| | | | Thursday, August 15, 2024 | | Wednesday is rankings update day at Fantasy Baseball Today. Scott White wrote about his biggest risers and fallers at each position Wednesday, highlighting, among others, George Kirby and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day Tuesday. And, I'll be honest, I agree with Scott: I didn't really even consider moving Kirby down after Tuesday's disaster. Sure, his ERA is kind of inflated right now, but I feel very confident that isn't going to become the norm for Kirby, who has mostly been a model of consistency this season. | | But Garrett Crochet certainly isn't getting the same benefit of the doubt, from either Scott or I. Scott wrote about why here, and if you keep scrolling in today's newsletter, you'll see that Crochet is one of the three biggest fallers in my rankings since my last update, which was a couple of weeks ago at this point. | | I've got five more players who made big moves in my rankings in the rest of today's newsletter, and you can see where everyone ranks in my latest rest-of-season rankings and trade values here. Let's get to that along with everything you need to know about from Wednesday's action right now: | | | | Rankings risers and fallers | | | | Three Up | | Zachary Neto, SS, Angels – Was: SS23; Now: SS15 | | Neto has had a pretty awesome couple of weeks, with four homers, three steals, 14 RBI, and eight runs since the start of August. But this isn't just about the past couple of weeks: Even before August, he was on a 20-homer, 29-steal pace. The counting stats were mediocre as he was primarily batting in the bottom half of the lineup, but he's hit second in 11 straight games now, so that's no longer an issue. Neto has taken a big step forward pretty much across the board and looks like a really solid option in all categories leagues, at the very least. | | Jake Burger, 3B, Marlins – Was: 3B27; Now: 3B17 | | Burger failed to build on last year's breakout and was one of the biggest busts in Fantasy in the first half of the season, hitting just .225/.265/.370 with just 10 homers. And yet, suddenly it looks like he might have a chance to finish with the kind of season we wanted him to have, thanks to a whopping 13 homers in 104 plate appearances since the All-Star break. I expect he'll cool down, and even in this hot streak, he's still striking out 28% of the time, worse than what he managed during his 2023 campaign. But if strikeouts are always going to be a problem, the least he can do is crush a bunch of homers. As locked in as he is right now, Burger's gotta be in your lineup in all formats right now. | | Adrian Del Castillo, C, Diamondbacks – Was: N/A; Now: C15 | | The thing about catchers in Fantasy is, that if you've got a pulse and eligibility at the position, you can be Fantasy relevant. But I think Del Castillo might be a whole lot more than Fantasy relevant, and he wasn't even on radars a few weeks ago. But he's looked pretty great in his first taste of the majors, with eight hits in his first six games, including a couple of doubles and a homer. He was hitting .319/.403/.608 down in Triple-A, and before you just blame that on the inflated offensive environment of the PCL, his 144 wRC+ was by far the best of any catcher with at least 200 PA; there is only one other catcher in the PCL with a wRC+ over 120. Given the consistently sorry state of the position, I'm willing to be aggressive with anyone who has upside; it might work out like Ben Rice or Ivan Herrera, two other players who similarly flashed, but I'm willing to take that chance. | | And I just want to shout out Austin Wells, who only jumped up from 13 at catcher to 12 in this latest update, but who has been one of the biggest risers of the past month and a half, as he is hitting .316 with seven homers and 25 RBI over his past 25 games, primarily while serving as the Yankees cleanup hitter, with the underlying metrics to back it up. | | | | Three Down | | Francisco Alvarez, C, Mets – Wa: C8; Now: C10 | | I ranked Alvarez pretty aggressively earlier in the summer, and that one blew up in my face. He's hitting just .175/.212/.254 since the All-Star break, and it's gotten a lot harder to ignore the complete lack of power here now that the batting average skills have collapsed. It's worth keeping in mind that Alvarez missed time with a torn UCL in his thumb earlier in the season and has battled a shoulder issue recently, so I certainly don't want to bury him long-term. But I expected Alvarez to take off in the second half, and he's done the exact opposite, to the point where he's not a must-roster player in one-catcher leagues. | | Garrett Crochet, SP, White Sox – Was: SP51; Now: SP61 | | I don't want to tell you to drop Garrett Crochet, but at this point, I can't really tell you not to with a straight face. I try to focus only on the quantifiable, on-field stuff as much as possible in my analysis, but it's hard not to think that Crochet's season has kind of been derailed by all the drama surrounding him at the deadline. The White Sox are a mess, and they really don't have anything to gain by pushing Crochet down the stretch, so I wouldn't be surprised if we learn about a shutdown looming if he continues to struggle. He hasn't gone more than four innings in any start since June and has a 6.98 ERA over his past six starts. Would I be shocked if he went on another run where he looks like an ace? Certainly not, because I do believe in the talent. But I don't see how anyone could expect it at this point. | | Jhoan Duran, RP, Twins – Was: RP7; Now: RP16 | | I still mostly have faith that Duran can be an elite pitcher, but he just went almost a month without recording a save, so I'm not sure how much it matters. Now, to be fair, it's not like there were a ton of saves to go around – between July 13 and Aug. 9, the Twins got just