Fantasy Baseball Thoughts: Week 8

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Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone. I myself am a little hopped on Ale and S’mores as I write this, but I’ll try to keep it together long enough to pass on some helpful fantasy baseball thoughts from the past week. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend and remember the early starts tomorrow for setting your lineup.

Batters:

• Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis decided to have a little measuring competition this week.
• Edwin Encarnacion is back on pace to flirt with a 40 HR season, which is nice.
• The Panda is officially out of hibernation. Pablo Sandoval and is taking advantage of his contract year, mixed in with the magical age of 27 year, topped off with a little weight watchers/best shape of his career year.
• Hunter Pence was probably drafted a little too high this year, but this week’s return quieted his doubters.
• I mentioned George Springer in last week’s recap but in case you didn’t read that, Springer needs to be added now. Only owned 58% of Yahoo leagues? C’mon people.
• Jurickson Profar was shut down this week and it is looking like he we have zero fantasy relevance this year.
• Who would have thought we would be saying the same thing about Profar’s teammate Prince Fielder. Sadface.
• Lonnie Chisenhall? Pass.
• Chris Colabello’s five minutes of fantasy fame are officially over as he was optioned to AAA this past week.
• Thinking about adding Garrett Jones? I think you would be better off adding Adam LaRoche.
• Jose Reyes stole five bases this past week, and he didn’t pull a hammy in the process. Weird. Might be a good time to sell high, you know, before he spikes himself.
• Mike Trout’s bat is back, but he tweaked his hammy this week, which will probably hurt is SB production in the near future.
• Nolan Arenado will be out of your lineup for likely a month. If you want a somewhat of a buy low option at 3B, give Pedro Alvarez a look. His Power numbers are good, he is actually stealing bases this year, and his BABIP of .226 suggests he is dealing with a bit of bad luck even with the solid numbers he is posting.

Pitchers:

• Josh Beckett threw his first no-no of his career. Beckett has adapted quite well to his loss of velocity over the years. He now throws his curveball more than any other pitch, 30%, and it is obviously working for him. His 3.66 xFIP is solid and has allowed more than 2 runs on just 3 of his nine starts this year. Tip of the cap to you Mr. Beckett, you are only owned in 48% of Yahoo leagues and you fantasy relevant. With that said, his fantasy value is probably at his peak, so if you are one of those that already own him, you might want to see what you can get for him. Will Meadows profiled him here.
• Rafael Montero had double digit K’s yesterday for the Mets. His numbers do not exactly scream add me, and the numbers do not lie unless you are in an NL or 16+ team format. In all other formats, keep an eye on him and his matchups as a stream option.
• Corey. Kluber. I was worried about how he would pitch after hyping him last week. I hyped Dan Straily at one point this year and that was quickly followed by a demotion to AAA.
• The Jeff Samardzija trade rumors are starting to heat up. Depending on your league set up, a Samardzija trade could be good or bad. This guy has not pitched under pressure at any point in his career and his current ERA and WHIP are due to inflate regardless of whether he stays or goes. If you own him, I might try selling him.
• Julio Teheran has officially reached “Ace” status.
• Ryan Vogelsong is back. A great piece from fellow Crackerjack Michael Dixon break’s down Vogelsong in greater detail, but I agree that it is time to buy Vogelsong.
• Dallas Keuchel is like a honey badger as he just doesn’t care, as in he doesn’t care that he is an Astro, and neither should you; add him immediately!
• Anyone else over spend on Tony Cingrani in an auction format?
• Zach Britton is the guy you want to add as the closer in Baltimore. His resume is similar to that of disabled Tommy Hunter, former starter who now throws harder coming out of the pen. So far, Britton’s numbers are worthy of more trust than Hunter.
• Jenrry Mejia is the guy you want to add as the closer for the Mets. I think Mejia is the eight…teenth closer the Mets have had this season, but I actually like him in this role. If you need saves, why not.