Finally, Jacoby Ellsbury hits the DL. This is probably a DL trip of less than a week. At least the Sawx hope so. Was also revealed Mike Cameron will miss a few weeks with a strained abdomen. (Shouldn’t it be a strained abdoman?) If Cameron needs surgery, he could miss up to two months. Darnell McDonald was called up. Darnell McDonald is the answer to the question, “Who is Darnell McDonald?” Other questions his name could’ve answered were, “Who’s the thirty-one year prospect in the outfield?” “This is the Red Sox depth?” and “Wait, what?” Old McDonald has some speed…. ei, ei, ei, oh, no, you don’t want him. Sure, he had the game-tying homer and the game-winning single off the wall, but he’s far from fantasy worthy at this point outside of very deep leagues. Also called up, Josh Reddick. Let’s cover him on the other side of the formality, shall we? C’mon, follow me over this “anyway” sentence. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Josh Reddick – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs. Here’s what Stephen said last month in the Red Sox minor league review, “Reddick has the potential for more power, especially with a high fly ball rate (49.5%). With the announcement of Mike Cameron going to be out for a month on April 20th at 11:47 AM EST, Reddick should get a chance.” Okay, I just got chills. How did Stephen know that last month?! He practices voodoo! Reddick hasn’t done anything special this year in Triple-A. Hitting .179 and one homer. The one homer did come in only seven hits. If you need pop, I’d grab Reddick in deep leagues, especially AL-Only ones. He could also chip in a few steals. Right now, he should see time in center while Ellsbury mends, then he could split time with Hermida and/or Drew. Or he could be the first man off the bench. Grab now, ask questions later.
Jeremy Hermida – 2-for-3 and a homer. He’ll also get a boost in playing time. Hermida was a big favorite of mine before I started the blog. My PIN number used to be 15628, which was Hermida’s home address where I used to stalk him. Restraining order and 3 uneventful years later, Hermida’s got some esplaining to do with his bat. After two homers in two days, he’s worth grabbing if you need some power/RBI help.
Victor Martinez – 3-for-4 as he combined with Tim Wakefield to allow 9 steals. Two by Vlad, who hasn’t been able to bend his knee since ‘Nam. That’s just the Red Sox investing in defense.
Nelson Cruz – 2-for-4, 1 RBI and 3 steals. Left with leg cramping, must be that time of the month. No word yet on the severity.
Elvis Andrus – 0-for-2, 3 steals as he continues to leadoff. On one of the steals, Andrus slide into second, realized he forgot his wallet, went back to first and still got into second under the tag. Oh, and it was a pitch out.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – Salty should be back in about a week, barring a setback. Or setbacchia. Salty should take over for Teagarden and could save you some of your rotisserie catcher issues.
Frank Francisco – 1 IP, 1 ER and the loss as Frank-Frank continues to suck-suck.
Edinson Volquez – Tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. As frequent commenter Clyde Prompto said, “I can’t believe I was combing the internet all day to find out who the suspended player was and it turned out to be Edinson Volquez. I was intrigued by the initial story, found some exciting possibilities during my research, and was ultimately extremely disappointed in the outcome. I feel like I just lived through the fantasy baseball equivalent of an episode of Ghost Hunters.” Volquez was on the DL until late-July anyway, so this really does nothing to his value. If anything, I kinda like the gumption of an injured player PED’ing his way back from recovery since he can’t lose any additional time. It’s similar to the prisoners beating up Madoff. What, you’re going to punish me more? Please, it’s shank time.
Drew Stubbs – 0-for-5 with no walks and one steal. If I had to assign a line to Stubbs, that would be it.
Chad Billingsley – 3 IP, 4 ER, 7 hits, no walks, no breaking ball and a fastball that wouldn’t even win an oversized SpongeBob at the county fair. He might be headed for a visit soon to see Dr. Freeze. He gets the Nats next, so, like a gambler who can’t leave the table even as he loses every hand, I’ll be rolling the dice on his next start. And I’d fix that mixed metaphor, but I’m too old; I’m too tired; I’m too effin’ annoyed with Billingsley.
Matt Kemp – 2-for-5 as he hit his 6th homer. He’s been caught stealing 4 times already. Not sure if anyone’s going to put the brakes on him, but, assuming they don’t, I’m guessing he’s going for 30/30 this year. And making it.
Rafael Furcal – 2-for-5, 2 steals. Barring injuries, there’s no reason to think he’s not back. So when you ask me if you should go with Schmohawk Shortstop Behind Door #3 or Furcal… I’m going Furcal.
