Fake Teams readers: Welcome back Kevin Boger!!
Before getting into today's Roundup, I'd like to welcome back Kevin Boger as a fantasy baseball writer here at Fake Teams. Kevin wrote for us last season and into the offseason before life got too busy for him, but things have slowed down for him and he is back in the fold, writing for Fake Teams.
ICYMI: he wrote about Mariners first baseman, Justin Smoak, late yesterday afternoon, and you can read if here.
Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 27: Better Lucky than Good
Zack and Andrew hosted episode 27 of the Fake Teams Podcast on Sunday night where they discussed some of the recent prospects called up including Travis d'Arnaud, Kolten Wong and Matt Davidson. They also discussed Jason Heyward's in-season bounce back, and some of Zack's bold predictions from early spring.
You can listen to the podcast in two ways:
Alex Rodriguez: Can he keep this up?
No, I am not talking about his desire to make the front page of every New York City newspaper. I am talking about his performance at the plate. I have to say I am a bit surprised he is hitting so well coming off the hip injury. Yesterday, he struggled at the plate, playing both games of the double header vs the Blue Jays, going 1-7 in the two games with a walk and 5 strikeouts.
Even after the poor performance in the double header, ARod is hitting .296-.387-.444 with 2 HRs, 7 runs, 6 RBI and a 15-6 strikeout to walk rate in 54 at bats. I know it's only 54 at bats, but I figured he'd be hitting .222 right about now. He has hit in 11 of his 15 games thus far, so he might be worth a short term waiver wire move, as he is owned in just 54% of ESPN leagues and 60% of CBS leagues.
For more on ARod, just turn on ESPN, or head on over to Pinstriped Bible, SB Nation's Yankees fan site.
Yasiel Puig: He refuses to be ignored
I took that line from Dodgers beat writer Tony Jackson, who has his own blog now, dodgerscribe, and if you are a Dodgers fan, you should follow him. He has no affiliation to any other media outlet or newspaper anymore, he is now on his own, and he travels to every game. Actually, I am not sure how he does it, but however he does it, he does a great job at it.
Anyway, back to Puig. Puig has had his name in the papers and other media outlets, including TMZ, for some late night partying in South Beach, cursing out some media in the locker room, and arriving late to Tuesday's game and being fined. Manager Don Mattingly benched him on Tuesday, but somehow Puig made his presence felt, as he entered the game in a double switch, and promptly hit the first pitch he saw over the left-center field wall to break a 4-4 tie.
I still don't think Puig is THIS good, but he keeps proving me wrong. I keep expecting him to go into a long slump, but he keeps making adjustments and is still hitting over .350 for the season.
For more on Puig, please make sure you check out True Blue LA, SB Nation's Dodgers fan site.
Round'em Up
A couple of injuries have resulted in two top hitters to the DL yesterday. First, the Blue Jays placed Jose Bautista on the 15-day DL with a hip injury. He left the first game of the double header vs the Yankees with a left hip bone bruise, and will be out at least two weeks. Kevin Pillar and Anthony Gose will replace Bautista in the Blue Jays outfield.
Twins catcher Joe Mauer was placed on the 7-day DL with a concussion resulting from taking a few foul tips to the mask on Monday night. I hope it is a short term injury and the concussion symptoms go away quick. With Justin Morneau leaving via free agency, I wonder if the Twins will play Mauer at first base more in future years to keep his bat in the lineup and eliminate these types of injuries.
Wil Myers owners have to be surprised that he is hitting so well in his first taste of big league pitching. I am shocked actually. Myers went 2-5 with 2 RBI in the Rays 7-4 win over the Orioles on Tuesday. For the season, Myers is hitting .312-.362-.490 with 9 HRs, 29 runs, 39 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 52 games. He has to be the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year award this season. I am curious where I will rank him in my offseason outfielder rankings, as I don't see him as a future .300 hitter, but he does have 25-30 home run power, and I like power hitters.
Speaking of power hitters, there aren't many better than Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Last night, Goldschmidt broke open a 1-0 game with a grand slam home run as the Diamondbacks beat the Reds 5-2. Goldschmidt raised his triple slash line to .297-.393-.552 with 31 HRs, 82 runs, 100 RBI and 13 stolen bases after going 1-3 with the grand slam and a walk. He will probably be my #2 ranked fantasy first baseman in 2014, behind Chris Davis, but I am sure others will have Goldy ahead of Davis.
Goldschmidt's teammate Patrick Corbin is another player who I keep expecting to come back to earth, like Puig, but he doesn't. He just keeps on pitching great and winning ball games. Corbin tossed a complete game six hitter, giving up two runs and striking out 10 Reds to win his 13th game of the season. Corbin is now 13-3 with a 2.45 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and a 150-42 strikeout to walk rate in 172.1 innings this season. I ranked him too low in our midseason starting pitcher rankings, obviously.
Twins first baseman Justin Morneau had a big night at the plate last night, going 4-5 with a HR and 4 RBI in the Twins win over the TIgers. Morneau recently passed through waivers and I have a hard time believing a team like the Rays or Pirates don't try to deal for him before August 31st. Morneau is now hitting .267-.321-.431 with 15 HRs, 52 runs and 72 RBI on the season. He isn't the MVP type hitter from years ago, but he could help both of those ball clubs in their playoff/wild card hunt.
More from Fake Teams:
- Know Your Splits: Justin Smoak on Fire
- Streamer Report: Wednesday's Streamers
- Risers and Fallers: Nolan Arenado, Chris Carter and Others
- Roto Roundup: Xander Bogaerts, Jeff Samardzija and others
- 2013 MLB Prospect Review: Henry Owens, LHP, Boston Red Sox
- Injury Report: Breathe, it looks like Trout's okay