After blowing the game in epic fashion Thursday night and then blowing another game same-day, hours later even epicly-er the Philadelphia Phillies have finally said enough is enough. Their relievers are rocking a icy 8.07 ERA, with an even more inflated 10.93 ERA in the ninth inning. Wow. That’s like Red Sox-relievers-bad. So who did they reach out to? Who else but the awful reliever experts, the Boston Red Sox, and Philly acquired Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree Friday night in hopes of bring some stability to the late inning relief. In return they send RHPs Connor Seabold and Nick Pivetta to Boston. Pivetta, a sabremetrics darling, will likely slot into the starting rotation immediately despite his ugly 15.88 ERA, 1.94 WHIP. He’s given up 10 runs in just three games this year so he should fit right in with this pitching staff. Still, dude strikes out everyone. A 10.32 K/9 in 2018 shows flashes of what could be a valuable starter some day. I have streamed him many times in the past and he’s burned me even more times, and I look forward to this happening again real soon. Connor Seabold (2.24 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 58/11 K/BB in the minors), could also likely find his way into the rotation at some point this year, given the lack of competition at the big league level. Back to Phillies, Workman should immediately take over as closer and could see a boost as he’s better than his 4.07 ERA and 1.80 suggest and has converted all four of his save chances this year. The Phillies are a considerably better team so the save opportunities should be more frequent. Workman is likely already rostered in most fantasy leagues, even though he probably shouldn’t be. However, his successor in Boston, Matt Barnes, is still unowned in most leagues, and that is likely to change quick. If you’re as desperate for saves as I am for positive feedback Barnes and his 5.59 ERA are the obvious choice for save chances for Boston going forward. He notched his first save of the year Friday night allowing just one hit. Pick him up if you really need the saves or you just hate yourself.
Here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
Miguel Rojas – 2-for-4, 3-run HR (2). Let’s have some fun with 2020 stats. Rojas, a true COVID survivor slash success story, is slashing .643/.688/1.286 with 2 dingers and 8 RBI. The .700 BABIP is quite nice but its the 1.286 SLG that really jumps off the page. How is this player still available in over 75% of fantasy leagues? Well, I should probably mention he’s only played in four games. Can he keep this pace up? Idk! Probably!
Trea Turner – 1-for-4, HR (5). I think he’s stolen one base since now and the time I last complained about him not stealing bases. So. Progress?
Elieser Hernandez – 5.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, BB, 6 K. Have I mentioned I love this team? Marlins Beisbol: Get Hooked! Elieser was the fourth Schuyler sister but has better overall stats than Eliza and Angelica combined. He’s rocking a 2.29 ERA, 0.76 WHIP with a 25/3 K/BB. He gets the Mets next week and they’re trash. Yes, you should stream that!
Patrick Corbin – 6.1 IP, 8 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 2nd loss. His second straight loss but the 9 Ks were a season high. According to Tim Kurkjian, Corbin is not just the best Patrick in baseball, but one of the best all-time Patricks in all of sports! I appreciate Tim for researching these things so I don’t have to.
Brandon Kintzler – 1.0 IP, SV (4). After back-to-back rocky outings Kintz notched his first save since August 6th Friday night. That’s why its SAGNOF and not SAGAR (Saves Always Give Awesome Ratios).
Rafael Devers – 1-for-4, 3-run HR (4). Batting .387 in the past week with two dingers! Raffy’s finally showing signs of life, and with that the Sawx have won three games in a row. Spit take! Trade everyone but Devers! Who’s with me!?
J.D. Martinez – 1-for-4, 3-run HR (3) on his 33rd birthday. Xander Bogaerts also homered. HBDJD! The Sox give it everything they got when Colton Brewer (4.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 BB, 2 K) is pitching, I guess. Now time to trade J.D. as I’m not sure his value will get much higher after this game.
Chance Sisco – 1-for-4, 3-run HR (4). Oh boy. I have to choose between making a Chance the Rapper or Sisqo reference. I love those Cocoa Butter Kisses, but let me see that thong, bay-bee. That thong, tha-thong, thong, thooong!
Ryan Mountcastle – 0-for-2, run, 2 BB. BUY. Grandfathers will tell stories of Mountcastle’s epic two walk debut on August 21, 2020 at Camden Yards. This kid’s gonna be a star! Ha-cha-cha!
Cedric Mullins – 3-for-4, HR (1). Batting .324 with a six game hitting streak. The Red Sox pitching makes every player look like Ryan Mountcastle.
Jonathan Schoop – 4-for-5, HR (6), 2 RBI. Schoop ba-doop! Slashing .287/.317/.511 after the big game, and should get plenty of counting stats cleaning up for Detroit. 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 don’t know for sure though!
