The MLB All-Star break may be a nice respite for the players, but fantasy baseball managers need to use the time to prepare for their second-half surge to the top of the standings.

Your time should be spent evaluating your roster, assessing your weaknesses and establishing which potential trade targets you need to acquire to get the job done. In addition, you need to start shedding the dead weight off your roster. There are few first-half disappointments who will be capable of turning their seasons around completely, so if they haven’t helped you out by now, it’s time for them to go.

One of the most difficult tasks of housecleaning is cutting or trading players with marquee names. We instinctively want to believe in them, especially those who have dominated in the past, but most fantasy managers find themselves desperately clinging to a dream that once was and a roster filled with has-beens they just couldn’t let go. Padres lefty Blake Snell is the perfect example.

When Snell won the AL Cy Young in 2018, he was spectacular. He won 21 games that season and posted a 1.89 ERA with a 0.97 WHIP and 221 strikeouts over 180 ²/₃ innings. His fantasy managers have been chasing that season every year since, and each time they have been met with nothing but disappointment.

Injuries hampered his follow-up season in 2019, he had a slight rebound during a shortened 2020, then was a bust last year, his first season with the Padres. This year, his 5.22 ERA and 1.48 WHIP should tell you all you need to know, but if you’re still holding out hope, go look at his game log and ask yourself if your ratios can handle the abuse.

Snell isn’t the only player with strong name recognition who is hurting fantasy rosters. People seem to be holding out hope that Marlins lefty Trevor Rogers will return to his early 2021 form, but baserunners are circling him like they’re on a carousel.

Nelson Cruz is struggling to keep up with big league fastballs, Eddie Rosario couldn’t drive in a run if the games were played at a Buick dealership, and does anyone think Yasmani Grandal will hit over .180 this season? All are former All-Stars, and none of them have been even remotely productive.

Fantasy champions are those who can make the hard-and-fast decisions to get rid of disappointing players. Study the numbers from today, not from three years ago, and remember, names don’t win you fantasy titles, strong statistics do.

Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy baseball.