Joe Musgrove shut down the mighty Toronto Blue Jays for the second time, going seven strong innings, allowing just six hits, two runs, a walk and striking out seven for his first major league win. He looked dominant. Like Michael Phelps dominates the pool, or Simone Biles dominates her sport, and all sports, for ever and ever. Simone though. Have you ever seen such dominance? Clearly, ESPN has not. Regardless, Joey Joe Joe now sports a sparkling 1.47 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and 21/2 K/BB ratio though 18.1 innings. Did you miss out on Jameson Taillon, Michael Fulmer, Lucas Giolito or Blake Snell? Well frown no-more, my frowny-faced friend, because Joe Musgrove may just be the best performing of the rookie-nookie bunch, and while everyone is off drafting their fantasy football teams, Musgrove is still available in over half of baseball leagues. Who is this Musgrove character, and what makes him a must-own pitcher, you ask? In 16 games in AA and AAA (85.1 IP), Joe was 7-4 with a 2.74 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 87/10 K/BB rate. Oh yeah. For those of you playing at home, that will help your fantasy team. He also plays for the Houston Astros, a team in dire need of all the help they can get as they make their playoff push. Grey told you told BUY and Joe Musgrove needs to be added in all leagues as soon as you finish reading this…sandwich! Gotcha! Now make like Katie Ledecky and 100m fly to the waiver wire!
Here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
Teoscar Hernandez – 2-for-4, 2 runs, HR (1). It’s another Astros prospect! And you know what they says about Houston prospects…well, I really hope you know, because I sure don’t. Teoscar slashed .307/.377/.459 with 10 homers and 34 stolen bases in the minors this year, and with Carlos Gomez out of the picture he should see plenty of playing time. This rookie is so fresh he’s not even active in the ESPN player universe yet, but he could be worth a flier once he’s added. So keep refreshing that free agents page!
Ryan Schimpf – 2-for-4, 2 HR (12), 6 RBI. His third homer in the past week. Schimpf offers little other than power in terms of fantasy production, but lucky for you power is a very important category in most fantasy leagues.
Travis d’Arnaud – 3-for-4, HR (4), 2 RBI. This was Travis’ best game since returning from the DL and one hopes we’ll see many more like it down the stretch. He could be worth an add looking if the severe catcher depression is starting to set in. I personally have been dealing with catcher depression for several months now.
Brandon Maurer– 1.0 IP, SV (5). He’s the Padres closer and he’s available in about 80% of leagues. I won’t directly tell you to pick him up but I will plant a series of clues that leads you to his eventual acquisition. It’s more fun that way!
Jose Ramirez– 3-for-5, 4 runs, HR (8), 5 RBI, 3 SB (17). Jose is slashing .313/.368/.456 with eight homers, 50 RBI and 17 stolen bases on the season. Ramirez has been one of my best pick-ups all season and probably a big reason for the Cleveland’s success. But the Injians weren’t done there. They had themselves a good old fashioned hometown community pow-wow, collecting 17 hits in this one. Rajai Davis stole 3 bases, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Guyer had three hits a piece, Guyer with a homer, and Jason Kipnis had four hits and a steal. When Cleveland smoke-um Los Angeles.
Hanley Ramirez – 2-for-4, 2 HR (16), 6 RBI. HanRam serves up his jacks with extremely tender back muscles. That’s the only way to get the best flavor out of the muscle. Gordon Ramsay taught him that. Thank you, chef!
David Price – 8.0 IP, 10 hits, 3 ER, BB, 8 K, W. Even when he gets the win, DP does not make it look easy. His starts are more cringe worthy than Benedict Cumberbatch’s Boston accent. Price and his 1.28 WHIP and 4.29 ERA certainly don’t inspire any confidence in the Red Sox Nation, but at least he’s healthy, right? Right!?
David Ortiz – 3-for-4, 3 runs, HR (26), 2 RBI. My niece sleeps with a plush Big Papi doll instead of a teddy bear. It’s cute and all, sure, but my sister think she may be developing an unhealthy attraction to Latin men. Especially for a four year old. That’s still only half as racist as the Big Papi bobbleheads they almost gave out last week.
Stephen Strasburg – 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 6 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Strasburnt!
Freddie Freeman – 2-for-3, HR (22), 4 RBI. Freddie continues to haunt Strasburg’s nightmares! He’s got a career .412 batting average with four homers against the phenom. Talk about a slasher!
Jim Johnson – 1.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, K, SV (10). He’s a closer! He’s a BUY! He’s someone you should pick up if you need saves!
