Yesterday, Chris Davis hit his 51st home run, breaking the Orioles’ home run record of 50 set by Brady Anderson. In a ceremony following the game, Chris Davis sheared Brady Anderson’s sideburns, donating them to a teenager who wants to appear closer in age to his fake ID. Teenager Billy Lutkin said, “I already look like I’m at least 22, these will make me look like I’m like 30! I’m gettin’ drunk!” Davis’s season line is 100/51/132/.293/3, and rightfully sits near the top of our Player Rater. Old news, but I’m thinking about new news (almost stutterer!) and what can he do for 2014 fantasy baseball? In the 2nd half, he hit .255 with 13 homers as his BABIP and HR/FB% came soaring back to his career norms and rather than otherworldly as in the first half. He has a near 30% K-rate and doesn’t look anything close to the guy he was in the first half. Next year, he should still get 35 homers, but will probably hit closer to .265 and with those numbers his counting stats will come back to earth like Andrelton after holiday. Let’s just say someone will be drafting him before me next year. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Matt Harvey – Will attempt to rehab rather than immediately opt for Tommy John surgery. You knew this was coming. I mean, was there any doubt that the Mets would take the worst course of action? This is the team that is allowing David Wright to return for some meaningless games once he’s ready. This is the team that brought in their fences when their immediate future is obviously contingent on pitching. This is the team that made Dwight Gooden the local chapter president of D.A.R.E.
Marco Scutaro – Could be done for the year with tendon damage. That is just offal!
Yusmeiro Petit – 6 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 1 K in Metco. He looked like hot garbage and was very lucky to get the win. I don’t know who he gets next, but I wouldn’t go near him again.
Angel Pagan – 3-for-3, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 4th homer, hitting near .350 in the last week. The problem is the Giants are not playing him every day, so I wouldn’t rush out to grab him unless I could platoon him.
Edwin Encarnacion – As announced here first after inferring shizz from other sources, Edwin is done for the year, headed for wrist surgery. His recovery time will be about three months, unless the Comatose Blue Jays Fan goes to see him in the hospital and begs him to come back for the playoffs. “But Josh Johnson and Emilio Bonifacio are just hitting their stride! Aren’t they?”
Rajai Davis – 2-for-4 and his 6th home run. The King of SAGNOF, founder of the house of SAGNOF and the first King in the North, keeps going beyond the wall.
Colby Rasmus – 1-for-4 and his 21st home run. He’s now hit three home runs in the three games since he’s returned. Looks like Rasmus has some hot schmotatoness in him. I’d grab him to see if he can continue it.
R.A. Dickey – 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks. “Back-to-back Cy Youngs, baby! Right? Possible? Is it between him and Sabathia?” — Comatose Blue Jays Fan.
Dayan Viciedo – 3-for-5, 2 RBIs. I told you to grab him yesterday. Today, I say you should’ve paid attention yesterday.
Brian Dozier – 3-for-5, 2 runs and his 12th steal. He’s setting himself up to outsmart some drafters next year who think they’re smarter than the average bear. Too Smart For Their Own Good Drafter, “You go ahead and take your upside flyers at MI, I’ll take Dozier and be more than happy with his 20-homer power and 15-steal speed.” Right.
Jose Quintana – 6 IP, 1 ER, 10 baserunners, 5 Ks vs. the Twins. I’m sure there’s at least one pitcher I wouldn’t start against the Twins while Mauer is sidelined, but I can’t think of one off the top of my head.
Chase Utley – 3-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBIs and his 18th homer, and 2nd in as many games. Look at Utes putting himself back on the map for 2014. Maybe he’s trying to get asked to play the part of Richie Rich in the off-Broad Street adaptation. (See resemblance to Macaulay Culkin when Utley slicks back hair.)
Cesar Hernandez – 2-for-4, 2 runs, hitting near .400 in the last week, and there’s no reason why the Phils shouldn’t keep playing him, so if you need runs and average, go to it.
Jimmy Rollins – 3-for-4, 2 runs. FWIWerth, and it should be Werth something since you’re reading this, I grabbed Rollins again for the Phils series vs. the Marlins because they’re trotting out a group of peg boys.
Roy Halladay – 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 2 Ks vs. the MIA Marlins. He had three walks to two strikeouts, which is code for something is seriously wrong with him or he’s trying to be the opposite of The Adverb. An adjective? That’s what Yahoo Answers seems to think. BTW, am I the only one that gets a laugh from Yahoo Answers? There will be a question like, “How do fish reproduce?” Then someone will come along and write a long answer about how fish light candles and put on light jazz. I want enough time to write answers on Yahoo.
Jason Castro – Shut down for the season due to a cyst in his knee. He shouldn’t need surgery, so he hopes to be ready for next year — un-a-cysted.
Jeff Locke – 5 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 5 Ks vs. the Padres. If knowledge is the key, then show Locke the door.
Jedd Gyorko – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 19th homer. Yup, he’ll have a sleeper post for next year (assuming he’s not overdrafted).
Clayton Kershaw – Start pushed from Wednesday to Saturday to give him rest for the playoffs. The Dodgers are not concerned about your H2H playoffs, unfortunately.
Matt Kemp – 4-for-4, 1 run, 3 RBIs. So his hitting muscle is still working. The Dodgers did jump out to an early lead when Kemp was routhenasia’d, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sit multiple times in the next week-plus.
Patrick Corbin – 2 IP, 6 ER. Regression Fairies, you are cruel, unforgiving bastards.
Sonny Gray – 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks. Grey, you are awesome. You too, Sonny Gray. That works better spoken. Sonny gets the Twins next. Yes, please and thank you.
