As Gerrit Cole’s weekly attempts to break the strikeouts per game record continue in Houston, the baseball world is left to wonder, “Wait what exactly did Pittsburgh get for trading this dude again?” Well, Bucs Nation got to see their return on full display Friday night, Joe Musgrove was dominant in his Pirates debut going seven scoreless innings allowing just five hits striking out seven and even added a hit and scored a run for his first win with his new team. Joe only needed 67 pitches to get through seven, throwing 50 of those for strikes and retired 80% of the hitters he faced on three pitches or less. He’s also the first pitcher to go seven innings with under 70 pitches in 10 years or something zzz. Enough with the stats, nerd! Tell me about the KAYS! Sure, Musgrove did not look spectacular in his rehab stint, and sure, the Cardinals offense is not the most menacing assignment, but the 25 year old RHP is formerly highly touted prospect! He had seven wins in 15 starts (109.1 innings) in 2017, but it’s the 98/28 K/BB rate that has got me doing the happy dance. ThasalottaKs! He’ll get a tougher assignment versus the Cubs next week, but could be worth a grab for that sweet, sweet upside alone. Remember, the Pirates traded Gerrit Cole for this kid! What do they know that we don’t!? I’d take a flier on Joe Musgrove anywhere I needed starting pitching help. I can see him becoming a reliable streaming option for me throughout the rest of the year. And that’s honestly one of the highest compliments I can give!
Here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
Alex Colome – Traded to the Mariners along with Denard Span. With Edwin Diaz (1.0 IP, K, SV (18)) firmly locked into the closer role in C-attle this all but destroys Colome’s fantasy value. Womp womp. Jose Alvarado or Chaz Roe could see save chances for Tampa, but you never know with Kevin Cash, he could decide to use one of his starters.
Austin Meadows – 2-for-4, 2 runs, SB (2). BUY. The sheep’s in the meadow and the cow’s in the corn, folks! He’s batting .440 with 3 homers, 5 RBI and a stolen base in the past week! That’s Stone Cold, Austin fans! Would be a bit of a stunner at this point for the Pirates send him down when they activate Starling Marte.
Josh Harrison – 2-for-5, run, 2 RBI. BUY. Lots and lots of BUYs this week for the P-Rats and in general. Do you know what a Pirates favorite letter is. Because it’s not “Arrrrrgh!” Maybe it’s “B” and “I”?! Ask a dad, he would know.
Tommy Pham – 1-for-4, HR (9). Nine homers, eight steals and a .292 average on the year? That’s the Pham Jam, thank you ma’am!
Tim Anderson – 3-for-4, HR (8), 2 RBI. Timmah’s now slashing .240/.304/.415 with eight bombs and 11 Ess Bees. He’s a better fantasy player than a real player, which is what my Twitch followers say about my Overwatch skills.
Reynaldo Lopez – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Since his hiccup in Pittsburgh, he’s pitched 15 IP allowing just 2 ER and 7 hits while striking out 11. Sure, yesterday’s strikeout numbers didn’t set the world on fire, yawn, but Reynaldo must be owned, people! Don’t make me beg you! Because I will, just ask Mookie! He’s rocking a 2.93 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 42/26 K/BB rate. Holy ratios! Those alone should be enough for you to pick him up everywhere you can, but also do it because I’m begggging you!
Nick Castellanos – 2-for-3, 2 runs, RBI. He’s hitting .440 in the past week with five straight multi-hit games. here is the power though, Helios? Don’t you like-a the sauce?!
David Hess – 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2nd win. Not a bad third start for the rook! About as exciting as a Hess toy truck.
Ryan Yarbrough – 7.0 IP, 7 hits, ER, 8 K. Seven innings out of the ‘pen! Sweet sassy molassy! Talk about a sigh of relief! LOL! Will he ever get a chance to start a game in the first inning after this? I don’t know! Maybe he’s the new Rays closer!
Jonathan Schoop – 2-for-4, HR (5). Take it away, Kanye! “Poopy-di Schoop! Schoop-diddy-whoop! Whoop-di-Schoop-di-poop! Poop-di-Schoopty!”
Mookie Betts – 1-for-3, HR (17), 2 RBI, SB (13). The slam & legs! In Bawston, they have their slam & legs with an Iced Regulah from Dunkies. Extra extra. Mookie is so extra extra right now. I love Mookie Betts, you guys. Like, I want to be best friends with him. Like, I want to have LAN parties postgame where we play Fortnite and I tell him if I saw any holes in his swing (nope, 100% air tight, as usual). I want to smon’k blunts with him and freestyle to dope beatz on the bus and I want him to text me when he sees funny memes. But most of all, I want him to thank me when he accepts his 2018 MVP award.
