If he wanted to, Eloy Jimenez could’ve hit home runs in any of the White Sox first 11 games. He chose to delay the gratification for one reason: he’s a diva. Eloy waited patiently as the team traveled from Kansas City, to Cleveland, to Chicago, where he played in front of dozens of fans in each city. Finally, on April 12th, 2019, the White Sox arrived in New York City. The stage had been set and Mount Eloy would wait no longer; he erupted with a monstrous 3-for-4 night including 3 RBIs and his 1st AND 2nd career home runs bringing his average up to .319.
Eloy Jimenez 1st career home run! pic.twitter.com/cR7hCLCi5z
— DonkeyTeeth (@DonkeyTeeth87) April 13, 2019
There were people asking about dropping Eloy in the comments this week (I assume these were all bots). The answer was always: DO NOT DROP ELOY!! I had Eloy ranked 40th overall in the preseason and he slotted in as my #15 outfielder, I’m standing by those rankings.Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Anthony Rizzo – 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs and his 3rd homer. H to the Rizzo for shizzle.
Willson Contreras – 3-for-4 with his 4th and 5th homers, as Willson hit one homer for each of the L’s in his name.
Cole Hamels – 8 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.79. Very impressive start in Wrigley with 20+ mph gusts of wind blowing out.
Albert Pujols – 2-for-4 with his 2nd homer. Prince Albert will always be a threat to pierce his dong into Zombino territory.
David Bote – 1-for-4 with his 1st homer. I still can’t believe the Cubs give this wannabe scrubmarine $15 million. That’s more than Ozzie Albies got for 7 years!
J.A. Happ – 4 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 8.76. A few people asked in the comments if they should drop Happ this week. I know he’s 64 years old and off to a rough start, but Happ has thrown 170+ innings in 3 of the last 4 seasons and had a sub 3.70 ERA for all 4 of those seasons. I’d try to give Grandpa Happ a couple more starts before burying him.
Miguel Andujar – Made some throws and took 25 dry swings and 25 swings off a tee on Friday. Tomorrow the Yankees plan to lather him in baby oil so he can take 25 wet swings. Add him up if he was prematurely ejaculated from a team in your league.
Patrick Corbin – 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 11 Ks, ERA at 2.84. A lot of folks didn’t expect Corbin to be able to repeat 2018. Well of course he isn’t going to have the same exact season two years in a row!
Anthony Rendon – 2-for-5 with his 5th and 6th homers, hitting .426. Now has an 11 game hit streak and multiple hits in 8 of those games. Bryce who?
Austin Meadows – 3-for-5 with his 5th and 6th homers, hitting .367. That Archer, Glasnow, Meadows deal just keeps looking worse and worse for the Pirates. Arrrrgh!
Brandon Lowe – 2-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 3rd and 4th homers, hitting .289. What’s the Lowedown on this guy you ask? He’s worth a roster spot, even in many shallow leagues.
Willy Adames – 2-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 1st homer. The former top prospect had an icy start to the season, but might be heating up. Adames is worth a look if he was dropped in your league and you need an SS.
Yonny Chirinos – 2 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, as his ERA balloons from 0.75 to 4.40. I’m a big Yonni fan, Yonny too. We discussed Chirinos in depth on the most recent Ditka Pod. I blame this catastrophe on the Rays using him out of the bullpen after his pure domination as a starter. Unfortunately, this bullpen usage might not be an isolated incident.
Trent Thornton – 3 IP, 5 ER, 10 baserunners, 3 Ks. We profiled young Trent on the previous Ditka Pod where we speculated there would be some ups and downs for the kid; this was one of those downs. Thornton doesn’t need to be considered in anything less than a 16 team league.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr – One game at AAA, one home run. Call him up, he’s ready! And Grey’s ready to eat crow on his 2019 Fantasy Schmohawk call. Or will he be eating schmohawk? The Blue Jays GM came out Friday and said Vlad will debut “sooner than later”. Can he debut this afternoon, please?
Andrew Benintendi – 2-for-4 with his 1st homer, hitting .278. Is there such a thing as a buy-low window in mid-April? If there is, those windows have to close quickly since it’s still so cold out.