two saves, both by other pitchers. It doesn't appear as if Duran has just outright lost his job, or anything, but he's been less dominant than expected since coming back from a season-opening oblique injury and just isn't getting the usage right now. In Roto leagues, I'm probably still starting Duran, but in points leagues, he's no longer a must-roster reliever. | | | | News and Notes | | Jazz Chisholm was officially placed on the IL with a left elbow sprain. He's shut down from baseball activities and the team is still waiting on medical opinions, but I'd be surprised if we saw him back before September – Jon Heyman reported the Yankees are hopeful Jazz will be back in 3-4 weeks. The team recalled Oswald Peraza , who was on fire over his last 20 games at Triple-A. He's a name to keep an eye on for deeper leagues. | | Julio Rodriguez left early due to a right ankle injury, the same one he was just on the IL with. This might just be an issue that dogs him the rest of the way. | | Ketel Marte remained out of the lineup again with that low-grade left ankle sprain, but it's still not expected to land him on the IL at this point. | | Ronel Blanco was removed from his start Wednesday after getting hit in the left index finger by a comebacker. He was rolling with four strikeouts over six shutout innings prior to the injury, and X-rays came back negative, so hopefully this ends up being just a minor bump in the road. | | Tyler Glasnow's next start will be pushed back to Saturday against the Cardinals. He was originally slated to start Friday but the Dodgers wanted to get Glasnow an extra day of rest. | | Bruce Bochy said Max Scherzer is feeling "really good" after receiving a nerve injection. Scherzer is on the IL with right shoulder fatigue. | | Reynaldo Lopez is tentatively expected to rejoin the Braves' rotation on Tuesday against the Phillies. | | Twins manager Rocco Baldelli wouldn't rule out a trip to the IL for Byron Buxton. The MRI on Buxton's hip came back negative, but apparently, he's still feeling sore. | | Nathan Eovaldi has been cleared to start Saturday against the Twins. He suffered a low-grade right oblique strain in his previous start. | | Ryan Pepiot is scheduled to be activated and start Friday against the Diamondbacks. He's been out the past month with an infection in his right knee. | | Jorge Soler was removed Wednesday due to left hamstring tightness. His removal was described as precautionary. | | The Rockies placed Elias Diaz on outright waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the Rockies may keep him on the active roster or outright him to Triple-A. If that happens, Jacob Stallings will likely become the main catcher, and Hunter Goodman could see some opportunities – both could be Fantasy relevant as streamers when the Rockies are at Coors Field. | | Apparently, the Marlins told Sandy Alcantara he will not be traded and they expect him to be their Opening Day starter in 2025. | | Wednesday's standouts | | Cole Ragans, Royals @MIN: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K – Ragans averaged 95.3 mph with his fastball in this one, his first start over 95.0 in more than a month. That's a great sign, given looming concerns about his innings piling up . It hadn't really impacted Ragans performance too much, as he had a 3.11 ERA in that span, with 40 strikeouts in 37.2 innings of work, but it was still good to see him get back on track with a dominant turn here. | | Tanner Houck, Red Sox vs. TEX: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – The result here is a welcome sight for Houck, and it gives him two quality starts in a row. But I don't see a ton to be optimistic about overall with Houck, who now has just 22 strikeouts in 39 innings since the start of July; he's also walked 21 in that span. Houck has always done a great job of limiting hard contact, which has kept the floor high, but he just can't be the same kind of difference-maker he was early on without the strikeouts. And at this point, it's gone on long enough that I have real concerns about the bottom falling out entirely. | | Bryan Woo, Mariners @DET: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K – I've been pretty skeptical of Woo's success this season for a couple of reasons: Because he just couldn't manage to stay healthy, and because he just wasn't getting any strikeouts. Well, he's gone at least 6.2 innings in all three August starts now, while striking out 19 in 20.2 innings, and his three highest-pitch count starts have all come during that stretch. Granted, he still hasn't come close to 100 (his high is 92, and he threw 85 Wednesday) so it's not like he's a workhorse all of a sudden. And he still really doesn't have an effective, reliable swing-and-miss pitch outside of his fastball. But he looks healthier than he has all season, and his fastballs are legitimately elite pitches. I'm not sure there's ace upside until he finds a bendier pitch or two to put hitters away with more consistently, but I feel pretty good about starting Woo right now. | | Robbie Ray, Giants vs. ATL: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K – Woof. Ray looked pretty good in his first four starts prior to this one, striking out 33% of opposing batters with a 3.98 ERA, but this start just undid pretty much all of that good work. His velocity was down about one mph, and the lone ball in play allowed was hit 107.6 mph, so it's fair to say he just didn't have it in this one. And it's fair if it makes you wary of trusting him the next time out. But I still think Ray will be pretty useful the rest of the way, and I'm not looking to drop him. | | Mitch Keller, Pirates @SD: 5 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – Woof. That's now 15 earned runs in Keller's past two starts or the same amount he had surrendered in eight starts prior to