed Wade Project is a distant second with "only" 27.
TCB Baseball Madness - Joe Morgan's a Fool broke the tie for 1st place (with me) and now leads by only one game. The Beers beat Killer Bee Boppers 9-1 for the largest margin of victory for the week. Nobody in this league has more than 23 moves made. Waiver claims are already being set aside for Carlos Correa.
Boxes O' Crawfish - Astros don't suck is still in first place by six games, but the win of the week goes to Riddle's Reavers, who demolished last-place WildHaze 12-0. Speaking of last place, that win raises my team out of the cellar. I am now ranked up where the air is thin, at an awe-inspiring fifteenth place. I'm 40.5 games out of first place, but I'm about to go on a run. Watch out!