Kris Bubic picked up his first win of the season Friday night, pitching six strong innings allowing just six base runners, one earned run and striking out five in an impressive win on the road. It was his third quality start of the year and second in his past three starts and he’s now rocking a pristine 1.52 ERA and 1.11 WHIP through 29.2 innings. OK, wow, that’s pretty good, I guess. What’d you say your name was again? Bubic? Like Boob? Lol nice. OK then, time to see what all the Hub-Bubic is about here. After starting the year out of the pen, Kris got his chance to shine in the rotation and has pitched “admirably” over his past five starts going at least five innings and allowing less than 2 ER in each outing. Hmm, for all my Martin Perez stans out there, Kris Bubic sounds like he might be right up your alley. A quick glance at his next level stats show Bubic might be pitching a little over his head. The 4.25 BB/9 is especially concerning. Yo, I’m saying I’m concerned. I’m saying dude’s been luckier than Ben Affleck’s second chance at JLo. I’ve been waiting almost 20 years for Gigli 2, don’t blow this for us, Ben! Basically Bubic is walking way too many batters to remain as effective as he has been, and issues with control have been his problem in the past. It’s not as if he’s counterbalancing that control with awesome strikeout numbers either. His 6.67 K/9 is a whole lot of meh and makes me sleepier than that melatonin pen that teenager told me to buy on TikTok. In other words, Kris Bubic has had some good luck on his side to date, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s faced Detroit twice, and his most impressive performance was his first against an extremely lethargic Milwaukee offense. He’ll get a chance to show me if he’s the real deal next week in a rematch with the Twins, but for now he’s in the scary-but-slightly-intriguing streaming territory for me. The fans aren’t booing! They’re saying Boo-bic! Boo-bic! But more importantly, let’s get Gigli 2 into production asap as possible.
Here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Adalberto Mondesi–2-for-5, RBI. This would be a really good time to do that thing you do where you get crazy hot and win my fantasy league. Just a month or two worth of stats and then you can go back on the IL or whatever.
Josh Donaldson–0-for-5, 2 K. When I have to highlight multiple players who had o-fer nights and Kris Bubic gets the lede, you know it was a probably rough night for fantasy.
Adbert Alzolay –5.2 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 3rd win. That’s back-to-back quality starts for Adbert and he’s now gone 5+ innings in every start this year except one. Now that’s the kind of reliability I want in my start–zzzzzz. Oh my apologies, there’s nothing sleepy about a 3.81 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 51/10 K/BB rate throu–zzzzzzz. My bad yo, it’s that darn melatonin pen! I can’t get enough.
Craig Kimbrel–1.0 IP, K, SV (12). There was a time, not too long ago, when you could not pay a team to take this guy. Or more accurately, a team would not pay to take him. Okay yeah, that’s more accurate. Well, hello 0.82 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 36/8 K/BB ratio. They all kind of suck this year but, has Kimbrel been the best closer in baseball in 2021? Reyes, Barnes, Melancon, Hader? Kimbrel’s in the convo ya’ll. Hey Craig, sorry I called you worthless that one time and said nobody wants you and you should go back to Atlanta. Also, all that stuff I said about your family. In hindsight, that was a bit harsh, I see now that was an overaction.
Vladimir Gutierrez–5.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Alright here goes my best Tim Kurkjian impression: “There are just three other Vladimirs who played in the MLB in history. The first, Vladimir Nunez, has a World Series ring with the Marlins. The other two are surnamed Guerrero and are very good at hitting baseballs.” Thanks Tim, that was helpful? Informative? I’m not really sure what that was, or why I needed to know that tbh. Anyway, Vladimir Gutierrez debuted Friday against the Cubs and he’s already in some pretty great company based on his name alone. It’s unclear if he gets another shot to pitch but he lines up with the Phillies next week and he’s worth a look based solely on the odds of Vladimir’s finding success in the majors. The whole one-hun percent! Vlad’s got that high 90s fastball and a drop-it-like-its-hot breaking ball that all the kids are really into these days. Prime strikeout stuffs, but he is most famous for his 80 game suspension last year for testing positive for Stanozolol–which sounds like a drug you take when you’re simping for dank memez.
Giancarlo Stanton–0-for-5, 4 K as he was activated from the IL. Kevin from ESPN’s “Get Him In Your Lineup” department took off early for memorial day weekend and thank goodness you accidentally left him on your bench, right? Right??
Casey Mize– 5.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, 7 K, ERA at 3.28. The former top prospect impressed again in his start versus NYC City and tied his season high in strikeouts. He’s had the S(Mize) working for him in May, Tyra, posting a 1.74 ERA in May with 2 wins and a 27/10 K/BB. Casey’s more of a guy I’m looking at for 2022 but he’s forced me to google him a year early so here we go…hmm. None of the next level stats I like look particularly tasty, but the walks have been an issue and he walked no one Friday night. He’s worth an add based on what he’s done the past month but a start against the White Sox next week isn’t extra appealing.
