I’m not sure how to start this week because every time I do, I find myself saying something like “If there’s actually baseball,” and I’m kind of exhausted with reading that stuff. Wish I could stop myself from thinking it. And now I’ve said it in the intro anyway. Maybe I’ll delete it later. Maybe they’ll just delete all the stats from this year. Doh! It’s happening again. And so is baseball! I do think we’ll have a season, such as it is, for what it’s Wuertz.
NOTE: This ranking is entirely focused on redraft impact of players who’ve yet to debut in 2020. It’s a snapshot of all the information I can synthesize as of Saturday night.
This week I traded for Kyle Lewis in a dynasty league and sold two Edwins to do it. Encarnacion is old and Diaz is dangerous to my health, so I figured I might as well make a trade for next year. I’m in third place now and finished second last year after tanking in year one, so I’m set up for the long haul and see little reason to cling to a depreciating old bat who might retire after all this 2020 stuff or a closer who makes improves my ratios and mental well being just by being gone.
I love making trades, and I’d like to push all in for a few teams in the running, but I’m leery to do anything too dramatic because it would irritate the hell out of me to rob from the future to enhance the present only to have the present erased like some Umbrella Academy suitcase retcon.
Nonetheless I traded Domingo German for Trevor Rosenthal in a 20-teamer that same day. Was offered Archie Bradley and a 2021 1st for Forrest Whitley in that same league but sat on my hands too long and watched Archie go for Dallas Keuchel. Was brutal on first glance and feels much worse today after the Whitley news about arm soreness. Part of me is glad because I’d feel like crap if I traded a guy a day before he started publicly flirting with TJ; part of me is extremely irritated that I stopped to check Archie’s always-low swinging strike rates across multiple time frames before going on a run to ruminate. I think I’d have wound up accepting the trade, and I’m usually superfast in trade talks, but 2020 is a thought vacuum making us all–or me anyway–just a tiny bit duller day by day, and making three deals in a day was a big ask for my corona battered brain. Beer battered brain? Mmmmmm beer battered brains . . . sounds like a Temple of Doom appetizer for the main course treasure hunt that is stashing rookies in redraft leagues.
1. Cardinals OF Dylan Carlson: Postponements are stacking up and mixing up the service time math, but we could see Carlson this week if we see Cardinals baseball.
2. Tigers RHP Casey Mize: Saturday brought news that Mize would debut Sunday only to be erased by a rainstorm that turned Sunday into a double header featuring motivational speaker Daniel Norris. If the playoffs started today, the Joe Exotics would be in. If they even tread water over their next few games, Mize is coming up soon.
3. Phillies RHP Spencer Howard can be absolutely dominant when he’s on, demonstrated in part by his no-hitter in the 2018 South Atlantic League Playoffs. Can’t wait. Rumor had him penciled in for this week before the postponements hit.
4. Marlins OF Monte Harrison was heavily featured on my Rookie Leaderboards and should be a rotisserie asset whenever he gets the call–something I expect to happen shortly after baseball resumes in Miami.
5. I would’ve called up Angels OF Jo Adell as soon as Mike Trout went home to see his baby’s birth then demoted him when Trout returned if I had to, but Maddon’s Angels are just 2-and-6 and have been finding ways to lose like it’s their job. Perhaps suppressing (and badmouthing) Jo Adell is just on brand for them. In their defense, Brian Goodwin has been the team’s best hitter, and Ohtani and Upton are heating up, so maybe they think they’ll be fine this week without the game’s best player. Maddon said he’s expecting Trout back in the lineup on Sunday, which seems foolish to me as both an expectation and as a thing to say in a news conference, but that’s Maddon.
6. Dodgers 2B Gavin Lux should still get a chance in mid August, but it’s a tricky spot for Los Angeles, who still has more solid bats than they do lineup spots.
7. Padres LHP MacKenzie Gore might be watching Saturday’s Joey Lucchesi start with a little more interest than usual. Zach Davies presents another path to playing time but looked good his first time out, and Lucchesi brings the lefty advantage if he’s moved to the pen. If I’d ranked this last Saturday, he’d be higher, but San Diego looks amazing. No need to burn Gore’s clock if you’re winning most nights anyway.
UPDATE: Lucchesi hit with silver bullet train crashing through Rockies. Doubt that gets him the hook, but it might get Cal Quantrill the first turn next time around. Inching closer.
8. Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt is next man up in New York, but Masahiro Tanaka’s return from the injured list means we’ll be waiting a little longer. Click here for a breakdown by Razzball’s own natural, Hobbs.
9. Reports suggest the Marlins don’t intend to use their top prospects to field a Rona-free roster when the time comes on Tuesday, but I’m not sure that applies to 1B Lewin Diaz. First-base-only, non-Hosmer bats don’t command much cash in free agency, so Diaz has a better chance than Jazz Chishom or the top-tier arms to debut within the next week or so, assuming he’s not among the infected. No idea why I’m assuming that. Still quite a lot of mystery in Miami’s suitcase present and future.
10. Atlanta LHP Tucker Davidson got passed over for Touki Toussaint on the first post-Folty turn through the rotation, but I think he’s next in the pecking order and capable of beating big league batters.
Must Mention:
Cardinals RHP Alex Reyes is throwing baseballs again and hitting 99 at the training site. St. Louis has questions up and down the pitching staff and could find an answer in the long-awaited Reyes.
White Sox 1B 3B Andrew Vaughn has been working at third base at the off-site training facility. Could be a neat opportunity if he’s okay there. Theoretically, they could shift Yoan Moncada to 2B while Tim Anderson is out and play Madrigal at SS. That would be a nightmare defensive infield, but over a short stretch, who knows. Much more likely they move through other options first, and if we see Vaughn this year at all it’s due to injury ahead of him.
3B Alec Bohm’s 2020 at bats seem subject to the Phillies finding some pitching, so his fate is tied to Spencer Howard’s.
In Limbo
1. Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal
2. Tigers RHP Matt Manning
3. Royals RHP Jackson Kowar
4. Rockies 2B Brendan Rodgers
5. Orioles 1B Ryan Mountcastle
6. Giants C Joey Bart
7. Astros RHP Forrest Whitley
Detroit’s early wins could alter the timelines of their big three pitching prospects. If Mize does indeed get a promotion and pitch well, I’m adding Skubal in my AL Only league.
Kowar’s debut feels like it’s just a matter of time, but it’s contingent upon the Royals winning some games.
Rodgers remains a Rocky.
A lot of people pound the table for Mountcastle and Bart, and I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they debut this year, but I’m still betting against it. If either team keeps playing peskily a little further into the season, they could force the issue. I hope they do. The expanded playoffs have the potential to change the shape of our game, and I’m here for that.
Whitley might be done for 2020. Tone shift. Record scratch. Bum bummmm, mannn this newszszss bummmz me out. But it’s the Astros so who cares, right? Dynasty players. That’s who. Astros and their fans too I guess but . . .
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter and Reddit.
