Tommy Medica had the game of his life last night, going 5-for-5 with two home runs (5 & 6), 4 runs and 4 RBI. Somebody call a doctor, because Tommy Medica is so sick! Now wait just a minute, hold onto your coffee, and don’t drop anything or anyone just yet, (especially not your coffee because that may burn and I can’t afford a lawsuit). Medica, who generally sits against righties, has been filling in for Yonder Alonso the past month or so while he’s on the shelf. He has squandered the opportunity, batting just .217 with zero homers and 4 RBI in 46 at-bats in July. Even for the Padres, that’s barely a major league starter. I guess his hitting coach has been advising him to study Jedd Gyorko early season game tape. More likely than not, Medica will be headed back to the platoon role once Yonder Alonso returns, but the trade of Chris Denorfia could potentially open up some more playing time. Either way, what a game Tommy Boy! Holy schnikes! I added Medica in a few places on the off-chance this performance buys him some more playing time, but I’d keep the expectations low outside NL-Only and deep mixed leagues. For the time being, Tommy Medica is batting 1.000 and slugging 2.200 in August and certainly a name worth monitoring over the weekend.
Here’s what else happened in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Everth Cabrera – 4-for-5, 2 runs, SB (14). The Padres had 20 hits in this one. Nope, not a typo. Nine runs on 20 hits for the Friars as they were surely feeling something holy last night. So make sure you take Tommy Medica’s big day with a grain of salt, or 20 grains, and don’t do anything drastic. However, this is exactly the kind of output you expected from EverCab when you drafted him way too high back in March. Oh, if I could only speak to March Dan now, I’d tell him not to waste his $10 on Divergent and bet his entire savings on UConn in the NCAA tourney. Then I’d be a hundredaire and I’d give everyone reading this an extra $1 for their FAAB.
Mike Minor – 5.0 IP, 9 hits, 5 ER, 2 BB, K. The Padres, Mike? How you gon’ do me like that! I’m starting to think is no minor blip, he had an ERA of 7.00 in July and gave up 40 hits in 27 innings. His only not awful outings came against the Mets and Padres and weren’t all that not-awful either. You’re in a playoff race here (right?), if there are better options out there you can lose Minor in 10-12 team leagues.
Ryan Vogelsong – 9.0 IP, 3 base runners, 1 ER, 5 K. This was just the second complete game of Vogelsong’s career. Which is saying something, doode is old! He gets the Brewers next week and I’d steer clear.
Lucas Duda – 1-for-3, HR (20). Dud-a bides on shomer shabbos once again! Lucas loves those Friday night home runs. Mets fanatic Tommy from Queens’ son, Tommy Jr., first words last week weren’t “da-da”, they were “du-da”. You made your father very proud that day, kiddo.
Grady Sizemore – 2-for-3, run. He’s batting .348 in the past week with a HR and 4 RBI. Pick him up if you hate yourself.
Wei-Yin Chen – 7.1 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 8 K and his 12th win. Grey told you to BUY because Stream-O-Nator lurved this start for Wei Yin, and rightly so WYC dominated Faarooq-style. Meanwhile, that crazy robomachine hated the match up for Roenis Elias (5.2 IP, 7 hits, ER, 7 K). Which shows you how much robots know. Ha! Take that SkyNet! Take that iRobot! Take that sexy Scarlett Johanssen voice from Her. You can take your fancy code, number digits and calculations and shove them right up into an excel spreadsheet so I can study them for tonight’s match ups.
Austin Jackson – 0-for-3 in his Seattle Mariners debut. Yup. That pretty much sums up my enthusiasm for this acquisition by the M’s. Way to tell the league you’re going for the whole thing, trade for Jackson and Chris Denorfia. Now you have an abundance of mediocrity on offense. If he was still with Detroit this line would have been 0-for-3 with two runs. Because, Miggy.
Giancarlo Stanton – 1-for-3, HR (26). I had the perfect trade for Giancarlo in place but the GM of my local MLB franchise wasn’t answering my phone calls. Meanwhile, Stanton hasn’t been returning my calls either. Did you get my texts, G-Carlo? What about my Snapchats? Hmm, maybe I need a new phone? Oh well, perhaps next year my beautiful, unobtainable, slugger. Then we can reunite over smoothies, and talk and laugh and speak of memories past.
