Rusney Castillo is expected to join the Sawx on Tuesday. Whoa, did you see that? There was a rainbow going over the world and when I said that it turned red. I wonder if that’s because he’s Cuban. Oh, it’s probably because the Red Sox paid to sponsor the rainbow. That makes more sense. I didn’t think Mother Nature would sell rainbow naming rights, but there ya go. Someone’s gotta pay for the sun; the world we live in. So, Rusney’s getting a little taste of how’s your father with the Red Sox, but I don’t think he’ll A) Play every day. B) Be much a factor this year. C) There’s no C. Now, for 2015 fantasy baseball, well, there we’re gonna have to talk for a sec. Sorry, I know you’re late to be moral support at your wife’s surgery, but she can wait. Here’s what Prospect Mike said about him previously, “The one tool that is not in question is (Rusney’s) speed. A 30+ steal season from Castillo is a possibility as soon as 2015. The power is still up in the air. Some have tagged him more as an 8-12 homer type guy while others have said 15 or maybe even 20 homers could be in the cards. With any player, we get lots of comps thrown around. Two of the comps I’ve heard the most are Shane Victorino and Rajai Davis. Honestly, the Davis comp makes the most sense to me. The one that makes the least sense is Grey, he’s just a buffoon.” Hey, what’s that all about? To me, the Rajai comparison feels heavy on the speed; Victorino seems a better equivalent, but, honestly, there’s a ton of unknown here. He could be anywhere from a 7 HR/20 SB fourth outfielder to a 20 HR/40 SB superstar. Victorino feels about right — 12 homers, 30 steals. The more I read that he only had 66 steals in 1097 plate appearances in Cuba, I wonder if the hype machine hasn’t taken Rusney and thrown him into the spin cycle, making him more than he is. Shizzton of risk either way you slice the cake, and, brucely, I love cake, so I hope you’re sharing. For this year, I’d take a flyer if I could platoon him. For 2015, I’d take the risk for something special, but don’t expect more than Victorino. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Matt Adams – Out on Sunday with a flare up of his oblique. The Cardinals are optimistic about getting him back soon. Considering the Cards originally found Adams, lying on his side on a beach, right by where the waves break, an oblique is nothing. In fact, when the Cards doctors diagnosed him, they said, “Look closely, oblique and you’ll miss it.”
Marco Gonzales – 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 9 Ks. A quick perusal of Wikipedia tells us, that Gonzales went to Gonzaga University because his family started the university in the 1980’s while playing a game of Galaga. He was originally drafted by the Rockies, but thankfully he skipped out on them and waited another two years for the Cards to come calling. His minor league numbers are impressive (10+ K/9 in Double-A), but his fastball sits in the upper 80’s and his best pitch is a change. Generalization for you that is generally right: minor league hitters struggle with breaking stuff more than MLB hitters, and a fastball in the upper 80’s isn’t great. A 10+ K/9 in Double-A became 7+ in Triple-A and probably will be around the same in the majors. Decent NL-Only flyer in keeper leagues for next year, but he’s nothing but a gamble for his next start, though the Stream-o-Nator does like it.
Jhonny Peralta – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 21st homer. This is neither funny nor here nor there nor herethere if you’re talking fast, the Cardinals are better than the sum of their parts. Like a guy that has a dwarf fetish, they do the little things.
Justin Morneau – Left Friday’s game with lat soreness, but expects to return soon, i.e., sooner vs. lat, and sooner wins. Sooner is now 19-3 going into its H2H playoffs.
Charlie Morton – Will rejoin the rotation on Tuesday. Morton has a hernia, but he’s going to pitch through it because he’s tough. Guess that means Morton is salty about his balls.
Neil Walker – 3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 20th homer, hitting .279. When he does something good, it makes me uncomfortable, not sure why that is. Not as uncomfortable as Kanye refusing to continue a concert until a handicapped person stood up, but uncomfortable nevertheless.
Edinson Volquez – 7 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners (5 BBs), 5 Ks. There’s not a lot of pitching this year? Edinson Vomitquez has a 3.27 ERA. C’mon, for reals now.
