Eric Hosmer : Eric Hosmer went 4-5 with a run and two RBI Saturday in the Padres big win over the Cardinals. Hosmer was a disappointment in the first year of his big deal in Southern California (hardly a shock for those of you who follow the Rules of Engagement, i.e., never pay full price for a big money free agent in his first year in the new home). However, year two has been a different story. Through Saturday, Hosmer was hitting .297 with 13 dingers and 59 RBI. Extrapolate that out (yes, intellectually dishonest but still interesting) and you have a 26 HR/118 RBI campaign. Of course, the big question is what does the rest of the year hold? Well, there are a lot of good signs: strikeout rate down; contact rate up; hard hit rate up; ground ball rate down (though still too high); line drive rate up; and of course, the team is better and therefore affords more opportunity to score and drive in runs. Bottom line: I still think Hosmer is underrated and can be bought under value. Act accordingly. [Note, as I am hitting send to submit, I notice that Hosmer is 3-3 Sunday as he continues his hot hitting.]
John Means : John Means was good again Friday tossing five innings of shut out ball giving up just one hit (yes ONE hit) and striking out five. The outing dropped Means’ ERA to a sweet 2.50 and his WHIP to an equally appealing 1.10. Is he this good? No, no, no. You have to give the guy credit but all indicators say a correction is coming. Despite the 2.50 ERA, the xFIP is over double at 5.11. The BABIP of .254 is sure to rise and the strand rate of 82% is likely to fall. Moreover, the below average ground ball, first pitch strike and swinging strike rates all raise cause for concern. Finally, Means has been great at Camden Yards – something that is unlikely to continue as the summer heats up and he fails to keep the ball on the ground. Sell high while you can.
Ariel Jurado : Ariel Jurado pitched very well Thursday tossing seven shutout innings while striking out four. On the year, Jurado boasts an ERA under 4.00. Can he continue to provide quality innings? I would not count on it. Here are some of my concerns: Jurado strikes out fewer than six and a half per nine innings; he has a swinging strike rate under 8%; has an xFIP that is almost a run higher than his ERA; Texas will become an even worse place for pitchers as the summer wears on; and hitters have posted a hard hit rate of over 40% against him.With games this upcoming week against Mike Trout , Shohei Ohtani and the Angels followed by a date with the Twins, selling or benching Jurado is the only play.
Matthew Boyd : Matt Boyd struck out eleven in a losing cause Wednesday. On the year, Boyd has been even better than advertised striking out 129 in just over 101 innings. Unfortunately, the Tigers have been as bad as advertised causing Boyd to register just five wins. Will Boyd continue to succeed other than in the win category. All signs say yes. Boyd is throwing harder than last year, throwing more first pitch strikes, getting far more swinging strikes, inducing more ground balls, has an xFIP and FIP below his ERA, is allowing fewer line drives and inducing batters to chase outside of the zone far more often. Bottom line: Boyd is very good and will continue to be good. That said, he is not good enough for the Yankees to part with Gleyber Torres to get him. In fact, there is no pitcher in baseball I would trade Torres for but, I digress.
Brandon Workman : Last week, we wrote: “Brandon Workman got the W Friday for the BoSox. In fact, it was the third time in the last 10 days that Workman got a win. For those who think that is luck, think again. The manager has to use Workman in high leverage situations (i.e, close games) and Alex Cora does just that. Even without the wins, Workman has put up some nice stats: an ERA under 2.00 and a WHIP approaching 1.00. The advanced metrics support those numbers as he induces around 50% grounders and induces swings and misses around 12% of the time. For those in deep leagues, especially AL-only, Workman will work for you.” So, what does Workman do? He goes out and gets a win on Monday. And then, for good measure, gets a save on Tuesday. Yep, he is pitching in high leverage situations (and in a pen that is otherwise a mess). It will cost more than last week to roster Workman but still an investment to make.
Finally, the moment you have been waiting for (sort of) -- Schultz says: “This week Major League Baseball looked a bit like the National Football League. In an effort to see if there could be a way to abuse pitchers more severely than making them pitch in Colorado, MLB sent the Yankees and Red Sox to play in a little league field somewhere in England. Over the weekend, Boston scored three touchdowns but still fell short in surpassing the Yankees who bested them by one TD and a 2-point conversion. This seems like it will be an annual tradition, so it may behoove roto-owners to obey the new rule of "never start any pitcher pitching east of the Atlantic Ocean.
On the last day of the NFL season, Cleveland traveled to Baltimore with the home team scoring 26 points. This past weekend, Cleveland traveled to Baltimore and also gave up 26 points (well, runs - work with me here). Bizarrely, the Indians managed to win one of the games as the Orioles followed up back-to-back 13-0 wins (seriously, the Orioles ruined everyone's 13-run pools this weekend) by putting up a bagel on Sunday afternoon. The takeaway from this weekend should be that despite the occasional flashes of brilliance, the Indians' pitching staff is in shambles. The Tribe's plan to let Corey Kluber , Carlos Carrasco , Mike Clevinger , Trevor Bauer and Shane Bieber to be the fingers supporting a closing Brad Hand has been a fiasco. With the exception of the Beebs, tread circumspectly with any Indians' pitcher for the near future.”
Response: Yeah, I understand the business reason for sending MLB teams to Europe but I do not like it (though as Yankee fan, I love the two wins). As to the Indians, the injuries to Kluber, Carrasco and Clevinger are not their fault. The sad state of the outfield, well that is on them.