Mitch Moreland – 2-for-4, HR (8). BUY. Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez also homered. Oh woe is me. What are the Sawx going to do with only Mookie, JD, X, Mitch, Benny, and Devers to hit home runs now? We’ll never be the same team without–err wait, who got DFA’d again? Does it matter who?
Eduardo Rodriguez – 5.2 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 5th win. His fourth straight quality start! Ed-Rod has struck out 18 over his past three starts and walked just three. Yeah, I’d own that!
Julio Teheran – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. If you started Teheran at Fenway you’re a lot braver than I. Seriously, what were you taking? Can I have some?
Justin Smoak – 2-for-4, HR (7), 2 RBI. Justin Smoak’d this one!
Carlos Santana – 1-for-3, HR (9), 2 RBI. If you can deal with the fact that he’s just barely hitting just over .205 he’s got 3 homers in the past week, which sounds Smooth to me, Rob Thomas.
Ryan Tepera – 1.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 2 BB, K, SV (1). BUY. He got the save! And doesn’t that line make you just want to run to waivers to grab him?? Ugh. Tyler Clippard (1.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, K) did not look much better, so it appears Tepera is the guy for saves in Toronto if Curtis McElhinney is taken. That’s a hockey joke, eh! How aboot them Golden Knights?
Sam Gaviglio – 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2nd win. Sam was almost your lede, folks! But I couldn’t think of a word that rhymed with “Gaviglio”. Regardless, he’s got a real pretty 2.30 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over two starts with a 12/3 K/BB. He gets a tough match up in Boston next week, but I’d watch him closer than that last episode of Handmaid’s Tale. OMG Offred! Or is it…June!? Can you believe she–and how could they–Great Gilead, Margaret Atwood is a mad woman!
Mike Trout – 1-for-2, HR (16). Has now homered in back-to-back games. Of course, it would take only a Mookie to pry me away from Trout, even for a second. Oh why can’t I own you both? Who made these rules!? You’re still my #1 Victory Royale.
Andrew Heaney – 6.1 IP, 4 hits, ER, 3 BB, 5 K. This is basically the same line Severino put up (6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 4 BB, 5 K) except Luis wasn’t facing the Yankees at home and isn’t a pitcher available in 50% of leagues. Yes, you should probably own that.
Gleyber Torres – 2-for-3, HR (9), 2 RBI. His fourth straight game with a home run slashing .333/.393/.646 through just 28 games! In Scientology, we might theorize that whatever powerful thetan was possessing Didi Gregorius last month has transferred or “jumped” host bodies and has latched securely onto Gleyber Torres’ soul. Now it’s possible Didi could regain this thetan through a Scientology assist performed by an OT III or higher and obviously extensive auditing sessions, but the tonal scale tells me that as long as Gleyber maintains this level of clear that thetan ain’t going anywhere.
Kyle Hendricks – 7.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4th win. Gave up a home run to Gorkys Hernandez (2-for-4, HR (5)) but that’s all they could muster.The Giants got lost in Hendricks Purple Haze, but tbh (which is a real popular acronym these days) San Francisco’s offense usually looks lost.
Derek Holland – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Saddled with his 6th loss, and he gets a trip to Coors next week. Pick him up if you hate yourself.
Corey Kluber – 6.1 IP, 7 hits, 0 ER, 7 K. Didn’t get the win but Corey’s been as good as advertised. The most exciting thing about this start was actually a play that Francisco Lindor, not Kluber, made. Did you watch? I’ll wait. Damn, that guys good, huh–but how does that help me fantasy?
George Springer – 3-for-6, 2 runs, HR (11), 3 RBI. Springer has Sprunger! Here comes Summer-er!
Max Scherzer – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 8th. Not an overwhelmingly impressive start for Mad Max by any means, especially when you consider the match up. But he got his 8th win which leads the league and I feel like its my job to make sure you know that or something.
Michael Taylor – 2-for-4, 2 runs, HR (4), 2 RBI. He’s managed four homers and 11 steals to go with that beautiful .193/.254/.339 slash. Something tells me he gets his hitting instruction from Bryce Harper, “What do you mean my ‘approach,’ just swing as hard as you can, most of the time it’ll go out.”– Bryce, probably
Miguel Rojas – 1-for-4, 2 RBI. He was a BUY! Let me try to figure out why. He’s hitting .333 with 2 homers and 10 RBI in the past week. That’s why! Fair enough!