that. Keller just kind of seems to go through stretches like this, where he just completely loses the ability to get outs, but he always seems to find the path back; last season, he had five different starts after the All-Star break where he allowed at least six runs, and didn't allow more than three in any other start. On the whole, you're usually going to be okay with Keller in your lineup, though you're going to have a tough choice with a two-start week against the Rangers and Reds on the way next week. | | Walker Buehler, Dodgers @MIL: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K – For his part, Buehler said he felt "closer than I did a couple months ago ," but it sure didn't show up in his results here. Now, in fairness, three of his four walks came on the first three batters of the game, as he threw just five of his first 17 pitches for strikes, so he did well to recover from there. Still, Buehler has given us basically no reason to believe in him this season, and tonight's start certainly didn't change that, as he generated just five swinging strikes on 87 pitches. My preference would be not to drop Buehler, but I can't give you anything concrete to point to that is worth being optimistic about. It's all just based on who Walker Buehler used to be. I understand if that's not enough for you. | | Martin Perez, Padres vs. PIT: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – Take notes, Paul Blackburn : This is how you do a revenge game. Perez dominated the team that recently traded him, and he did so by continuing to prioritize his curveball, a change made when he arrived in San Diego. It was his most-used pitch and generated five whiffs Wednesday. With a two-start week coming up against the Twins and Mets, Perez should continue to be a pretty valuable streamer, and he now has 21 strikeouts in 18.1 innings with a 1.96 ERA in three starts with the Padres. | | Jordan Montgomery, Diamondbacks vs. COL: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K – Montgomery got his curveball working again, and it led to eight of his 22 whiffs in this one. It's probably the best he's looked in what has otherwise been a pretty dreary season for the veteran, though it's worth noting that he did it against a Rockies team that is one of the best matchups in baseball away from Coors Field. So, I don't think we can just go ahead and say Montgomery is back or anything. But we'll take any positive signs we can get. | | Alex Cobb, Guardians vs. CHC: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – Cobb was better this time than his first time out, but he still didn't give us much to be excited about, with just four whiffs to go along with the three strikeouts. I think he can get there and end up pretty useful, but he isn't someone who needs to be rostered when he isn't giving us good results. | | DJ Herz, Nationals @BAL: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K – I kinda think Herz might be pretty good, at least when he's consistently throwing strikes, something he's done for the most part over the past month and a half. Over the past seven starts, Herz has walked 12 in 33.2 innings while striking out 41. He isn't going consistently deep into those starts, which limits just how useful he can be, but I don't mind using him for a two-start week against the Rockies away from Coors Field and the Braves next week. | | Pete Alonso, 1B, Mets – As a soon-to-be 30-year-old who can only play first base, Alonso's impending free agency was always going to be interesting, but it looked like he might be heading toward a frigid market when he finished the first half of the season with a .772 OPS. However, he's hitting .269/.370/.559 since the All-Star break with a 40-plus homer pace after going 4 for 4 with a home run Wednesday, so at least he's on track to finish the season strong. | | Adolis Garcia, OF, Rangers – Garcia ended a 15-game homerless streak with two Wednesday night, and he's now hitting .303 over the past 20 games. It's been a rough season, but Garcia has always been pretty streaky, and his underlying numbers haven't looked so off that I ever really lost faith in him figuring things out. I just worried the clock would run out on the season before he did. Thankfully, it looks like that's not happening. | | TJ Friedl, OF, Reds – Friedl isn't a star, but he's been exactly the kind of useful starter you hoped for since his return from the IL, as his two-homer game Wednesday brought him to .258 with an .858 OPS and five homers in 19 games since then. The one disappointment is that he hasn't attempted a steal in that time, which seems like a likely side effect of the hamstring injury that landed him on the IL. He's fringier when he doesn't run, but Friedl should at least be useful when he plays at home. | | Jonah Bride, 3B, Marlins – Bride has homered four times in the month of August and is hitting .276/.381/.471 for the season, emerging as one of the real bright spots in a tough season for the Marlins. But I don't see much reason to buy into it outside of NL-only leagues. His underlying numbers don't back it up at all – he has a .356 wOBA and a .308 xwOBA for the season – and Bride is a 28-year-old who had an OPS below .600 in each of his prior two tastes of the majors. Outside of the very deepest leagues, I think you can safely continue to ignore him. | | | | | | | | Canadian Football League | | We Need To Talk | Don't miss back-to-back-to-back days of Canadian Football on CBS Sports Network, starting with the Montreal Alouettes vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders at 9 PM ET on Friday, then the Edmonton Elks vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 7 PM ET on Saturday, and finally Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. BC Lions at 7 PM ET on Sunday.
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