Taking a look around the league, here’s a recap of last night’s action and suggestions for your fantasy baseball team.
Mr. Clutch (pitcher) – Zack Greinke shutdown the Diamondbacks last night going seven innings and striking out seven. This game was a nice bounce-back game after getting rocked by Philadelphia and Colorado in his last two starts. Greinke takes on Colorado on Saturday, which does not seem to be a good matchup for him. He has given up nine runs in the past 10.1 innings to the Rockies.
Mr. Clutch (hitter) – Buster Posey was the top dog yesterday, going 5-for-8 with and home run, a run and two RBI. Fantasy owners got to feast on added stats due to the game lasting 16 innings. Surprisingly, Posey is the number-two catcher according to ESPN’s player rater. He trails Yadier Molina. Going forward, I expect Posey to close the gap and finish as the top catcher.
Surprise, surprise! – I feel like John Lannan even surprised himself last night going 8.0 innings and shutting out the Nationals. According to ESPN he is owned in 0.4 percent of ESPN leagues, so if you owned and started Lannan last night, high-five!
Here comes the heat – Does Alfonso Soriano think it’s 2008 this week or what? The guy has simply been on fire, and it continued last night when he stuffed the stat sheet once again. Alfonso Soriano went 3-for-4 with a home run and two stolen bases. The past two weeks he is batting .360 with six home runs and two stolen bases. If he keeps this up, he is going to get traded.
Left out in the breeze – You go out and throw a no-hitter, you are bound to regress, and that is exactly what happened to Homer Bailey last night. He lasted but 5.2 innings, surrendering four earned runs to the Brewers. Still, with another no-no under his belt, Bailey is having a stellar season. He faces the Braves in his next outing.
Who’s trending? – Highly touted prospect Grant Green made his debut last night, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. Though it is not the debut fantasy owners and the Athletics hoped for, he should play a key role for the Athletics going forward. Here is what rotowire.com has to say about Green.
Green will start at second base when the Athletics face a left-handed starter, MLB.com reports.Spin: Green was called up just Monday, when he will make his MLB debut in the starting lineup. In 352 at-bats at triple-A Sacramento this season, he hit .318/.374/.500 with 11 home runs, 49 at-bats, 61 runs scored, and four steals. While the output came in the hitter-friendly PCL, the 25-year-old could eventually push fellow infielder Eric Sogard for additional time at the keystone.
Bench me, please? – Is it time to bench Jon Lester? The Mariners rocked him last night. Lester managed just five innings while surrendering five earned runs on nine hits. Fastball velocity is down, strikeouts are down and the WHIP and ERA are atrocious. He is at Oakland in his next outing, so I think you’ve got to start him there. If he struggles, he would be on my bench until further notice.
The Streamer – New team for Ricky Nolasco and a whole new outlook for the veteran hurler. He takes on Arizona today, who he flat out dominated earlier in the season. I like the matchup and think Nolasco on the Dodgers could be a sneaky little pickup if you need pitching help going forward.
Links of the day – Links? Yeah, we got some links.
- Rotoexpert took to the streets of Twitter to answer some questions. Here are the responses.
- There were some injuries. Find out who and how long here.
- Need to know who is on the rise? Well these guys got you covered.
- Waiver-wire help? Look no further. Just click the link.
- Need cash? Want to play some free fantasy baseball games. Check this out.