Congratulations to the Orioles for finding a new way to manipulate the collective bargaining agreement! SS Jackson Holliday will be called up today and retain eligibility for the bonus prizes set aside for players who break camp with the big club. Why? Who the hell knows!? Turns out the contract language has nothing to do with opening day. A player just has to spend 172 days in the majors. If the Orioles held Holliday down another month for super two reasons, he could still come up and win rookie of the year, earning that year of service time regardless of the organization’s efforts to own him for as long as possible. This way, they can have their cake and eat it later, maybe. If Holliday struggles, they can send him back down and recoup the season of service. If he’s good, he’ll be a front runner for rookie of the year and win them a draft pick and some pool money. Real feel-good story stuff. Holliday is slashing .333/.482/.595 with a 14.3 percent strikeout rate. These 11 days in the minors have clearly been essential for his development.
Red Sox SS David Hamilton is back in the majors thanks to Trevor Story’s bone-itis. Musical theater is not my jam, but I’ve liked this Hamilton for a long time, and although I’m reluctant to trumpet his arrival due to confirmation bias, he needs to be rostered in just about any format where steals matter. He swiped 70 bases in 2022 and 59 last season. He doesn’t have any steals this season, but he has already hit three home runs in seven games across two levels. The team says Romy Gonzalez will split time with Hamilton, but Hamilton will be the strong-side if that becomes a platoon, and I’m skeptical about Gonzalez’s ability to play a passable big-league shortstop.
Astros RHP Spencer Arrighetti gave up his career in the world of fine Italian dining to chase down his baseball dreams, and today he’ll take the mound for the vaunted Houston Astros. The walk rates of 7.56 BB/9 this year and 5.06 BB/9 last year suggest that we should probably forget about Arrighetti helping our ratios this year, but he’s in a win-rich environment and should generate some strikeouts. Plus, we’ve got to consider the Houston factor. They pulled some office worker from France named Jon-Pierre and got a solid major league starter out of him. Probably better off adding him now and asking questions later in most formats, given the state of elbows around the game today.
White Sox 2B Lenyn Sosa has shown flashes of quality plate discipline in the past, which must be why the club batted him third on Tuesday. Sosa was slashing .333/.448/.542 through six games in Triple-A and should be monitored even though he hit just .201 with a 2.9 percent walk rate in 52 major league games last season. With 23 home runs in 123 games across two levels in 2023, Sosa has the power to help us in deep formats when he’s in rhythm.
South Side is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen, but nobody in that area was laughing during the rookie season of White Sox OF Oscar Colas, who slashed .216/.257/.314 in 75 games with the pale hose. He was off to a nice start in Triple-A, striking out just 12.5 percent of the time with a 9.5 percent walk rate through eight games. That walk rate is more in line with his career outcomes than the 4.6 percent he posted last year. Patience would go a long way to making Oscar less grouchy this time around.
Rockies RHP Victor Vodnik is not stock Russian operative from latest Bond movie, but he has infiltrated Colorado bullpen and might be taking over as we speak (preferably in fake-Russian whispers).
Nationals OF Jacob Young swiped three bases on Tuesday and faces little competition for reps in Washington, who is running like their new Fanatics almost-pants are on fire. Victor Robles pulled up lame rounding second base and faces an uncertain timeline and even fuzzier future in the general sense.
We don’t know yet who will step into Boston’s rotation for the injured Nick Pivetta, but freshly acquired RHP Richard Fitts is an option. He threw 4.1 shutout innings in his Triple-A debut and would make for an intriguing pickup in a Red Sox rotation that is getting great results by emphasizing their non-fastball offerings.
Nationals RHP Jackson Rutledge pitched well in his Triple-A debut and had a couple good major league starts to close the season in 2023. A 6’8” 250 lb first-round pick, Rutledge hasn’t enjoyed a smooth road to the majors, but he was good in Double-A last season and hasn’t really lost the feel since then despite some ugly numbers at Triple-A and during his cup of coffee last season. Might as well get him where you can fit him.
Thanks for reading!
Max Clark is off to a rough start to the season, albeit in a small sample size. At this point would you rather own Clark or Carson Williams?