Rougned Odor–4-for-5, HR (5). What’s that smell? Classic Odor to have a day like this while the rest of the Yankees bats are silent. The four hit day raised his average almost .040 points to .198. Pick him up if you hate yourself.
Gerrit Cole–6.0 IP, 6 hits, ER, BB, 5 K, ERA at 1.78 with a 97/9 K/BB. Isn’t it funny the two best pitchers in the AL were on the Pirates. Well, obv not to Pittsburgh fans. But hey, let’s pile it on, shall we? Not just Cole and Glasnow, I should mention what Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon are doing? Charlie Morton ain’t too shabby either. Mark Melancon leads the league in saves? Now that’s a pretty impressive starting staff plus closer the Pirates have given up over the past half decade. At least they have a lot of great young prospects to show for it.
Robbie Grossman–2-for-4, 2 runs, HR (6), 2 RBI, SB (8). The slam & legs! In Detroit, the slam & legs is served with…you guessed it, Mom’s spaghetti. Robbie’s got two dingers and a steal in the past week. The counting stats are there too. He’s worth the add even if his team is a good bet to be no-hit in the next two weeks.
Martin Perez– 5.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 4 K, 3rd win. Can I write a Perez blurb that doesn’t contain the word “boring”? Welp! I already blew it! Martin is what he is but he is also a pitcher who’s got a three-game winning streak and hasn’t allowed more than 3 runs in a start since way back in April. I could see streaming him if I needed a win. And after this week I could really use a win. Sheesh? So you guys want to talk about Israel on a different blog?
Cody Poteet–4.1 IP, 4 hits, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Cody was not great against the Red Sox last night in a rainy game at Fenway but don’t let that scare you off. He has allowed just 2 ER in his previous 17.0 innings and the 2.95 ERA and 0.84 WHIP are nothing to sneeze at–unless you’re allergic to solid ratios, and if so, what a weird allergy! He gets a juicy start with Pittsburgh next week and I might consider the prospect of maybe thinking about mulling over the possibility of contemplating whether or not I should review the option of potentially picking him up.
Alex Verdugo–1-for-3, HR (7). 99 is going hard after my heart even though he knows it still belongs Mookie. Lol you can’t just be my new favorite player all of a sudden. These things take time. But, I think, maybe I can get there?
Jesus Aguilar–0-for-3. It’s important to point out just how bad Jesus has been since being good. He’s batting .130 over the past two weeks with zero home runs after hitting .296 in April. I’d suggest moving on if there are better options than Jesus available. May I suggest Buddha? Or Moses?
Hyun-Jin Ryu–5.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 5th win, ERA at 2.62. Now 4-0 in May with the hadouken. I tried to draft Ryu as my Ace everywhere I could. I figured he’d be undervalued and be the perfect first starter off the board for my teams in the 9th-10th rounds. Unfortunately, it was I who was undervaluing him and I ended up getting him no where. This is what I deserve for my disrespect. Ryu is legit no.1 starter material!
Joe Panik–4-for-4, 2 runs, HR (1), 3 RBI. Randal Grichuk had 3 hits and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had 2 hits and 3 RBI as the Jays scored 11 runs on 15 hits. When Joe Panik At the Tim Hortons is carrying the BJays to a blowout like this and Vlad and Bo and Teoscar don’t have to do anything that’s how you know how scary this line up is.
Chas McCormick–1-for-3, HR (4). With Brantley hitting the IL there are ABs to be had and McCormick is first man up. The .188 average leaves a lot to be desired but four of his nine hits have gone yard so if you need pop you could do worse. Also Chas rhymes with Yaz so you know I’m already on board.
Fernando Tatis Jr.–1-for-4, HR (14). SB (12). Tateeees! FTJ makes the slam & legs so routine we should change the name to a Tatis. He’s got five on the year which I bet leads the league but I really don’t have the time or motivation to fact check that, but please be my guest and let me know how it goes.
Sean Manaea–6.2 IP, 6 hits, ER, 3 BB, 8 K. Sonuvadrop. He’s been borderline unrosterable but turned in a gem Friday night against an Angels team missing two of their best hitters, three if you included Pujols. He does get the Mariners next week so if some idiot like me dropped him in your league I’d scoop a loop!
Lou Trivino–1.0 IP, K, SV (7). Just in case you thought Melvin preferred Jake Diekman. Nope. Bob Melvin appears to be using the very strategic eeny-meeny-miney-mo strategy with his bullpen.
Shohei Ohtani–6.0 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, ERA at 2.72. Don’t get me wrong, the 50 Ks in 26 innings is vvv impressive. But reaaallllly could have used his bat in this one.
Framber Valdez–4.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 2 BB, 4 K as he returned to the IL. Cristian Javier (4.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 2 BB, 4 K) relieved Framber in this one and that means you can probably lose Javier now at least until Jake Odorizzi gets hurt again.
Dinelson Lamet–3.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. To be fair, as far as three inning pitchers go, Lamet has been pretty solid! Just move him to the bullpen already so we can get on with our lives.
