[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1377993″ player=”13959″ title=”2023 Fantasy Football Wide Receivers” duration=”139″ description=”It’s the 2023 Fantasy Football Wide Receivers! 0:19 George Pickens 0:54 Treylon Burks 1:33 Calvin Ridley ” uploaddate=”2023-08-10″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1377993_th_64d453e93358e_1691636713.jpg” image=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1377993_sd_64d453e93358e_1691636713.jpg” contenturl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1377993.mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″]
Liberatore sounds like a work of art by Picasso. “Did you see Liberatore? It’s his answer to Guernica. Masterful!” Or it sounds like something that is followed by a long list of side effects in a brand new weight loss drug commercial. Read really fast, “Liberatore can cause stomach bloating, stomach lining erosion, stomach ooh-oohs, stomach ah-ahs, stomach explosion and the runs.” Liberatore actually causing the runs with his pitching, but not last night! Matthew Liberatore went 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.72, and showed that promise that was hinted at when he was first called up. Liberatore, also, has some of the worst peripherals in baseball. Could he be good one day? Sure. Matthew Liberatore for 2024 fantasy? I’m interested, potentially. For this year? I have my doubts. I wouldn’t even Streamonator with him. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Andrew Knizner – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 9th homer. Literally every catcher has been better than Alejandro Kirk. Backup catchers included.
Tommy Edman – 2-for-4 and his 8th homer, hitting .241. Not that he’s done a ton to earn the move out of the nine hole, it’s kinda wild that’s been the one constant for Oli Marmol. You’d think the freedom of managing a last place team would give him the opportunity to try some stuff, but the chains of being dumb have shackled him.
Zack Littell – 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.10. Zack taps the mic, clears his throat, and strums his guitar. He didn’t think he needed to do talent shows anymore, and his arrogance is creeping through his performance. He sings, “I’m just a Littell boy Zack in the middle. Life is a maze and love is a riddle.” Not sure how the Rays do it, but, like the Twins before them, they have mastered teaching command. Littell was a 4-ish BB/9 guy for a few years in the minors. Had a terrible strikeout rate to go with it, and was kinda useless. On the Rays? He has a barely 1 BB/9 and his terrible K/9 can actually work. Work a lot? Mileage may vary there, prolly best left to deeper mixed leagues and AL-Only, or Streamonator.
Patrick Corbin – 5 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 7 walks, 2 Ks, ERA at 4.85. Corbin allowed more walks than a kitchen doggie door. Just realized two of the top three pitchers I drafted in multiple leagues (Manoah and Lynn) both have been worse than Patrick Corbin. Moving on!
Aaron Nola – 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.49. Wow, a meh start from Nola but no homers allowed! It’s an early Christmas miracle!
Nick Castellanos – 1-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 20th homer, and 3rd homer in two games. Seems the Greek God of Hard Contact would not be struggling to finish out the year, which is exactly the opposite of what I said about four days ago.
Trea Turner – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 12th homer, hitting .243. See, it made sense to draft him over Acuña–*dodges tomato* What? *tomato smashes across my face*
J.T. Realmuto – 2-for-2, 2 RBIs and his 14th homer, hitting .246. It turned out that bastard Jerry Tomato was supplying the tomatoes from the previous blurb!
Clayton Kershaw – 5 IP, 1 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.51, as he was activated from the IL. Kershaw’s back, baby, he’s back! Oh, you don’t have him? Yeah, neither do I, but it felt fun to be excited.
Max Muncy – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 28th homer. Muncy looks like Jason Alexander, doesn’t he? It’s not just me, is it?
Elehuris Montero – 1-for-3 and his 4th homer. Suzuki’s better than Montero, but neither take turns great.
Yainer Diaz – 2-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 15th homer, hitting .275. If his ADP next year is reasonable, and I think it will be, I will be singing It’s Yain’ing Men at each draft.
Jose Altuve – 4-for-5, 2 runs and his 9th homer, and a triple short of the cycle. Though, he had two doubles, so he was five inches longer a gait short of the cycle.
Hunter Brown – 6 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.23. Just looked at his player page (clicking his name) and his last 30 days seems okay. I was expecting to see a bigger indication that he was tiring. Streamonator likes his next one, but I have to admit I’m starting to cool on him. If it’s yello, let it mellow; if the arm begins to tire, send Brown to the wire.
