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| Wednesday, May 19, 2021 |
| It seems like every day is wacky day in the world of baseball, but Tuesday took it to another level. On top of the Mike Trout injury and yet another no-hitter (this time by Spencer Turnbull), we had a three-homer game and some nice bounce-back performances. |
| We know what Miguel Sano is capable of when he's on. He's one of maybe a handful of players that can has the raw power to hit 50 home runs if he ever stayed healthy. Well, he put together a three-homer game and is still available in nearly 50% of CBS leagues if you're in need of power. |
| On the bounce-back front, nobody needed it more than Luis Castillo. And what's funny is that his final line wasn't even that great. He allowed three runs over five innings but did so with a season-high 11 strikeouts and 21 swinging strikes. The fastball velocity was up and the changeup was nearly back to normal. We needed to something, anything positive from Castillo on Tuesday, and this was it. |
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| Bad news for Trout |
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| Last night we discussed Angels DH/SP Shohei Ohtani as the Fantasy and real life MVP and grew concerned over OF Mike Trout potentially needing an IL stint, but we didn't know the extent of the injury at the time. Now we know it's worse than anticipated. Trout is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a Grade 2 calf strain and that should take us through the All-Star break. You can't cut Trout from your roster no matter how shallow the league or how short the bench spots are because he's still likely to give you 2.5 months of elite production down the stretch, but his extended absence will have a ripple effect. |
| Prior to the injury, Trout was batting .333 with eight home runs, 18 RBI, two stolen bases, and 23 runs scored through 36 games despite slowing down a bit in May after a torrid start in April. |
| The Angels have two OF prospects in Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh at Triple-A, but neither seems ready -- Adell has a 40% K rate, while Marsh just returned from an injury and has eight strikeouts in five games. If I had to choose one, I actually think Marsh would get the call first, but both Scott and I aren't banking on production from either, even if they're called up. |
| If you need a Trout replacement in the OF, these are the three players we would look to snap up off your waiver wire now who are rostered in fewer than 70% of leagues: |
| Texans OF Willie Calhoun: Calhoun is batting .287 with five homers. Tigers OF Robbie Grossman: Grossman is only batting .245 but with a .382 OBP, four homers and seven steals. Reds OF Tyler Naquin: Naquin has been a nice surprise, batting .265 with nine homers and 27 RBI. |
| In deeper leagues (rostered in fewer than 30% of leagues): |
| Red Sox OF Hunter Renfroe: Batting .283 with four homers and an .817 OPS Cardinals OF Harrison Bader: Has played 16 games -- batting .283 with four homers and two steals . Cleveland OF Josh Naylor: Batting .268 with three homers and a .781 OPS. |
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| Turnbull turns in a no-hitter |
| Tigers SP Spencer Turnbull wasn't viewed as much more than a borderline streaming option on Tuesday, so go figure he was the SP to throw a no-hitter. Turnbull was brilliant; in the process of his no-no, he racked up nine strikeouts and allowed just two walks, including one in the ninth inning. Turnbull's no-hitter came after he went 6 1/3 and allowed just one earned run in his previous start. |
| Chris Towers had the perfect Tweet to sum up the changes we've seen as we witness another no-hitter and the league-wide hitting drought: "If you count Bumgarner's, and you should, there have been as many no-hitters this season as five-hit games by a hitter. Between 2016 and 2020, there were 113 five-hit games by hitters and 11 no-hitters." |
| More news and notes |
