Brian Wilson is donzo. I called this one about 48 hours prior. You can put it on the beard…. Goodbye! The crizzappy thing for me is I told everyone to pick up Santiago Casilla to replace Wilson, and I picked him up too. I mean, I literally grabbed Casilla while the trainer was looking at Wilson’s arm on Thursday. So, of course, I dropped Casilla when Wilson was supposedly okay on Friday and Rudy grabbed him on Saturday before I could. *shakes fist* Rudy! No one really knows who’ll follow in Wilson’s non-conformist footsteps. He leaves a long shadow that smells of dirty socks. Sergio Romo has been a great MR for a couple years, while Casilla is rumored to be the favorite and Bochy brought him into the 8th in a tie game on Saturday. The mystery of ‘Who replaces Wilson?’ is trapped inside Bochy’s enormous head. To get the answer, you have move Bochy’s head like one of those wooden labyrinth marble mazes and hope the answer comes out his mouth and not one of the other holes. I’d grab Casilla and Romo, in that order. I actually even grabbed Affeldt for situational saves, but I realized I couldn’t speculate that deep — don’t have the bench room, yo — so I lost him. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Jacoby Ellsbury – That hard C you heard was the crunch of Brignac falling on a crapton of fantasy baseballers’ (<–my mom’s term!) number one outfielder. Doctors are saying Ellsbury has a subluxation, laymen are saying he has a dislocation of the shoulder, my Asian woman neighbor who’s always working on her lawn said, “Potato-potahto, you’re screwed.” For the next six to eight weeks, he’s D’Ellsburied. If he fails to respond to rest, there’s a chance he’ll need season-ending surgery. I say put a cone on his head and shove him in a dog crate. Gotta respond to that kind of rest. If you owned Ellsbury, you should be able to find steals — SAGNOF! — on waivers. His combo on speed, power, runs, RBIs, average… Well, it’s a bitter pill(sbury) to swallow.
Jason Repko – 0-for-3, as he started yesterday in CF for the Sawx. Jason Repko is the answer to the question, “Who is Jason Repko?” “Who’s the thirty-one year old has-been in the outfield?” “This is the Red Sox depth?” and “Wait, what?”
Mike Aviles – 1-for-4 and his 2nd homer in as many games after he took over the leadoff spot. In the big picture, I’m not a fan of Aviles, but if you have a slow starting MI photobombing your big picture, I could see working with Aviles. Just don’t be jockin’ Mike Aviles to my dismay.
Cody Ross – 1-for-2, 3 RBIs and his 2nd homer in as many games. No one really likes a Cody, except Kathie Lee, but if he’s hitting there’s that. BTW, with Big Papi, Youk, Ross, Aviles, Shoppach and Repko in the starting lineup yesterday, is it me or does it seem like Theo was secretly replaced by Brian Sabean?
David Wright – Decided to play through the pain and homered on Saturday, and has gone 5-for-9 in his two games back. I don’t know. I’m trying not to be a Mets player hater here, as I’ve been accused of in the past, but here’s my take. I think Wright’s a gamer. He’s shown it in the past. At one point in 2009, he was battling concussion symptoms, lingering groin soreness, a flu and a strain behind his knee all at the same time. And he still got on the field. Can I dig it? Yes, I can. He’s like the “It’s merely a flesh wound” guy. But he still hit 10 homers that year in 144 games. I’d be concerned that he’s playing with a broken pinkie and it’s not healing properly, so it ends up costing his numbers in the long run.
Ike Davis – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his first homer. I gotta say, people in the comments talking about dropping Ike Davis after 10 days of games is a bit crazy. If he hits 3 more homers in April (still have half a month!), he’s on pace for 24 homers for the year. Isn’t that kinda what you expected from him?
Brandon Belt – 1-for-3 with a steal with the start. Bochy’s marble must’ve fell out the right hole.
Ryan Vogelsong – 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks vs. the Pirates. In the rankings, I wrote something about how Vogelsong would be a solid spot starter against weaker offenses. And that’s me paraphrasing me!
Matt Moore – 6 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 12 baserunners, 5 Ks. Now has 9 walks in 13 innings. Did Ollie Perez and Matt Moore make a wish while peeing in the same fountain?
Luke Scott – 1-for-4 with a homer in two straight games. After Luke Scott hit a homer on Saturday, I grabbed him for Sunday’s game. He’s like a slightly less streaky, Carlos Pena. He can hit 8 homers in a month, then a buck twenty-five for another month, then get hurt during his home run trot. April looks like the month he hits 8 homers. Or April powers, bring May sours.
Hector Noesi – There are Noesi starts in MLB, but OAK @ SEA sure isn’t one of the hardest. That said, 8 shutout innings with 6 Ks is pretty sweet. He has potential to be the King of the Marginers. “I name this land, Pineiroton, after one of our forefathers.” That’s Noesi taking the King of the Marginers title a little too seriously.
Edwin Jackson – A complete game victory against the Reds with only 1 ER, 3 baserunners, and 9 Ks. Don’t get too excited. You take the win out of his name and you’re left with ‘Jacked, son.’ In shallow leagues, he’s a 6th SP or streaming candidate.
