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) – For many, Justin Verlander has been a bit of a disappointment, but last night, he took a big step toward correcting that. Verlander threw seven innings of shutout baseball while piling up five strikeouts. This is a time many are talking buy and sell. The buy list should begin with Justin Verlander. Look for him to have a monster second half.
Mr. Clutch (hitter) – Austin Jackson had a monster game last night, going 4-for-5 with a home run. While you do not own him for his speed or power, his true value is his scoring ability. He has scored 51 runs on the season with a solid .296 batting average. Detroit is going to score, and Jackson is going to continue to cross the plate all season long.
Surprise, surprise! – Jose Quintana may of had the game of his life last night. He went seven innings, allowing zero runs and striking out 11, but his bullpen blew the win for him. While this is a huge surprise, don’t expect it to continue the rest of the season. This is only his third quality start in his past 10 games.
Here comes the heat – Eric Hosmer continues to sizzle, going 2-for-4 with a home run in last night’s contest. In the past 30 days, he is fifth overall on ESPN’s player rater and now has nine home runs on the season. Can he get to 20? If Hosmer keeps this up, his resurgance will be one of the better stories in the second half of the season.
Left out in the breeze – Giancarlo Stanton continues to underwhelm fantasy owners going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts last night. He only has one home run in the past 10 games, with eight total on the season. This is coming from a guy with 40-homer power potential. You start to wonder if the knee issue has sapped some of that power ability from the budding superstar.
Who’s trending? – Alex Rodriguez? Alex Rodriguez is trending? Seems like owners are fishing at the bottom of the barrell for waiver wire pickups. Let’s see what rotowire.com has to say.
Rodriguez (hip) was 0-for-2 in his second rehab game for Low-A Charleston on Wednesday, and plans to join high-A Tampa on Friday for further rehab games, the New York Post reports. Spin: Rodriguez hasn’t looked great at the plate so far, but he did start a double play at third base Wednesday. It’s too early to tell what kind of production Rodriguez will put up when he returns to the majors, but he’s certainly an interesting lottery ticket if he’s still available in your league and you have the roster spot.
Bench me, please? – Yesterday, I debated on buying Justin Upton. His brother B.J. Upton, however, is a different story. Yesterday’s 0-for-4 performance pushed his batting average all the way down to .196 on the season. I do not see any resurgance coming from this Upton. Buy the other Upton, but kick B.J. to the curb.
The Streamer – It’s a tough matchup, but I am taking young upstart Jacob Turner against the St. Louis Cardinals. In his six starts this season, five of them have been quality starts. With a 1.76 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, how could you not pick up Turner to stream?
Links of the day – You can thank me later for these links of wisdom.
- This is the post to go to if you’re looking for some insight on closers.
- Trade Mark Trumbo? Keep Mark Trumbo? Here’s what to expect from Mark Trumbo in the second half.
- Rotoballer.com has daily updates if you’re a waiver-wire watcher.
- Not happy with where you are in your standings? Then you need to tweak at the halfway point.