Jose Miranda knows his rights! It took about a month struggling well below the Mendoza line and a less than 24-hour stint at the St. Paul AAA affiliate to realize he has the right to be in the Major Leagues, mashing baseballs. He showed the world, or at least Canada, that Friday night hitting his third and fourth bombs. First, a solo shotski of Kikuchi in the second that put the Twinkies ahead, and then a 2-run jack in the sixth off Trevor Richards that extended their lead. I always believed in you Jose! *Quietly re-adds him after dropping him two weeks ago* Sure, you look at that .185/.214/.395 slash and wince, cringe even! But there is reason to believe better days for Miranda are ahead. Grey told you to BUY as soon as he was called up with his Jose Miranda fantasy, he was both a prospect and highly touted, and the contact skills were real. Add in a clear path for playing time and yeah, excitement was high. But upside down frowns quickly turned right side up, as the phenom was hovering just under .100 AVG through his first two weeks. Jose was losing playing time, and his biggest supporters (hi!) were losing hope. But if May 17th, a game where he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and saw his average dip to .094, was his rock bottom, there was nowhere to go but up! Since May 20th he’s collected 10 hits in 28 at-bats (8 games) and raised that average almost .100 points in that stretch. He was sent down in the midst of his uprising, but an injury to Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis immediately freed up a spot to give Miranda another shot just as he was starting to find his groove. Maybe getting sent down was a wake-up call? Maybe it was that juicy lucy he had in St P? Either way, since being recalled Monday he’s 4-for-14 with three home runs and five RBI. I’m gonna need to see more than a four game stretch of success before I’m all-in again, but he’s shown some major strides over the past two weeks that make me think his upside is worth the flier. Jose’s got at least until the team is healthy to show Miranda got the right to remain in the big leagues.
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Aaron Judge – 4-for-5, HR (20), 3 RBI. The 20 bombs lead baseball by a lot. Judge was banking on himself for 2022 and he’s betting he can get himself a $500 million contract. The Player of the Month for the AL slashed .311/.378.699 with a 1.077 OPS, 25 runs, 12 HR, 25 RBI, and 2 SB. Yeah okay, seems iight. I guess, I mean, whatever. Anyone could hit 20 home runs with that short porch. What do you want–a trophy? Well, yeah you’re probably gonna get one of those.
Gerrit Cole – 7.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 9 K, 5th win ERA at 2.79. He actually had a perfect game going through six in this one, that is until I texted the entire group chat “YA’LL SEE COLE GOT A NO-NO GOING?” which ended Cole’s bid right then and there. You’re welcome.
Matt Carpenter – 2-for-3, HR (4), 2 RBI. You know who else was a Carpenter? That’s right, Jesus. Friday was his first multi-hit game and his third straight game with a ding dong, this one a towering upper decker. He’s started six games and homered in four of them. Stanton is supposed to be activated this weekend, which does not bode well for MC’s PT but I don’t know what else to say, someone should probably grab him?
Josh Donaldson – 0-for-3, K. Only Yankee not to collect a hit as NYC City scored 13 runs on 15 hits. I guess his teammates really aren’t with him.
Elvin Rodriguez – 4.1 IP, 11 hits 10 ER. I saw the box score E. Rodriguez, and thought Detroit must really regret signing Ed-Rod to that huge contract. Then I saw it was Elvin, which I can read cause I’m a huge Tolkien fan.
Javier Baez – 0-for-3, K, batting .194. Speaking of regrettable Detroit contracts…can you DFA a guy who makes $23 million a year. Ask Robbie Cano I guess.
Marcus Stroman – 4.0 IP, 10 hits, 9 ER, BB, 7 K. “And that was the moment, boys and girls and robot boys and robot girls, that his fantasy team died.”– Me telling the story of this season to my grandkids.
Tommy Edman – 3-for-5, 3 runs, 2 SB (14). That’s four stolen bases since Monday for Edman! That could win your head-to-head match-up! Tommy Two-Times!
Corey Dickerson – 2-for-5, 2 HR (2). Definitely didn’t forget that you were still in the league.
