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| Wednesday, April 19, 2023 |
| Happy Wednesday, everyone! Tuesday's action was all about the veteran starting pitchers getting back on track between Chris Sale and Lucas Giolito. We also saw a glimpse of why so many are high on Rays pitching prospect Taj Bradley. We'll dive into more of Tuesday's action below while also peeling back the lid on some of the most worrisome starting pitchers from the first few weeks of the season, courtesy of Scott White. Finally, we'll tap into the players you want to be stashing on your benches now over some of the low upside players who might be occupying your bench spots at the moment. |
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| Sell high on Giolito and Sale? |
| It was a rough start to the season for Red Sox SP Chris Sale but that all changed this time around. Sale finally started to look like his old self against the Twins with six innings of three-hit ball. He allowed one earned run and two walks. He also struck out 11 and induced 19 swinging strikes with a 40% called swinging strike rate. His velocity was up 1 mph on all of his three main pitches with an average fastball velocity of 94.3 mph. The underlying numbers -- 83.6 mph average exit velocity against -- back up the breakout outing. But should you hold or sell high on Sale? Given his injury history and some of the inconsistencies in his pitching profile, now feels like a good time to try leverage the idea that Sale is back to one of your league-mates. |
| White Sox SP Lucas Giolito wasn't off to as slow of a start as Sale, but he also hasn't looked quite as sharp as he did on Tuesday in quite some time. The veteran was actually pulled from Tuesday's outing with a no-hitter intact through six innings against the Phillies . Giolito walked just one, struck out seven and finished with a 29% called swinging strike rate. Giolito is a hold for me with 23 strikeouts to just four walks through 21 innings. It's the command that has me buying into Giolito as a roster hold right now. |
| We analyzed both performances plus the two rookie pitchers we mention below on the Fantasy Baseball in 5 podcast. |
| Bradley flashes upside |
| Rays SP Taj Bradley flashed a bit of what has Fantasy managers so excited about him in what could've been an audition for a longer-than-expected stay at the major league level following the injury to Jeffrey Springs. His opponent was the Reds so we don't want to get too excited, but Bradley threw 5 1/3 shutout innings and allowed just three hits, one walk and struck out a whopping nine batters on just 84 pitches. Bradley is 69% rostered, and if we knew he was going to be up for the rest of the season we'd have a much higher opinion of his long-term upside. With Springs set to miss the remainder of the season with Tommy John surgery and a slew of pitchers in the Tampa rotation who are question marks from a health standpoint, now is a good time to buy on Bradley. |
| Three other SPs to consider scooping off waivers |
| Edward Cabrera turned in his first quality start of the season with six innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts. That's two solid starts in a row for Cabrera. He's 56% rostered with starts at ATL and vs. CHC next week. Eduardo Rodriguez had a tremendous start against the Guardians. Is he finally healthy and finally back? E-Rod threw eight shutout innings, allowed just four hits, struck out 10 batters and didn't walk a batter. He's 44% rostered with starts vs. BAL and at MIL next week. |
| Ken Waldichuk turned in his best start of the season against the Cubs. The Athletics prospect has a pretty strong pedigree and his five shutout innings were the best he's turned in all season. Waldichuk is 17% rostered with starts at LAA and vs. CIN next week. |
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| Miller gets the call |
| Make sure Athletics top pitching prospect Mason Miller is not still on your waiver wire. He'll make his debut against the Cubs today after making noise at Triple-A in his last start. He fired off five perfect innings with 11 strikeouts and averaged 100 mph on his fastball. Need I say more? |
| How about we call a friend. That's what Frank did earlier today. Here's what The Welsh texted Frank about Miller: "100+ FB. Saw him in the AFL. Hit 102. He's a flame thrower. Throws a cutter as his second pitch. Has a slider he throws a little and a changeup barely used. He's like a Hunter Greene type guy but does work on his FB. Problem is he has less than 30 career innings." |
| Miller is 21% rostered and will require a heavy dosage of FAB spending. He may be the closest thing we'll have this year in terms of call-ups to what Spencer Strider was last year. |
| Ranking IL stashes |
| Scott White recently broke down the most important IL stashes. It's a nice guide you can use in putting together trade offers that involve these players as we continue to add more and more to the IL. |
| Worrisome pitchers |
| Scott wrote about the concern level for several starters currently struggling on a roster near you. You can find that here. These pitchers caught my attention: |
| Alek Manoah, Blue Jays : "Only one of Alek Manoah's four starts has been anywhere close to decent, and even in that one, he issued four walks. In fact, walks seem to be the biggest issue for the burly right-hander, who's at 7.0 per nine innings this year compared to 2.3 last year. Otherwise, there are no major red flags. Overall, his velocity is down, but it's fluctuated with temperature and was back up in his latest outing, in which his average exit velocity was also a stellar 85.7 mph. Even so, he gave up seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. The word from the Blue Jays is that he's overcompensating right now, undermining his command, and since that's where his struggles are most evident, I'm inclined to believe in." |
| Miles Mikolas, Cardinals : "The one thing we can say for sure about Miles Mikolas is that he remains a consistent strike-thrower, having issued just 2.3 BB/9 with an even better strike percentage (67.8) than he had last year (66.6). The problem is that those strikes are getting crushed. So far, his average exit velocity is in the 17th percentile compared to the 65th percentile last year, and he's already allowed the hardest-hit ball of his Cardinals career. Factor in the added vulnerability of being a pitch-to-contact guy in a post-shift league, and he's just getting pummeled right now. If you want to look on the bright side, the input data (velocity, spin) on his individual pitches hasn't changed that much, but the upside probably isn't enough for you to stick it out with him." |
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| News & notes |
| Jeffrey Springs is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of this season. That also means he'll miss the first couple months of next season as well.Corbin Burnes suffered a left pectoral strain Monday but is hopeful he'll make his next start. The plan is for him to play catch on Wednesday. Carlos Rodon's back is "still barking" and he will undergo tests, according to Aaron Boone. He did say Rodon's arm is fine but now the back is an issue. Robbie Ray told reporters he's not quite ready to begin a throwing program, but that the progression on his left flexor strain has been good. He'll undergo an MRI later this week. Joe Musgrove will make his season debut Saturday in Arizona. Yu Darvish will be pushed back one day to Sunday. Jacob deGrom expects to make his next scheduled start despite leaving Monday with wrist soreness.Shohei Ohtani's next scheduled start has been moved up to Friday after throwing just 31 pitches Monday because of bad weather. Carlos Carrasco was placed on the IL with right elbow inflammation, retroactive to April 16.Dodgers catcher Will Smith is "days away" from being activated from the concussion IL, but it won't be Thursday as was previously mentioned.Mookie Betts was placed on the paternity list. James Outman led off Tuesday night. There was another report that Mookie could play shortstop upon his return. Alex Wood left Tuesday's start with a hamstring injury and will likely head to the IL.Dany Jimenez was placed on the IL with a strained right shoulder. Hunter Greene and the Reds agreed to a six-year, $53 million extension with a seventh-year club option. The deal buys out Greene's first two years of free agency.Harrison Bader will start a rehab assignment on Friday and Michael Brantley will begin one this Sunday. Josh Donaldson is still dealing with tightness in his hamstring and will be evaluated Wednesday. Ramon Laureano has missed two straight due to hamstring tightness. Joey Gallo is likely to make his return Wednesday against the Red Sox.Brett Baty was not in the lineup Tuesday night against lefty Clayton Kershaw. Both Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff had their rehab bumped up to Triple-A. |
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