Roto Roundup: Noah Syndergaard, Brian Dozier, Danny Salazar, and others

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Noah Syndergaard dominates

The Mets received bad news on Thursday that young starter Steven Matz landed on the disabled list with a partial tear in his left lat muscle and will miss at least the next three weeks. However, teammate Noah Syndergaard did his best to make Mets fans forget about the Matz injury, at least for one night.

Last night, Syndergaard dominated the Diamondbacks, giving up just one run on 4 hits, 2 walks and 13 strikeouts over 8 innings in the Mets 4-2 win. The win moved his record to 4-4 with a 3.11 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 1.11 WHIP and an impressive 72-14 strikeout to walk rate in 66.2 innings since his call up. Since putting up a clunker of a start vs the Braves back on June 20th, where he gave up 3 earned runs in 4 innings and 88 pitches, he has given up just 3 earned runs over his last three starts, covering 20 innings. Over those three starts, he has struck out 24 and walked just 4, while giving up just 11 hits. While he has been prone to the blow up start, he has given up one run or less in 7 of his 11 starts thus far.

The win moved the Mets within two games of the Nationals, and you have to think they will be making a trade or two to bring in some hitters to help their inept lineup. Rumors surfaced yesterday that the Mets have been talking to the Brewers about third baseman Aramis Ramirez and shortstop Jean Segura, which would represent upgrades for the Mets, but would leave Wilmer Flores as a back up at shortstop and second base, unless they end up dealing Daniel Murphy.

For more on Syndergaard and the Mets, make sure you check out Amazin' Avenue, SB Nation's Mets fan site.

Roto Roundup

The Red Sox have had a very disappointing first half of the season after all the moves they made last offseason, but heading into Friday's game vs division leading Yankees, they were just 5 games out, but in last place. There was talk that the Red Sox front office would wait till the All Star break to decide whether to make deals to improve their rotation or to tweak it and play for next year. Their Friday night starter, Clay Bucholz, has been mentioned in trade rumors recently, and for good reason. Buchholz has pitched very well of late, but he left Friday's start with one out in the fourth inning with tightness in his right elbow, after giving up 3 runs, one earned, on 6 hits, no walks and 3 strikeouts in 3.1 innings in the Red Sox 5-1 loss to the Yankees. Prior to Friday's start, Buchholz had given up just three earned runs over his last four starts, reducing his ERA from 4.22 to 3.27.

Another starter who has been the subject of trade rumors recently is Reds starter Mike Leake. Reds GM Walt Jocketty should buy Leake dinner after his performance last night, as Leake dominated the Marlins, shutting them out on 3 hits, a walk and striking out 10 over 8 innings in the Reds 1-0 win. The win moved his record to 6-5 with a 4.08 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and a 79-31 strikeout to walk rate over 114.2 innings. Leake is not a big strikeout pitcher, so don't expect many more double digit strikeout performances this season, as he pitches to contact and relies on ground balls to get hitters out. That said, he is an innings eater and would be a solid get for a team looking for a fifth starter over the last three months of the season.

In perhaps his best start of the season, Indians starter Danny Salazar came within one out of a complete game last night in the Indians 5-1 win over the Athletics. Salazar limited the A's to one unearned run, on 5 hits, a walk and 8 strikeouts to move his record to 8-4 with a 3.74 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 1.15 WHIP and a 116-26 strikeout to walk rate over 98.2 innings. Indians pitching coach Mickey Calloway continues to work wonders with young pitchers Salazar and Trevor Bauer. Salazar is on pace for over 200 strikeouts and will get plenty of love next offseason.

I hope Twins second base Brian Dozier makes the American League All Star team, especially after his performance last night. The Twins entered the bottom of the ninth trailing the Tigers 6-1, but they rallied to score 7 runs off of Tigers reliever Bruce Rondon and closer Joakim Soria. Dozier capped the scoring with a walk-off three run home run off of Soria in the Twins 8-6 win. Dozier went 2-5 with a home run and 4 RBI and is now hitting .255-.331-.521 with 19 home runs, 66 runs scored, 49 RBI and 9 stolen bases and is on pace for 35 home runs, 123 runs scored and 17 stolen bases. He is my early favorite for #1 fantasy second baseman in 2016.

Dozier's new teammate Miguel Sano is off to a hot start since his call up a few weeks ago, and he went 2-3 with a double. walk, and a run scored in the Twins come from behind win last night. Sano batted clean up last night vs the Tigers former ace Justin Verlander, so that tells you something about how confident they are in his ability to stay up with the big club and his ability to hit in the middle of their lineup so soon after his call up. The two hits improved his slash line to .414-.528-.621 with a home run, 3 run scored, 5 RBI and a 10-7 strikeout to walk rate in 36 plate appearances. The strikeout rate will come down, but you have to like the walk rate thus far. Sano possesses some of the best power in the game and I wonder how long before his ownership rate increases as it sits at 58% in ESPN league currently.

Tigers starter Justin Verlander had his best start of the season vs the Twins last night, limiting them to one run on 5 hits., a walk and 6 strikeout in 7.2 innings. Verlander was in line for the win but his bullpen blew the lead in dramatic fashion in the ninth inning. He is now 0-2 with a 5.34 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and an 18-11 strikeout to walk rate in 30.1 innings this season. While the start looks promising, I wouldn't run out and grab him off of your league waiver wire, as his strikeout rate has fallen below 6.0 K/9 and he has become more hittable after years of dominating hitters.

The Giants jumped all over Phillies ace Cole Hamels last night, scoring 9 runs on 12 hits and 2 walks over 3.1 innings last night, a disaster start for Hamels who could be on his way out of Philadelphia in the coming weeks. Leading the Giants 15 run, 22 hit attack last night was second baseman Joe Panik. Panik had himself a night at the plate, going 4-6 with a home run, 2 runs scored and 3 RBI in the Giants 15-2 win. The big night raised his slash line to .313-.375-.456 with 7 home runs, 21 doubles, 46 run scored, 33 RBI, 3 stolen bases and a solid 38-31 strikeout to walk rate thus far. Panik's 3.4 fWAR ranks second among all second baseman in the game currently, and he is still available in 18% of leagues at the moment. You can do worse at second base than Panik.

Mike Trout once again enjoyed himself a big night at the plate, going 3-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI in the Angels 7-3 win over the Mariners last night. Trout isn't running as much this season as he has in the past, but he is more than making up for it in the power department as he is now hitting .309-.401-.618 with 26 home runs, 66 runs scored, 54 RBI and 9 stolen bases, and is on pace for 49 home runs and 124 runs scored. Can he hit 40 home runs this season? Yep. I wouldn't bet against him. There was a lot written about how much he struck out last season, but Trout has put those worries to rest as his strikeout rate is down from 26.1% to 22.8% thus far, and he is among the league leaders in hard hit % to date.

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