Juan Soto – 0-for-3, BB, K. Yeah, he didn’t do anything Friday, but wasn’t going to miss my chance at a Juan Soto: A Star Wars Story joke on opening weekend no less! I remember last week when he was available, now he’s gone faster than the Falcon in the Kessel run. Juan Soto would tell you that’s less than doce parsecas!
Ronald Guzman – 2-for-4, 2 runs, HR (6), 3 RBI. He’s a BUY! And now he’s in the Friday recap the very next day! That means Grey did his job. So I’m doing mine.
Nomar Mazara – 1-for-5, HR (12), 3 RBI, SB (1). 2017 me who drafted him everywhere is also saying I told you so. He also can’t believe La La Land lost and can’t get “Depacito” out of his head.
Jorge Soler – 2-for-4, HR (6). Someone call Elon Musk we’ve got an abundance of SOLER POWER!
Michael Conforto – 1-for-3, HR (5). The hipster’s favorite player! I’m once again telling you to buy post when everyone thought he was cool and told you to buy. Basically he’s not that cool anymore so you can buy him again, because there’s nothing cooler than things that used to be cool that aren’t cool anymore! He’s hot!
Delino DeShields – 2-for-5, run, RBI. Uhh, sigh nah, I won’t. Don’t want to take Grey’s thing.
Noah Syndergaard – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Where does Noah keep his BBs? In his Ark hives! Doesn’t really work with baseball, but I know all the dads out there got it.
Travis Shaw – 3-for-4, HR (13). He’s got three homers and eight RBI over his last three games. Can I tangent? IMHO I think Blake Swihart is the real reason Hanley Ramirez got DFA’d (also $20 million). And if you’re wondering why I’m ranting about this in the Travis Shaw blurb, it’s because the Sawx don’t want Swihart to be the next Shaw, ie they trade him away and he immediately breaks out for someone else’s team. Monocle, this guy, folks! I Swihart Blake! And apparently so does Alex Cora!
Corey Knebel – 0.2 IP, 1 hit, ER, 3 BB. Where dem Ks tho? Closer forgot how to close or what?
Junior Guerra – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 3 K. Pretty decent to meh-ish start against the Meh-ts, but he gets and even more meh assignment versus the Cardinals next week that I thought I should meh-ntion.
Jon Gray – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 5th win. About as good a line as you can expect from a Coors starting pitcher at home. I’ll take it!
Eugenio Suarez – 2-for-3, HR (9). I mis-wrote his name Eduardo instead of Eugenio a few weeks ago and felt so guilty about it I had to include him here. But in reality, he will now always be an Eduardo to me now.
Tucker Barnhart – 2-for-5, run. Another BUY! And he’s a catcher! Perfff! Isn’t that why you’re all here anyway? So we can tell you which catcher to pick up?
Patrick Corbin – 7.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, BB, 7 K, 5th win. His first win since April. When we tell you to sell Patrick, it’s not because we don’t love Patrick. It’s not because of the diminishing velocity (okay, maybe that’s exactly what it is). It’s because we can’t possibly expect him to sustain this level of success, and if you can convince someone out there he’s Kershaw in a trade based on what he’s doing right now then yes by all means sell Patrick!
James Paxton – 7.0 IP, 3 hits, ER, 11 K, 4th win. He’s had two bad starts all year, outside of that he’s been every bit the Ace as the Scherzers, Kershaws and Strasburgs can claim. He’s even got two complete games and a 90/20 K/BB rate. We are witnessing the emergence of a perennial top 5-7 pitcher, over-the-internet friends! Get HYPPPE!
Fernando Romero – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. There was something in the air that niiiiight! The stars were briiiight, Fernaaaandoooooo!
Matt Kemp – 3-for-4, HR (6), 3 RBI. Matt Kemp always seem to crush his old Padres team. Then again, most players seem to crush this Padres team.
Ross Stripling – 6.2 IP, 6 hits, 0 ER, 10 K, 2nd win. Three straight quality starts with a 26/0 K/BB rate in that stetch and sporting a 1.74 ERA and 1.19 WHIP on the year. “Oh hiii, Rossss.” That was my best Rachel impression. It’s better in person. 26/0 K-to-BB in 3 starts though! That’s right everybody! ZERO WALKS! Sounds like my dream workout regimen and my dog’s worst nightmare. Stripling gets the Phillies at home next week and it also sounds like you should probably pick him up everywhere he’s available.
Martin Prado – 3-for-4. Headed to DL with a hamstring injury. It sounded serious, too. The words “career” and “ending” were thrown around, and not because he’s on the Marlins.
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!
