It’s getting harder and harder to keep these columns short with so many players to talk about. Thankfully, Player Notes gets us around the league in record time! Off we go: Wil Myers was not very good yesterday. It’s probably just been my luck but I never get a good feeling about players with doubleheaders. Today should be a fresh start for him. It looks like Jurickson Profar is taking his talents to Left Field when the whole Texas infield is back in action. I’m assuming any mid-season Texas pitching trade results in Mike Olt being dealt, otherwise he’ll be in the minors all year. Tony Cingrani may pitch the rest of the year in the bullpen, great news for the Reds, terrible news for fantasy owners. Zack Wheeler was brilliant, but most of the pitchers in yesterday’s doubleheaders were. I’d like to see one more. Jake Odorizzi agrees, he could take his temporary spot back from the struggling Chris Archer. The Indians recalled a motivated Lonnie Chisenhall yesterday. Since his demotion, he’s batted .390 with 6 HRs in 27 games at Triple-A Columbus. Joe Blanton striking out 11 Mariners tells you all you need to know about streaming pitchers against Seattle. Austin Jackson is underrated. Jarrod Parker (64%) should be owned everywhere, and I’ve never seen an athlete cry for a foul call more than Lebron James. Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball yesterday. All ownership percentages are from Yahoo! (I’m on West Coast time for Comments)
Struggling Stars:
Justin Upton (98%): 0-4, RBI, BB. Upton is ranked 56th overall on the year but 747th in the last 30 days. In his last 100 at-bats he’s produced 1 HR with a .200 average. These kinds of slumps are painful since you’re stuck riding it out. Maybe he’s trying to make his older brother feel better. I wasn’t a huge fan on draft day, and I want to tell you to sell but the fantasy sports bible tells us to hold on to our first rounders. Similar to Albert Pujols, I would put him on the Trade Block and see if you get any great offers but for now you’re stuck. Panic Meter: Juan Primo Just Took Bobby Rayburn’s Number (Speaking of which, if the ending to The Fan happened today, would Twitter explode?)
Matt Wieters (92%): 0-3, R, BB. Thanks to ESPN’S Tristan Cockcroft for finding the following relevant stats: The best half-seasons to date, in Wieter’s career, have been his 2011 second half, and his 2012 second half. In the last 30 days he’s hit .253 with 3 HRs, raising his season totals to .239 and 9 HRs. Considering John Buck is the 9th ranked catcher with a .224 average and 11 HRs, Wieters would only need to hit about .250 the rest of the year while maintaining his HR and RBI numbers to finish in the top 10. That seems very doable. Panic Meter: Hold On To Him / Buy Low
Ryan Howard (85%): 1-2, RBI. As for Howard, Cockcroft’s stats point out that Howard has a lifetime OPS 109 points higher in the second half. He goes on to say that Howard has been unlucky with his contact on fly balls and estimates that in a normal year, Howard would be closer to 13 HRs than 7 HRs. I think Cockfroft is being a bit optimistic, Howard is still terrible against lefties, batting .210 on the year, and that doesn’t look like it will magically get better. And he’s still striking out a lot, currently on pace for 169 this season. As a Phillies fan, I really hope I’m wrong here, but I don’t see it getting much better. Panic Meter: Crying In The Corner
Waiver Help:
Ben Revere (42%): 1-4, R. When Charlie Manuel benched Revere for four games last month, it looked like the Phillies had made a poor choice for center field. But since getting the starting job back, Revere has hit .309 with 10 SBs and 14 runs scored. Those are the only categories he contributes in but that’s solid production. Remember he went on a tear offensively in the second half last year.
Kyle Blanks (35%): 0-3, BB. Blanks has been hot the last 30 days, ranked 45th overall with a line of 16 R, 6 doubles, 6 HRs, 18 RBI, .294. I think he’ll keep getting playing time after Yonder Alonso comes back but his 22 Ks compared to 25 hits and 7 walks indicates the batting average will likely come down. Ride the wave while it’s still going.
