Derek Jeter left yesterday’s game with a Grade 1 strain of his calf as reported by ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, ESPN U., ESPN Deportes and on the ticker at the bottom of the screen while they aired Mr. 3000 on ABC. Yes, I’m just as bad for even talking about it. Hey, pot, what’s up? Kettle, here. You black? Whatever, it was a slow day yesterday in fantasy baseball — shoot, Justin Ruggiano was almost the lead. Member a few years ago when people were talking about how Jeter could get to 4,000 hits? I’d be surprised now to see him get to 3,400. Dorian Gray paint is starting to fade. You read me? Yeah, you do. My guess is Jeter will avoid the DL and make us endure more 3,000 hit talk after he rests his veal for a few days. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Russell Martin – Scratched with back stiffness. See, I’m usually scratched with back itchiness.
Carlos Carrasco – 7 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks. If you started him in The House They Built Next To The House That Ruth Built, you deserved this win. Crazy thing is, Carrasco’s pitching better than his ERA is showing, but, outside of this game, the Ks have been pretty pedestrian. You ride the lightning in AL-Only leagues; I’d avoid still in mixed leagues.
Justin Ruggiano – 2-for-3 and hitting near .500 in the last week. Sam Fuld handed off his magic beans to a new past-prime prospect. So is this on par, ma, for Ruggiano? Will he melt under the hot lights? Or will he be solid enough to great? In Triple-A, Ruggiano had back-to-back years of 15 homers and 23+ steals. The problem with anyone who’s seeing their first look in the bigs in three years when they’re 29 years old is why. While why is a question that self help gurus teach to help you keep a conservation going, I don’t particularly want to talk about Ruggiano all that much more. He’s currently hitting enough to pick up in all leagues, but I don’t think he’s going to keep it going.
Alex Cobb – 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 10 baserunners, 7 Ks. This was a better-than-decent start, but right now it looks like Cobb’s headed to the minors after one more start. Gary Glitter, “That don’t sound bad at all!”
Brandon Lyon – 1 IP, 3 ER. Now has 8 earned runs since he returned. Hey, he looks like his old self! If someone prematurely dropped Melancon from their team, I’d go ahead and make the grab.
Wandy Rodriguez – 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks. The Wandwagon returned from the DL and got immediately back on the right track.
Brett Anderson – Set to rehab for six weeks but will be reevaluated in three weeks. So that puts his next setback around two weeks away.
Ricky Nolasco – 3 IP, 5 ER, 12 baserunners, 3 Ks and he was pitchslapped by Zach Duke (who took a couple of right crosses too). I said I wouldn’t touch Nolasco in any league this preseason and I didn’t. He now sits at a 4.23 ERA and he always seems to push that over 5. Amazing how much good will he got from one solid year out of five.
Justin Morneau – Time for a daily check-in on this sad robot. “Tears make me rust!” That’s Morneau. He just had an MRI on his wrist. The Vottomatic comes with titanium wrist joints. Why’s Morneau having his wrist checked? He needs to have his head checked. He probably needs a new operating system. On Morneau’s player card it says POS: 1B. The POS is right.
Vicente Padilla – Will miss an extended period of time with neck surgery. It doesn’t look like he has a neck in this picture of Padilla.
Paul Maholm – 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks. Now has a 3.12 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and not the greatest Ks. You say to me, “Hey, Grey sweet ‘stache, it’s like you have three eyebrows. Pregunta: Should I pick up Maholm?” His ERA will end close to 4 and he has no Ks. I own him in one H2H league but wouldn’t touch him in most roto leagues. In H2H, the inevitable terrible start, which is coming, is erased in a week, but in roto you gotta live with your decisions a lot longer. Wow, I sound like a guidance counselor.
Hunter Pence – 3-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 9th home run. Now has a 23-game hitting streak. Or 23 more games than Morneau.
Randy Wolf – 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks. Wolf’s coming in this afternoon’s post about pitchers who are getting lucky, but he was also in the same post last month, so what the FIP do I know?
Jordan Schafer – 2-for-5 with his first home run. In the past week, he has 6 steals. He’s an intriguing name in deep leagues. Just don’t jump out the window until you see how real the fire is.
Vernon Wells – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and 2 homers. As frequent commenter, Terrance Mann, said, “Projections on any significant HRs the rest of the year from HGH Wells are pure science fiction.”
Anthony Bass – 5 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners (4 BBs), 1 K. Outside of NL-Only leagues, I wouldn’t touch him yet. Like Juba’s pizza dough on The Next Food Network Star, he’s too raw.
Charlie Blackmon – 2-for-4 and now has 3 steals in the last three games. Maybe when he’s in the tunnel to the stadium, Eric Youg Jr. hands him a Pepsi.
Manny Ramirez – The Dodgers owe him $8.3 million in deferred payments. In related news, the Dodger Dog prices were raised to $17,000 per hot dog.
