One look at this week’s most added player list in ESPN fantasy baseball leagues causes me to reminisce about my younger days in the early-mid 2000s. I can vaguely remember the bar-hopping, insane amounts of alcohol consumption, and late nights that frequently occurred during that time period. One thing that I can clearly recall from those days is closing time at those various establishments when the ugly lights would come on and that Semisonic song would be blaring over the speakers, signaling that it was time to pack up and go. Stumbling out the door and finding a local diner to satiate my pork roll, egg, and cheese fix meant that it was a good night. When no diner was to be found, man was that an annoying song! Why’d you have to ruin a perfectly good evening, Semisonic? It’s all your fault. Drunken logic! But I digress. The point is that this week could easily be dubbed closing time in fantasy baseball, as there were serious changes in the late inning pecking order of several teams. Injuries to Wade Davis and Huston Street created opportunities for Kelvin Herrera (39.2% owned; +10.8% over the past week) and Cam Bedrosian (22.8%; +17.2%) in the 9th inning in Kansas City and LA respectively. The trade of Jeremy Jeffress to Texas opened the door for Tyler Thornburg (31.0%; +16.8%) to close games in Milwaukee. But the biggest gainers of the week were the new stoppers in Seattle and Houston, Edwin Diaz (57.9% owned; +44.7%) and Ken Giles (57.0% owned; +37.9%). Diaz claimed the role for the Mariners after incumbent Steve Cishek hit the disabled list, and Giles took over for the Astros for a struggling Will Harris, and fantasy owners quickly pounced on the explosive duo. Over the last 30 days, Diaz and Giles have combined for 43 strikeouts against just 5 walks and have allowed just one earned run over that span. Their swinging strike rates are 24.1% and 25.4% respectively, and they’ve each averaged over 97.5 mph on their fastballs. There might not be more than five or six closers that I’d want more than these guys right now, so grab them if the other owners in your league have been asleep at the wheel.
Here are a couple of other interesting adds/drops in fantasy baseball over the past week:
Pedro Alvarez: 28.5% owned; +21.1%
I think it’s fair to say that Alvarez didn’t get off to a very auspicious start with the Orioles this season. In the first two months with his new team after being released by the Pirates in the offseason, Alvarez staggered his way to a .194/.294/.350 slash line, with just 3 homers and 11 RBI over his first 119 plate appearances. That probably wasn’t the kind of production that Baltimore was expecting from the player who averaged 28 homers and 80 RBI over his previous four seasons. However, Alvarez has adjusted to his new environment quite nicely over the last two plus months. Since June 1st (150 PA), Alvarez has produced a .303/.333/.655 line with 24 runs, 15 homers, and 28 RBI in 40 games. He doesn’t see much time against left-handed pitching (30 PA), but it’s pretty clear that he can still mash righties regularly. If you could use someone who’s capable of smacking a dozen homers from here on out (and who couldn’t?), grab Alvarez if available. TREASURE.
Scooter Gennett: 8.9% owned; +0.6%
The Milwaukee Brewers have been a sneaky source of fantasy value this season. Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy (pre-trade) have been their usual reliable selves. Jonathan Villar has been a breakout stud. Hernan Perez and Junior Guerra have been pleasant surprises. One player who has consistently hummed along below the radar though has been second baseman Scooter Gennett. Nine homers, seven steals, and a .268 batting average isn’t necessarily going to win any leagues. I get it. But much like Alvarez, early season struggles have kept him planted on the waiver wire in many leagues. Through May 31st (136 PA), Gennett slashed .223/.296/.388 with 21 runs, 4 homers, 7 RBI, and just 1 steal. Since June 1st (236 PA), he’s slashed .292/.339/.411 with 19 runs, 5 homers, 29 RBI, and 6 steals. With Lucroy out of the picture, the Brewers have shuffled their lineup around, and Scooter has actually hit cleanup the last two games. That experiment might not last very long, but he looks like a .275/15/15 type of player who should be a more balanced contributor down the stretch while hitting near the heart of the order. With a string of five consecutive mediocre righties coming up on the schedule, now might be a good time to ride the Scooter. TREASURE.