Jorge Cantu – 2-for-4 with his 4th homer. Cantu was terrific last April too, so it could be a guise. Don’t fall for the perfume and makeup. Cantu has an Adam’s Apple.
Lance Berkman – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs as the Astros scored more runs in this game than all of their other games combined. Don’t worry, they still have 6 holes in their lineup.
Chris Coghlan – 2-for-4 and a steal. I don’t like him at all, but he might be finally heating up. He will hit better than his current .140.
Mike Pelfrey – 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks. His K-rate prior to 2010 was pretty poor. Even this year, it’s only a little above his career mark. His biggest adjustment so far seems to be his ability to avoid the homer ball and leave men on base. He won’t continue to leave men on base, but he can maintain his small strikeout and homer gains. You’re not looking at a total breakout, but he can be usable as a 4th fantasy starter, especially in Metco.
Jose Reyes – 4-for-5 and a steal. Thank God, the shipment of Red Bull finally arrived.
Nate McLouth – 1-for-3 as he hit the game winning homer. McLousy’s always been a very streaky player and he was battling some health issues in training camp. Might finally be feeling 100%.
Ryan Madson – 1 IP, 3 ER, blown save and has an ERA of 7.71 on the year. Not sure why it took me so long to realize it, but I think Madson’s a Cuddle Boy.
David Aardsma – Recorded his 6th perfect save. Member all the people in the preseason who were like, “Grey, your mustache has gone to your head, yo. Aardsma is crizzap!” Yeah, they’re off trolling the ESPN message boards now.
Milton Bradley – Left the game with an injury. Or he left the game to beat the crap out of someone. No word as of post time.
Vernon Wells – Hit his 7th homer yesterday. I think he hits 17 and is out for a month with a random injury, but I give up. He could hit 25 homers this year.
Justin Maxwell – 2-for-5, as he continues to platoon with Willie Harris. Is Maxwell going to explode? Get smart! He does have sneaky 10/25 potential with an every day job.
Mike Gonzalez – To meet with Dr. Freeze. Hope everyone has their hands on Johnson. Hmm… Probably could’ve reworded that.
Jonathan Sanchez – 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks. I’m pretty pissed I don’t own him in any leagues. Oh, wait. I own him across more teams than any other player. Him and…
Chase Headley – 1-for-2 with 3 steals as he hits .358. I don’t have the time or the energy, but there’s at least three dozen preseason comments of mine about how I refused to pay/reach for a 3rd baseman so I targeted Headley everywhere.
Mat Latos – 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 2 Ks. As long as he keeps pitching like this, he can keep spelling his first name like he lost a Scrabble tile.
Ryan Ludwick – 3-for-4, 2 homers yesterday. Could be the start of a hot streak. If someone grew bored of him, grab him off waivers.
Mark Reynolds – 1-for-2, homer and a steal. See that, Mini Donkey just needed some goading from me.
Kelly Johnson – 3-for-6 as he continues to hit leadoff. That’s it. I’m not talking about him again for at least two weeks. Do what you do.
Chad Qualls – Worked a perfect inning for the save. I’ve dropped Gutierrez everywhere for Fister. (Then I dropped Fister for Ryota Igarashi during the “It might be K-Rod who took PEDs!” fiasco of April 20th.)
Justin Masterson – 4 IP, 2 ER, 10 baserunners, 6 Ks. You know what? Against this team, it wasn’t the worst start. His defense and some wildness let him down.
Kevin Slowey – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 9 Ks. I own Slowey on a lot of teams too. I nearly picked him for the Cy Young. I don’t think he’s eating the hirame.
Gio Gonzalez – 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 5 Ks, 8 baserunners, 5 BBs. You kinda asked for this if you threw him against the Yankees.
Rick Porcello – 4 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 5 Ks. Porcello went mushaboom, Feist. I own Porcello on one team, my Razzball team where I’m trying to accumulate the worst stats.
Scott Kazmir – 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks. You, “Kazmir is so nasty. I’m so glad I have him. He’s perhaps my favorite player ever. I’ll trade you him for Jay Bruce.” Or at least that’s the ideal you.
Jeff Mathis – To the DL with a fractured wrist, will miss at least 6 weeks. You know whose time it is now to catch? Bobby Wilson! Or maybe that Napoli character. Yesterday, Scioscia went with Napoli and was nice enough to bat him ninth. True story, the Angels placed Napoli not Mathis on the All-Star Ballot. Scioscia was the one that submitted him. With the game playing at Anaheim this year, I can only assume Scioscia was trying to make the fans happy with Napoli’s inclusion on the ballot and exclusion from every game.