Omar Infante – 1-for-5 with his 4th homer. Eh, only 4 more than Stanton. I’m not bitter. Nah. I will now down a bottle of NyQuil and operate heavy machinery.
Hanley Ramirez – 7 for his last 9 with a homer. Hey, look what the cat dragged in –> 2010 Hanley.
Heath Bell – Could there be an easier save opp than a 3 run lead at the Crayola Canyon against the Lastros? If there is, let Heath Bell know because he could use it. Lucky for his owners, 2 of the runs were credited as unearned. Wouldn’t handcuff him yet, but I’d be a little more aggressive fishing for waiver saves if I owned him.
Brandon Beachy – 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, which comes after Mike Minor went 7 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 4 Ks on Saturday. If Leo Mazzone were around, he’d be on the bench rocking back and forth like The Masturbating Bear to the Braves young pitching.
Jason Heyward – 1-for-3 and his 2nd homer and he’s batting .345. After the first game of the season, I said some crazy thing like Heyward looks lost. Well, I’m a moron, similarly to Fredi, who insists on batting Heyward 7th. Move Heyward up!
Jonathan Lucroy – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 2nd homer. The other Brewers catcher, Kottaras, has three homers. So Kottaras and Lucroy combined have more homers than Pujols, Stanton, Longoria, Braun and Votto. Gotta love early season outliers.
Mike Leake – 6 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 8 baserunners, 1 K. This has no basis in fact, but it seems like Leake (which makes beautiful crystal) that he either has a 6 IP, 3 ER game or a 6 IP, 5 ER. That’s, uh, not so, uh, good for mixed leagues. In related news, Aroldis has 8 IP, 3 hits, no walks and 15 Ks on the year. In case you need that told to you with teenaged girl emphasis — 15 Ks!!! In, like, only 8 IP!!! Plenty gnar.
Dayan Viciedo – 1-for-4 yesterday with his second homer in three games. Viciedo is Latin for “I came, I hacked, I homered.”
Jason Kipnis – 3 for his last 7 with 2 homers. Here’s my Jason Kipnis fantasy because I don’t believe in throwing out the baby even after three Opening Days and eight total games for the Indians. Hey, I get it, I’m just as bad. In the my RCL, I’ve made 23 waiver wire moves (pretty much adding and dropping my UTIL guy cause I lost Chisenhall), but, well, go read this post.
Liam Hendriks – 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners (0 walks), 4 Ks. You know how next to the deli counter there’s a counter for starters who don’t walk or strikeout many guys and have more real world value than fantasy? The Twins order their meat from there.
Matt Carpenter – 4-for-4, 5 RBIs and a homer. He’s filling in for Berkman. Carpenter’s minor league numbers look kinda utility-man-ish, so if that’s anything like Omar Infante, he’ll hit 4 homers this week.
Jake Westbrook – 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 2 Ks. And if the Twins buy their meat from the Hendriks’ section, the Cards buy their meat from Westbrook/Chris Carpenter section where pitchers are either the type no one wants that the Cards turn into aces or the aces they turn into meat.
Bryan Shaw – Recorded his 2nd save of the year yesterday. Now has more saves than Sean Marshall. David Hernandez and Putz were used the previous day (and were ineffective), but there’s nothing to see here (probably). Shaw may not get a nutter save this year.
Trevor Cahill – 7 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks in Coors. I know no one’s looking at rankings anymore because we’re a whole 9 games into a 162 games season, but I liked Cahill in the preseason. I still do.
Krispie Young – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and a slam & legs, hitting .364. This was his fourth homer… To tie Omar Infante! Since this is really all about me, Krispie is literally the only guy on my RCL team that is hitting. That is all. Literally.
Matt Kemp – 3-for-4 with his 6th homer. In the offseason, Kemp said he wanted to have a 50/50 season. I didn’t realize he meant in April.
Dee Gordon – 2-for-6 with his 6th and 7th steal. He really could steal 70 bases this year, as long as he doesn’t walk too close to a salad bar and someone mistakes him for a string bean.
Brett Myers – Astros are shopping around Myers. Hey, I got an idea. Trade him to the Nats for Lannan. Or the Giants, Marlins, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Rangers, Rays, Diamondbacks, Twins, back to the Astros… Is there any team that doesn’t need a closer?
Kyle Drabek – 7 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks. Now has an ERA of 1.42 on the year (okay, that’s through two starts). Small sample size, schmall schample schmize. He’s a former top prospect and you should grab him in case this is the breakout finally for this former-top-prospect-no-longer-a-prospect-maybe-is-showing-signs-of-being-a-top-prospect-again pitcher. I got all hyphenated there, the un-comma.
Brett Lawrie – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs and his first homer on the year as he bats .306. No amount of hashtags is holding back our enthusiasm for Lawrie.
Edwin Encarnacion – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his third homer. What’s E5 doing at 1st? The answer, my friend, is the blowing from Lind.
