If you picked up Marlon Byrd off of waivers this season, you have been treated to an amazing, one-last-big-year from this 34-year-old gunslinger. Now, with Byrd, as well as John Buck, heading to the Pirates in a rare end-of-August-trade, you would think heading to a playoff contender would increase Byrd’s value that much more, but does it? Surprisingly, it does not. The Pirates rank 24th in team batting average, 25th in runs and 23rd in RBI respectively. Byrd is there to help with these problems facing the Pirates, but he is not going to see a boost to his runs and RBI from being on some juggernaut offense. For Byrd fans, it is nice to see him end up on a contender so late in his career, but for fantasy owners, his value stays the same in his new uniform.
Taking a look around the league, here’s a recap of last night’s action and suggestions for your fantasy baseball team.
Clutch Performers:
- Shane Victorino — 3-for-3, 2 HR, 4 R, 7 RBI, BB
- Aramis Ramirez — 4-for-5, HR, R, 4 RBI
- Alfonso Soriano — 2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB
- Pablo Sandoval — 3-for-4, HR, R, RBI
- James Shields — 7.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 4 BB, 7 K, L
- Pedro Alvarez — 4-for-4 HR, R, RBI, BB
Surprise, surprise!:
- Jonathan Niese — 9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, BB, 5 K, W
- Kevin Correia — 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W
- Gerardo Parra — 2-for-4, HR, R, 5 RBI, BB
- Travis Wood — 7 IP, 5 H, R, 2 BB, 6 K, W
Left out in the breeze:
- Fernando Rodney — 1 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, K, L, BS
- Junior Lake — 0-for-2, 2 K
- Nick Markakis — 0-for-4, 3 K
Trending developments:
- There is nothing worse than seeing your first-round pick get plunked in the hand by a 90 mph fastball, but that is exactly what happened to Robinson Cano. Fortunately, x-rays were negative.
- Matt Kemp declared he will be the starting center fielder when he returns as early as next week. It is great news for Kemp owners, but it could put a damper on owning Yasiel Puig. He will more than likely be the odd man out and lose a considerable amount of playing time.
- Jeremy Hellickson to the minors? Yup, after having one of the shortest outings of his career, Hellickson was sent down to class-A to get some extra rest. Manager Joe Madden declared that Hellickson would be back as early as next week.
- Carlos Gonzalez could be starting a rehab assignment soon after taking a round of batting practice Tuesday.
Prospect Watch – Mike Olt is supposed to be the future for the Cubs, or so they hope. So far, he has been a disappointment for the Cubs in the minors. I do not expect to see Olt anytime this season with the Cubs unless he starts to hit like he does in this clip below:
Head-2-Head – There are some great options I really like if you need a streamer. It is amazing that Chris Archer is even available on the waiver wire with the way he has pitched this season, but if you don’t care for his matchup (LAA), then I also like Martin Perez at the Mariners and recent call-up Danny Duffy at the Twins. Stream away, there are plenty of options available out there.
Links of the day:
- A very cool article discussing what this author calls, “The Prospect Theory”.
- Is Cody Allen underrated and undervalued? Find out here.
- 2014 cannot get here any faster for Albert Pujols. But what is his value moving forward?
- Is Kyle Seager moving into keeper status?
- Checking in on some players who had subpar seasons and what their value is moving into next season.
