Carlos Gomez hit two homers Wednesday. He had six homers his first 58 games played. He’s only 7-for-12 stealing bases as he’s dealt with lower half issues for most of the campaign.

John Jaso is finally back from the DL after taking f o r e v e r to come back from a wrist issue. He’ll see a lot of action for the Rays out of the DH spot, and though his bat is moderate (little pop), he certainly could be a passable C2 in mixed leagues.

Ubaldo Jimenez allowed three walks but not a single run in his five inning outing Wednesday. Crazy pants. Through 17 starts Ubaldo has a 2.81 ERA and 1.27 WHIP for Orioles. He’s also racked up 98 punchouts in 99.1 innings and is walking 2.90 batters per nine (career 4.09). If you had asked me prior to the start of the season who would own those numbers at mid-season, Ubaldo or Kevin Gausman, I would have said the young righty. Instead Gausman owns a 5.00 ERA and 1.30 WHIP over 27 tumultuous innings. Let’s hope the Orioles stick to their most recent plan of locking in Gausman to the rotation moving forward (he was sent to the minors with the expectation that he wouldn’t start again before the All-Star break so the club recalled Chris Walker for a bat off the bench).

Tommy Milone is a rock star. Totally. He allowed one run Wednesday to lower his ERA to 2.84. Can’t see how he keeps this up – warning signs include a 4.28 FIP, 4.35 xFIP, .250 BABIP and 85.7 percent left on base rate – but ride the wave. Expect a crash soon.

Jesus Montero update… dude is hitting .538 with 10 RBIs his last 10 games at Triple-A. How good is that? Overall here are his PCL rankings: 1st in RBIs, runs, total bases and hits (batting .328). Will the Mariners give him a chance? Likely not, barring injury, but perhaps a trade could give him a chance at some big league playing time?

Have you been watching our FantasyAlarm Videos? I look really good in them. Jeff Mans – he’s ok too. Here’s a link to my video for the Big 3, July 8th where I talk about Jesse Hahn, Andrew Heaney and Matt Cain.

Francisco Rodriguez converted his 19th save Wednesday in 19 chances. That’s perfect folks. He has a 1.41 ERA and 0.88 WHIP for the Brewers. Certainly could be dealt, but he’s been a star in the pen to this point. Meanwhile Glen Perkins has converted 28-straight saves for the Twins to set an all-time record (Joe Nathan had 27-straight back in 2004).

The Home Run Derby has not Giancarlo Stanton or Bryce Harper. Ugh. Here are the representatives for the contest: Josh Donaldson, Prince Fielder, Manny Machado and Albert Pujols for the AL and Kris Bryant, Todd Frazier, Joc Pederson and Anthony Rizzo for the NL.

INJURIES

Lorenzo Cain (hamstring) has returned to the Royals lineup (he had been out since Sunday). He’s still hitting .300+ with a 30 steal pace --- IF --- his body can hold up.

Denard Span has a jacked back and it’s sounding like not only will he be out the rest of this week but that we likely won’t see him before the All-Star game. Sounds like a trip to the DL might be in the offing as well.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT 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).