Jarred Cosart – 5.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 BB, 4 ER, 3 K. This starter was worth every penny. For serious, I heard the Marlins GM actually paid Houston in pennies. They are that cheap.
Anthony Ranaudo – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 4 BB, 2 K and his first major league win in his first ML start. ESPN was calling this team the “new look” Red Sox, but that offense still looked the same to me. No more Stephen Drew, so yeah, I guess better. Why are you not playing Yoenis Cespedes? Jet lag? That’s how it starts, Sawx fans, next thing you know you’ve got another Manny on your hands!
Dustin Pedroia – 2-for-4, run, 2 RBI. Now would be the perfect time for the Laser Show to get red hot, when the Red Sox can’t win anymore.
Carlos Beltran – 2-for-3, run, HR (13), 2 RBI. Carlos is batting .373 with 4 homers, 8 runs and 11 RBI the past two weeks. You figured he was bound to get scorching hot for a few weeks before he goes on the DL again.
Derek Jeter – 1-for-4, HR (3). One last long ball for the Fenway Faithful. I think they threw it back.
Rajai Davis – 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI. Raj definitely sees a value bump with Austin Jackson out of the picture. If he stays hitting lead off he could really let his inner SAGNOF loose. If I need steals, he’s a guy I would target before the deadline. He’s got the same speed potential as your Billy Hamiltons and your Dee Gordons just at half the price.
Nolan Arenado – 2-for-4. Arenado’s batting .355 with 2 HR in the past week, and is the hottest 3rd baseman in the league not named Josh Donaldson over the past 15 days. If Arenado were a Guardian of the Galaxy, he’d probably be the tree monster Groot. Seemingly boring and unassuming, but with raw power and solid as oak. “I am Nolan!”
Wilin Rosario – 2-for-4, RBI. The best part about owning a terrible fantasy catcher is when they actually do get hits its really exciting. Way to go, Wilin! Hit that ball!
Justin Verlander – 8.0 IP, 8 hits, 2 ER, 5 K and his tenth win. JV knew he had to step it up with some new competition around, he’s about to be relegated to number three starter status. No longer an ace? He’d have to stop clubbin’ and settle down and buy Kate Upton some puppies. And for those of you who got here by googling “Kate Upton’s Puppies” I apologize, but thanks for the click!
Mike Trout – 2-for-4, 2-run HR (25). Started things off real Trout-like with a first inning jack. I would take the first inning of Mike Trout over nine innings with 90% of the other outfielders out there. He is my muse. Can someone get me an intern so he can get me Mike Trout’s first inning stats?
Matt Shoemaker – 5.0 IP, 8 hits, 2 ER, K and his 9th win. Nine wins? Is it me or is that high? Am I high? Entirely possible, it is Saturday after all. Regardless, I feel like he’s only been starting a month. Internet says 12 game started, and 9 wins out of 12 ain’t bad. I guess Mike Trout is that good. He makes losers winners, and Shoemakers, history makers.
Josh Hamilton – 2-for-3, HR (7). Naturally, he was forced to leave the game after getting hit on the hand by a pitch. He is day-to-day. Man, I could have sworn I wrote the exact same blurb for J Hammy last week.
Collin McHugh – 6.1 IP, 6 base runners, 1 ER, 5 K. He’s pitched pretty well in his two starts since returning from the DL and has a 14/2 K/BB ratio in 12.2 IP since then. He’s out there in most leagues, and I’d take a chance with him next week versus Philadelphia.
Matt Holliday – 2-for-4, HR (11). It seems the more I’ve been bashing Matt Holliday lately the more he’s started mashing lately. He’s got 5 homers and 11 RBI in the past two weeks. We got a good thing going and I’ll keep it up for all the Holliday owners out there. You stink, Holliday! You dumb loser! Your feet smell like trash and your face is stupid! OK, I am bad at this. I am more of a positivity kind of guy. Can you help me out trolls? You guys are always so good at this.
Adam Wainwright – 5.1 IP, 9 hits, 7 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Ouch. That’s gotta hoiyt. Don’t worry Cardinals fans. You have John Lackey now.