Isaac Paredes – 1-for-4, Grand Slam HR (1). BUY. And THAT is how you hit your first big league home run, folks.
Franmil Reyes – 1-for-4, HR (6). I’m racking my mind trying to understand why I didn’t draft Franmil Reyes anywhere and all I can come up with is that I’m just a big, pathetic loser. Sigh.
Adam Plutko – 3.1 IP, 5 hits, 7 ER, 2 BB, K. Speaking of big pathetic losers, he may have just destroyed your ratios, but he never broke quarantine!
Adrian Houser – 7.0 IP, 9 hits, 4 ER, BB, 3 K. He gave up four runs through the first four innings and I’m all like, “Uhh nah! That’s it. I’m done with you.” So I’m scanning waivers looking for a replacement and a few innings go by, three to be exact, and now Houser has gone seven innings and I’m all like “hmm, that’s not so bad I guess,” and I’m giving him another start. And that was one of the most exciting things to happen to me yesterday.
Bryan Reynolds – 3-for-4, 3 runs, HR (2), 4 RBI. Sigh. You know what. Never mind. I’m sorry I just can’t recommend adding anyone on this team.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1-for-4, HR (4). I benched him. That’ll teach me! Meanwhile, Cavan Biggio was 3-for-3, with 2 runs and an RBI. It’s funny (warning: something not funny ahead), Biggio was supposed to be the lesser of the Jays trio of former ballplayers’ kiddos, but he might end up having the best 2020 of them all!
Teoscar Hernandez – 1-for-3, HR (9). He heard you were about to drop him. How could you even consider that. Shame!
Yandy Diaz– 3-for-3, HR (2), 2 RBI. Batting .362 in August. Yandy is hotter than my Tiktok FYP. How do they know I like human females dancing like prostitutes? No wonder they want to ban this app!
Matt Shoemaker – 5.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER. BB, 6 K. He’s starting to look like the only Jays pitcher you can trust. Matt’s like Buffalo’s version of Nathan Eovaldi, and that’s not a comp you should count on.
Jordan Romano – 1.0 IP, 2 hits, K, SV (1). His 0.69 ERA, 0.77 WHIP are goals AF as is that 19/4 K/BB. Mmmhmm. I’m saying you should add him because he’s also probably the, maybe, actually not 100% sure let me get back to you on that, closer in Toronto Buffalo somewhere North of here anyway.
Jose Abreu – 2-for-5, 2 HR (7), 4 RBI. Yasmani Grandal (2-for-5, HR (2)) and Danny Mendick (1-for-4, HR (2)) also homered. And the White Sox hit all the baseballs. Fun story! After a brief COVID scare, the White Sox clubhouse requested a “medic” and were misheard and Danny Mendick was called up same day. What luck!
Eloy Jimenez – 2-for-4, HR (9), RBI. Grey’s boy! Eloy! This was a 466 foot jack. That puts him 4th all time on the biggest, baddest CWS jack list. He’s also third. This mean’s nothing to your fantasy team but it’s still pretty awesome. Homeboy can mash.
Luis Robert – 1-for-4, 2-run HR (6). Lou Bob is everything I’ve wanted in an outfielder only with more strikeouts. Can you work on the strikeouts part, Luis? Yesss. By this time next year we’re going to be choreographing Tiktok dances together.
Jon Lester – 3.2 IP, 9 hits 8 ER, 3 K. 4 home runs allowed. At least he didn’t walk anyone. Lester has always faded down the stretch (13 runs allowed over past two starts) and looks like even with 60 games, this season is no different. Mu dude hates August!
Dallas Keuchel – 8.0 IP, 6 hits, ER, BB, 3 K. ERA at 2.65 with a 19/7 K/BB. Bleh but also hmm. And that, my over-the-internet friends, is Dallas.
Danny Duffy – 5.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2nd win. This poor basterd had to face the Twinkies three times in a row. Good news, Danny, you passed, winning your last two starts. Minnesota is a strong adversary and you’ve proven yourself worthy of my stream. Ew. That kind of sounds like an overheard dom-sub convo.
Jake Odorizzi – 3.0 IP, 7 hits, 5 ER, K. It stinks! Left the game after being nailed by a come backer. He could still make his next start in Cleveland but you should look elsewhere, and not just because it’s in the Cleveland.
Hunter Dozier – 2-for-4, HR (3), 3 RBI. I remember last year when Hunter was a thing for a while. Maybe it could happen again this year? Three homers in the past five games. Ehh. I’ll let someone else find out.
Matt Davidson – 1-for-2, pinch-hit go-ahead Grand-Slam HR (3). Back and COVID free! He’s a survivor! Another success story! Whata feel good season.
