Yesterday, Gabriel Ynoa threw a gem, 8 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.41 in just under 32 IP. His name is pronounced EE-know-a. As they say, the more you EE-know-a. Ynoa was only at 94 pitches, so don’t you let Ynoa try for the complete game? I mean, Ynot? He looks like a number five starter, though on the Orioles that likely means a number three starter. He can touch mid-90’s with his fastball, but he’s missing a decent breaking ball and tends to get beat up by lefties, like Fox News. Though, better things may await him because the Mets traded him away. He will likely come up a little short of the Mets’ all-time worst trade of Nolan Ryan, and even their 2nd worst trade of Amos Otis to the Royals for a prospect with a giant baseball head. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Manny Machado – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 33rd homer, hitting .264. What a recovery from an awful season. Ma-Ma mia! If only the BABIP Gods shined their prematurely balding heads down on Odor. Eff you, BABIP Gods!
Matt Andriese – 6 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.44. Nothing but a streamer at this point, and the Stream-o-Nator says he’s not for his next one, so, it’s not Andriese’s fault, but buh-bye.
Justin Turner – Left after being hit on the thumb by a pitch. He says he should be fine, as he gingerly put ice on it. Though, everything he does is gingerly.
Kenta Maeda – 3 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 4.25. Damn, the Dodgers went into shutdown mode early this year, huh? Not sure if Maeda’s going to get another start, but you can’t trust him to throw more than a few innings, even if he does.
Curtis Granderson – 1-for-3 and his 25th homer, and his 2nd homer in the last four games, while hitting around .220, which is a hot streak for him. If you need power, I could see trying him. He won’t be in this afternoon’s Buy column, as this is merely your Curtisy reminder.
Mark Leiter Jr. – 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.69. First, to address the elephant in the room, yes, it is weird that Al Leiter named his kid, Mark, and added the Jr. suffix. Leiter Jr.’s peripherals are actually interesting, but that’s neither here nor there, or there nor here, or–Now I’m confused! The Stream-o-Nator doesn’t love his next start, but it’s against a Nats team that could be resting people, and I could see it in some instances.
Nick Williams – 1-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 11th homer, hitting .285. Here’s a guy that will likely go undrafted in most 12-team mixed leagues and shallower next year, and I could see him making an impact, like Edward James Olmos in a limited role.
Dexter Fowler – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 6th steal, hitting .270. He’ll be in this afternoon’s Buy column, because I’ve mentioned him five times this week due to his hot hitting, so may as well go for six. The number six makes me giggle. Sounds so taboo. Six, hehe.
Tommy Pham – 2-for-4, 1 run and his 22nd steal, hitting .311. There’s seven guys in the majors with a 20/20 season. Only two in the NL, Pham and Wil Myers. Phamtablous!
Phillip Ervin – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 3rd homer, hitting .295. What a coincidence that he homered off Carlos Martinez (6 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.63). Ya know, because Carlos Martinez got busted for liking porn on Twitter and this guy is P-Ervin.
Scott Schebler – 2-for-5 and his 28th and 29th homer, hitting .236, as he hit leadoff, because Bryan Price shrugged all over his lineup card.
Raisel Iglesias – 1 IP, 2 ER, a day after complaining of flu-symptoms. He might still have the sniffles, because he sure is coughing up runs! C’mon, high five me! No? Okay.
R.A. Dickey – 8 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.32. Someone with some free time, or who is in jail, should look back at the ERA in the major leagues in the last two weeks of September in the last ten years, because it feels like offense has dried up completely in the last few days as starting hitters are being rested.
Tanner Roark – 7 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.41. Continued from the Dickey blurb, you can’t throw a rock and not hit a Quality Start. You can’t throw The Rock, period. Don’t try either, he’s the Dems’ 2020 nominee!
Ryan Zimmerman – 1-for-3 and his 34th homer. If the person is reading who said Zimmerman would avoid a DL stint all year, please remind me in the comments, so I can send you a Razzball t-shirt.
Joe Mauer – 3-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, hitting .311. He has the sixth best batting average in the AL, and the third best OBP (.388). There’s only ten guys in the majors with a .400 OBP, which is sad, but there were only seven guys last year, so baby steps, Bob.