Aramis Ramirez 3-for-5, HR (13), 2 RBI. I could see trading for A-Ram before the deadline if I needed a corner, he’s just the type of player who’s undervalued around this time before he’s overvalued again on draft day.
Adam Eaton – 2-for-4, 2 runs, RBI. What the heck has Adam been Eaton? I assume no apples? He’s got an eight game hitting streak with six multi-hit games and 9 runs in that span. The ChiSox had 17 hits, with Jose Abreu going all rookie-of-the-year on everyone, hitting 3-for-3 with 2 runs and an RBI and Tyler Flowers chipping in two hits and a HR (7) as well.
Danny Salazar – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K and his fourth win. K-Zar would have to have been real bad to blow this one as he was spotted a 12 run lead early. He’s managed a win in all three of his starts since returning to the majors but he certainly isn’t inspiring any confidence (17/6 K/BB rate, 17 hits, 4 ER in 18.0 IP). He’s also faced three of the worst offenses in the league in Minnesota, Kansas City and Texas. Still, I am a sucker for that K-upside and he gets another bad offense next week in the Reds which Stream-O-Nator is absolutely bonkers about, so I’d add him where he’s available.
Lonnie Chisenhall – 2-for-5, 2 runs, HR (10). Son-of-a-drop!
Elvis Andrus – 2-for-4. Elvis has had a pretty lousy campaign to date but is batting over .400 in the past week and could finally be starting to flash some value. Just steal 20 more bases from now until the end of September and I’ll stop writing you those nasty letters.
Jake Petricka – 1.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 2 K, SV (7). Grey told you to BUY Jake for the SAGNOF-ing goodness, and look what happened, you were awarded a save for your obedience but Petricka SAGNOF-ed all over your ratios last night. Yay, saves!
Kurt Suzuki – 2-for-4, 3 RBI. The Twins had a day off Chris Sale (6.0 IP, 8 hits, 4 ER, 7 K) with 14 hits themselves including three hit games from Trevor Plouffe and Brian Dozier. Suzuki seems like the perfect fantasy catcher who will never hurt your team but will never do anything special either. Those 2-for-4 days can add up though!
Josh Harrison – 2-for-5, 2 runs. So he’s not going to homer in every game like I thought two days ago, but he still has four homers in the past week and hitting .355 in that stretch. As long as he’s batting lead off in front of Andrew McCutchen (2-for-4, run, RBI) he’s worth owning.
Kyle Hendricks – 7.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 3 K. and his 2nd win. The Dodgers were lost in Hendricks’ Purple Haze I guess, and Kyle moves to 2-1. He’s been a decent streamer the past couple outings but he draws the Rockies next week at Coors so time to drop him while he’s moderately warm.
Dan Haren – 4.1 IP, 10 base runners, 6 ER. Captain Hindsight says, “If the Dodgers were really serious about the postseason, they probably should have traded for another starter!” Thank you, Captain Hindsight.
Jeremy Guthrie – 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 2 BB, 0 ER, 6 K and his 7th win. Overreacting A’s Fan said, “Oh no! They traded Yoenis Cespedes and now their offense is no better than the lowly Royals. They may never score again. Why Gawd! The humanity!” Calm down, Overreacting A’s Fan and quit overreacting. They’ll never be Royals, just ask Lorde.
Sonny Gray – 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 7 K and the tough luck loss. Sooo-nny-Gray’s, racking up/ Ks all day. E-R-A in July was one-point-zero-threeeeee! Can you tell me how to get/ Son-ny Gray on e-ver-y teeeam!
Josh Reddick – 3-for-4. JR is about to enter Reddickulous mode, he’s batting close to .400 with two homers in the past week. He’s also gathered five multi hit games in just 10 contests since returning from the DL. Grey told you to BUY and I’d grab Reddick while he’s still unowned if you need some pop. By the way, is there a more perfect place than the A’s for an outfielder like Jonny Gomes? He’ll fit in perfect with this band of goofy, hard-hitting, bearded weirdos. Yes, I think Jonny’s going to like it in Oakland, and although his potential fantasy value there may not be great, the overall entertainment value he could provide this team as they make their postseason run is priceless.
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!
