There’s a lot happening around MLB and based on the Twitter questions, the emails and the forums here at Fantasy Alarm, I thought a nice little morning stroll around the league to catch everyone up would be helpful.
Closer-less in Seattle
Like pulling off a band-aid, let’s get some of this bad news out of the way first. After another rough outing in which he walked four of the five batters he faced Sunday, Edwin Diaz has been removed from the closer’s role in Seattle. The guy was money-in-the-bank last season, but so far this year, he’s really struggling with his command, as evidenced by the massive 5.87 BB/9. While his first-pitch strikes are coming in similarly to last year, he’s quickly falling behind in the count with fewer fishermen at the plate and it’s forcing him to leave the ball up in the zone more.
Manager Scott Servais said he’d like for Diaz to work on his mechanics in lower-leverage situations for now which indicates he would like to hand the job back over to him once he fixes his issues. In the meantime, you can expect a committee situation with the likes of Tony Zych, Nick Vincent and even former closer Steve Cishek. Yes, Cishek who blew the save last night as he gave up a home run to the all-powerful Matt Joyce. Unless you’re violently desperate for saves, I do not recommend picking anyone up here. None of them have a whole lot of upside and trying to predict who Servais is going to use in the ninth on a given day will prove to be an exercise in futility. Diaz owners should hold the 23-year old right-hander on the bench for now and see how things shake out over the rest of the week.
Rookie Buzz in Cleveland
The prospect-hound community got a nice, little jolt this week when the Tribe placed Abraham Almonte on the DL and called up Bradley Zimmer, arguably the top youngster in their system. There’s plenty to like in Zimmer as a potential power/speed combo, though the speed is probably a little more abundant than the power will be. Keeper and dynasty league owners probably already have a share of him, so it’s unlikely he’s available. If he is, then he’s definitely worth a grab. For re-draft leagues, though, I don’t expect him to do too much here. The strikeouts have been a serious issue at every level in the minors and it’s not going to get any better with the promotion to the bigs. It’s nice for him to get a taste of the majors, but he is not in for a long stay. Almonte may be expected to miss 3-to-5 weeks here, but that doesn’t mean Zimmer is around for the entire time. The team will give him a look, but without strong plate discipline, there’s no reason to keep him up. He’s just not ready yet.
Marlins Fishing in Their Pen
With Wei-Yin Chen struggling through elbow issues and both Tom Koehler and Adam Conley back in Triple-A due to horrible big league performances, the Marlins are expected to bring David Phelps into the rotation, a move they should have stuck with from the spring. It’s understandable that manager Don Mattingly would have wanted to keep him as a stabilizing force in the bullpen given last year’s dominance, but with so few quality starting options, they are in desperate need of a change. Phelps has had some unlucky struggles here and there this year, but as the .327 BABIP lowers, the low 70.2-percent strand rate climbs, and the ground ball rate normalizes, he should do just fine. The 3.32 xFIP certainly has to make you feel a little better about what’s to come. He’s definitely worth a grab right now, but just keep the innings-pitched in mind as the team isn’t likely to push him beyond 115-120 innings and even that seems like a stretch. Good for now, but you’ll probably be looking to replace him come August. Who knows, maybe one of the other Marlins will be ready by then.
Dodgers on the Mend
With reports that Adrian Gonzalez could return by the end of this week and Logan Forsythe at some point next week, the Dodgers are going to have to make some hard and fast decisions. We’ve all been enjoying the play of Cody Bellinger thus far, but one has to wonder what happens once the team is back to full health. Something’s gotta give, right? It seems unlikely that Bellinger will head back down though, as Scott Van Slyke seems to be a lot more expendable. Bellinger might be mired in a four-game 2-for-12 slump right now, but that’s certainly not enough reason. Obviously we can’t be 100-percent certain, so keep a watchful eye as A-Gone and Forsythe start to return.
Wally Pipp on the North Side?
Everyone should know who Wally Pipp is, and if you’re not familiar, you better go Google him right now. I’ll wait…
OK, so after Ian Happ smacked his second home run since being called up, there’s already a tremendous amount of talk regarding what happens when Jason Heyward comes back. Happ is now 4-for-10 with two home runs, four RBI and three runs scored over his first three games and while no one expects him to even come close to sustaining that level of production, it’s hard to argue that Heyward is going to be an improvement over him once he’s healthy. We’ve all watched Heyward over the years and while much blame can be placed on the injuries he’s dealt with throughout his career, it’s not like his numbers when healthy, save for that one season back in 2012, have been irreplaceable. The club obviously has other options it can explore, like parting ways with the always under-performing Jon Jay or sending down Albert Almora, but it’s all going to depend on how manager Joe Maddon envisions Happ’s role moving forward. If Happ can play regularly, it may be best to keep him up. Tommy LaStella can go, that’s for sure. But given the way Maddon likes to move his players around, it might just be best to let the kid continue playing every day in the minors. Heyward is due back in a couple of days, so hopefully this all gets resolved before waiver moves are due this weekend.