Red Sox Calling Up Rookie Arms Early And Often

Connelly Early (5 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 11 Ks) was called up by the Red Sox. He sounds like a character in The Banshees of Inisherin who you can’t understand a word they’re saying, so you put on subtitles but the subtitles are phonetic and also impossible to understand so you just nod along and then say later online that you really loved that movie even though you slept through half of it and didn’t understand the other half. “Those sheep, huh?” You say, shaking your head, thinking that makes you sound smart, not sure if that makes any sense. Then your friend says back to you, “Sheep, ha, crazy,” and you just nod your head laughing, unsure if your friend saw the movie or not. So, I googled Connelly Early to see what Itch said about him, and I returned one mention, VinWins talking about him being promoted in the comments yesterday. Went to look at the top Red Sox prospects, according to Itch, and didn’t see him, but did see a Cespedes. About time we got another one! Stay away from horses! This is going on 200 words and I’ve yet to talk about Early, the pitcher. Classic Grey! In Triple-A, he went 100 1/3 IP, with a 11.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 2.98 xFIP and 2.60 ERA. Not much buzz about him because he works off a 93 MPH fastball (meh) and is primarily a slider/change pitcher. That is the kind of pitcher that excels until hitters have seen him multiple times. Last night can be used as an example. Since he’s filling in for the IL’d Dustin May, may, uh, be he gets another start or three, seems worthwhile as a Streamonator call if Early does, especially if your league has a Punctuality category. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Romy Gonzalez – 2-for-2, 2 RBIs and his 9th homer. Not hitting for much power, but hitting .311 on the year and .420+ in September. 420+ sounds like a deal on cannabis, and Romy might need some gummies, because he left the game with an injury.

Frankie Montas – Will have Tommy John surgery. You think an Uber ever shows up to Tommy John’s residence, says they’re here for “Tommy John,” and end up having elbow surgery?

Mark Vientos – 1-for-3 and his 17th homer, hitting .243. I’ll be honest, I look at a Mets’ box score and the first thing I look at is Juan Soto and his steals. 30, now. That makes Sexy Dr. Pepper a 30/30 guy, and he seems to want 40/40. Stay tuned. Or not! Your call.

Sean Manaea – 5 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 5.76. I’m kinda interested in Manaea for next year, because he’s going to be a thousand percent free. This year? Something’s wrong, I think he’s broke. But not irreparably, I don’t think.

Otto Kemp – 2-for-3 and a slam (5) and legs (2). Okay, I said NL-Only for this Bohm fill-in, but that might’ve been selling him short, um, at third. He was doing nice for me before being sent down in August when Bohm returned the last time. Some power, little speed, but struggling to hit in a good spot in the order.

Kyle Schwarber – 1-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 50th homer. He looks like his theme song would be 100 Bottles Beer On The Wall. We need more guys like this, a “That guy’s not an athlete, he’s a baseball player” guy.

Harrison Bader – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 16th homer, hitting .279, and now hitting  leadoff with Treat Urner out. Second homer in a week, and Bader’s been a schmotato going back to two weeks ago.

Ranger Suarez – 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 3 walks, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.77. Mets’ Kryponite is the Phils. Not a great thing since it’s their division rival.

Jose Ramirez – 3-for-4, 2 runs and his 28th homer. There’s no one else remotely scary in the Guards’ lineup and they keep feeding him pitches to hit. Manzardo wasn’t even in the lineup yesterday. He was protected by Fry and Big Xmas, like a very special Futurama.

Joey Cantillo – 8 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.36. Have now streamed Slade Cecconi and Cantillo in back-to-back games. Who gets the Royals next? I’ll take him!

Michael Wacha – Hit the concussion IL. It supposedly happened on an off-field accident. Wacha was heard exclaiming, “Ay! Naranjas en la cabeza!”

Noah Cameron – 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.00. He faced Jose Ramirez and the Eight Men (Who Make Easy) Outs.