Paul Goldschmidt – 1-for-3, 2 runs, HR (12), 3 RBI. Pauly G is a Jersey sure thing! The May player of the month for the NL extended his hitting streak to 25 games Friday night and did it with a 3-run homer. Good god, man! Calm down. He’s hitting over .400 with 6 homers and 20 RBI in the past two weeks. Sweet sassy molassy! The Red Birds put up 14 runs embarrassing their rival Friday afternoon at Wrigley. Everyone on their team is hitting, rookie Nolan Gorman (1-for-5, HR (3), 3 RBI slashing .361/.439/.694) is an absolute stud, and Jack Flaherty has his first rehab start tomorrow. What a time to be a Cards fan.
Zach Eflin – 8.0 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, BB, 6 K, 2nd win, ERA at 3.88. So Eflin good! Can I ask you an Eflin question? Why weren’t you this Eflin good when I Eflin started you last week against the Eflin Mets! Aggh! Eflin my Eflin life.
Kyle Schwarber – 2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 HR (14). Dos Schwarbombs, por favor? Muchas gracias! That’s four homers in four days for Kyle, coming after a 2-for-26 stretch this is much welcome! I blame Girardi for that slump! Because why not! Blame him for all of it! Real ones will remember Schwarbs hit 17 dingers last June. Who says he can’t beat, nay, shatter that number this June?
Bryce Harper – 2-for-4, 2 HR (12), 4 RBI. B-Ryce is playing injured but certainly didn’t look injured Friday night unless smacking homers is his form of rehab. Irregardless! The Phillies won 10-0 in their first post-Joe Girardi game and all their problems are solved now, right? Bullpen can’t blow games if they’re up 10 runs. It’s math!
Bryson Stott – 2-for-4, HR (1), 3 RBI. Anyone else always want to add DeChambeau to the end of his name?
Shane Bieber – 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, 3rd win, ERA at 3.12. Baby, baby, baby, oh, baby. Biebs gets his peaches out in Georgia, and this match-up with the O’s was a real peach. As for Shane, he’s had a string of weak opponents so might be the time to sell high. What Do You Mean? His stuff ain’t what it used to be but he’s finding a way to make it work. That’s what good pitchers do! But if you can get Ace value for him, it’s worth exploring.
Trey Mancini – 2-for-4, run, 2 RBI. He’s hitting .444 with a homer and 6 RBI in the past week. It’s when I start considering adding O’s bats that I know I’m in desperation mode.
Yusei Kikuchi – 4.2 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 6 K, 3 HR. I streamed him for this start and although I was “Torn” like Natalie Imbruglia I did it anyway, and now I am too upset to even quote Lisa Loeb, but I don’t want you to Stay on my fantasy team right now.
Kyle Garlick – 3-for-3, 2 HR (6), 3 RBI. Can’t have two spicy meatballs without Garlick!
Byron Buxton – 3-for-5, HR (12), 2 RBI slashing .221/.296/.517. The slash isn’t great, sure, but focus on the positive, he’s made it to June without a prolonged IL stint. That’s progress, ya’ll!
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1-for-4, HR (11). George Springer also hit his 10th homer. Vlady daddy likes to party and mashed the lone run for the BJays, this 420 foot beauty. The Jays ended their winning streak but Vlad’s homer binge continues.
Shane McClanahan – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 8 K, 6th win. Shane-O-Mac is having himself a breakout campaign! He’s the number 1 pitcher on the player rater, and he’s doing it for a Rays team that won’t let him go more than seven innings. Had I drafted him as my Ace I’d be alright. But I didn’t and I’m not. The 2.10 ERA and 0.92 WHIP are real nice but it’s the 89/12 K/BB that has justified all the “Mr. Dan McClananhan”s in cursive on my notebook for the rest of 2022.
Randy Arozarena – 2-for-4, HR (6), 2 RBI. Two bombs since June 1st! Not sure I’ve ever seen Randy this hot outside of October.
Colin Poche – 1.0 IP, K, SV (3). BUY. Is he the closer? He got four chances in the past week, but you never know with Cash. Andre Kittredge started his rehab Friday night so pretty soon you won’t have to worry about it but for now, Poche could/maybe/possibly get the next save chance. I don’t know!
Ke’Bryan Hayes – 2-for-5, HR (2), 3 RBI. Dude is batting .423 with 2 bombs, 7 RBI and a stolen base in the past week! The .295/.379/.405 is also real nice. If this is the best the Pirates are gonna get methinks they should run with it.