Tommy Pham–2-for-4, HR (3). The Pham Wham thank you, ma’am. Holy Schnikes! Tommy boy’s batting close to .300 with two homers and two steals in the past week. Basically you want to own all the Padres right now. Father’s Day is just around the corner.
Mark Melancon–1.0 IP, R, 3 BB, W, BS (1). His first blown save of the year. Dudes got 17 saves on the year for all the Kirby Yates fanboys. It’s nice when your team bails you out with a 7-run 11th inning though.
Tyler O’Neill–2-for-4, HR (10). Nolan Arenado also hit his 11th homer. Tyler the Run Creator has gone back-2-back like that Drake song I can’t remember the name of in both games since returning from the IL. He is criminally available in about 60% of fantasy leagues. The Cardinals score runs no matter who’s in the outfield so why not get in on the action?
Josh Reddick–3-for-5, run, RBI. Hey, I remember you! He’s got a four game hitting streak but is considerably less appealing when not batting in between Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman.
Kyle Lewis–2-for-3, HR (5). Batting .308 with two jacks and a steal in the past week! As bad as the Mariners have been, Kyle has been just fine, especially considering there’s no one to protect him in this line up. Don’t worry, Kyle, I haven’t forgotten what you did for me last year and I’m holding strong.
Jarred Kelenic–0-for-3, run, SB (2), batting .138. OK, I’m all about the Kelenic and certainly want him to succeed. But continuing to bat him lead off while he hits .137 seems cruel no? I understand that’s where we want him to hit eventually but maybe let someone else lead off a few days while Jarred figures his ish out? Why are managers so stupid? It’s like they’re intentionally throwing.
Jordan Lyles–6.0 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, BB, 8 K. Don’t let the Mariners soft offense fool you, you don’t want no part of this, Dewey.
Justus Sheffield–5.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, K, 4th win. If you’re looking for a pitcher who doesn’t strike anyone out, has the worst run support in the MLB and has walked almost as many batters as he’s struck out, Justus may be served for you.
Erik Swanson–1.1 IP, 1 hit, BB, 2 K, SV. Got the save with Graveman on the COVID list because you own Rafael Montero and the Mariners believe fully that misery loves company.
Tyler Rogers– 1.0 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, BS (3). Jake McGee pitched the 8th and Jarlin Garcia got the save. As a McGee owner, I’m obviously rooting for Rogers demise, and he’s allowed eight base runners over his past three appearances. His ERA still sits at 1.63 but the strikeouts numbers are meh. Watch Kapler give Garcia the next save chance and change everything we thought we knew about this bullpen situation.
Walker Buehler–6.0 IP, 3 hits, ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Had his winning streak broken by these pesky Giants, but hard to blame him versus a team batting Alex Dickerson clean up.
Buster Posey–1-for-4, HR (10). Posey has reached double digit dingers for the first time since 2017, which was the last time you drafted him too high. He’s slashing .333/.412/.617with the 10 dingers and I’m starting to think my MVP pick might not be as crack-potted or idiotic as everyone is telling me it is. But feel free to tell me again in the comments!
LaMonte Wade Jr.–1-for-2, 2 runs, RBI. LWJ will replace Darin Ruf while he’s on the shelf and let’s be honest, he doesn’t have to perform all that great to surpass Darin Ruf. Do pretty much anything and I’ve got my eyes on you. Either way, he led off Friday night and the Giants can’t stop winning so if you ignore his minor league numbers he could be worth a look.
Mookie Betts–0-for-6, K. Oh no! You must have read my Alex Verdugo blurb. He means nothing to me! We’re just having fun. A fling. Nothing more. I swear it! I heard you’re getting a day off soon, want to go get bento boxes and boba tea? We can get Melona ice pops at Hmart, oysters at Grand Central Market, then eat it all in front the homeless people downtown? How fun does that sound?
Matt Beaty–2-for-2, HR (2). Seems Beaty and Albert have been sharing first base duties with Beaty starting and Albert finishing. I wish there were more things you could tag in a replacement for when you’re just halfway through. Albert was almost the hero in this one but Mike Tauchman robbed him of a walk off home run in the ninth. That sure would have been a real nice and fuzzy moment though. Thanks for ruining that memory, Tauchman.
Anthony DeSclafani–4.2 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. The Regression Fairies have ordered rain all holiday weekend throughout the east coast. They will ruin your Memorial Day and destroy your ratios. To be fair to Tony, back-to-back starts versus the Dodgers is not ideal. He gets a chance to rebound versus the Cubs next week.
Kenley Jansen–0.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 ER, L. Jansen coming into a tie game inspires about as much confidence as 3-hour Zack Snyder epic. The guy’s certainly got a “style,” and I’m sure someone out there must appreciate it because he keeps getting chances to do it over and over. With Kenley, he’s so good with that narrow lead and so bad with everything else–why not try someone else in this scenario? When’s Brusdar get back? Joe Kelly could have easily gone another two innings before he got tossed for brawling. Also, how are Trevor Bauer and Joe Kelly not best friends by now.
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!
