Logan Morrison played at the same community college as Albert Pujols. That’s two more MLB players than Middlesex County College or MC-squared as we called it. Let’s look at what Stephen wrote about Morrison, “Blessed with a balanced, flat swing with plus-power, and the organization’s best plate-discipline… The only thing more exciting than Morrison is pasting copies of Grey’s photo to a dartboard and piercing his eyeballs.” Hmm… Hadn’t read that last part before. A rookie with good plate discipline and power is really all you need to know when considering a guy for keepers. Own and own now. So is it time to get on board the LogaMotive in redraft leagues? As a disgruntled horse would say, “What the hey?” When met with choosing between upside and a random schmohawk outfielder behind door number three, you go with upside. Just don’t crazy and drop anyone too valuable. I imagine Morrison will lose some playing time to Bonifacio and might struggle in the beginning. Conservatively, I’ve give him 8 homers and a decent average. The upside is obviously there and if he hits out of the gate, his name value will provide more than his actual worth on the trade market. A lot depends on if the Marlins take it fast or slow with LogaMo. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Jason Bay – Out with a mild concussion. This would explain a lot if it happened in March and was just discovered.
Jonathon Niese – 6 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners, 1 K. Wasn’t the prettiest start, but I’ve seen worse. *cough* Wainwright *cough* Still, Niese has only one bad start in his last 10. Really no reason you shouldn’t own him.
Huston Street – Was hit by a line drive then fainted two or three times from the pain. Obviously I don’t wish ill on anyone, except for maybe Jason Bay. But how do you faint two or three times? You put the back of your hand to your forehead and you faint. Then you’re revived. That’s it. Let’s act it out. “The pain is terrible. I can’t take it, Jeeves. I just can’t.” You faint. Jeeves pats your forehead with a cold rag while your suitor waves his top hat to give you air. You waken. “Are you all right? You fainted.” “Yes, Jeeves. Thank you. Perhaps you could fetch me a glass of bubbly water.” See! One faint! Well, I grabbed Corpas wherever I had room. If anyone can take a day-to-day and turn it into a 60-day DL stint, it’s Street.
Jorge de la Rosa – 7 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks. Now has back-to-back solid starts. Yes, I’d prefer him over Volquez at this point.
Troy Tulowitzki – 0-for-4 as he returned to the lineup. Hope his return this soon isn’t *pinkie to mouth* wristki.
Tyler Colvin – 2-for-4 with his 4th homer in the last week. Get ’em while the gettin’s good. I before e, pick him up if you need outfield help.
Brett Myers – 9 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 12 Ks. Pitched brilliantly vs the Cubs. Brett Myers’ wife was just glad he didn’t win a slugfest because sometimes Brett brings work home with him.
Chris Johnson – 2-for-4. I picked him up for Monday’s short schedule day, but I held onto him a little longer and dropped someone else. Why? Cause Johnson’s crazy hot right now.
Hong-Chih Kuo – 2 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks. His ERA is 0.79, his WHIP is 0.76 and lefties are 0-for-the-season off him. How’s your Holds guy doing?
Gavin Floyd – 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks. Hasn’t given up more than 2 runs in any game since June 2nd. Yup.
Alexei Ramirez – 3-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 10th homer. He has 5 steals on the year and a .288 average. Take this how you want, but his stats are exactly what they should be.
Kerry Wood – Will close again when activated. The Indians should’ve added, “And we can’t wait for him to return, because we love love love having him as our closer. But we’d be willing to listen to offers if someone really wanted to trade for him.”
Josh Tomlin – 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 2 Ks. Josh Tomlin, who likes to talk about himself in the third person, said, “Josh Tomlin fears no man, woman or whatever A-Rod is.” Tomlin, 25, had a solid record in Triple-A this year — 2.68 ERA, 80:33 K:BB in 107 1/3 innings. Could be a decent AL-Only pickup since hitters won’t be familiar with him. You’re crazy if you grab him in mixed leagues. Cray. Zee.