Christian Walker – 2-for-3, HR (14). Ketel Marte and Jake McCarthy also homered. Will you BUY him when he has 20 home runs? What’s it gonna take to get this guy over 50% owned? Do you want me to shine your shoes? Because I will shine those shoes!
Alek Thomas – 2-for-4, 2 HR (5), 3 RBI. Alek him! Alek him a lot! Struggled a bit lately as pitchers have adjusted but the .259/.307/.506 and five bombs is still impressive and he’s got a favorable week of matchups coming up. If he was on the Yankees, Sox, Dodgers or Mets he’d be owned everywhere.
Dane Dunning – 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 7 K. He’s had a couple clunkers against some hot offenses but overall he’s been pretty solid, especially in the right matchups. He gets the Guardians next week and I might consider the prospect of maybe thinking about mulling over the possibility of contemplating whether or not I should review the option of potentially picking him up. I still don’t know for sure though!
Logan Gilbert – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, BB, 7 K, ERA at 2.22. Should I call you Logan, Weapon X? No? Wolverine!
Paul Sewald – 1.0 IP, BB, 2 K, SV (3). Normally, I’d rush out to grab Sewald everywhere after this outing but it was just his third save in five chances and it wasn’t quite as pretty as it looks in the box score. Still, he probably leads this committee and if you’re as desperate for saves as I am for positive feedback he could be worth the add.
Joe Barlow – 1.0 IP, 1 hits, 2 ER, BB, L. I’d say he might lose the closer gig with this outing, but the Rangers set the Barlow.
Bobby Witt Jr. – 1-for-4, HR (7), 3 RBI. The jack was a 440-footer to center right into the fountain. Pretty clearly the stitches have been tightened or loosened, either way, the juiced balls are back and everyone and their grandmoms homered last night unless of course, you were on my fantasy team.
Yordan Alvarez – 3-for-5, HR (15). The $115 million dollar man with a million dollar jack! Tbh, to be handsome with you, compared to Javy Baez’s $23 mil a year, this contract is a steal for a guy who could likely hit 50 home runs. Leave it to Houston to steal everything.
Joe Musgrove – 8.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 6-0. He was no-hitting the Brews through eight in this one and he’s quietly putting together a Cy Young season. I feel like everything the ‘Dres are doing this year they’re doing it quietly, even Manny Machado (1-for-4, 2 runs, 3-run HR (9)) and his MVP trot are falling under the media radar. If only Tommy Pham were still on this team we’d definitely hear about it. As for Everything Musgrove, the underwhelming 64/14 K/BB might keep him from the headlines, but that 1.64 ERA and 0.92 WHIP are elite! He’s given up just 12 runs all year and hasn’t given up more than two in a single start yet. I own guys who’ve given up more runs in a single start *cough Stroman cough* and I need to rethink the direction of my life now.
Corbin Burnes – 3.2 IP, 8 hits, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. I was saying Boo-urnes!
Jurickson Profar – 3-for-5, run, 2 RBI as he led off. I Profar you when you lead off! Keep it up!
Trent Grisham – 2-for-5, 2 runs, SB (1) slashing .167/.278/.296. OK, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the slash. Now you’ll never add him, but he was a BUY and he’s a hot little potato!
Max Fried – 8.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, BB, 4 K. Chad Kuhl – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. What do you mean you didn’t expect a 10-inning pitchers duel at Coors on a Friday night in early June? There was a shipping delay and they haven’t gotten the new baseballs yet, I guess.
Dansby Swanson – 3-for-4, run. Hitting .367 with three steals in the past week. Dansby good like that!
Chris Bassitt – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. After posting a 2.25 ERA with three wins in April, Bassitt has come back to Earth in a big way with an ERA of 4+ and just one win since the start of May. The Regression Fairies did not care for Top Gun: Maverick despite how much your dad loved it. They will destroy your ratios and hound Bassitt.
Tyler Anderson – 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 5 K. Like Mav, Tyler’s flying Mach-10 in a hypersonic aircraft which is how he’s dodged the Regression Fairies so far. The 2.59 ERA, 0.95 WHIP are prettier than Wanda Maximoff and since getting bombed by Philly on May 12th, he’s won four straight giving up just two runs in 27.0 IP with a 26/1 K/BB in that stretch. His seven wins leads the league and if you’ll excuse me I have to find a void I can scream into.
