Houston’s 32-year old Cuban rookie Yulieski Gurriel was 2-for-4 with his first stolen base Friday night. Or is it Guerriel? Gourriel? Don’t worry about spelling his name correctly, the media sure doesn’t–what’s important is Friday’s two hit night capped off an impressive week for the third baseman where he hit .321 with four runs, two home runs and drove in five runs. Debuting at the end of August, Yulieski got off to a slow start after struggling with a mild hamstring injury, but that looks to be a thing of the past and he’s now hit safely in his last six games, and has homered in two of his last three games. Players like Yulieski require praise, they demand it. As soon as manager A.J. Hinch let him know he was a good Gurriel, and started rewarding him with treats (he really likes Combos) Yulieski turned it on. Atta Gurriel! Yes, you are! Who’s a good Gurriel? You arrrre! Yulieski was less than impressive during his short minors stint (.250/.262/.429 line with two home runs and 14 RBI in 15 games), but he bat .500 with 15 homers in 50 games in Cuba last year which is a about as good as it sounds, so there is little doubt our boy is major league ready. Did you read Grey’s Yulieski Gurriel fantasy? I read it while conducting a scientific tasting of all the different Combos flavors. Pepperoni pizza won in a landslide. Lord Byron Buxton will be the hot-shot rookie pick up of the week, and by all means, if he’s available grab him, but Gurriel could be a nice add if you lost the Buxton sweepstakes, and he’s still out there in over 80% of leagues. I’d own him in any league where wanted to win. Yulieski can do it!
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Byron Buxton – 1-for-4, HR (6), 2 RBI. FIVE HOMERS IN 10 DAYS! That’s gotta be some kind of record! Yes? Hmm, okay. I’m being told that it is not. Kind of amazing considering he is hitting just .225 with 6 home runs, 28 RBI and 9 steals this year. But Lord Byron is lit right now. You know he was BUY and in the past week he’s hitting .417 with 4 homers, 9 runs, and 9 RBI. He should probably have been the lede, but he is already owned in about half of leagues and those are likely the half with people who haven’t moved on to fantasy football. Talk about a bang for your Buxton! This is the kind of late season pick up that could win your fantasy league! And best of all, he saved it for September so most of us will still have a shot at drafting him in 2017. Pick him up before your season is lost, and you spiral into a crippling depression where the only calm you feel is when the existential dread starts setting in. Buxton has arrived.
Gary Sanchez – 2-for-4, 2 runs, HR (12). Only one home run this week? Lol pleb!
Mark Teixera – 2-for-3, Grand Slam HR (12). When the Yankees sell off their entire team before the deadline but are still one game out of the wild card.
Logan Morrison – 3-for-4, 2 runs, HR (14), 2 RBI. He live tweeted and snapped this home run. He had a go-pro installed in his helmet. I’m not saying you should pick him up, but you should probably follow him on snapchat.
Carlos Martinez– 7.0 IP, 9 hits, 2 ER, BB, K, W. Ah yes. It’s that time of the year, my friends. Time when we start falling out of contention in our leagues and have to start thinking to the future. No not flying cars, robot waiters and Supreme Emperor Trump futures, like what players we want on our teams next year. C-Mart won his 14th start Friday, and now has a 3.05 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 144/62 K/BB ratio. These stats are almost identical to what he put up last year. That’s a starter you can set your watch too, and since I don’t own a watch I require consistency in my pitching staff and will likely try to draft Martinez next year everywhere.
Seung Hwan Oh – 1.0 IP, BB, 2 K, SV (17). Don’t call him King Koopa. Don’t call him Ganondorf. Motherbrain anyone? The Final Boss is rocking a 1.87 ERA with a 97/18 k/BB rate and has quickly become one of the most dominant closers in the game. Just be happy you own him this year because you’ll have to pay for him next year.
Jon Lester – 7.0 IP, 7 hits, 0 ER, 7 K, W. He’s got a 1.17 ERA and 0.88 WHIP over 53 2/3 innings in his last eight starts. That is called “stepping it up in the stretch.” At least I think that’s right, this book of sports idioms is pretty outdated. Talk about a hurler on the ditch!
Joe Musgrove – 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. I wrote about Musgrove a few weeks back, told you to grab him, and he proceeded to give up 8 runs in his next start. Thanks Joe, you really know how to make a guy look good. I shan’t be recommending again, but it is my duty as a fake sports post-writer guy to tell you he’s got a 4.78 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 40/11 K/BB and gets the Rangers next week. You could stream a lot worse.
Carlos Rodon – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W. Car-Ro arguably saved my pitching staff, as I scooped him up just in time. He hasn’t surrendered more than 3 ER in a game since July 31, and he’s won five of his past seven starts, with a 40/10 K/BB rate in that stretch. Remember we talked about pitchers we want to draft next year? Rodon was bad enough in the first half that we can probably still get him for a reasonable price next year on draft day. Huzzah!
Kendrys Morales – 1-for-4, 2 RBI. A BUY! Kendrys, yes both of them, are batting .435 with 4 homers and 12 RBI in the past week! That’s like seven days! Do you know what I could do with those kinds of numbers over the past seven days!? Win fantasy baseballs games!
