The Royals called up Jake Odorizzi, which means nothing really for this year. He will start next weekend vs. the Indians, and that could be a spot start in some fantasy leagues, but this is more for 2013. Or, since it’s the Royals, this is Moore for 2013. In order to be protected from a Rule 5 draft, the Royals had to call him up. I don’t think this means we see Odorizzi in the rotation to start next year, but he’ll be in the mix for the last spot. Knowing the Royals, they’ll find someone like Randy Wolf or Carl Pavano for that last spot. Jeremy Guthrie’s run with the Royals this year is the worst thing that could’ve happened for Royals fans. Now ownership can get another half-dead veteran pitcher and sell it to their fans as another reclamation projection that could yield Guthrie-like results, when we all know Guthrie’s results don’t even mean Guthrie could do that again, let alone the invariable Blanton-esque signing. Forget it, Jake, it’s the Royals fans’ agita-town. In Triple-A this year, Odorizzi had a 2.93 ERA and just over a 7 K-rate. He’s not the crazy/sexy/cool-type prospect like Trevor Bauer. He’s not going to strikeout a hitter an inning and Happy Ending your fantasy draft with a sleeper ace. He’s more a fantasy number three to four-type arm with good control, which in the short term is actually more valuable because there won’t be huge peaks and valleys. We’ll probably see him at the start of June in 2013 if the Mayans forget to pull the plug on all us in December. For deep keeper leagues, I’d grab him, hoping for a 2013 line of 3.85/1.28 and 95 Ks in 120 major league innings. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Brandon Morrow – 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 3 Ks vs. the Po’ Sawx. The other day Bobby Valentine said this was the weakest roster in the history of the Red Sox. Then yesterday he said no offense was meant. Hey, just like the lineup. Be interesting to see how low Bobby will go to get the Red Sox to fire him. Urinating in public? Racist comments? Publicly questioning Larry Bird’s greatness?
Dustin Pedroia – 2-for-4, after he returned to the lineup on Saturday, following the birth of his 2nd son and the chasing of his brother out of the hospital.
Pedro Ciriaco – 1-for-3 and his third straight game with a steal. I wonder if him and Dustin ever sit in the clubhouse with the call and answer chant, “I a Pedro…Pedro I a…” Probably not.
Adam Dunn – 2-for-4 with his 39th homer. Member how on Friday I said Dunn was a drop? Well, welcome to the world of late-September baseball. One day he’s out for ten days and the next day he’s back in the lineup hitting. Just when you think he’s done, he’s Dunn.
Dayan Viciedo – 2-for-4, 3 RBIs with his 21st homer and .253. He’s only going to be 24 years old for the start of next year, and he’s got me interested, but he has 23 walks to his 111 strikeouts. His homers to walk ratio is right up Andre Dawson’s creek, leaving him more attractive than James Van Der Beek, but not quite at Joey’s level.
Joe Mauer – 2-for-3 with his 10th homer as he returned to the lineup. That year he hit 28 homers seems like it was a lifetime ago. Only the lifetime of a pet guinea pig, but a lifetime nevertheless.
Ryan Braun – 2-for-4 and two solo homers, his 39th and 40th. If you lose your fantasy league to someone with Ryan Braun on their team, tell them you sent them their fantasy winnings via FedEx.
Norichika Aoki – 2-for-3 with 2 steals of third off of Chris Young. Was hard to see what kind of lead he had off of 2nd, because the behind-home-plate cameras had an obstructed view.
Wily Peralta – 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 5 Ks. As previously mentioned, Peralta had nice Ks in the minors, but a below average ERA. He could be an interesting name for next year if he breaks camp with the club. Could be one of those slightly out of nowhere types like Lance Lynn was in the first half of the year, though slightly less out of nowhere because I’m pointing it out now.
Ernesto Frieri – So, how was your weekend? Guessing better than Frieri’s. Unless Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is reading this. His weekend might’ve been worse. BTW, I’ve seen better production value in student short films. Are we supposed to see the rubber band from the fake beard? On Saturday, Fieri forked over Greinke’s game and gave the Royals an epic comeback win. On one pitch, a two-run homer to Moobs, then three pitches later a walk-off homer to Salvador Perez. The nurturing Sciosciapath decided to go to Jepsen for the save on Sunday. Frieri’s still the closer, according to the Angels, but they have a lot of decent fall back options and I wouldn’t be surprised if Walden, the once future closer that lost the job after one blown save, gets a chance to save a game or two.
Anthony Rizzo – 3-for-5, 3 runs, 6 RBIs and 2 homers. You know what I see when I see that line? Rizzo’s 2013 draft selection going up two rounds. If you thought Yahoo was bonkers about Dee Gordon this year, pushing him into the top 7 rounds, forget about Rizzo.
Matt Moore – 3 IP, 5 ER vs. the Yankees, which comes after a start where he only lasted into the 4th inning vs. the Orioles. He might be going through a dead arm period, which isn’t good for pitching, but is great for doing The Bernie Dance.
Starling Marte – 3-for-6, 1 run and RBI and 2 steals, 3 steals in this weekend series while going 6-for-13, which is almost .500. Look at the big brain on Grey, pointing out S. Marte.
Pedro Alvarez – 2-for-5, 5 RBIs and two homers, his 28th and 29th of the year. Sadly, he has no one to do the “I a Pedro, Pedro I a” chant with.