Daniel Hudson – 1.1 IP, 1 hit, 2 K, SV (4). Kimbrel pitched two days ago so this could be nothing, but he could be worth the handcuff if you are a Kimbrel owner. You don’t want to end up like that Chapman owner who didn’t grab Clay Holmes. (That’s me! I’m that sad sack!)
Pete Alonso – 1-for-4, HR (14). Albomso! Dude’s got 48 RBIs! Is that real? No joke, that’s about a third of the RBIs I have all season. Where was that void again?
Francisco Lindor – 0-for-4. Lindo is apparently playing with some form of a broken finger. I don’t know what that means but I immediately picture hot dogs fingers and I question how he can even hold a bat like this.
Cody Bellinger – 1-for-3, 2-run HR (6). Edwin Rios was your BUY but hit the IL and it looks like he might be there a while. It’s a bummer for fantasy owners, but hard to feel bad for the Dodgers who will probably just go trade for Joey Votto or something.
Nathan Eovaldi – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, BB, 8 K, 3rd win. Nasty Nate got his cocktail–fruit!
Trevor Story – 2-for-3, 2 RBI, SB (7). Story time! T-Stor hit .218 in May with 9 homers, 5 steals and 32 RBI. On May 10th he had zero homers, now he’s 8th in the league in RBIs. How’s that for a happy ending?
Xander Bogaerts – 2-for-5, HR (6), 3 RBI. Awesome X! Red Sox got the memo from the Celtics about making sure Oakland fans feel as crappy as possible about their teams this weekend. Maybe if the A’ss had a Steph Curry they wouldn’t be moving to Vegas.
Elieser Hernandez – 4.1 IP, 8 hits, 8 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4 HR, ERA at 6.75. Mattingly tried to get cute with an opener in this one, but just because he’s not starting the game doesn’t mean Elieser isn’t still bad at throwing baseballs.
Mike Yastrzemski – 2-for-5, HR (5), 5 RBI slashing .297/.405/.493. Brandon Crawford also had a Grand Slam with 5 RBI as the Giants scored 15 runs. Baby’s Yaz’s and Crawford’s was just two of five Giants homers. I could name the other three guys but you’ve probably never heard of them anyway.
Evan Longoria – 2-for-5, run. BUY. Three homers in the past week! It’s when I start considering adding Longoria that I know I’m in desperation mode.
Jesus Sanchez – 1-for-4, HR (7). Has absolutely crushed since I dropped him a week ago, hitting .368 with 3 homers in the past 7 days (including a series at Coors), one of those shots being one of the hardest and farthest hit OF ALL TIME, Kanye! I should have known better, you don’t mess with the Jesus.
Josiah Gray – 6.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 5th win, ERA at 4.71. Maybe his best outing of the year. Gray has looked so good when he’s looked good that I’ve developed a blind allegiance to him even though he is slowly destroying my ratios most nights.
Mike Minor – 4.0 IP, 6 hits, 5 ER, 4 K, 3 HR as he was activated from the IL. The Reds big offseason acquisition finally made his debut and I would ignore it like a fantasy trade offer from Tommy Pham.
Lane Thomas – 3-for-5, 3 HR (6), 4 RBI. I’m on Lover’s Lane Thomas! He was almost your lede but then I realized he’s slashing .195/.255/.325 and it would be irresponsible of me to recommend him this soon. He was a 2022 sleeper, so maybe Thomas is in the fast Lane to fantasy relevance but for now, just I’d watch him closer than Obi-Wan Kenobi episode three. Like, OK, Obi-Wan show, I see you. That is how you Star Wars.
Joc Pederson – 1-for-3, 3 runs, HR (13). You know I had to put Pham and Joc back-to-back. I don’t know about you guys but I need more Joc/Tommy Pham drama. I look at stats all day and forget these guys have unique personalities. These are clearly two of baseball’s best personalities, a 30-year-old man-child and the unhinged wild card who can snap at any second. I’d like to hear Pham’s thoughts on every Reds loss, and all happenings in baseball and life really. Ukraine? Roe v Wade? Amber Heard? Something tells me he has an opinion.
Tommy Pham – 1-for-3, 2-run HR (6). I also want to thank TP for letting us know Mike Trout is the worst commissioner in fantasy sports. Here I am thinking Trout was literally the best at everything he tries, but not fantasy commissioning. Apparently, he’s the worst. And around these parts that means something.
Thanks for reading! Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