Dakota Hudson – 4.2 IP, 1 hit, 2 BB, 6 K. I’m in one quality starts league and I’m starting to thinking with all these seven inning games and doubleheaders, none of these Cardinals will be going 6+ innings. But hey, if you’re not in a QS league, Hudson has looked better with every start and gets Kansas City next week. I’d stream that!
Joey Bart – 1-for-3, RBI. BUY. This performance is basically good enough to hit clean up in SF’s line up as far as I’m concerned.
Evan Longoria – 2-for-4, HR (3). Hey! I think I saw you hosting the DNC!
Wilmer Flores – 2-for-3, 3 runs, HR (7), 2 RBI. His third straight game with a jack he’s slashing .333/.365/.589, batting .500 in the past week! Sweet sassy molassy that’s a hot little potato! There’s a good chance he’s available in your league because no one wants to own this guy. But I’m telling you, you do. You want to and you should.
Christian Walker – 4-for-4, run. Raised his average 30 points with the big game. 2020 is crazy, ya’ll!
Logan Webb – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 8 K, 2nd win. The rookie made Robbie Ray (5.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 5 BB, 8 K) look bad. Webb slinging! Logan pitched 5.0+ innings for the first time Friday night which makes me hesitate when considering him as a streamer vs LAD next week. But I’ll be watching him closer than the Lovecraft Country premiere. Big monsters eating even bigger racists will always be good television.
Mark Canha – 2-for-3, 2 runs, SB (3). He Canha and he willha!
Anthony Rendon – 4-for-5, RBI. Hitting .552 over the past week, he’s got an 11 game hitting streak going with a real purdy 1.059 OPS. The Angels made some real smart moves this past year acquiring Bundy and Rendon. Who knew they’d need so many more smart moves to actually be good again.
Liam Hendriks – 1.0 IP, 1 hit, SV (9). If you’re surprised the A’s, who are always good no matter what their team looks like, are good this year despite what the world looks like, I think Brad Pitt has a film you should see.
Lance McCullers, Jr. – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. McCullers has failed to meet the expectations we set for him in 2020. After failing to live up to his expectations in 2018 and 2019 as well. Maybe just maybe, we’re expecting too much from this guy?
Manny Machado – 2-for-3, run, 2 RBI. He’s hitting .500 over the past week. But where’s the grand slam, Manny? Where’s the slammy?? And why wasn’t Machado ever this good on my team last year.
Emilio Pagan – 1.0 IP, BB, SV (1). Drew Pomeranz heads to the IL and the next man up Emilioooooo gets his shot. The Padres win games and get save opps, so he’s a player I’d want to add, whether you worship Satan or not.
Max Fried – 5.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4-0 ERA at 1.32. Only Bauer and Bieber have lower ERAs. If you’d had told me back in March (?) that Max Fried would be the Ace of this team I’d have said, “Really? Yeah, I guess their staff is full of question marks.”
Aaron Nola – 2.2 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Nooo! La. His ERA jumped a run after the start. Bruh, you’re all over the place. Are you gonna be a vibe or are you gonna be a trash bag. Think about it I need to know by next Wednesday.
Travis d’Arnaud – 3-for-5, HR (4), 3 RBI. Another COVID success story slash survivor. d’ude is hitting 344/.369/.623 with four homers in the past two weeks and is a top five catcher right now. They talk about the unknown behind the long term effects of the virus. I don’t think there’s any way to doubt that Travis has come out of his stint with coronavirus a much better baseball player. I’m not saying all the players should get it, but I’m not NOT saying that either. Maybe just the struggling ones?
Marcell Ozuna – 3-for-5, 2 HR (7). OZUNA MVP??? OZUNA hit more home runs than all Braves. OZUNA carry team. OZUNA’s team trash. OZUNA get banned from League of Legends for flaming OZUNA team on voice chat. OZUNA don’t care.
Walker Buehler – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 11 K, 1st win ERA at 5.21. Obviously obvious is how good Walker is and how bad he’s been. You don’t need to be Ben Stein to know that. Buehler. Buehler. Your buy low window has slammed shut.
Taylor Williams – 1.0 IP, K, SV (5). Lovin’ the new album, Tay! Especially the part where you scared Kanye into not releasing his album. As for Williams, he’s the closer in C-attle. Why is he owned in under 50% of leagues? You tell me!
Cody Bellinger – 2-for-3, RBI. Does Cody play better when Mookie’s not in the the line up? I don’t know but I hope we never find out!
Kyle Lewis – 1-for-2, 3 runs, HR (6). Grey told you to SELL a few weeks back, but NO! I wouldn’t. I couldn’t! What do you mean a .439 BABIP isn’t sustainable? Crazy talk. We only just met and we’re still in the butterflies phase of our relationship. I can’t let him go! Not yet.
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!
