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Biogenesis Fallout: Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta and Others
Alex Kantecki discussed possible replacement players for some of the soon-to-be (or already??) suspended players in his The Biogenesis Fallout article yesterday afternoon. In his piece, he offers waiver wire recommendations to replace Nelson Cruz, Everth Cabrera, and Jhonny Peralta who will be suspended later today.
Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 23: You Can't Argue With That
Andrew and Zack discuss our Midseason Outfielder Rankings, including their thoughts on Yasiel Puig, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Adam Jones and my "interesting" outfielder rankings. What? What? You don't like my rankings? They also discussed Wil Myers, Gerrit Cole and Chris Archer, so make sure you listen to their thoughts on the podcast.
You can listen to their awesome podcast in two ways:
Anibal Sanchez pitches great, doesn't get win, but Tigers win
Anibal Sanchez has been one of the best starters in the American League this season, and has been on fire over his last seven or eight starts. Last night, he limited the Indians to just two runs on 4 hits, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. He was removed with two out in the eighth and the Tigers responded by scoring four runs off of Indians closer Chris Perez in the ninth inning for a come from behind win. Sanchez is now 9-7 with a 2.58 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and a 131-37 strikeout to walk rate in 19 starts.
Sanchez own's a 3.9 WAR currently, ranking him 9th amongst all qualified starters, and 6th in the AL. Is he a Top 10 starter for 2014? I don't think so, but one can make an argument that he could be due to his strikeouts, low ERA and the fact that he pitches for a very good team.
Eric Hosmer: Moving past his 1.5 year slump
Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer was one of the more hyped young hitters heading into the 2012 season and we all know how that worked out. Well, 2013 didn't start out much better. That is, until George Brett took over as the Royals hitting coach. Since the end of May when Brett was hired, Hosmer hit .303 in June, .324 in July and .348 in August after his 3-5 performance last night. Hosmer went 3-5 with a double, HR, 2 runs and 5 RBI, raising his triple slash line to .293-.337-.439 with 12 HRs, 57 runs, 53 RBI and 9 stolen bases. He is on pace for an 18-85-79-13 season, which is pretty respectable after the slow start he had.
Round'em Up
The Astros are a pretty bad ball club, but that doesn't mean they don't have players that can help your fantasy teams. They recently called up shortstop prospect Jonathan Villar and all he has done is not hit and steal bases. He went 2-2 with a walk and 3 stolen bases last night, and is now hitting .220-.322-.275 with 9 runs scored and 9 stolen bases in just 51 at bats. I don't know if he will get a long look at short this season, but if he does, he will be a cheap source of steals going forward.
Stephen Strasburg is the unluckiest pitcher in baseball. Strasburg limited the hot Braves lineup to 2 runs on 5 hits, a walk and 9 strikeouts in 7 innings of work, but like most other start, he received little run support. Over his last 10 starts, Strasburg has given up two runs or less seven times, and only one win to show for it. He is now 5-9 with a 3.01 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and a 143-42 K-BB rate in 137.2 innings.
I like Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, but why in the world was he batting clean up last night? Wow.
After struggling for the last three months, Braves outfeilder Justin Upton has found his groove again. JUp went 3-4 with a solo home run last night, and is now hitting .265-.356-.473 with 20 HRs, 72 runs, 57 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 8 attempts. Over his last 10 games, he is 17-42 with 4 HRs, 11 runs, 10 RBI and a stolen base. He needs to stay hot to regain the love of fantasy owners heading into the offseason.