Curtis Granderson left last night’s game in the fifth inning after being hit by a pitch on the hand and fracturing his knuckle. The Yankees expect Grandy to miss at least four weeks so obviously this is a big blow to fantasy owners who just got him back a little over a week ago. Some luck, if you remember correctly it was a HBP in the forearm that sent him to the DL back in March. Someone has to invest in some new armor for Granderson, I recommended Barry Bonds’ metal-plated sleeve, but chainmail is always nice as well. Anyway, these are the breaks. Curtis Blow said that, and Curtis Granderson is living it. He was batting .269 through eight games but already had a home run, a stolen base and a couple of three hit games so the outlook was promising. Thems the breaks, right Curtis!? In the interim, I guess we can expect Ichiro or Vernon Wells to continue to see plenty of playing time, and Brennan Boesch should see plenty of burn as well, but I don’t see much value with Boesch outside AL-Only. Don’t be too sad, Yankee fans, you were doing just fine without him. Maybe Curtis Mayfield said it even better, “you’re gonna make your fortune by and by, but if you lose don’t ask no questions why.” Superfly! In other words, I’m sure there’s a deal-with-it gif on the googles or the tumblrs out there for you to look at (here, here and here), but the three Curtis’ have already moved on so hopefully you can, too.
Here’s what else happened in fantasy baseball last night:
Anibal Sanchez 9.0 IP, 1 hit, 3 BB, 12 K. Aniballin’ outta control! Props to E-40 and raul for that one. Strictly Aniballer status last night as Anibal carried a no hitter into the ninth before Joe Mauer ruined everything with his one-out single (it was the third no-no Mauer’s broken up). Anibal has four shutouts with one one hit or fewer in his career, the most among all active starters, and trust me when I say he’s in good company there. Sanchez takes his sparkling 2.38 and 80/17 K/BB ratio into his start next week versus Pittsburgh.This is the same guy that struck out 17 Braves last month, so clearly we could be in for a treat whenever he takes the mound. Anibal Sanchez has arrived, I’m just upset I was on the bandwagon a year early. I need to give even more props to razzball’s own Big Biscuit JB Gilpin for recommending you start Sanchez in your daily draftkings.com leagues. Nailed it, BB!
Francisco Rodriguez 0.1 IP and the save. K-Rod finished the game for Jim Henderson, who left with a hamstring injury after recording the first two outs. Definitely worth a speculative add for saves if Henderson is set to miss any substantial amount of time. This bullpen is real bad and Rodriguez is far from the worst option, but he’s the baddest. Manager Ron Roenicke said they’d employee a committee of K-Rod, John Axford and Michael Gonzalez in Henderson’s absence, but I’d grab K-Rod of the bunch.
David Phelps 7.2 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 K. Still managed his third win as New York scored 8 runs on 11 hits. Phelps suffered a forearm contusion after being hit by a line drive and left the game. The x-rays came back negative and he is likely to make his next start. Grey told you to BUY him and he gets the Mets next week at home. I feel like those Mets/Yankees games are always unpredictable so I’d play this one cautiously, but I do like him going forward.
Andy Dirks 3-for-5, run. Available in 30% of RCL leagues and as long as Austin Jackson is injured and he’s leading off he has value. You know what else has value? Diamonds. One million diamonds, Michael!
Nick Markakis 3-for-5, 3 RBI as he led off and extended his hitting streak to nine games. Sparkakis is as boring as they come, in fact I’m falling asleep writing about him, but to be fair that could just me coming down from all that adderall. But, even I raise an eyebrow if he’s leading off. Unfortunately, Nate MClouth had the night off and will likely resume his spot at the top of the order when he returns.
J.J. Hardy 1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI. Batted third and took advantage. Batting in the heart of this line up is a pretty nice place to play but let’s see if J.J. capitalizes on it. Just about everyone had a day last night as the Jay’s and O’s faced off in an epic Alphabattle. Adam Jones was 2-for-5 with a HR as he returned to the outfield and Danny Valencia was 2-for-5 with a HR and 2 RBI. Chris Davis was 3-for-4 and Chris “The Dish” served up his league-leading 16th home run! The mad fat pitch killer! Snoochy boochies!
Adam Lind 3-for-5 with his 4th HR. Grey told you to BUY him but really the HitterTron called this one. There’s only one logical explanation for this — it’s a wiiiiiitch! Burn all the machines! SkyNet is here! Quick, someone call John Connor!
Melky Cabrera 2-for-5, 2nd HR, 2 RBI. Jays weren’t about to let the O’s have all the fun, they scored just 6 runs but managed a whopping 17 hits! Jose Bautista had 3 hits and Colby Rasmus and Edwin Encarnacion had 2 hits a piece but were no match for the mighty Orioles in this bird fight.
Joey Votto 2-for-4, HR. His second straight game with a jack and his fourth homer in the past seven games. It took a while but the power has arrived, and it’s been glorious! Don’t ever change back to early season Votto, Joey. I like you this way.
Brandon Phillips 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI. Phillips ranks third in RBIs in the league behind Chris Davis and some guy name “Mig-uel Ca-bre-ra.” Not bad coming from probably the worst position in fantasy.
Garrett Richards 1.2 IP, 1 hit, 2 K and notched his first save. Ernesto Frieri had the night off after ruining your head-to-head match up Thursday night and Richards filled in and grabbed the save. I don’t think Ernesto has a very long leash, but I definitely think he still gets the next chance.