Mike Carp (24%): DNP. Reports out of Boston had Mike Carp starting at least one of the games during their doubleheader yesterday. He didn’t end up playing either one which is disappointing. Carp has had a better 30 days thanKyle Blanks, ranked 40th overall with a line of 15 Rs, 5 doubles, 6 HRs, 17 RBIs, .333. Hold off until we know what the reason was for his absence yesterday, but if he comes back today healthy then he’s a quality add. If for some reason his hamstring is in bad shape, Will Middlebrooks may play some first base while Jose Iglesias will continue to start on the left side.
Nick Franklin (28%): 1-4, BB, SB. Franklin has been solid in his first 70 at-bats with a line of 7 Rs, 6 doubles, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, .300. With Didi Gregorius and Yunel Escobar struggling lately, it could be a good time to jump on the Nick Franklin bandwagon.
Carlos Ruiz (9%): 1-3. Ruiz was activated from the Disabled List yesterday and went 1-3. At 9% owned he’s probably available on your waiver wire and he should be considered a Top 10 catcher after batting .325 last season. The Phillies are a completely different team with him in the lineup.
Jayson Nix (8%): PP. You’re probably wondering why I would recommend Jayson Nix to you. With injuries to Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis being serious, Nix will get regular at bats in the Yankee lineup. He has eligibility at 2B, 3B, SS, LF and in the last 30 days he has a .299 average with 8 SBs. As long as he’s seeing regular playing time he’s a threat to steal bases. Useful in the right situation.
The Young Guns:
Dylan Bundy (5%): I was kind of surprised to see Bundy was 5% owned, considering most prospects worth monitoring rarely go above 2% until a call-up seems close. The exceptions are guys like Profar, Myers, and Oscar Taveras. While Bundy is very talented, he just started long-tossing on Monday. These things vary but assuming everything broke right for Bundy, it would take at least a couple weeks before he was pitching in minor league games, and then 3-5 starts with good to very-good results before he would be called up. That adds up to about 5 weeks minimum before we’re talking about him pitching games for the Orioles. There’s also zero urgency for the Orioles to rush him. I think there are other prospects worth carrying.
Nick Castellanos (2%): In his last 33 games, Castellanos is hitting .360 with 45 runs scored. He’s been solid all year long in the minors and probably should of been called up two weeks ago. Let’s hope the Rays’ promotion of Wil Myers lights a fire under Tiger’s management. He won’t hit the home runs that Myers will, but his offensive ceiling is similar. No idea what the Tigers are waiting for, he has to be past the Super Two deadline.
Jonathan Singleton (1%): ESPN’s Keith Law predicts that Singleton could be starting at first base for the Astros in the near future. What does near future mean? And would Singleton join the other 2 Astro players we care to follow? (Jose Altuve and Jason Castro being the other 2) As for the first question, Law speculated that the Astros would try to move on from Carlos Pena’s .225 average. I’m dubious of this assumption, not because it doesn’t make perfect sense, but because Pena has been terrible for many years now and continues to defy logic by sticking around. How did he even get signed in the first place? Meanwhile Chris Carter is taking up room at 1B/DH as well. So to me, near future still probably means a few weeks unless some other roster move is made to clear room. For the second question, should we care? He’s batting .284 with 5 HRs in 67 at-bats, across all three levels of the minor leagues this year, after hitting 21 HRs and a .284 average last year. Looks promising but I’m likely ignoring him this year. (Side Fact: Singleton missed the entire first half because of a 50-game suspension testing positive for marijuana. Apparently if you are on the major league 40-man roster you are not tested for marijuana at all. That is why Chris Perez, who recently admitted he smoked during the season, never failed a drug test.)
The Walking Wounded:
Mitch Moreland could be back on Friday.
Chris Perez will be activated on Friday.
J.J. Putz will start his rehab assignment on Thursday.
Jose Reyes could return in the next 10 days.
Aaron Hill could return this weekend.
Chase Utley could return later next week.
Brian Roberts will start his rehab assignment on June 24th.
Bryce Harper should return before the end of the month.
Matt Kemp is at 75%. June 24th is the earliest prediction, but also unlikely.
Brandon Beachy no update since Monday, he’s taking this week off then will reevaluate.
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