Kyle Tucker – Hit the IL with a calf strain. He played for three months with a fractured finger and he can’t play with a calf strain? Boo! Or rather moo!

Cade Horton – 6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 2 Ks, ERA at 2.70 vs. Spencer Strider – 6 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.86. My big takeaway from this game was Andrew Kittredge pitched the 7th inning in a winning game. Who says fantasy ruins one’s ability to enjoy baseball? I guess Brad Keller would be first up for the Cubs’ saves.

Josh Bell – 1-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 20th homer, and 17th homer in two games. Pick him up everywhere!

Daylen Lile -2-for-5 and his 5th homer, and 2nd homer in four games. BDon had a section about Lile in our podcast outline this week, but I nixed it at the last minute because we were going long. My bad, Lile has been hot going on about five weeks, hitting cleanup, and should be rostered in a lot of mixed leagues right now.

Mitchell Parker – 7 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 5.69. Streamonator two-start special because the matchup were extraordinarily good (next one is vs. Pirates).

Kyle Stowers – Was shut down after suffering a setback and doesn’t seem likely to return. This was relayed to the media by the Marlins’ manager who no one recognizes, not even his own family.

Jeremiah Jackson – 2-for-3 and his 5th homer. He was last week’s lede Buy where I laid out there for you how much I love J. Jackson.

Kyle Bradish – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.65. Does he know what he’s doing? He’s making me draft him next year, that’s what!

Tommy Pham – 1-for-4 and his 9th homer. Someone’s excited for our fantasy football subscriptions!

Robbie Ray – 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.32. He’s trailed off late, but that could be from not pitching much last year. Yeah, I’m making excuses. You wear tight pants, I do that for you.

Patrick Bailey – 1-for-2 and his 5th homer, and 2nd homer in two games. Hot schmotato alert!

Willy Adames – 1-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 28th homer, and, like, his 56th homer in the 2nd half. On this week’s podcast, I didn’t nix our Adames’s discussion, so we did go over him, and neither us like him, ha.

Zac Gallen – 6 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.84. Next year he’s gonna be in that group of pitchers: No, I don’t want him, and don’t care how cheap he is.

George Kirby – 4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.56. As someone who doesn’t have Kirby anywhere, but likes him, in general. This is a bummer. He looks terrible.

Josh Naylor – 3-for-4 and his 19th homer, three homers in four games. Weird, this is like when Juan Pierre used to hit homers.

Randy Arozarena – 1-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 27th homer, hitting .244. The Rice Bowl has riceth to the leadoff spot.

Bo Bichette – Hit the IL. Haha, told ya not to draft him! [dodges thrown tomato] What?

George Springer – 1-for-5 and his 28th homer. Zombino eat brain custard and dine out on cheap fears of aging sluggers!

Luis Garcia – Left in the 2nd inning, tapping his elbow with his glove. He’s asking for the #2. As in number two Tommy John in three years. Don’t let your babies grow up to be pitchers. Unless they throw splitters with their left arm. And if they do, tell me, so I can draft them in my dynasty league.

Carlos Correa – 1-for-3, 2 RBIs and his 12th homer. Seeing Correa on the Astros still throws me. Instinctually, I’m looking for a trash can.

Bryan Abreu – 1 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 2.49, and the blown save. My plan to draft Abreu and Cade Smith in every early 2026 draft is already scaring me. I need a Forget This Shizz tonic.

Kyle Hendricks – 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.58. His Angels were led by him, Chris Taylor (2nd homer) and Yoan Moncada (12th homer), as they all showed off their stuff to see if the Savannah Bananas might want to sign  them this offseason.

Zebby Matthews – 4 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 5.06. Guy’s so hilariously unreliable. Of course he is, he has a 5+ ERA! Gonna start calling him Unzebbiable.