Dean Kremer – 7 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.50. I grabbed him off waivers for this stream, that’s a waiver l’chaim for life!
Ryan Mountcastle – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 15th homer, 2nd homer in three games. Pretty sure since I started worrying about Mountcastle (roughly the last month), he’s hit the best all year. He’s hitting near-.500 this month, and hit .350 in July!
Adley Rutschman – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 16th homer, 2nd homer in three games, as he continues to hit leadoff, which, meh, I can’t complain about it. He’s got a great OBP (.373), and who else are the O’s hitting leadoff? Well, Mullins, when he returns, which could be today, so, yeah, I don’t know if I had a point.
James Paxton – 5 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.36. He has some of the prettiest peripherals in baseball — 10+ K/9, 2.5-ish BB/9, great ERA that is kinda neutral on luck. Too bad he can’t stay on the field
Bailey Falter – 4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 5.21. Can you Falter for not picking up Bailey?
Orlando Arcia – 1-for-3 and his 13th homer, hitting .301, 2nd homer in the last three games. Not sure who I drafted right before him, maybe it was Endy Rodriguez. Whoever it was, it was so effin’ stupid. Any hoo! Hot schmotato, and he won’t be in this afternoon’s Buy, but he could’ve.
Matt Olson – 2-for-5, and his 40th homer, hitting .267. His RBIs up to 101, which is going to be backed up from Hollywood to Sherman Oaks. Take a different route.
Bryce Elder – 5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.64. Apropos of nothing, will any of the playoff teams even have two starters they can count on?
Riley Greene – 2-for-4 and his 10th homer, hitting .301. Oh my God, he’s so good! Okay, I’m being sarcastic. He’s been fine. On the 30-day Player Rater, he was around the 40th best OF. That’ll change now because he homered.
Kenta Maeda – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.97. If you exclude April, his ERA is 2.39. It’s only 49 IP, but it’s still impressive.
Beau Brieske – 2 IP, 0 ER, and his 2nd save, and 2nd save this week, ERA at 2.08. Fun fact! A Brieske is what the French call wheels of brie when they’re out with their boys. “Love me a Brieske, bro.” Went to check the site for any other mentions of Brieske, and there was one, surprisingly. A gourmand or a cheesehead? I don’t think so. Was just a mention of his injury in April. Bless Keelin for bothering. Any hoo! Foley’s out on bereavement and Lange sucks, so could Brieske see more saves? I suppose, but wouldn’t put much cheddar on it.
Reese Olson – 6 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 3 walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.45. Pretty much ignored the Streamonator and streamed him yesterday, because I’m in “Stream everyone mode because September gets ugly for matchups.”
Jose Tena – 2-for-3, 1 run, 1 RBI as he made his first major league start. He’s been in the minor leagues for five years with Rocchio. Five years is half a Tena. A Tena also sounds like in Maine making change for a twenty. “I got two Tena’s.” “I need singles!” Jose Tena, according to Itch, is, “A left-handed hitter with quick hands at 5’10” 160 lbs, Tena enjoyed a big breakout in 2021 at High-A Lake County, slashing .281/.331/.467 with 16 HR and 10 SB in 107. He then burned up the Arizona Fall League: .387/.467/.516. If he can carry that heat into AA at age 21 this year, he’ll be a steal in dynasty drafts where he might be available even in deep leagues. Like to put Grey Tena feet deep.” What on earth?! Tena, to, uh, me, is an AL-Only play for now. He won’t be in this afternoon’s Buy column, because I just explained who he was! Brayan Rocchio makes more sense to be in the Buy column, but he won’t be there either. He was in last week’s, check that out by clicking around the site.
Noah Syndergaard – 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 6.35. His best season was seven years ago. He’s had two good seasons in an eight-year career. He should have to pay a swagger tax, because he definitely hasn’t earned it.
Alek Manoah – 4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 5.87. Whoa, bear with me here, but I think I’ve figured out something. His ERA is 5.87, and 587 is the area code in Canada, but it’s in Alberta, and Alberta doesn’t have a baseball team, so that’s where Manoah should be pitching!
