Lorenzo Cain has been placed on the DL with a left hamstring strain (Brett Eibner has been called up to the majors). Cain hurt the hammy Wednesday and as of this writing we aren’t sure how much time he will miss, and this is always my concern with Cain. I don’t doubt the talent with Cain who is hitting .290 with eight homer and six steals, but I do question his ability to stay on the field. Simply put, he can’t do it. He’s yet to appear in 141 games in a big league season, and it seems likely he won’t against this season. Hard to fully trust a guy who seems likely to miss a month of action each year, ain’t it?
Chris Davis has a .247/.359/.517 slash line. None of those numbers are eye opening, but they are nearly identical to his career marks (.254/.332/.507). He’s still on pace for nearly 40 homers, 100 RBI and more than 110 runs. He’s just an impressive compiler with elite power.
Adam Duvall hit his 22nd homer of the season Wednesday. He just won’t stop, hitting homers at least. His average has dipped to .251 and his .286 OBP is flat out awful. He’s completely living off the homer, and with guys who have this approach (Chris Carter, Mike Napoli etc.) slumps can come at any point, and be significant.
Todd Frazier is a mess right now. Completely. Over the last two weeks he’s hit just .150 to drop his season long average to .198. That’s embarrassing. He’s basically become Chris Carter. Though his average is gone Frazier is still on pace for 43 homers, 100 RBI and 90 runs scored. Those are elite numbers. In fact, since the start of the 2014 season here are Frazier’s rankings amongst third basemen: 2nd in homers (two behind Josh Donaldson), 4th in RBI (Donaldson, Nolan Arenado and Kyle Seager), 3rd in runs (Donaldson, Matt Carpenter) and second in steals one behind Josh Harrison. Don’t give up on Frazier. The counting stats are simply too impressive and no matter how messed up his swing is it’s impossible to think his .186 BABIP won’t substantially improve in the second half.
Mutant frogs you can see through.
Michael Fulmer returns to the starting rotation Friday for the Tigers as Anibal Sanchez moves back to the pen. Fulmer will have had eight days between starts as the team tries to manage his innings. Fulmer has thrown has thrown 69 innings this season after throwing a career best 124.2 innings last season. The team wants to cap his workload at about 160-innings this season to protect his young arm. It’s gonna get a bit messy with Fulmer – all these potential starts and stops – and it’s fair to question how successful he is going to be if he’s not throwing every five games.
Avisail Garcia has a .506 OPS the last two weeks. He’s simply not developed to the point where his production matches his natural gifts. The 25 year old is batting .242 with a .304 OBP and .352 SLG this season. Don’t know how much longer the White Sox can continue to give him significant at-bats. He’s even stopped hitting lefties which is something he has always done. His career OPS versus lefties is .739 but the mark is down to .555 this season.
Be careful when you use social media when on the go. You could lose your head.
Here is the official news on Mets’ hurlers Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. Both have bone chips. Both will continue to pitch through the injury. Noah should be fine with medication. Matz will eventually need surgery that will knock him out for three months though the team remains hopeful that he will be able to wait until the offseason to have the surgery. Uh huh.
Guess what I’m going to see tonight? You got it - The Shallows. I expect it to be the best Shark “B Movie” I’ve ever seen in the theater. Come to think of it, it’s only the second “Shark B Movie” I’ve ever seen in the theater. The other was Shark Night. I saw it in 3-D of course. With my Mom. Tonight I’m going on a date to see The Shallows. The date isn’t my mom.
The last two weeks J.T. Realmuto has one homer leading to his only run scored in nine games. That’s awful. Still, he’s hit .297 with a .459 SLG in that time. He owns a nice bat. He’s hit .300 this season with a solid .740 OPS. You could do a lot worse at catcher though a pace of eight homers and 50 RBI is admittedly pretty boring stuff.
After hitting .337 in April Mark Trumbo has hit .257 in May and June. His career batting average, by the way, is .253. The guy you are seeing right now is Trumbo, but with his hot start he’s well on pace for the best season of his career.
John Lamb can be a good streaming option against the right opponent. Matt Wisler is just a guy and not worth a spot on your roster. Don’t panic quite yet on Jose Quintana, he will be fine. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO.
Julio Urias seems likely to make at least one more start as the Dodgers scramble for starting pitcher help. The 19 year old lefty of the Dodgers threw a career-high 100 pitches Tuesday and is already within 13.2 innings of his career-high of 87.2 innings pitched in a season. Urias has a dominating 11.18 K/9 mark but free passes have been an issue at times including his last outing when he walked six Brewers. He has a 4.09 BB/9 rate through seven starts and only once, Tuesday, has he thrown more than five innings (he tossed six frames).
Luis Valbuena has hit .361 with a .465 OBP the past two weeks. Meanwhile A.J. Reed is 0-for-10 with six strikeouts.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).