Javier Baez – 1-for-3, 1 run and his 4th steal after homering on Friday and Saturday. Not sure he’s going to hit above .200 this year, but obviously if you need power or speed, there’s no guy better. With the name Javier Baez. Damn, that caveat sucked the air out of that.
Joaquin Benoit – Barring any setbacks, he should return by the middle of this week. Padres Saves Chances + An injured Closer Who Needs To Get A Few Reps = Cher’s Outfit from If I Could Turn Back Time video. Wow, math’s off there. This Padres shituation isn’t great for fantasy owners. If you’re desperate, own Benoit and Quackenbush, but neither may get more than two saves the rest of the way.
Matt Garza – 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks. Stream-o-Nator loved this start, but I didn’t. Teach me to go against the cold, lifeless eyes of the machine. Let’s hear what the Stream-o-Nator had to say about my lack of faith. “I just want friends.” Oh, God, that’s a depressing machine.
Matt Clark – 1-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 3rd homer in his last three games. Do I hear a Matt Clark Five? Because, because, because, because, be– You get the picture. Fun fact! The Dave Clark Five was originally called The Beatles Plus One. Clark isn’t this good, but if a hot bat is hitting homers, it’s worth a game of grab and see.
Mat Latos – Done for the season. No one is more upset than Latos. This means more time with his wife. “How about we have six months of silence?” That’s Mat bargaining with his wife.
Todd Frazier – 1-for-4 and his 26th homer. Has definitely cooled down in the 2nd half (7 HRs, ~.260), but he’s probably somewhere in the middle for a whole season. He’s not as bad as the 2nd half, and not as good as his first half. 27 HRs and a .275 average does seem about right over a whole season. The 20 steals is totally bizzonkers.
Danny Duffy – Expects to start on Tuesday. Last time out he threw one pitch and missed a week with a sore shoulder. Here’s hoping for one whole batter!
Eric Hosmer – 1-for-2, 3 RBIs and his 8th homer and 2nd in the last three games. With the way he’s hitting homers, he’s easily going to get to ten homers this year. Juan Pierre is so very impressed.
Jason Vargas – 5 1/3 IP, 5 ER. I really needed a decent start, so I grabbed Vargas and sat down to watch this game. Got about three innings in when I started hear rumblings. I looked down on the couch, where the noise was emanating from. Why was there a handle on my couch? Why was my couch gurgling? Oh, no, I was sitting on a toilet with a loose-fit slip cover! AHHH!!! The Cleveland Streamer! Thanks, Vargas!
Xander Bogaerts – 3-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBIs and his 12th homer, and his 3rd homer this week, while he’s batting near-.400 in that time. Hot schmotato alert!
Daniel Nava – 1-for-4 and a grand slam, his 4th. Homer, that is. Not fourth grand slam. Who is Lou Gehrig? I am the l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-luckiest man in the Nava-ho nation.
Trevor Plouffe – 2-for-4 and his 14th homer, and his 2nd homer in the last two games. This will probably come back to haunt me, but I skipped over grabbing Plouffe for today’s batty call because he’s facing Scherzer. By the time I got to the end of that sentence, I re-checked Plouffe twice about picking him up. Ugh, I know I should grab him, but I’m not. Plouffe goes my confidence!
Jordan Schafer – 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and a slam (1) and legses (Legii? Legacy?), his 28th and 29th steals. That’s in 184 at-bats. If he had 500 ABs, he’d have 70 steals? Pretty much if you like extrapolating numbers to their illogical conclusion. If you do want SAGNOF, I’d grab Schafer.
Trevor May – 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 7.71. Thus far, he’s been the antithesis of the usual Twins starter. Usually the Twins have Radke-types that are more workman (not Brandon), than flashy. Guys with 6 K/9, 1+ BB/9 are their type of pitchers. May is pitching like he’s Edinson Volquez with an inner ear equilibrium problem. Ton of Ks and even more walks.
Glen Perkins – 1 IP, 1 ER, and the 2nd game since he’s returned and the 2nd game in a row he’s given up runs. Wouldn’t be surprised if Glen Perkins and the Glen Perkins Band reveals he’s still nursing neck problems and Burton or Fien get more saves. I haven’t dropped Burton yet.
