Well, you should be sorry, Ronald Belisario. You have been pretty rough on your owners since stepping into the closer role, testing the limits of SAGNOF and just how much pain a fantasy owner will endure to capture those elusive saves. Belisario was at it again last night and gave up three hits and two runs to the Blue Jays, recording just one out before being removed from the game. In just 12 innings pitched since inheriting the job, Ronny has surrendered 10 ER on 20 hits with three blown saves in in that time. More like RonaldO-No! Hey, a World Cup pun, how topical. In Belisario’s defense, he did manage eight saves during his stay as closer, but that’s more a testament to Manager Robin Ventura sticking with him this long. Well, Ventura has had enough. Alrighty then, Ventura, who’s your closer now? Jake Petricka finished out the game last night and notched his second save of the season. Petricka has a 2.08 ERA and 1.27 WHIP on the year and looks like the most likely choice to take over the closer role. Javy Guerra, Zach Putnam and Daniel Webb could also be names to watch and see chances were the Sox to go to a committee. Whatever the case, Ronald is out. And although he may not apologize for killing your ratios over the past month, you can drop him now, which is definitely something you won’t have to feel sorry about.
Here’s what else happened in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Mookie Betts – Called up to start for the Red Sox in the outfield Saturday night. Grey told you to BUY and worth an add in all leagues, as soon as ESPN uploads him into their player universe. Get on it ESPN!
Jason Grilli – Traded to the Angels in return for Ernesto Frieri. Hard to believe you can have a Grilli without a Frieri, especially with the Fourth coming up. The change of scenery should be good for both these guys and I am 95% sure that the Angel’s GM made this trade just to make sure that Mike Scioscia couldn’t make Frieri the closer ever again. Grilli managed 30+ saves last years and could find himself with the ninth innings duties should he pitch well enough, or if Joe Smith falters. Smith is still the guy to BUY at the moment, but Grilli could certainly be worth a speculative add. On the other hand, Pittsburgh’s bullpen is crowded as it is, so Frieri can be dropped in most standard leagues. You’re welcome.
Joakim Soria – 1.0 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, BB, K. Seemed like Soria really wanted to blow this one for Texas, but he just wasn’t up to the task. That sounds more like a job for Ronald Belisario.
Josh Reddick – 3-for-5, 2 RBI. JR’s now got four hits in three games since returning from the DL and I could see adding him for some pop. I know Reddick hasn’t been much of a fantasy player for a while now but he’s still just two years removed from a 30-homer season, and if he can get hot again he’s a must own. Reddick has always seemed like the heart and soul of this band of mostly-bearded misfits called the A’s, and that’s gotta count for something, right?
Jesse Chavez – 5.0 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. Regression comes to all those who wait long enough. It certainly has taken its time getting to Jesse. He cruised through his first five innings in this one before surrendering all four earned runs in the sixth inning. You let down Mr. White, Jesse! He’ll have a chance to rebound next week in Detroit.
Colby Rasmus – 1-for-1, pinch hit home run in the ninth, his 11th. I call that the Colby Jack. Tastes great on a burger!
Edwin Encarnacion – 1-for-4, HR (25). Encarnaci-BOMB is more like it! ALL HE DOES IS HIT HOME RUNS!
R.A. Dickey – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 5 ER, 9 K. Don’t get too excited little Dickey. The nine strikeouts were a season high but the four homers he served up will make you go limp real quick. Dayan Viciedo and Alexei Ramirez both homered, and naturally the Grande Dolor, Jose Abreu was good for two jacks, making him the fastest player to hit 25 home runs in MLB history. Future trivia question! Lock it in your brain space!
Jake Odorizzi – 5.0 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. Jake’s ratios stink like his name (4.14 ERA, 1.33 WHIP) but his peripherals smell much nicer, 3.54 xFIP and a 97/34 K/BB ratio. He’s more or less a very good streamer, and I might even try my luck next week with Jake at Yankee stadium.
Nelson Cruz – 1-for-8, 2-run HR (25). He’s not going to let Edwin and Jose Abreu take over his home run crown that easy. A three-way tie for the league lead in homers!? Oh snap! There’s only one way to settle this: hot dog eating contest! It’s the American way.
Chris Tillman – 8.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, BB, 2 K, W (7). Tillman’s second solid start in a row, but this one came against the lowly Devil Rays. Yes, Devil Rays. You can be the Rays again when you show me you deserve it.
Kevin Gausman – 5.0 IP, 7 hits, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1 K. Kevin’s going to need more gaus, man, after that rough start, Ouch! Not what we were expecting when we saw that juicy match up with the D-Rays. With the injury to Bud Norris, Gausman should stick in the rotation a bit longer and could be worth a look next week versus Texas.
Manny Machado – 2-for-6, HR (5). Oh yeah! If Macho Manny doesn’t like the results from his appeal, he’s threatened the commissioner with a flying elbow drop.
Travis d’Arnaud – 3-for-4. He’s hit safely in all four games since being called back up and is worth a look if you’re d’esperate at catcher.
Julio Teheran – 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 9 K, W (7). Teheran it up! Not sure what I like better, his 0.95 WHIP or his 103/23 K/BB rate. This dude walks nobody. I feel sorry for his dog. Poor thing just sits there by the door all day with those sad puppy eyes just begging to go outside. I would report him to PETA, but I own him on too many teams and can’t risk the suspension.