Stephen Strasburg – Was scratched from his start when he couldn’t get loose. He has inflammation in his right shoulder. Wouldn’t be surprised if the Nats are very cautious and rest him for a week or so. When the crowd saw it was Batista and not Strasburg starting, it was almost a modern day, Disco Demolition Night. Like showing up at the theater and hearing, “Due to an illness to Kevin Spacey, his understudy will be performing tonight — the dad from The Hogan Family.”
Scott Olsen – Will return from the DL this Thursday. He’s worth a grab, if you’re hurting for a 5th fantasy starter, but I wouldn’t start him in his first game back.
Edinson Volquez – 3 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 3 Ks. Yeah, that wasn’t much better than his last start. Tommy John recipients tend to have command issues when they return and Volquez already had problems throwing a rock into the ocean without the assist from gravity. I’d start looking elsewhere.
Scott Rolen – 4-for-4, 3 RBIs in his 2nd game back. Or as I like to call it “two less days until his next injury.” If you’re hurting at your corner infidel spot, I could see grabbing him while he’s ‘healthy.’
Jose Lopez – Tight hamstring forced him from the game. He’s day-to-day, or Day II Day, if you’re into R&B.
B.J. Upton – Twisted ankle and left the game. He’s day-to-day, which isn’t nearly as exciting as one day until Desmond Jennings’ day.
Justin Upton – Left with hip tightness. The Uptons should have never vacationed to Hawaii and stole that tiki idol from Vincent Price.
Shane Victorino – Is it me or did the entire league get hurt yesterday? His oblique injury looked like it could mean a DL stint. He could barely throw the ball back in. Victorino said he’s hoping to avoid the DL. Oh, who cares what Victorino’s saying? Here comes Domonic Brown! Maybe. But pick him up just in case.
Dan Haren – Hey, some good injury news! Haren says he’ll be able to make his next start.
John Lackey – 7 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks vs. his former club, the Angels, as the Rally Monkey tipped his cap one last time.
J.J. Hardy – 3-for-5, 2 RBIs and a homer. I’ve quietly owned Hardy in one league for a week or two. He’s hit in 8 of his last ten games and is capable of hitting 10 homers in the last two months. It’s not much until you consider it’s at MI.
Danny Valencia – 4-for-4 on Monday, 4-for-5 yesterday… 14 for his last 19. Yeah, I grabbed him in multiple leagues. I think he flames out as quick as he’s heated up, but who knows? Maybe he’ll Chris Shelton it for three weeks. Oh, and if you’re wondering who I dropped. Dexter Fowler, you’re dead to me until you start hitting again. Get well soon!
Mike Gonzalez – 1 2/3, 0 ER. Meanwhile, Alfredo got creamed. You do the math!
Jose Bautista – 4-for-4, 5 RBIs and two homers to bring his total to 30. Okay, I was way off with this guy, but I don’t think even Jose Bautista saw this year coming. This is the craziest HR season since Brady Anderson suddenly hit 50 HRs. Bautista hadn’t hit 30 homers in the past two years combined in 350 extra ABs. It’s okay, it’ll make next year’s overrated post that much sweeter to write.
Cliff Lee – 9 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 13 Ks. On the season, he has 114 Ks to 7 walks. There’s gonna be some upset people on the internet when he loses the Cy Young because he doesn’t have enough wins.
Michael Wuertz – 1 IP, 2 ER and the first two run outing in over a month. I haven’t had a year like this in a while. I literally pick up a middle reliever to vulture saves and he invariably gives up runs. It’s the Wuertz!
Tommy Hanson – 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks. Best looking start for Hanson in over a month. Could be headed for a solid finish on a pretty lukewarm season.
Chris Coghlan – He tore his meniscus while throwing a pie in Wes Helms face. This is the worst pie-related injury since Stan Gable’s heart was broken when he saw his Betty topless at the bottom of a Nerd-sold creme pie. But pie-related injuries go back centuries. The first known pie-related injury was when Euclid hurt his pelvis during a visual explanation of circumference. Chris Coghlan’s offseason workout program will be him serving tables at Marie Callender’s.
