Players to watch during the Dog Days of August highlight this week’s Week That Was.

Wilson Ramos: Ramos hit his 18th dinger of the year Sunday and it was clutch as it was the only run of the game!  Ramos has finally put it all together in 2016.  On the year, the Nat backstop is hitting .338 with those 18 bombs and 62 RBI.  Good luck finding catcher production like that in many places.  Oh, and if you are wondering whether the Dog Days are slowing him down, they aren’t.  Ramos hit .435 in the last week and .362 over the last two.  Buy with complete confidence that you will roster a catcher who helps drive your fantasy championship engine. 

Ivan Nova:  Last week we wrote:  “Could this be the latest Ray Searage reclamation project?  Remember what Ray did for former Nova teammate A.J. Burnett?  I think he can do the same for Nova. Why?  First, Nova’s velocity is back to pre-Tommy John Surgery form.  Second, Pittsburgh is not in the AL East.  The park is friendlier and so are the opponents (it is not fun pitching in Baltimore, Boston or Toronto).  Third, Nova already throws those grounders that Searage loves as his 54+% GB rate this year attests.  Finally, when the 21% HR/FB goes down as it should now that Nova has escaped the AL East, you could have a bargain on your hands.  Invest now while you can.”  I hope you did as Nova went out and threw seven innings of three-run ball, walking none and striking out five.  With dates upcoming in the pitchers’ havens of LA and SF, Nova needs to be on your NL-only and mixed league roster.

Yu Darvish:  Darvish was brilliant Sunday going seven shutout innings, giving up five hits, no walks and striking out eight.  That is 43 K in his last five starts.  His average fastball velocity is higher than it has ever been in his major league career.  Enough said!  Get on the train if you still can.  Yu is back!

Cheslor Cuthbert:  Until Mike Moustakas got hurt for the second time, few people paid attention to Cuthbert.  Well, pay attention now.  Cuthbert went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI in the win Sunday.  On the year, the rookie is hitting a cool .296 with 9 HR.  More importantly, he is showing no signs of slowing down.  In the last 30 days, the rook hit .330.  Yes, the BABIP is a little high but at this point, it seems the correction will come in 2017.  Ride the wave now!

Nick Markakis: Markakis is on fire.  With his 2-for-3 (plus a run and two RBI) Sunday, Markakis finish the week hitting over .430.  In the last month, he has hit .317 with 4 HR and 17 RBI.  If you cannot use that kind of production then your team is too good!  Oh, and given that his BABIP is actually below his career average, luck is not likely the reason for his success.  Will he hit 10 more dingers this year? No.  Will he produce for you? Heck yeah. 

Jake Lamb: For those of you who continue to doubt Jake Lamb isn’t it time to admit you were wrong?  Sunday, the Diamondbacks 3B went 3-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and a dinger.  On the year, Lamb is slaughtering the ball with his 24 jacks, 72 RBI and .360+ OBP.  Given that his BABIP, contact, walk and K rates have remained consistent from last year, there is no reason to think luck has anything to do with Lamb’s emergence.  Oh, and his .345 over the last week says cooling down is not happening.

Ryan Schimpf:  The Padres rook continues to rake.  Sunday, Schimpf hit dinger number 10.  Do not be deceived as his season-long .215 batting average.  Over the last 30 days, the rook has hit 9 HR with 28 RBI and a .350+ OBP.  That is the kind of stuff of which roto titles are made!         

And now the moment you well, may or may not be waiting for, the Baron of Bottom of the Page pontificates -- aka Schultz says: “The abrupt but not surprising "retirement" of Alex Rodriguez is surely the biggest news of the week that just was. Not since Barry Bonds faded into the background has there been a more controversial superstar in major league baseball. Unlike Bonds though, history is unlikely to remember A Rod as someone who achieved success under a dubious cloud of suspicion. Rather, A Rod's legacy might be one of a player that tried to gimmick the system but always fell one step short. The PED use that was supposed to make him MLB's home run champ and media darling fell short and his attempt to challenge the system and overturn his one year suspension failed miserably. Not only did inking two of the largest contracts in the history of baseball fail to establish A Rod as baseball's alpha and omega, it couldn't even cement his stature as the top dog on his own team. If there truly was competition between A Rod and Derek Jeter, the results are in: Jeter won.

However, unless your league has a category for "special advisers and instructors," A Rod's retirement (cough, cough marginalization) hardly makes a ripple in the roto-world. (Whenever I use that word, I chastise myself for using outdated terminology). Given that Danny Duffy and Marcus Stroman should be long-claimed in every league, their eye-opening efforts simply deserve lip service.

If you are looking to the immediate future, there are a glut of future superstars that have been called to the big leagues over the past two weeks. Those in need of a quick fix could do worse than to pluck David Dahl, Alex Bregman, Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Benentendi, Gary Sanchez, Oswaldo Arcia or A.J. Reed of the waiver wire - presuming some forward thinking owner hasn't already done so. Especially if you made the egregious error of holding on to A Rod, any of these youngsters should assist you down the stretch as unquestionably, these kids are alright. ”

Response:  Well, I have many opinions about A-Rod and his “legacy” but I will tell you this – without ARod in 2009, the Yankees do not even sniff a World Series ring.  How about we focus on the undeniable positive (there are more but this one is not debatable)?