Trea Turner – 3-for-5, run, RBI, 2 SB (10). Trea continues to lead off and is slashing .301/.333/.485 with 2 homers and 10 steals. He needs to be owned if he’s still hanging out on your waivers. It almost makes you forget about Bryce Harper and his rare incurable disease. I’m not saying Bryce caught the bug from hanging out with me, but I’m not denying it either.
Matt Szczur – 3-for-4, 4 runs, 2 HR (5), 3 RBI. I will withhold comment based on the fact that I can’t pronounce his name.
Jorge Soler – 2-for-4, HR (8). More Soler power! He’s batting .470 with two homers in the past week. Three times flame emoji. Pick him up, summer is almost over!
Carlos Rodon– 6.0 IP, 3 hits, ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W. Just his third win of the year. Sheesh. When you play for the White Sox. No wonder Sale has been so pissy lately. Carlos now has back-to-back quality starts, and could be worth a look next week versus Cleveland if you’re feeling dangerous.
Billy Hamilton – 1-for-4, 3 SB (51). I was watching the scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past with Quicksilver and couldn’t help but thinking of Hamilton. If they kept Quicksilver for the whole movie, would there even be a movie? Would it even be fair? Is owning Billy Hamilton even fair? Does anyone really believe that someone would find a naked Jennifer Lawrence unattractive just because she’s blue and scaly? It’s called eczema and it’s kind of a turn on. Also, is Billy Hamilton a mutant? Will DC ruin the Flash, too? I got questions!
Adam Duvall – 3-for-4, HR (27). I know he’s struggled recently, but 27 homers, sweet sassy molassy! Duvall is definitely the biggest surprise in the fantasy world of 2016 as far as I’m concerned. Less surprising is the fact that I don’t own him anywhere.
Homer Bailey – 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, BB, 11 K, W. The No Homers Club has decided to make an exception for Bailey. Aside from a rough outing last week, Bailey has been strong in his return from Tommy John. He gets the Marlins next week and I’d look to add him everywhere he’s available.
Paulo Orlando – 2-for-5, run, RBI, SB (10). Paulo is leading off for the Royals and is all amped about his home country hosting the 2016 Olympics. I was watching Olympic Trampoline yesterday and thought to myself, wow, this is one event I feel like I could totally do. Could I do it without breaking my neck? Probably not.
Jonathan Lucroy – 3-for-4, 2 HR (19), 5 RBI. His sixth homer with Tejas! Carlos Beltran was 2-for-4, with a HR (24) as well, and the Rangers are looking like real winners at the trading deadline. You can tell by the smug grin on GM Jon Daniels face. OK, you win this round Daniels, but lest we mention Prince Fielder?
Andrew McCutchen – 2-for-4, HR (16), 2 RBI, SB (5). The slam & legs! In Pittsburgh they put french fries–you know what? I can’t even. What happened to you, Cutch!?
Tony Watson – 0.1 IP, SV (5). Another day, another save, but you probably won’t get another chance to pick him up. So go do it now!
Dylan Bundy – 5.2 IP, 3 hits, ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W. Since joining the starting rotation Bundy is 4-2 with a 2.76 ERA with a 32/5 K/BB rate. He should probably be owned everywhere by now but no ma’am he’s not. So make it happen, this kid’s gonna be a star! Ha-cha-cha!
Chris Davis – 2-for-3, HR (24). THE POWER OF CHRIS COMPELS ME! THE POWER OF CHRIS COMPELS ME!
Cesar Hernandez – 2-for-4, 2 runs, SB (12), as he led off. Hey, remember me? Cesar? I was vacationing at a sweat lodge, experiencing visions of my future fantasy failures. Regardless, I’m back if you need some steals. Not interested? That’s cool, I totally get it. I’m still sweating uncontrollably, but this time I’m doing it for free.
Charlie Blackmon – 3-for-4, 3 HR (18). Uh-oh, I’m getting the Blackmon fever again! And no, that has nothing to do with the Taye Diggs poster on my bedroom wall. I’m more of an Idris Elba fan anyway.
Chris Archer – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 5 ER, 9 K, 16th loss. So he leads the league in losses AND strikeouts. As bad as that sounds, I’m such a sucker for Ks I’d take it. I wouldn’t take it in the fourth round, but I’d take it.
Alex Rodriguez – 1-for-4, RBI. And with that. The Centaurion Rodriguez, half-horse, half-Dominican, full future hall-of-famer, tipped his cap, flipped his bat and galloped off into the Bronx sunset, never to be heard from again. Oh, please let it be so.
Thanks for reading! Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