Jose Abreu – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 35th homer, and 2nd homer in as many games. The Grande Dolor! This was only his 6th homer in the 2nd half of the season. Stats provided by Frank Thomas.
Mike Minor – 4 2/3 IP, 5 ER. Friday night, Alex Wood shows the RAAAngers who’s boss. Saturday, Teheran does the same. Sunday, Minor looks like a blind man trying to play Frogger. I don’t care where Minor is pitching next, I would not start him anywhere.
Leonys Martin – 3-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI. Because I was thinking about how that idiot Washington would bench Martin vs. lefties, and since Martin was in a late game… Well, anyway, sonavabench! Love Leonys if you need runs or steals. In fact, he’s my favorite Martin.
Luis Sardinas – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 4 RBIs. Sorry, was going to say something about Sardinas, but it sounded canned.
Colby Lewis – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA down to 5.12. Total mess this year, and with his 88 MPH, well, he did more with his career than anyone thought he would. Unless he ends up in Metco, Safeco or Petco, could be the last season we even think about him.
Nick Franklin – Rays are calling him up. In Single-A in 2010, he had 23 homers and 25 steals. At that point, I could see his angel wings. He’d flutter above my bed and whisper, “Grey, I’m a middle infielder with 20 homer power and 20 steal speed.” Then a hologram of a large man in a tight-white guinea tee would enter, announce himself as the Ghost of Future Scouts, and say Franklin’s K-rate is out of control, he won’t hit above .220. Luckily, I don’t listen to holograms! Sorry, Tupac Hologram. Every stop along the way, Franklin has struggled to hit for a decent average. I’ll like him next year for his power/speed combo, but he means nothing for this year in redraft leagues.
Yunel Escobar – 3-for-4 and his 7th homer. When I last wrote to you, I told you Yunel was a hot schmotato. Here we are, a few days later, a few hairs less on your dome, and Yunel is still schmotato’ing around. Death, taxes and Yunel. Three things that usually suck.
Jake McGee – 1 IP, 1 ER with the blown save and escape goat as he gave up a homer to John Mayberry Jr. with two strikes and two outs. McGee was better when he was throwing at heads and not the head of a bat.
Chris Archer – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 9 Ks. There’s a chance no Rays pitcher will win another game this year. At least Tampa will have the most Hooters restaurants per square mile.
Adam Lind – 1-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 2nd homer in as many games. Since he has six homers and he’s a thirty home run player, he was long overdue for a power surge like he’s Ben Franklin flying a kite in a thunderstorm. Anyone ever think that maybe Franklin was high on some of Philly’s finest ganja when he was out testing his kite? “I got VD from one of Jefferson’s girls, may as well light up a spliff and fly a kite in a thunderstorm. Yee-haw!” That’s Ben Franklin on that faithful day. He ended every statement with ‘yee-haw,’ that’s a documented fact.
Edwin Encarnacion – 1-for-4 and his 32nd homer. After turning around multiple crappy third basemen, how long into the offseason until Toronto trades for Pedro Alvarez? Are him and Dwayne Murphy already having discussions?
Justin Verlander – 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 9 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA down to 4.81 as he was out-pitched by Trevor Bauer (5 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA down to 4.04). Sorry, that’s not clear. I mean he was out-pitched by Bauer the entire season and in this game.
J.D. Martinez – 2-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 22nd homer. For those of you who wagered one dollar to win a million on J.D. having more homers than Miggy this year, you’re a lot closer than anyone would’ve told you you (stutterer!) would be in March.
Ian Kinsler – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 14th homer. Good to see he made it back from his two-month injury. *intern whispers in my ear* He hasn’t been hurt? Then where has he been? Just slumping? Hayzues Cristo, you should’ve told me. You did? Hmm…Let’s duscuss…After you get back from getting me some Swedish meatballs from Ikea.
Jon Lester – 6 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA down to 2.45. The Yankees ploy to get him this offseason might have backfired. Lester said he was legitimately embarrassed and his neighbors were extremely upset when the Yankees had Mount Rushmore delivered to Lester.
