With his trade to the Dodgers, Ricky Nolasco got a change of scenery and a potentially more potent lineup to support him. Those factors alone can boost a pitcher's Fantasy popularity, and having made a successful debut with his new team, Nolasco is, in fact, one of the most-added players in CBSSports.com leagues.
While it's true Nolasco has been a better pitcher this year than last, but it's his 2012 season that was the aberration, not this season. Last year's 2.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio aside, Nolasco has an established track record of posting high K/BB ratios with ERAs that fall short of expectations.
He normally doesn't have a problem with throwing strikes, but more often than not, he's given up too many hits and stranded too few runners. Nolasco is also posting his lowest ground ball rate in three years, so especially now that he won't pitch home games at Marlins Park, he could be due for a higher home run rate.
There's nothing wrong with using Nolasco in certain two-start weeks, and his current two-start week is partly responsible for the spike in his ownership rate. However, standard mixed league owners shouldn't hesitate to drop Nolasco once this week is done.