Rolling In The Deep: Reid-ing Between The Lines

Happy summering, fantasy baseball friends! I’m in the middle of a road trip writing this, and it always amazes me how missing just a few games, where I’m not really paying much attention to baseball, can make me feel like I’m suddenly out of touch with what’s going on in some of my leagues. Honestly, it feels like things have been a little dull lately outside of a certain recent headline-grabbing trade, but sometimes those lulls are exactly when it makes the most sense to pay a little more attention to real-life MLB transactions and playing time. None of us wants to miss a waiver wire add who could help a fantasy team as we inch closer to the midway point of the season, after all. I’m not seeing much of interest in most of my leagues, but that won’t stop us from checking in on some players whose ownership has increased recently in case they belong on one of our AL-only, NL-only, or other deep league rosters.

AL

Reid Detmers. When you look at Detmers’ most obvious stats — a 4.88 ERA and 1.47 WHIP — it seems clear that those of us who thought he might be an up and coming young pitcher worth watching a few years ago were as wrong as we could be. Looking a little closer, though, makes one wonder if there may be something to see here as the season progresses. Detmers has been used exclusively in relief this season, and let’s just say his year did NOT get off to a good start. After giving up a run in 4 of his first 9 appearances, he had back-to-back outings where he gave up a total of 9 earned runs in those two games alone. I’m not sure what happened, but after all that, Detmers suddenly hasn’t given up a run since May 17th. On the year, he has an impressive 40 strikeouts in 31.1 innings, and has two saves. We’ll see how long Kenley Jansen’s tenure as the Angels closer lasts, but with both Ben Joyce and Robert Stephenson hurt, it doesn’t appear there’s anyone more sensible to take over for him than Detmers once it’s over.

Nolan Jones. Is it finally time to start paying a little attention to Jones again? In most leagues, no, but in deeper leagues you might want to give him a quick look if he’s available. He may only have 21 at bats for the Guardians over the last two weeks, but in those ABs he’s hitting .286 with a .423 OBP. He has one homer and one steal in that time, so it’s not exactly like he’s setting the world on fire. For those of us who still remember some of the glorious fantasy stretches he provided in 2023, it’s hard not to be tempted to give him a try in certain formats.

Mitch Spence. Spence is up from 3% to 7% owned in CBS leagues after his most recent start, a very solid one against the Astros, where he allowed just one run in five innings. It’s hard to get excited about a guy with pedestrian numbers and a horrible home park. If your leagues are anything like some of mine, though, you’re ready to throw whatever you can at the wall to see what sticks, starting pitching wise. In a league where I was actually happy to draft Bailey Ober and Brandon Pfaadt, Spence is starting to look pretty good.

Jake Mangum. Should Mangum be owned in more than 19% of CBS leagues? I wouldn’t think so, but for what it’s worth, he pops up when one searches for players who have provided a significant amount of fantasy value over the last week or so. He’s hitting .313 with a .357 OBP on the season, which is impressive in any league. It’s his 10 steals in the 38 games he’s appeared in for the Rays, though, which may be of most interest in the fantasy baseball realm, so if you’re looking to pick up a point or two in stolen bases he might be able to give you an assist.

NL

Casey Schmitt. I don’t think any of us expected to look at a Giants’ box score in mid-June and see Rafael Devers DH’ing and Schmitt playing third base, but that’s exactly what’s been happening the last couple of days as I write this. Their lineup clearly continues to be a work in progress, but Schmitt’s numbers have been pretty great over the last couple of weeks: .286 average, .375 OBP, and 3 homers with 11 RBI. He’s played all four infield positions already this year, and may be worth a look in more than the 3% of CBS leagues where he’s currently owned.

Nolan Gorman. I don’t have any shares of Gorman this season, so he’s been pretty much off my radar, and I’m trying to figure out why his ownership percentage has gone up of late, from 7 to 9%. He did have a big 3-run homer game recently, and got some extra playing time when Brendan Donovan missed a few games, but even with Donovan back, he’s starting at the DH spot for the Cardinals on Wednesday. His numbers on the year are still pretty horrible, but I could see checking in in deeper leagues, in case he goes on a little midsummer power binge one of these weeks.

Mickey Moniak. Yes, it’s time to talk about Moniak once again, as it turns out he’s been one of the more valuable players in fantasy over the last two weeks — who knew? In a mere 21 official at bats, he has 4 homers and is also sporting a cool .500 OBP for the Rockies. This realization is a pretty painful one for me, as I’ve had Moniak sitting on my bench in a draft and hold league where I could really use the offense. Is this the beginning of a breakout summer, or just a random ultra-hot streak that will have ended by the time you read this? Perhaps the former is more likely, though it’s also worth noting that 5 of his 9 homers have been hit on the road.

Dylan Lee/Orion Kerkering/Matt Strahm. Is Lee the closer in Atlanta over Raisel Iglesias now, even though he somehow can’t get himself a save opportunity? And what’s going on in the Philadelphia bullpen? Kerkering, who seems like he was the Phillies closer of the future about a decade ago, has unimpressive stats but just picked up a save this week, while Strahm, whose numbers aren’t bad but aren’t close to what they were last year, recently converted his third save of the season. Clearly, Philly seems to be in full blown closer by committee mode, and we’ll see if Iglesias can work his way back into the closer’s role before Lee even gets a single save himself. These are a couple of unusually messy bullpen situations for two prominent teams, but unusually messy bullpen situations are something we deep leaguers often need to be tuned in to, whether we like it or not.

That’s all for now, folks; best of luck to you and your teams!