Ben Revere – 3-for-4, run, SB (22). Listen my children and you shall hear, if you need speed grab Ben Revere! He’s been underwhelming thus far, but with 4 steals in the past two weeks, that tells me the SAGNOFs are coming, the SAGNOFs are coming!
Freddie Freeman – 3-for-5, 3-run HR (13), 4 RBI. Freddie is every pitcher’s nightmare!
Brian McCann – 2-for-4, 2-run HR (9). Nine homers on the season and just two in the past month is definitely disappointing but I still think McCann will turn it around to provide you that value at catcher you way over drafted back in March. I wouldn’t trade for him or anything, but if you own him I think Brian McCann and will be better.
Jason Hammel – 6.1 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, BB, 6 K, W (7). Is it just me, or do the Cubs really have three legitimate fantasy starters in Hammel, Arrieta and Samardzija? Even Travis Wood is serviceable in the right match up. Hammel has a 2.98 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 97/21 K/BB rate. He will probably be traded because we know the Cubs can’t have nice things.
Tanner Roark – 6.0 IP, 10 hits, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Not so much a Roark as it was a meowk. Still Stream-O-Nator likes Tanner in his rematch vs. the Cubbies next week. But I wouldn’t know, because me and Stream-O-Nator haven’t really talked since I found out she was dating over a thousand other users. Damn “Her” and her sexy ScarJo voice.
Adam LaRoche – 2-for-4, HR (10). Adam’s triple slashing a nice .289/.429/.446 with 3 homers in June, and I don’t know if you believe in all the fantasy hocus pocus but LaRoche has historically been a better second half performer. With Bryce Harper scheduled to return Monday, LaRoche could be a decent buy low option if you need power and RBIs.
Francisco Rodriguez – 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K, W (3). Blew the save after surrendering a ninth inning jack to Razzball favorite Josh Rutledge (3-for-4, 2 runs, HR (2)) . I love me some Rutty as much as the next guy, but I’d stay away from him until I see some consistent production, or at least until the Rockies are back at Coors.
Brandon McCarthy – 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 7 K, W (2). Grey told you to BUY him for this start. I normally wouldn’t touch a pitcher with a 2-10 record (both wins versus San Diego), no matter how fluky win-loss may be, but at PetCo everyone’s game.
Billy Hamilton – 3-for-5, run, RBI, SB (33). Hamilton tried his own version of Billy on the Street, but no one could keep up with him running long enough to answer his questions. Billy’s quietly becoming one of the more valuable outfielders in all of fantasy. He has bat .323 in June with three homers and 13 stolen bases. For a dollar, name a more valuable player for speed!
Todd Frazier – 3-for-4, run, RBI, SB (11). Man, you gotta love those steals. Over the past two weeks, Todd is batting .355 with 12 runs, 3 HR, 12 RBI and 5 SB. Sweet sassy molassy! Many predicted Anthony Rizzo could be this year’s breakout Paul Goldschmidt, but it’s hard to deny what Frazier has been doing. He’s the number one player at his position and currently sits in the top 10 for fantasy on the year.
Johnny Cueto – 8.1 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (8). His ERA actually went up to 1.88 after this start because Johnny just be that good. Similarly, my BAC went way up after this start because I finally had something to drink to. To Cueto and to Friday nights alone. Blogging about fantasy. Huzzah!
Endy Chavez – 2-for-4, 2 runs, and the slam (1) and legs (1). Endy likes his legs soft boiled and his slam extra lean and cut into small pieces (cuz he’s old, lolz).
Carlos Martinez – 4.1 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Grey told you to BUY him for his upside. That glorious, delicious, K-upside. C-Mart threw just 82 pitches in this one which kept him from getting the decision, but it’s becoming more and more clear that he will be coddled by the Cardinals. Where’s Dusty Baker when you need him to run your rookie pitcher into the ground until his arm falls off?
Lorenzo Cain – 3-for-5, 2 runs, RBI. Anyone named Lorenzo is instantly cool in my book. Cain doesn’t lead off often but he probably should. Fresh off the slam and legs Thursday he added a three hit effort last night. He can help in all categories and the .317 AVG is real nice. If he stays hitting lead off he’s worth a look in all standard formats.
Billy Butler – 2-for-4, run, RBI. OK, so the power is gone. Pretty sure he ate it. Fair enough, he probably covered it in his famous KC BBQ sauce. Despite the power outage (1 HR over the past month) Butler’s batted .340 in June, which I guess is just enough production to keep you from eating yourself into Billy Butler game shape.
Mike Trout – 2-for-4, HR (18). A 489 foot shot, the longest home run this season. Unfortunately, my “restraining order” keeps me at least 500 feet from His Troutness at all times, or else I would have totally caught this ball. Then I could have displayed it in my basement with the lock of hair I “found” and my collection of skins flakes, which I affectionately am calling my Trout scales. Hmm, on second thought, I guess I can understand why he wanted that restraining order.
C.J. Cron – 2-for-4, 2 HR (8), 3 RBI. Going, going, Cron! These home run balls traveled Cron Air, in case you were wondering. I have nothing but high praise for C.J. Cron, Nic Cage. Prophetically, Grey told you to BUY him yesterday. In his past six games, Cron has managed five homers, and seven RBI while collecting at least a hit in each game. He’s under 20% owned, is batting in a loaded line up and Cron now has 8 home runs in 40 games which makes him a 30+ homer hitter with regular at bats. If he keeps this up he will force Mike Scioscia to do just that. Yep. C.J. Cron has got it going on.
Questions? Problems? Complaints? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below, or you can get at me on twitter @dandemanco. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