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| Brewers OF Christian Yelich returned on Tuesday and was batting third as the designated hitter. Mets SP Jacob deGrom felt good following a bullpen session Tuesday, but the Mets wouldn't commit to activating him off the IL when first eligible on Friday. Dodgers OF Cody Bellinger is scheduled to join Triple-A Oklahoma City for a rehab assignment this weekend. Padres SS Fernando Tatis could return from the COVID IL on Wednesday. Diamondbacks SP Luke Weaver was placed on the IL with shoulder discomfort. Corbin Martin was recalled and started Tuesday against the Dodgers. Martin was the main piece in the Zack Greinke trade back in 2019. Cardinals OF Tyler O'Neill was placed on the IL with a fractured left middle finger. Yankees SS Gleyber Torres is joining the Yankees and could start Wednesday. Cleveland SS Andres Gimenez was demoted to Triple-A. Amed Rosario has started six of the last seven games for Cleveland. Marlins SP Sixto Sanchez increased his throwing to 120 feet off flat ground. He remains at least a month away. Marlins OF Starling Marte resumed hitting off a pitching machine. Mid-June seems like a realistic timetable. Marlins SP Elieser Hernandez began a rehab assignment Tuesday. He's 40% rostered. Mets OF Kevin Pillar landed on the IL with multiple facial fractures after getting hit by a pitch in the face on Monday. Cameron Maybin was acquired by the Mets. Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo left Tuesday with a tight lower back. Yankees C Gary Sanchez left with an apparent leg injury. Mets SP Taijuan Walker's MRI came back clean after he left Monday's start with left side tightness. Phillies SS Didi Gregorius was placed on the IL with a right elbow impingement. Twins SP Michael Pineda was scratched from his start Tuesday as he had a procedure to remove an abscess from his thigh. He could resume throwing Thursday. Cardinals SP Carlos Martinez could return for the Cardinals this weekend or early next week. Reds OF Nick Senzel was absent from Tuesday's lineup with a sore knee. |
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| Rankings risers |
| Marlins 2B Jazz Chisholm went 2 for 5 with his fifth homer in his long-awaited return from the IL. Courtesy of MLB.com's Andrew Simon, there have been two home runs hit on pitches of at least 100 mph this season and Chisholm has both. Scott already had Chisholm as a bona fide top-10 2Bmoving forward and I couldn't agree more. He's going to continue stealing bases at a high rate, and in Roto leagues that is invaluable. Phillies SP Zack Wheeler in his last start vs. MIA: 7 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 10 K, 0 BB, 17 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. He now has a 2.52 ERA and 0.99 WHIP and has gone six-plus innings in seven of his nine starts. I'm moving him up the rankings as noted in the header above, but you could make the argument to move him up to SP15. Cardinals 3B Nolan Arenado has homered in four straight games and is now up to 10 homers while batting .307 with a .944 OPS. I guess everyone did overreact to him moving out of Coors Field. Blue Jays SP Hyun Jin Ryu in his most recent start vs. BOS: 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 10 swinging strikes on 100 pitches. His ERA is now down to 2.51 with a 0.99 WHIP and 3.04 xFIP. Cubs INF Nico Hoerner went 3 for 4 with three singles and two runs scored and is still just 50% rostered. We both believe he needs to be rostered in a lot more leagues. Scott can see him as being a better version of Tommy Edman. Giants SP Anthony DeSclafani had a nice revenge game at CIN: 7 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 12 swinging strikes on 107 pitches. He has allowed one run or less in six of nine starts and his ERA down to 2.03, plus his WHIP is 0.92. Underneath the hood, the stats are just as good. DeScalfani had a 54% GB rate with an 11% swinging strike rate entering this start -- both are career-highs. Scott sees him as a solid mid-range option the rest of the way. |
| Streaming options |
| Wednesday |
| Reds SP Wade Miley vs. SF Red Sox SP Garrett Richards at TOR Royals SP Brad Keller vs. MIL Tigers SP Tarik Skubal at SEA Twins SP Matt Shoemaker vs. CWS Cubs SP Jake Arrieta vs. WAS |
| Thursday |
| Rangers SP Dane Dunning vs. NYY Giants SP Johnny Cueto at CIN Braves SP Drew Smyly vs. PIT Phillies SP Vince Velasquez vs. MIA Astros RP/SP Luis Garcia at OAK A's RP/SP Cole Irvin vs. HOU |
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