It had been too long since we had a Mets appearance in the lede area. The last time I believe was Brett Baty, who then went oh-for-three months and was sent down. Before that it was Max Scherzer, who was having a HOF career to that point…or maybe it was Justin Verlander, who was also a first ballot guy…or was it Pete Alonso, who has the 2nd lowest BABIP of the last 20 years (.204. There have been 4,105 hitter seasons since 2000 of 450 PAs. Pete Alonso’s BABIP is only better than Aaron Hill’s .196 in 2010). No, no, no there’s no curse. It’s not the Curse of Bill Buckner’s Eternal Soul. This is all random chance. Congrats to Francisco Lindor (4-for-7, 6 RBIs and his 28th, 29th and 30th homer) on a great doubleheader. Here’s to many successful years trying to do anything worthwhile in a Mets uniform. I’m sure it will come very easy. I kid, of course. The Mets feel like the NL East’s answer to the Padres. How many games should they have won vs. how many did they? Maybe an extra 25 games? There’s a parallel universe where the Padres and Mets are meeting in the NLCS. In that parallel universe, ARod is your father. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Psyche! Before we get into the roundup, just wanted to say Razzball football rankings came in 4th out of 200 rankers for the 2nd week in a row, according to Fantasy Pros. Sign up for the Fantasy Football tools and make daddy smile. Thank you! Anyway II, the roundup:
Joey Lucchesi – 6 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 2.89. Lucchesi of the Calzone Crime Family put together the ultimate Streamonator season. Meaning: At no point this entire year was anyone holding Lucchesi (anti-Italian discrimination?) so you could just stream that mother all day, every start. Too bad the Mets left him in the minors for so long, or maybe that’s why he was good. Whadda I know.
Pete Alonso – 5-for-8, 4 runs, 2 RBIs and his 46th homer. Albombso!
Mark Vientos – 1-for-7, 2 RBIs and his 9th homer. Bien Vientos!
Braxton Garrett – 4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 3.66. Do you think the Marlins share duct tape to hold their pitchers’ elbows together or they each get their own?
Aaron Judge – 2-for-3, 3 runs, 4 RBIs and his 36th and 37th homer. BDon and I will be doing a 2024 mock draft this upcoming week for the pod, and I don’t know where I want Judge. Guessing around 7th or 8th, but is that a reach? Maybe I’m underestimating Judge’s appeal next year. Maybe that Judge sentence is a pun. Maybe so is that one. Matt Olson or Judge next year? It’s Olson, isn’t it? No? I don’t know. I’m still weighing the pros and cons like any good Judge judge would. Maybe for 2024 fantasy, we will be able draft Judge in the 2nd round and rejoice at how far he falls, then get to May next year and he’s out again for six weeks, because it’s so rare for a 500-pound mountain of muscles to stay healthy. Judge, jury and executioner, I am!
Gerrit Cole – 9 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.63. Cy, sealed, delivered, I’m yours! What’s kinda not-funny funny, the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs (no dur), but they were not nearly a terrible team like, say, the Cards or the Nats. They had a year that some teams (Pirates) would’ve considered a success, finishing over .500.
Jose Berrios – 6 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.65. Now that we’ve reached the end of this year, I can go back to liking Berrios again next year. It was a one-year Blue Berrios period and that’s over now.
Edouard Julien – 2-for-4 and his 15th homer. His first name seems like it should be a one-named moniker and he should have an exhibit at the MOMA. “It’s an Edouard retrospective and his daughter, Zzyx, is hosting the opening. You have to wear leather, ta-ta for now.” That’s a patron of the arts.
Ryan Jeffers – 1-for-3, 3 RBIs and his 13th homer, and 2nd homer in as many games. Get the hot schmotatoes before they go cold for the winter!
Josh Lowe – 3-for-3, 3 runs, and his 20th homer. If ARod’s your father, J. Lowe is your mother.
Isaac Paredes – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 31st homer. Next year’s Paredes’s over/under for homers is what? 27? 24? 32?
Tyler Glasnow – 5 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.53. I want to draft Glasnow every year, and every year he’s too expensive. He’s like the pitching version of Byron Buxton.
Brayan Bello – 6 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.24. Offhandedly, said yesterday that the Red Sox can’t develop pitchers, but now I think there might be something to that. Feel like Bello’s a 2.75 ERA guy on the Rays or Dodgers.