Tim Anderson – 1-for-5, SB (9). So, our mission to get you to pick up Tim Anderson this year failed miserably. Perhaps we need to take on easier missions. Like getting you all to try a new whopperito. That’s something I feel my readership can easily get behind.
Dansby Swanson – 3-for-3, run. The rookie is hitting .421 with 2 homers in the past week! Dan’s be good like that.
Adonis Garcia – 2-for-5, run, RBI. I wish Cris Collinsworth covered baseball games so I could hear him talk about what a specimen Adonis Garcia is. Doode has 13 runs, 2 homers, 9 RBI and is hitting .310 in the past two weeks. Grey told you to BUY but he’s only owned in 15% of leagues? Did you all go home? Can I come over too? I’m so lonely.
Matt Kemp – 1-for-3, HR (29), SB (1). The slam and legs and his first stolen base of the year! Now that Drake and Rihanna are facebook official Kemp is doing everything he can to win her back. Join the club, buddy!
Jose Fernandez – 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 3 BB, 14 K, W. The 14 Ks is a career high and brings his total to 238 strikeouts, second only to Max Scherzer. Man, if I only owned JoFer, life would be different. I’d still have a job and a wife, and my cat wouldn’t hate me so much. Also, strikeouts. I’d have way more strikeouts.
Clayton Kershaw – 3.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 5 K. Hey, look who’s back! Just in time to disappoint you in your fantasy playoffs.
Rick Porcello – 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, BB, 7 K, 20-3. The league’s first 20 game winner is…Rick Porcello. Wait, what? You’re telling me he’s the Red Sox ace? You’re telling me the Red Sox have the best starting pitching staff in the AL East and Porcello is a big reason why? Why are you telling me these things they are kind of depressing me. Half a xanax and a little beer will put out that fire!
Xander Bogaerts – 2-for-6, HR (18). Awesome-X! You just need a few more home runs this year, my love, if you want to start making that Pablo Sandoval money!
Dustin Pedroia – 3-for-4, run, 4 RBI. I still think Mookie should be leading off, but Dustin is hitting .440 in the past week so I guess that’s why I don’t manage a real baseball team.
Devon Travis – 3-for-5, 2 RBI. He leads off for one of the strongest line ups in baseball, and he’s hitting over .400 in the past week. Why is he available in over 75% of leagues. He’s slashing .300/.329/.462 with 10 homers, 46 RBI and 3 steals. Pick him up before you lose and blame me and then I’ll feel bad and blame you and things will be awkward when we bump into each other at Starbucks.
Joey Wendle – 2-for-4, RBI as he led off. The A’s rookie has collected hits in four straight and even stole a base! Pick him up if you need some speed and you hate yourself.
Adam Ottavino – 1.0 IP, 2 K, SV (3). The fact that I’ve owned this player for almost two months and he has just notched his third save yesterday tells me a lot about my chances of winning fantasy this year, and even more about my life as a whole.
Santiago Casilla – 1.0 IP, 1 hit, HR, BS (8). More closers! Cory Gearrin got the save and if you’re looking to the Giants bullpen for some last minute saves this time of year I’m sorry but you are on your own there. Ask Smokey.
Tyler Skaggs – 6.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K. Skaggs has continued to perform well lately despite his team and fantasy baseballers having absolutely zero expectations for him. Over his past three starts, he’s got 2 wins, a 1.06 WHIP and 21 strikeouts. He gets the Seattle Mariners next week. Would bang.
Yu Darvish – 6.2 IP, 3 hits, ER, BB, 9 K. Drafting Darvish as my ace seemed like a good plan on draft day. I limped into the playoffs and now that I’m there I have a legit ace and everything is fine. Right? Right!? I just can’t right now, you guys. I just can’t. Oh boy, self-deprecation and crippling depression seem to be recurring themes this week. I’m in a dark place right now. Happy pills? Hmm, I actually think I might need an emergency auditing session.
Kevin Gausman – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. The poor Orioles starting pitching staff has been so bad for so long it’s nice to see guys like Dylan Bundy and Gausman finally emerge. Gaus has a 3.61 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 155/42 K/BB ratio over 152 innings. I could totally see considering the possibility of thinking about drafting him next year and then ultimately going with someone else.
Michael Fulmer – 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, BB, 5 K. Fulmer’s 2.76 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 117/36 K/BB ratio make him a top contender for AL rookie of the year honors. Personally, I’m voting for Gary Johnson.
Tanner Roark – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, ER, 2 BB, 8 K. Yes, the Phillies offense is very, very bad, but Tanner has a 2.85 ERA with 150 strikeouts and that is very, very good.
Trea Turner – 2-for-5, 2 HR (8), 3 RBI. Trea is hitting .361 in the past two weeks with 8 runs, 4 home runs, 10 RBI and 6 steals. Yeah, he is kind of winning your fantasy league for you right now, and is upstaging Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper in the process. And trust me, it’s not easy to upstage those guys, they are incredible dancers.
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!