Hi Itch, what are your thoughts on Paulino Santana? I have his rights and was offered Singer for him to help me this year. Santana is very young but looks promising. Thanks!
I would now send him as part of a different deal, but regardless I don’t see a lot about Santana out there and was hoping to get your take. Thanks again.
2nd best supposedly (but we know how often the rankings for internationals means anything by the time they get to MLB, if ever) international hitter this cycle behind LDV (l.de vries)
Itch – curious about your take on the Colson Montgomery (SS) situation in the south side of CHI-W. As you pointed out, the White Sox called up Colas and Sosa in the last 24 hours to help cover some gaping holes in light of the Lou Bob and Moncada injury news. Given this, which likely portends to a ~100+ loss season, would it make sense to give this future SS/3B stud an early call-up and long look? I get that he’s been injured the last year or so and his numbers don’t show it, but he’s real; and a sweet LH swinging dreamboat. That said, I imagine service time manipulation factors in here as well, but already starting to see some savvy deep league owners grab Colson shares in 14/16 team leagues that I play in… Advisable or leave in a 2024 redraft mixed league? Thx.
Hi Itch
Pick 1–Who do you take whisenhunt, Scott or snelling?
Scott
Joey Loperfido getting all pub…thoughts on Jacob Marsee and his ETA….Thanks for all the great info!!!
Merrill thing really gummed up the works. I’m kind of at sea on this one. Whenever someone gets hurt, I guess.
Hey Itch,
Assuming Caminero is healthy after his IL stint, what do you think about Caminero coming up to play a little 2B now that Lowe is hurt?
I hadn’t thought of that, but I like it.
Hey Itch! Thoughts on Joey Loperfido on a possible call up anytime soon? With Abreu being one of the worst hitters in the majors at the moment (yes small sample but he did this exact thing last year too and is somehow worse this year) and Singleton shockingly still on the roster, feels like it could be anytime now on Loperfido. The strikeout rates are rough for him but at least he’s showing more than what they’ve got in the majors.
Also is Miguel Vargas essentially just trade bait for the Dodgers now? He always rakes in AAA but when he gets a chance to play, his spot always gets taken by a utility guy because Vargas hasn’t hit/fielded well enough in the majors. Tough spot for him but wonder how he would do in another environment.
Thanks as always and have a great rest of your week!
I think they’ve gotta try Loperfido soon, but they did sign Abreu and might drag their feet due to the sunk cost of that.
Vargas . . . yeah, definitely a tough spot. I still think he can hit and will get a chance somewhere sooner or later.
Itch my man …. 12 teamer / 12 farm …. Hamilton worth an add/stash in place of anyone here ? Thank you as always!
Matos
Robinson
Henry-Malloy
Hence
Aranda
Busch
Ortiz
Vargas
Meadows
Eldridge
Rojas
De Luca
I’d take him over Hence to see where it goes
Admirable restraint to forgo a Dick Fitts joke.
Tip of the cap to you, sir.
The title for this was “If The Richard Fitts” at one point . . .
And now I wish I hadn’t even put that here.
But I felt compelled to acknowledge how astute your comment was.
This time spent making this article was about 50 percent planning, clicking and writing and about 50 percent discarding Fitts jokes.
Whoever chose that name for young Richard should be subject to a social services inquiry.
I mostly hope that Fitts gets a call up because every piece on our site will have a riff on this title. But you definitely have dibs.
can’t believe i was able to add both hamilton and arrigetthi (the 2nd easier to believe) in back to back nights in every league, either for myself or a vacant team with no owner yet. most of these are 16-20’s, some of those with 10-14 max prospect lists. i myself had hamilton stashed last year in a couple, dropped for 1st year guys now as they really didn’t want to let that dude play last year. if that’s an issue again it’ll be “romy gonzalez” yeah i think less of an issue than last year anyway.
aggirgetti’s still surprising though, he’s a top 3 or 5 guy at mlb.com for HOU prospects.
it helps to have story or framber at least someplace, but right quick after those.
Yeah it’s funny how that works. Hamilton was probably on more rosters last year while he was hurt or stuck than he was this week when his path opened up. Myself included. I had to add him where I could this time. I held him for most of 2023 in some leagues.
yeah at least one spot held a good chunk of last year on me as well.