Mike Trout 2-for-4 with his 11th SB. Remember when you thought you maybe shouldn’t have drafted him so high? No? Me neither. Thems days are behind us. Trout is the first player to reach the 10-10 benchmark and had two slam & legs in the past week. Just as the wise old Catatafish foretold, the prophecy has come to pass.
Alberto Callaspo 2-for-4, RBI. Alberto has a four game hitting streak and it seems like all the Angels bats have finally woken up at the same time like we all thought they would (except for Josh Hamilton, THAT guy has some serious issues, geez!). Considering what’s out there at third base, Callaspo could be worth a look in deeper formats.
Marco Estrada 7.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 8 K. Walked none. Estrada is my fantasy K-ryptonite, jut when I think I am done with him I am picking him up again after shutting down the Pirates. Sigh. It’s a vicious cycle.
A.J. Burnett 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 6 K. How is this happening? Trails only Yu Darvish in strikeouts with 85, and has a sweet 2.57 ERA to boot! I wish I owned him somewhere so I could sell him high.
Tommy Milone 7.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 K. Milone was cruising along before giving up 2 HRs in the fifth inning. Holy Schnikes, Tommy Boy! It was the Lastros! Look what you’ve done! You are on notice, sir!
Chris B. Young 3-for-5, 2 runs, 3-run HR in the ninth inning. Sure, Krispie’s .189 batting average is frightening as all get out, but the five homers and five steals definitely raise an eyebrow. You can always use more homers and steals, yo!
Jose Veras 1.0 IP, 3 ER, BS. Well honestly, what did you expect? The Kimbrel? Aroldis Chapman did that. And Jose Veras is no Aroldis Chapman.
John Danks 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 3 ER, 5 K. Nice, but it was the MIA Marlins. For realsies, I wouldn’t own this guy with Miami’s team. And they could use the pitching!
Paul Konerko 3-for-5, RBI. HE’S ALIVE! Nothing like a series with the Marlins to get you out of your funk.
Kris Medlen 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, 9 K. It seems like he had been saving all his strikeouts up for this game. I’ll take it!
Brandon McCarthy 7.0 IP, 7 base runners, 1 ER, 2 K. Another one of Grey’s BUYs this week. The scoreless streak ends but B-Mac manages his second win in a row and his fourth straight quality start. One earned run in the past 24 innings is certainly nothing to sneeze at, unless you’re allergic to low ratios. I tweeted him to ask if I should start him in Arlington next week and he DMed me a series of clues starting with locating an ancient talisman. When I’m finished finding the talisman, then reciting the sorcerer’s song and solving the clues I’ll let you know whether to start him or not.
A.J. Pollock 3-for-4, run, RBI. Led off for the Snakes and with Adam Eaton suffering another set back A.J. could be in line for plenty of playing time. Pollock could be worth the add, especially if you need a modernist painting.
Michael Cuddyer 2-for-4 with his 8th HR and 3 RBI. Now that is exactly how you’re supposed to return from the DL. Way to be, Cuddy.
Dominic Brown 2-for-3, run, RBI. Grey told you to BUY him like a million times and I think Razznation is finally starting to listen. 100% RCL ownership. We did it! Dom’s got power, some average, some speed, some runs and RBIs. That’s what Brown can do for you.
Allen Craig 2-for-4 with his 3rd HR, 3 RBI. I feel like I was just talking about his second home run. Oh wait. I was last week. At this rate of one homer a week, he’ll catch up to the big dogs in no time.
Lance Lynn 6.0 IP, 3 base runners, 9 K and his 7th win. *Fantasy Pro Tip!* Draft Cardinals pitchers. These guys know how to win, but David Freese‘s 2-run HR, and 3 RBI in his return to the line up certainly couldn’t have hurt. Freese frame!
David Murphy 1-for-2 with a pinch hit 2-run single. Grey told you to BUY him and Murph’s always been a favorite of mine, too. Choosing free agents, when in doubt I always go with the guy who plays his home game in Texas or Colorado.
John Lackey 7.0 IP, 5 base runners, 0 ER, 5 K and his third win. The Red Sox scored eight runs to help him out, including a 3-run homer from Mike Carp. Lackey lowers his ERA to 2.72 and at just 16% ownership in RCL leagues he could be worth a play next week in Philadelphia. I am so going to regret saying that.
Justin Masterson 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 5K. Yeah, we knew this was coming. The regression train is pulling up to the station. All aboooard! Next stop: Dropsville?
Jose Iglesias 1-for-3, 2 K. Started at third base as Will Middlebrooks hit the DL. Jose started the season hot, batting .450 in six games but was sent down when Stephen Drew returned. He was also pretty dreadful in his time in the majors in 2012. He won’t help much in power or speed departments, but he could be worth a look if your desperate at 3B, and his SS eligibility makes him a tad more intriguing.
Mark Reynolds 1-for-3, 2 K, SB. I had a dream last week that Mark Reynolds hit five home runs in a single game. FIVE HOME RUNS! I didn’t dream I was there, or that he hit them for me or anything (I’m not a freak), I just dreamed that it had happened. I woke up in sweats and immediately checked my phone. I don’t own him anywhere, and have little faith in my soothsaying ways but its worth mentioning only because of how concerned my family and friends were for my well being. Never tell anyone your dreams people, even if they include record-setting performances. And for the record I never could have dreamed he’d steal a base. Grey told you to SELL, and I have to agree. He may be the third baseman of my dreams, but I see many more 0-for-5 games than 5-homer games in his future.
Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below, or you can get at me on twitter @dandemanco. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