Daniel Straily – 4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 1 K. I don’t want to overrate only 5 starts and less than 30 innings in the majors, but he’s looking more like the guy that scouts weren’t that crazy about than the pitcher that came out of nowhere this year to lead the minor leagues in Ks.
Stephen Drew – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 2nd game in a row with a homer. I don’t think J.D., other members of the Drew family or Stephen Drew himself are able to get excited about Stephen’s prospects, but he looks like he’s hot.
Matt Wieters – 2-for-3, 3 runs and 2 solo homers, his 2oth and 21st. Pretty impressive how he’s now had two years in a row that seem completely useless and end up useful. Not easy to pull off. Maybe in the offseason I’ll do a Useless Actually Useful All-Star Team. Some headliners would be Wieters, Ike Davis, Desmond Jennings, Ryan Ludwick, to name a few.
Eduardo Nunez – 0-for-3 with 3 steals. The Brian L. Hunter cycle!
Clayton Kershaw – Was skipped on Sunday due to his hip being inflamed. First, by the Getty and now Kershaw’s hip… LA and its stupid fires! Hopefully, Kershaw not starting didn’t cost you your H2H playoff. This goes to me liking roto so much more than H2H. It’s not an accurate representation of baseball. And that crap about how H2H is like the baseball playoffs is bunk since in the playoffs, the players actually know they’re in the playoffs and they’re not resting for the real playoffs.
Stephen Fife – 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 9 Ks. You wanna diss the Fife, but you still don’t know the half. He showed pretty mediocre stuff in the minors. Okay, now you know the half.
Chris Carpenter – Set to start on Friday. Great, terrific, sarcastic excitement! I wouldn’t mess with him with fantasy championships on the line.
Koji Uehara – Recorded the one out save yesterday. The Rangers said Joe Nathan was unavailable on Friday due to workload issues. Then on Saturday, he was unavailable because, ya know, he was just chillaxin’, talking up the ladies, maybe doing a little sexting. Then on Sunday, the Rangers forgot he was their closer and, when reminded, they said Nathan was resting yet again. I get a sneaky suspicion that today the Rangers are going to say something like, “Joe Nathan has a sore something-or-other and could be out a week.” The Rangers are headed to the playoffs and probably just want Nathan as rested as possible. See what I said above about how the H2H playoffs are not an emulation of real playoffs? Yup.
Matt Harrison – 8 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks. Geez, the way he’s beating his xFIP he may as well have dumped Fangraphs Database’s sister to date someone who writes for Bleacher Report.
Justin Smoak – 2-for-3 with his 2nd homer in as many games while revisiting his old stomping grounds in Arlington. I’m the sure the last two days won’t keep him up nights about what could’ve been, but the Sliding Doors Smoak, who’s still the Rangers 1st baseman, has 35 homers and is headed to the playoffs.
Jose Valverde – 1/3 IP, 2 ER with his 5th blown save. I can’t wait for the playoffs so the always-informed, Tim McCarver, can call Valverde “reliable.” That’s if the Tigers make the playoffs with their “reliable” closer.
Alex Avila – He’s day-to-day, leaving yesterday’s game after Prince Fielder ran into him. Now Avila knows how the clubhouse refrigerator feels.
Andrew Werner – 5 IP, 5 ER. The Stream-o-Nator took his love of Hodgepadres on the chin in this one. This game in Petco had a total of 23 runs scored by the Rockies and Padres, as the Padres tried out those new wood-covered aluminum bats. This game gave me a good idea. MLB should allow steroids for every player that plays in a pitchers’ park. Will even out the playing field for hitters in Petco and Safeco. Imagine at the end of the year with clubs like the Marlins, who are out of it and also in a fairly neutral park (as long as you’re not offended by hideous art work). The Marlins can try to not score runs at home so they can juice up the following year. Of course for legal reasons, it wouldn’t be required so there would also be the fun of trying to figure who’s juicing and who’s not. John Buck has a 7 homer April and the speculation ramps up that he’s Javy Lopezing his way to 40 homers. Finally, Giancarlo can hit 80 homers in a year, and then takes a urine test right after number 80, showing he wasn’t even juicing.
Logan Forsythe – 4-for-6, 3 runs. You can’t stop the 1927 Padres, you can only hope they stumble into a vat of HGH cream so they keep this going.
Yonder Alonso – 4-for-5, 1 run, 2 RBIs. Fun fact! “Over Yonder Alonso” is the name of my bluegrass mariachi band with our smash hit, “My Mama Married A La Bambardier.”
Chase Headley – 2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 28th homer. Headley is a top 5 3rd baseman, according to our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. Zoinks!
Troy Tulowitzki – A Rockies beat writer said, “Tulowitzki is aiming to now return the final week of the season.” I’m not sure if he put the quotes around it because he’s quoting someone else or it’s supposed to be finger quotes because he doesn’t believe Tulo’s returning this year. I think it’s the latter.
Chris Nelson – 3-for-5, 2 runs. He’s now hitting over .500 in the last week. You, sir and four lady readers, are missing out on one of the hottest schmotatoes.
Justin Upton – 2-for-4 with his 2nd homer in as many games. C’mon, we want J-Upside at the best bargain basement price we can get him for in 2013. Now would be the time to NOT get hot (caps for emphasis, not aesthetics).
Patrick Corbin – 8 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 5 Ks and a bases-clearing triple. He’s showing more tools than the exhibitionist Siamese Twin that almost shares his name. He goes by, Pat….Rick.