Domingo Santana – 2-for-5, 2 runs and a slam (28) and legs (14), hitting .281, and now three straight games with a home run. More like Martes-Jueves Santana, and he should go up to bat to, There It Go (The Whistle Song).
Zach Davies – 7 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.84. His next start is home vs. the Reds, and the Stream-o-Nator doesn’t love it. Before you think SON has head marbles, Davies went into yesterday’s game with a home ERA of 6+. Cust kayin’.
Kyle Schwarber – 1-for-2 and his 29th homer, hitting .208. “No, it had nothing to do with Schwarber, Ma! I was getting you vanilla ice cream from Dairy Queen. That’s why there’s sticky white stains on the car seats.” That’s Joe Buck.
Jake Arrieta – 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.43, as he returned from hamstring tightness. That start is about as meh as it gets. The mehiest. King Too-meh-a-meh from the Island of Meh-ee? Smoking the meh-ee-wow-ee? Okay, I’ll stop. I doubt Arrieta goes much deeper in his next start as the Cubs ready for the playoffs.
Dallas Keuchel – 6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.96. I’ll go over this more in the Sell that’s coming later today, but, in H2H leagues that go next week, you really have to drill down to see if even your aces are worth holding. Daylass Koochel goes to Arlington, but who knows how many innings he’s even going to throw.
Tim Anderson – 1-for-4 and his 17th homer, hitting over .400 in the month of September. He was in last week’s Buy, and he will be in this week’s. There’s no replacements for Tim, not musically speaking.
Robinson Cano – 1-for-4 and his 22nd homer, hitting .284. Next year he goes 27 HR, .300 or 18 HRs, .270. Like Altuve getting the cereal, I’m going for the latter.
James Paxton – 3 2/3 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 3.03, as he returned from injury. He could see two more starts this year, or a total of seven innings. Let’s see if he can stay healthy!
Adrian Beltre – 2-for-4 and his 17th homer, hitting .314. For a guy who is 38 years old that only played in 88 games and has never received any encouraging head pats, he’s not having a terrible year.
Cole Hamels – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.80. This year is the year before the wheels fell off on F-Her. Hey, that sounds like the beginning of a romance novel written by Chad Gaudin. Google “Chad Gaudin gurney” if you don’t remember.
Clayton Richard – 7 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.63. It’s called a Hodgepadre, it’s in the dictionary, look it up.
Mike Minor – 1 IP, 0 ER and the save, ERA at 2.68. Ugh, I could’ve used that save. Why didn’t Ned Yost use him when Herrera immediately went down two weeks ago when I had Minor? Guess the Yost’s on me. No reason why Minor can’t be the closer for the rest of the year, so I’d grab him if you’re into those sorta things.
J.A. Happ – 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at…Guess. Go ahead. Wait, I’ll give you a hint. He’s owned in only 55% of leagues. Gotta be a 4.50+ ERA, right? It’s 3.64. Zoinks! His opponent last night, Jason Vargas (6 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks) is owned in more leagues with a 4.03 ERA. I know, ERA’s not everything, but, ya know, Happ’s got more Ks too.
Francisco Lindor – 1-for-3, 3 RBIs and his 32nd homer. He’s killing it like T.J. Lavin in the 2nd half with 18 HRs, 10 SBs and hitting near-.310. He definitely played a part in that 22-game straight win streak. Excuse me, 22-game cisgender win streak.
Edwin Encarnacion – 1-for-4 and his 37th homer. Nothing comes between Edwin and a 35+ home run year, not even his Calvins.
Danny Salazar – 2 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.48. Seems to be headed for the 2nd year in a row where he’s going to work out of the bullpen in the playoffs. Gonna be real hard to justify drafting him next year in all but the deepest leagues, i.e. K-zar is an emperor with no clothes, and he’s leaving his balls up.
Jacob deGrom – Pushed back to Sunday due to flu-like symptoms, nausea and an upset stomach. Mets trainers gave him a bottle of Windex to chug for his stomach and a pile of fake vomit for his nausea. Those Mets trainers are the best!
