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Thursday, June 10, 2021
Raise your hand if you started Tony Gonsolin for his season debut against the Pirates. Hopefully none of you raised your hand! It was a rough start for Gonsolin, where he walked five and could not escape the second inning -- against the Pirates of all teams. Despite this, you should continue to hold Gonsolin, who has top-40 SP upside. In fact, go send a lowball offer right now.
Seven players hit multiple home runs on Wednesday. The most important double-homer day came off the bat of Tyler O'Neill, which you can read about below. However, another came from Giancarlo Stanton, which was a welcome sight. Enter Wednesday's action, Stanton was just 4 for 29 with a 36% strikeout rate since returning from the IL. We know Stanton is one of the streakier players in the league, so hopefully this is something that could spark him moving forward. 
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Is Miguel Andujar a must add?
It has been a long road back for Yankees OF Miguel Andujar, but boy is he on fire now. Despite being just 22% rostered in CBS leagues, Andujar now has five home runs over his last eight games. He also has a career-high 46.3% hard hit rate. Perhaps most importantly of all, he has now started 10 of the last 11 games for the Yankees, and that seems to be a trend that will stick. Still, Scott White remains skeptical because of Andujar's plate discipline this season. He can be added in five-outfielder leagues, but Andujar is not a must-roster everywhere yet.
O'Neill continues to scorch the earth
Wednesday night was a double-homer day for Cardinals OF Tyler O'Neill and at this point, he's a near-lock to be a top-40 outfielder the rest of the season in any format. O'Neill collected three hits and is now batting .291 with a whopping 15 homers and a .974 OPS on the season. He has averaged 3.2 Fantasy points per game -- tied for the 18th-most among all outfielders. We wrote about O'Neill extensively last week and he is now 84% rostered, but if you're in one of the 16% of leagues where he's available, you just found yourself a source of power for the rest of the season.
Scott is a bit less optimistic about O'Neill and has some long-term doubts. He doesn't doubt his power, but he thinks it's unreasonable to expect him to barrel balls at his current rate -- or anywhere close. If that rate comes down then his total numbers should come down considering he sports a troublesome strikeout rate. Scott is selling him as a top-40 OF rest of season and considers him one of Fantasy's best sell-high candidates.
More news and notes
  • Reds SP Sonny Gray went on the IL with a right groin strain. He's set to miss at least two weeks. 
  • Royals SS Adalberto Mondesi took batting practice and did some other work Tuesday. He remains without a timetable after going on the IL with a hamstring injury.
  • Rangers closer Ian Kennedy was placed on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Josh Sborz has consistently been the eighth inning man during save opportunities. One of my favorites, Demarcus Evans, has been just OK since being called up. Who gets their next save?
  • Rockies SS Trevor Story is likely to be activated Thursday against the Marlins.
  • Mets manager Luis Rojas said that Carlos Carrasco is no longer throwing off a mound. Apparently, Carrasco hasn't suffered a setback but is working on regaining his strength in his hamstring before he ramps up his intensity. That sure sounds like optimistic manager speak.
  • Twins DH Nelson Cruz was back in the lineup Wednesday, though his knee is still not 100%.
  • Red Sox OF Alex Verdugo was out of the lineup due to back tightness and this is something he has consistently dealt with the past couple of seasons. 
  • Rangers OF Joey Gallo was out due to right groin tightness.
  • Marlins 1B/OF Garrett Cooper went to the IL with a lumbar strain. First base prospect Lewin Diaz was recalled but isn't expected to get much playing time.
  • Blue Jays C Alejandro Kirk served as the designated hitter at extended spring training Wednesday. He's on the IL with a left hip flexor strain.
  • Brewers 2B Kolten Wong is expected back before the end of June.
  • Cardinals SS Paul DeJong is likely to be activated Friday.
Cole's sticky situation
All eyes were on Yankees SP Gerrit Cole on Wednesday night after he was reluctantly cast as the face of baseball's foreign sticky substances forefront. Cole also matched up against a Twins team with Josh Donaldson -- the same Donaldson who made comments about Cole's alleged usage of foreign substances to increase the spin rate on his pitches.
So how did Cole do in light of the pressure and increase coverage? He was fine, but with a few notable differences. Cole pitched six innings of two-run ball and allowed just five hits with no walks. He struck out nine batters through just six innings, which is excellent, but he only induced nine swinging strikes on 94 pitches. That's way down for him. He also allowed a 92.3 mph average exit velocity (league average is about 89 mph) -- which is not great. Most importantly though, the spin rate dropoff while down some was nothing egregious.
Considering his spin rate was more or less fine in this start, and he still struck out nine (while only giving up two runs on homers), it doesn't make too much sense to panic and sell right now. 
Buy or sell
Astros 3B Alex Bregman blasted his seventh homer on Wednesday. Tonight excluded, in his last 92 games since the start of last season (mind you he was hurt last year), Bregman has hit .268 with 12 homers. That's just 19 home runs over a 150-game pace. Buy or sell that Bregman is living off the juiced balls in 2019: BUY!
Astros SS Carlos Correa has been awesome recently and has great lineup context but also the injury history. He collected two hits on Wednesday and he's hit .351 with five homers in his last 15 games. He has batted No. 2 in the order for seven straight games. Buy or sell on Correa: BUY!
Rangers OF Adolis Garcia is cooling down big time. In his last 15 games, he's hit .228 with a .605 OPS. While he still has two homers and two steals over that 15-game span, it seems like he's finally coming back down to earth. Buy or sell trading Garcia while you can: BUY!
Red Sox SP Nathan Eovaldi in his first three starts: 2.08 ERA. And in his most recent 10 starts: 4.75 ERA. Buy or sell that Eovaldi is droppable: SELL (no exclamation, because this is a fringe one). I'll break the tie and call this a sell but just make sure you manage which matchups you start him in.
Rockies SP Austin Gomber went five scoreless with 10 strikeouts against the Marlins. In his last eight starts  he has a 2.59 ERA with 48 Ks to just four walks over 45.1 IP. He's 59% rostered. Buy or sell that Gomber is a must add: SELL (he's not worth using the half of his starts that come at Coors Field).
Streaming options
Thursday
  • Mariners SP Justus Sheffield at DET
  • Royals SP Mike Minor at OAK
  • Rockies SP Chi Chi Gonzalez at MIA
  • Twins SP JA Happ vs. NYY
  • Giants SP Anthony DeSclafani at WAS
  • Tigers SP Tyler Alexander vs. SEA
Friday
  • Orioles SP Keegan Akin at TB
  • Red Sox SP Garrett Richards vs. TOR
  • Diamondbacks SP Merrill Kelly vs. LAA
  • Royals SP Brady Singer at OAK
  • A's SP/RP Cole Irvin vs. KC
 
 
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