This week I’ve got two really ugly recommendations for those of you in need of stolen bases. The first player has been slumping badly, the second is Public Enemy No. 1 as far as some Rusney Castillo fans are concerned… Adam Eaton or considering how he’s (not) hitting lately, Adam “I haven’t Eaton in days”. Ok, he’s not exactly old yet and his 59/5/37/14/.264 ROS (Rest Of Season) Steamer projection (R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG) is actually quite good and is in fact better than the projections of some of the younger players I’ve recommended previously. Secondly, we have Shane Victorino aka Rusney Castillo’s wet blanket (well to be fair, Castillo’s inability to stay healthy has been his own wet blanket, but let’s not let the truth get in the way of a good story) who is back from injury. He might not be worth owning if he’s only going to start 4 times a week but if he’s starting 5-6 times a week, well, he’s better than a lot of other players out there. Before dismissing Eaton and Victorino keep in mind veterans Nori Aoki and Angel Pagan have fared pretty well this year. And let’s face it, I’m basically making recommendations here for your last roster spot. These are all players that are fairly expendable, that’s why they are out there in so many leagues.
Delino DeShields Jr. had himself a week on the basepaths with 5 stolen bases (3 in one game) in the last 7 days. So why haven’t I talked about him before now and why am I not recommending him for this week? Leonys Martin had a brief injury and that’s what paved the way for DeShields. Other than that he’s essentially just a pinch runner and when Josh Hamilton joins the team he could be even more buried on the depth chart. Jarrod Dyson is similar but better so look to Dyson instead if you want a player who doesn’t play much but pinch runs a lot. Billy Burns spent some time batting 1st/2nd and some time batting further down in the order. With Marcus Semien‘s great weekend giving him a long leash to stay in the 2-hole we can expect Burns to generally bat further down in the order when Coco Crisp is in the lineup.
This week’s speedy recommendations: Adam Eaton, Shane Victorino. Previous recommendations, still not 100% owned along with a Steamer based ROS projection (I brought the playing time up for those players with a bad playing time projection): Kevin Pillar (44/8/46/14/.264) , Ender Inciarte (48/5/37/18/.260), Odubel Herrera (43/4/34/13/.239), Billy Burns (46/1/31/26/.233). See last week’s post for a look at Carlos Correa and other speedy minor leaguers to keep an eye on.
Next up let’s take a look at some players that could have save opportunities in the near future. Steve Cishek was brutal again yesterday. Mike Dunn and A.J. Ramos are prime targets for those speculating that Cishek is not long for his job. It’s hard to get a read on who would take over. Ramos has been better so far but Dunn has seemed like more of the 8th inning guy to this point, including yesterday when he nailed down a Hold in front of Cishek’s blown save. Ramos has been good enough that you can own him even if he’s not getting saves and it seems like they’ve been using him in a lot of close games or key situations so his chances for Wins might be good. Neftali Feliz cleaned up his act at least for last week and Mark Melancon seems to have also righted his problems from earlier in the season. Huston Street had some rough outings but Joe Smith was already 100% owned so there’s really nothing to see there unless you want to speculate that his struggles were the result of an un-reported injury. Jim Johnson might have a week (more or less) to be the closer while Jason Grilli is on the shelf with back spasms. Tony Cingrani is looking like another middle reliever that’s borderline worthy of owning; he’s probably not the next in line at closer for Aroldis Chapman but at the very least he can help you with K/ERA/WHIP.