Eduardo Rodriguez – 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 3 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 7.98. Another guy people have been asking about dropping in the comments. I’m not in love with EdRod, mainly because I’m a donkey and I only know love for other donkeys and sugar beets, but Rodriguez’s upside is undeniable.
Dwight Smith Jr. – 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs with his 2nd homer and now has home runs in back-to-back games. Grey told you to buy him in yesterday’s buy/sell column.
Renato Nuñez – 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs and his 2nd homer. Now has hits in 7 of the last 8 games. Nuñez flashed some promise across 236 major league at bats last season and I think there’s a chance the 25 year old is more than just a hot schmotato.
Andrew McCutchen – 3-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 3rd homer, raising his average from .211 to .262. I get this feeling that Cutch is going to have a monster season. That might just be the week old leftovers Grey tossed into my barn earlier. That’s right, I have a barn now!
Jake Arrieta – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.25. I asked Grey if there’s a glossary term for Zombino pitchers with Arrieta in mind. Somehow there isn’t one, so these must be rare creatures. Glossary suggestions are welcome in the comments.
Brandon Nimmo – 3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 2nd homer, hitting .205. Nimmo was finding the barrel in this one.
Zack Wheeler – 6 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA to 7.47. Grey is no longer wishing he drafted Zach Wheeler, but I’m still wishing I drafted their lesser known brother, Sack Wheeler.
Khris Davis – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 10th homer. Khrush is on pace for 101 home runs, no joke.
Ramon Laureano – 2-for-4 with his 3rd homer. Judging by the comments, this kid was dropped in a ton of leagues. Go get him.
Elvis Andrus – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 2nd homer and his 3rd steal for the slam and legs. Mmmmmm slam and legs. It’s getting late here and now I’m hungry.
Carlos Carrasco – 2/3 IP, 6 ER, 7 baserunners, 1 K, ERA at 12.60. When you go home with a stud the caliber of Carlos Carrasco, the last thing you expect is to wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing a kidney. Ahhhhh roofie!
Yasmani Grandal – 3-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 4th homer. The Grendel Monster lives!
Cody Bellinger – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs with his 8th homer and his 2nd steal for the slam and legs, hitting .417. Cody’s game slumped as a sophomore, but he’s landing all the babes as a junior.
Corey Seager – 2-for-3, 2 runs and his 2nd homer, hitting .280. Seager left Thursday’s game after being struck in the calf by a pitch, so naturally I expected him to be out for the rest of the season. It turns out Corey has to wait for his brother Kyle to return to action before he’s allowed to hit the IL.
Corbin Burnes – 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 11 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 10.05. Mr. Burnes wasn’t frugal with the hits in this one. I had him ranked aggressively at #55 overall in my recent top 100 SP update; I think it’s time for me to take the ‘L’ on this one. Burnes will be a stud eventually, but it’s time to move on in shallower leagues.
Julio Urias – 5 IP, 5 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 5.27. I was down by the schoolyard, but Julio didn’t show up.
Brad Keller – 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.45. I ranked B-Rad at #58 overall in my most recent top 100 SP post, so I did something right. Maybe.
Manny Machado – 1-for-4 with his 4th homer. One home run for each player he’s attempted to spike this season.
Chris Paddack – 5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 1.29. I know what you’re thinking: Where did Donkey Teeth rank this Paddack cat in those rankings of his? Answer: #37. Young ace in the making.
Jose Altuve – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 4 RBIs with his 6th homer and his 5th homer in the last 4 games, hitting .321. Nobody is hotter than Jose right now. Too sexy, too sexy!
George Springer– 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 4th homer, hitting .281. Can someone please unjuice these balls? Not like that! Get your hands out of my pants! I mean the baseballs, there’s too many home runs to write about!
Drew Pomeranz – 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.86. The average velocity on Pomeranz’s fastball is up a full 3 mph from 2018. It’s time to own him everywhere.
Garrett Hampson – 1-for-6, 1 run and his 1st triple, hitting .154. I can’t bring myself to quit this guy just yet, the stolen base upside is so enticing and he hit 2nd in the order on Friday. What can I say, I wanna talk to Hampson!
Find Donkey Teeth on Twitter @DonkeyTeeth87. Subscribe to his podcast: Ditka, Sausage, and Fantasy Sports on Itunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
All ADP data courtesy of NFBC and all statistics courtesy of FanGraphs & Baseball Savant.