Brendan Rodgers – 2-for-4 and his 3rd homer, and 2nd homer in four games. Sure, he had a year that was about as good as one game from some other players, but he has been hot.
Freddie Freeman – 1-for-3, 3 RBIs and a slam (28) and legs (23), hitting .333. Is it me or do you also feel like as soon as you finally draft Freeman he’s going to have his Come to Jesus, “You are not a 20+ steal guy” moment?
Ranger Suarez – 4 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.18. Weird, the Phils don’t at all seem like the kind of team that would be hungover from celebrating their playoff berth. Shoot, where’s my sarcasm font?
Bryce Harper – 3-for-4, 2 runs and a slam (21) and legs (11). It also shows you the Phils can beat up on the Pirates, even hungover.
Dane Dunning – 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.72 vs. Griffin Canning – 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.32. The battle of the gerund didn’t disappoint with a lot of hanging participles.
Adolis Garcia – 2-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 38th homer. Serious question: When he’s been healthy, has he ever been unproductive?
Evan Carter – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 5th homer. Evan Carter’s really showing a little something-something since his call-up, huh?
Framber Valdez – 4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.45. Taking this back to the 90’s to say Valdez is sunk. Yo, slick, blow.
Yordan Alvarez – 1-for-3, 2 runs and his 31st homer. Captain Woo Cubano is about to have one of the greatest postseasons ever and no longer be a bargain in drafts next year.
J.P. Crawford – 1-for-2 and his 18th homer, 2nd homer in four games, and, if mentions by me means a guy is going good, then Just Peachy is having a great 2nd half.
Thairo Estrada – 2-for-3 and a slam (14) and legs (23), hitting .275. 15/25 is a damn good year, I think. It’s roughly one third of Acuña, but that year was so bonkers it’s ruined by judgment.
Ryan Mountcastle – Activated from the IL, but didn’t play. Kevin from ESPN’s Get Him In Your Lineup Department said, “If you’ve reached this message, I am out of the office. Please call someone else and ask them so when I get back into the office I don’t have a ton of things to do. Thank you.”
Adley Rutschman – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 20th homer. Currently writing up my year-end positional recaps which will start next week, and the catchers are hideous. Even if Adley becomes the number one catcher with a hot final few days, it still wasn’t a good year for any catcher.
Grayson Rodriguez – 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.35. It is very passive aggressive to lay on me some of the worst stats anyone’s ever seen, then, after I drop him, become a stud. Very not cool.
Shane Bieber – 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.80. Gonna make a concerted effort next year to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind myself of pitcher injuries, which means I might be targeting Bieber like a supermodel on a yacht.
Andrew Abbott – 2 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.87. Yelling, “Hey Abbott!” but angry.
Zach Davies – Designated for assignment. If anyone follows the divorce proceedings of MLB players, earlier it was revealed Davies ghosted his wife. Well, guess what, chicken butt? The ghoster has been ghosted.
Brandon Pfaadt – 5 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 5,72. The Pfaadt boy is back! And you know he can never be whack (except for those three to four months when he was just that). Next year’s lottery ticket in drafts, Pfaadt or Gavin Stone?
Jeimer Candelario – 0-for-3 as he was activated from the IL. Did you know Jeimer translates to “Hello ocean?” I’m a fount of knowledge!
Mike Tauchman – 1-for-5, 2 runs and his 8th homer. You got the Tauchman! You got the power!
Ian Happ – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 20th homer, as he was moved back to the three-hole, because whatever doesn’t kill David Ross makes him stronger. Like being dumb. That makes him stronger. Don’t ask how, it’s complicated, like your relationship status with your 2nd cousin.
Ozzie Albies – 3-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 33rd homer. Next year I’m going to draft 12 Braves and they’re going to suck worse than death. Just giant, cavernous pits of suck.
Marcell Ozuna – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 37th homer. Most years Ozuna would be the Braves’ MVP season, and Ozuna’s, like, fourth down the list of Braves candidates.
Ronald Acuña Jr. – 2-for-5, 2 runs and his 69th and 70th steal. Heard some people were mad that he lifted the bag of his 70th steal in the air. Yo, homeboy, if you go 40/70, you should get a year named after you. Like the Chinese have Year of the Rabbit, this was the Year of Acuña in baseball lore, fo’ever mo.