Am I the only one that thought there would have been more deals yesterday. I imagine there will be a flurry of activity starting this morning and last right up till 4pm EST. We may hear of deals announced after the deadline as they must be approved by MLB.
Angels DH Kendrys Morales went 2-5 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI last night, and both homers came in the same inning, from both sides of the plate. I thought Morales would be better than he has shown this season. He is hitting .271-.315-.420 with 11 HRs and 45 RBI thus far, and earlier this month there was rumblings that he could be traded. I am not sure what the Angels would have received in treturn, but I imagine it wouldn't have involved Zack Greinke.
Morales' teammate Mike Trout, you've heard of him, right? Well, he went 2-5 with a HR, a walk, 3 runs and 4 RBI last night, raising his triple slash line to an MVP-like .352-.408-.600 with 17 HRs, 78 runs, 53 RBI and 31 stolen bases. All in just 325 at bats. Just for fun, if we double his season stats for a full season (650 at bats), his numbers would look like this: 34 HRs, 156 runs, 106 RBI and 62 steals. WOW.
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira injured his left wrist attempting to make a diving stop at first base last night and will have an MRI on the wrist today. He apparently injured the wrist on a swing in Sunday night's game, and then made it worse on the dive attempt. If he misses time, coupled with Alex Rodriguez already on the DL, I imagine Yankees GM Brian Cashman may get busy prior to the 4pm EST trade deadline today. Teixiera has been hot this month, hitting .309-.398-.654 with 7 HRs and 27 RBI, and for the season, he is hitting .256-.337-.493 with 20 HRs, 58 runs and 71 RBI, and was on pace for his 30+ HRs and 110+ RBI. Wrist injuries linger, so his power may be sapped if the injury is serious.
More Roundup after the jump:
Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis has been scorching hot since returning from the DL on July 13th. Since then, he is hitting .342-.392-.452 with 12 runs scored, a HR and 2 RBI. For the season, he is hitting .286-.353-.460 with 9 HRs, 38 runs and 30 RBI in 276 at bats. He's been hitting leadoff since returning from the DL, so it appears he will stay there for awhile. His RBI opportunities certainly take a hit, but his runs scored should get a bump.
I was down on Braves starter Tommy Hanson coming into the season due to his shoulder issues last season. Well, he certainly hasn't been as dominant this season, but he now has 12 wins after limiting the Marlins to a run on 6 hits, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched. He is now 12-3 with a 4.28 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 4.36 xFIP and a 1.44 WHIP. His strikeout rate is down to 8.14 from 9.83 per nine innings last season, and his walk rate is approaching 4 per nine, so his peripheral stats are going the wrong way. His 12 wins are solid, but that doesn't tell you how bad he is pitching this season.
Braves outfielder Jason Heyward is quietly having a solid bounce back season after a horrific 2011 season. He went 2-5 with a HR and 3 runs scored last night, raising his triple slash line to .271-.347-.486 with 17 HRs, 59 runs, 51 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 20 attempts. You woudn't know it, but he is on pace for 27 HRs, 94 runs, 81 RBI and 24 stolen bases, which is worthy of a second or third round pick in 2013 drafts. The National League is loaded with some of the top fantasy outfielders, with the exception of Mike Trout. The NL has Heyward, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun Andrew McCutchen, and Giancarlo Stanton, to name a few.
Coming into the season, I thought Yonder Alonso would hit for at least some power, but that hasn't been the case so far. Alonso went 4-5 with 3 doubles, a run and an RBI in the Padres 11-5 win over Alonso's former team, the Reds. For the season, Alonso is hitting .268-.343-.389 with 5 HRs, 29 runs, 37 RBI, 3 stolen bases, and a solid 66-40 strikeout to walk ratio. The Padres have talked about bringing in their fences next season, so his power numbers could increase as a result.
Alonso's teammate Yasmani Grandal injured his oblique swinging at a pitch and is likely to land on the DL. Grandal was hitting .312-.349-.597 with 5 HRs, 15 RBI and 14 runs scored in 77 at bats since his call up on June 30th.