Yordano Ventura – 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks. Filthy. Dirty, filthy, nasty stuff. Now I see why Prospect Scott wrote a Yordano Ventura fantasy. Ventura was regularly hitting 99 MPH and looked easily capable of overpowering any hitter he wanted. Control looked sloppy at times. I’d say it was due to nerves, but even in the minors he’d lose the strike zone from time to time. Will definitely be someone to put on your short list, which is the only time short is a positive adjective.
Jarrod Dyson – 2-for-4 and his 32nd steal. He’s got “Don’t even bother throwing it to 2nd base” speed. Love to see him race Billy Hamilton. Pre-All-Star Game festivities idea! At home plate, Dyson and Hamilton have to down ten Red Bulls and then run around the bases. Winner gets a full-time starting job.
Joe Kelly – 5 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 0 Ks in Coors, dropping his ERA to 2.74. I wonder if he used eBay when he sold his soul.
Matt Holliday – 4-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 20th homer. Must’ve been nice for him to be back in Coors where he’s a 40/20 guy not a 20/40 guy. Those are Homers/Doubles.
Jon Jay – 3-for-5, 1 run and his 8th steal. Has three steals in the last ten games, and a ton of counting stats (as every Cardinal hitter gets). He’s no Matt Adams (2-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI), but that’s because I’m not reminded of him every time I see this.
Wilin Rosario – Left yesterday’s game with a flare up of his calf injury. Moo. I mean, boo.
Jeremy Hellickson – 2 2/3 IP, 5 ER, raising his ERA to 5.23. Might think about changing his nickname to Whatthehellboy.
Alexi Ogando – 5 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 4 Ks. Good thing the Rangers traded for Garza! Ogando gets the Royals next, which is an okay stream; I wouldn’t expect him to go longer than six innings.
Ian Kinsler – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 12th home run. Wow. It’s rare when a player sneaks through the cracks and I can’t guess within two homers how many they have, but I would’ve guessed Kinsler had around 18 homers, especially since he’s been relatively healthy all year. His fly ball rate fell way off this year and his line drives went up. Not a terrible thing, but I’m sure his owners would take a .250-hitting Kinsler with 25 homers over this current one.
Leonys Martin – 3-for-4, 3 runs and his 8th homer. That’s with his 32 steals. 8 homers and 32 steals? Ah, Miss Moneypenny, I’ve got him right in my sights for all my teams next year.
Mike Leake – 8 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks. Due to the 6-man rotation, the Stream-o-Nator doesn’t have his next start yet, but it should come against the Mets, which you don’t need SON to tell you is solid.
Jay Bruce – 2-for-4, 2 runs, 5 RBIs and his 30th homer. That’s for youse, as in Bruuuuce!
Zack Cozart – 2-for-3, 3 RBIs. Back-to-back two hit games and it looks like he’s swinging a hot bat all over again (until he’s not which will be in about 3 days.)
Todd Frazier – 2-for-3, 1 run, 1 RBI and his 4th steal. I’d chalk this up to going against the Astros pitching, but today he gets them again, so there’s that.
Stephen Strasburg – Should return on Thursday, which is tomorrow. Thanks, iCal! Not “Thanks, Cali” dyslexic readers.
Dan Haren – 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks vs. the Braves. Next, he gets the Marlins, which is a no-brainer. Which, Part II: Any Which Way But Loose; means Haren will manage to get hit hard by South Florida’s fishiest.
Tanner Roark – 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 6 Ks. Roark keeps making fantasy dreams come true without the assistance of a midget. Always felt Herve was underappreciated, but maybe he wasn’t as necessary. Roark gets the Cardinals next, which isn’t a start I’d risk him at.
Denard Span – 2-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI and his 17th and 18th steal in the doubleheader, extending his hitting streak to 28 games. Halfway to Joe DiMaggio, which is a quarter of the way to Marilyn Monroe at all times. Joe D. was a stalker, y’all!
Craig Kimbrel – 1/3 IP, 2 ER and his 4th blown save. Really nothing, but with the Braves locked into the playoffs, they could give him some rest next week and let David Carpenter or Jordan Walden close. Wait, I’m saying Fredi Gonzalez is going to give a pitcher rest? Yeah, that’s just stoopid.
Evan Gattis – 1-for-8, 2 RBIs and a home run in the first game of the doubleheader. A catcher, outfielder, ski instructor and recluse, Gattis still dines on pizza box cheese that he finds in dumpsters, only now they’re from reputable pizza chains.
Elliott Johnson – 3-for-6, 2 runs with two steals in the doubleheader (started only one game over Uggla). Johnson now has five steals in the last nine games. There’s a new SAGNOF’er in town and he was named after that little kid in E.T.
Marco Estrada – 7 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks. As with every pitcher besides of a handful of the top ones, it only matters where they go next and Estrada gets the Braves, which is a tough call. Their offense is solid, but they’re in coast mode for the playoffs. I could see streaming him there, but only if you can handle the risk.
Carlos Gomez – 2-for-3, 3 RBIs and his 20th homer. He has 6 homers and a .261 average in the 2nd half (still 15 steals) in the 2nd half. So the regression that I was sweating in the 1st half did come, just not as dramatically as I thought it would. And that’s how you squeeze ‘around being right’ into a square hole.
Welington Castillo – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 8th homer, and 4th homer in the last week. The power will completely disappear, but I’d give him a whirl if I were struggling or just lost Castro.
Anibal Sanchez – 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 10 Ks. I look forward to the looting in Detroit when they win the World Series. News anchor, “Due to the massive, five hours of looting last night, it is estimated that there is over thirty-seven dollars worth of damage to the city.” Man on the street, “Someone threw my trash can through a window, now where am I supposed to sleep tonight?”