Teoscar Hernandez – 3-for-4, and his 22nd and 23rd homer. Sonavabench! I have no idea why I’m still carrying Teoscar, but I am, and I’m pretty sure I’ve benched him for at least 10 of his homers.

Emmet Sheehan – 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.32. Not a bad start, until you realize it was vs. the Rockies. Putting that through my Pitcher vs. Rockies Statline Generator, Sheehan against a normal team would’ve been rocked for 4 ER in 5 IP.

Mookie Betts – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 17th homer, 3rd homer in eight games. Mookie Best!

Freddie Freeman – 1-for-4 and his 20th homer. His teeth remind me of those Halloween decorations that are teeth you wind up and they chomp around.

Hunter Goodman – 1-for-4 and his 30th homer, hitting .282. The one Rockies player worth rostering anywhere, the one Goodman.

Rhys Hoskins – 0-for-1 as he was activated from the IL, and pinch-hit. Sadly, he was Wally Pipp’d by Andrew Vaughn (1-for-4) and Jake Bauers (1-for-1 with his 7th homer). Well, sad for Rhys.

Michael Helman – 1-for-2, 2 RBIs and his 5th homer, and 2nd homer in two games. Hot schmotato alert!

Michael King – 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 2.87, as he was activated from the IL. “Long live the King!” I used to say this. I should bring it back. Just scream it out every time I walk into a place. Any hoo! With this much time left, King or a Streamonator? Meh, no real difference, but watching King to see how I’m gonna feel about him next year (unlikely to be favorable, but we’ll see).

Sal Stewart – 1-for-4 and his 2nd homer, and 2nd homer in four games. Actually gave you a Sal Stewart fantasy. I liked him then, and I still do. (By the way, when I search for posts to link to them, I see all posts that have a keyword. So if I search “Stew,” I see every post with that in the title. With that said, I wrote how many Ian Stewart sleeper posts?! Hahahahahha–breathe, Grey! We’re losing him!–hahahahahahahaha….)

Tyler Stephenson – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 10th homer, and actually hit two homers, but Tatis robbed one. Is it me (it’s not me) or are there so many home run robberies this year? It feels like multiple times per day.

Tristan Gray – 1-for-3, 2 runs and his 3rd homer. All three homers have come in a week’s worth a games. Well, seven games over the course of weeks. I’m cryptically saying he doesn’t play!

Josh Lowe – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 11th homer, 2nd homer in three games. Opened his player page expecting to see a good month here and there that I could point to, and here I am with my fingers and nowhere to point.

Kyle Teel – 1-for-4 and his 7th homer. Kyle and Colson in the 2nd half have been extraordinary. Teel your friends!

Parker Meadows – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 4th homer. That’s preseason sleeper, Parker–[dodges tomato]–Okay! But he was injured!

Casey Mize – 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.83. If you had the stones to start Mize in the Bronx, you’re challenging J. Lo for the rocks you got.

Will Warren – 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.22. That’s how you put your two feet down, face forward and get your team ready for the playoffs! Get on his back, Yankees! Yankees? Hold on, their relievers are pouring gasoline on their clubhouse and asking for a match. Hmm, not sure what that means.

Aaron Judge – 1-for-3 and his 44th homer. That’s how you do it! You say, “I’m the Captain,” and you lift your teammates up in your giant meathooks–Why is the bullpen cart on fire and being driven into the dugout?

Cody Bellinger – 1-for-4 and his 28th homer. That’s right! You push out all the naysayers and say, “Our team’s time is NOW–” Why is Fernando Cruz throwing bags filled with crap at the Yankees logo on the side of Yankee Stadium?

Anthony Volpe – 0-for-3, hitting .206. Aaron Boone said yesterday that he thought about starting Jose Caballero, but Volpe is still his team’s shortstop. Volpe could run over Boone’s cat, throw his white laundry in with colors, and make monkey sounds in the clubhouse and say, “Look at me, I’m Bob Boone,” and Aaron would keep playing him.