There aren’t many things you need to know about me. However, when something in my personal life conflicts with my ability to provide you with unrivaled fantasy advice, then what’s my business becomes our business. Our business is that I’m in that glorious for some, and miserable for others abeyance between graduating college and commencing my tenure as an employed person. Instead of lamenting during this transitional phase, I’ll be spending the next few weeks on a Euro-trip beginning in Copenhagen and continuing through Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, and Amsterdam [Jay’s Note: Niiiiiiiiiiice.] before finally flying out of Paris July 9th. Needless to say, I likely won’t find the time to sit down and write one of these articles during this prolonged muck-fest. Hopefully you’ve gained the tools to maximize you’re lineups yourselves, because you are own your own the next month or so. If anyone has any advice for such a journey or any hotspots I should check out, feel free to share in the comments. [Jay’s Note: Red Light District.]
Monday Game Stats
22 of 30 teams playing
First Game: Angels @ Indians – 7:05 PM
#25 Brock Holt (L) – Bos – 3B – vs Min (Correia-R) – 7:10 PM – 35% owned
At this point Holt should be owned in many more leagues. The Red Sox will have a log jam if Stephen Drew and Shane Victorino ever get healthy, but they’ll make those decisions when they happen. At the moment John Farrell seems to be making a concerted effort to get Holt’s .331/.267/.456 bat in the lineup, at leadoff no less. He doesn’t hit for much power or steal too many bases, but there’s a lot worse than a high average and runs player with soon-to-be multi-positional eligibility.
#70 Daniel Nava (S) – Bos – OF – vs Min (Correia-R) – 7:10 PM – 1% owned
One of the biggest surprises of the Red Sox championship squad last year, Nava stumbled out of the gate enough this year to earn a demotion to Triple-A at the end of April. He’s back with the big league club and batting nearly .500 (10-for-21) over the past week. Same as Holt, his playing time will be spotty with a healthy Drew and Victorino, but at least for Monday see if this Schmotato can continue to ripen.
#85 Scott Van Slyke (R) – LAD – OF vs Col (Matzek-L) – 10:10 PM – 2% owned
Professional lefty killy Van Slyke will be at it again on Monday against Tyler Matzek, who is making his second career MLB start. In Van Slyke’s last matchup against a lefty the results were three hits in three at-bats, two of them homers, two walks, three runs and four ribbies. That’s like a Van Persie header good.
#125 Stephen Vogt (L) – OAK – C vs Tex (Lewis-R) – 10:10 PM – 0% owned
Vogt, pronounced with the same ‘o’ as in Vogon, as in never let a Vogon read you poetry, is now the third member of the A’s three-headed catching monster of Derek Norris, John Jaso, and himself. He’s been getting regular starts behind the dish against righties, and assuming he gets the nod on Monday, our Overlord Hitter-Tron agrees he’s a good play against Colby Lewis.
#207 Bobby Abreu (L) – NYM – OF – @STL (Unknown) – 8:10 PM – 1% owned
Adam Wainwright has been scratched from his start on Monday with, the poorly named in this instance, Tennis Elbow. Whoever fills in for Waino will be forced to stare down the barrel of Abreu’s hot bat, fresh off a 4-for-4 performance Friday night. That may be the only fresh about Abreu, but he’s still outplaying many of his younger counterparts. Don’t fear the reaper.
Here are a few more options for your streaming pleasure:
#112 Alexei Amarista – SDP – 2B/3B/OF
#92 David Peralta – Ari – OF
#82 Justin Ruggiano – CHC – OF
#77 Jace Pederson – SDP – SS
#72 Yasmani Grandal – SDP – C
Last Time & Season Results
Last Article: 15 AB, 3 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB, .466 AVG
I’m getting too good at this, it doesn’t excite me as much anymore when my picks perform well as they did again. My headliner, Maybin, unfortunately got a DNP, but C. Johnson made up for it with a homer. Peralta stayed hot, going 3-for-4 with a run, Pearce picked up two hits, and Didi didn’t get a hit but chipped in a run and RBI for good measure. Hopefully someone else besides Grey has been taking advantage of this production.
For the season that leaves us at (per game): .33 R, .13 HR, .40 RBI, .07 SB, .313 AVG