Brandon Moss – 1-for-4 and his 24th homer, and his 3rd post-All Star break homer. Old cliche rings true: a rolling stone collects more counting stats than Moss.
Sam Fuld – 2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 4th homer. Th-th-that’s all Fuld!
Sean Doolittle – Pitched the last two days with the save on Saturday. Maybe I can send O’Flaherty to Ikea for me. I love their meatballs!
Austin Jackson – 2-for-5 and two steals (17, 18). Was a mess coming into this game (0-for-12 with 9 Ks), so Action Jackson is pithy, but he’s just as likely to warrant screaming, “Cut.”
Hiroki Kuroda – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks, lowering his ERA to 3.81. See what I said about Lewis, but add four years and subtract ‘not his choice.’ Hmm, I don’t even understand what I mean there. Too many Ikea meatballs! What I mean is, Kuroda’s probably done after this year, but it’ll be his choice.
Brian McCann – 2-for-4 and his 20th homer, hitting .238. Maybe getting the cornea transplant from Francoeur wasn’t the best idea.
Chris Tillman – 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA down to 3.29. Solid game against the Born-In-1927 Yankees, but really a decent season. Sure, a crapton of pitchers have an ERA under 3.50, but it’s better than being in that group of pitchers that don’t.
Steve Pearce – 2-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, and a homer on Saturday and a hit in 6 of his last seven games. Still not a long-term guy, but there’s no long-term guys at this point, so there’s that.
Ian Desmond – 2-for-4, 2 runs as he locked up his third straight 20/20 season. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Besides Trout, which hitter has been more reliable in the last three years than Desmond? Not saying there’s no hitters that have been better — well, for Trout that is true — but have any hitters been more reliable for their stats? I’d say only McCutchen is also in the reliability discussion.
Wilson Ramos – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 10th homer. Ramos a vamos! That would be my homer call for Ramos. Why don’t I announce every game for every team?
Jordan Zimmermann – 6 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA down to 2.83. The best part was Blue Ivy cheering J-Z on. She doesn’t look like Drake at all! Okay, maybe a lot, but so what?
Jon Niese – 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks. He’s Jon, he’s Jon. Oh, I, Oh, I. I’d pay the devil to not see his face. Hey, I didn’t hear you come in. Was just singing a little H & O. Niese is all about matchups, and the Stream-o-Nator doesn’t like his next one. I could see it going either way, but I don’t fully trust him if shizz in on the line.
Clayton Kershaw – 8 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 1.70. Mattingly should bench him the rest of the season, so he can go on back-to-back-to-ad-infinitum in October.
Matt Kemp – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 20th homer. Member when he said he was going to go 50/50? Maybe he meant there was a 50/50 chance he played a full season.
Yusmeiro Petit – 7 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks. Had the tough assignment vs. Kershaw, but gets the Padres next, so the sun will come up Yusmeiro.
Dallas Keuchel – 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA down to 3.00. If he gets his ERA below 3.00 on the year, then I’m not drafting a starter next year until after 150 overall in all leagues. Bible!
Jake Marisnick – 3-for-4, 1 RBI and his 4th steal. Hasn’t done a ton in the last week, but does have two steals in the last three games, and could be starting to heat up. Worth watching him like a cyclops with a monocle.
Dexter Fowler – 2-for-5, 1 run, as he hit third for the Astros, after sitting out on Saturday. Spring Training, September Baseball, October Baseball, April Baseball, all other months. That’s on a scale of least predictable to most.
Tom Koehler – 6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.71 vs. David Buchanan (6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.75). Both of these guys have paid slight dividends in NL-Only leagues, but you wouldn’t want to go anywhere near them in mixed leagues. Buchanan wouldn’t have wanted mixed anything, for that matter.
Jonathan Papelbon – 1 IP, 4 ER and the blown save. Ka-Papelboom.
Ben Revere – 2-for-5, 1 run and two steals (44, 45). The last time Revere and Buchanan starred in the same game it was Hangman, but we won’t talk about our country’s past.
