Hitters

Didi Gregorius (PHI); FAAB Bid: 4-5% - At 46% ownership in Yahoo leagues as of Sunday morning your window on Gregorius is closing fast. The Philadelphia shortstop returned from injury on Friday with a home run and also picked up a hit on Saturday. Gregorius hit seventh in both games so far, and overall, he is hitting .232 on the season with five home runs and 23 RBI in 125 at bats. We know that there is a solid track record of success here, at least from a power and run production standpoint, and I would look for that to continue now that he is back in the lineup. 

Willy Adames (MIL); FAAB Bid: 3-4% - If you need help at shortstop, this is your week. Adames has been a game-changer for Milwaukee since they dealt for him and over the last 14 days, he is hitting .292 with four home runs, 11 RBI, and 10 runs scored while being locked into the third spot in the order. With 13 home runs through the first 81 games of the season Adames is on his way to surpass his career high of 20 long balls from 2019 and we also shouldn’t be too surprised by his power output as his .214 ISO is in line with what we saw last season (.222). Overall, Adames is hitting .246 and I wouldn’t go crazy expecting too much more there, he is striking out 28.9% of the time, but we are seeing career bests from the shortstop across all of the Statcast categories; 18.2-degree launch angle, 12.8%-barrel rate, and 47.9% hard hit rate. 

Jarred Kelenic (SEA); FAAB Bid: 1% - The hype on Kelenic was off the charts earlier this season, for good reason, and then he made his debut. After that initial home run things went downhill quickly and the outfielder was easily forgotten. For all of the talent that he possesses, this should be a reminder that playing major league baseball is quite difficult. After hitting .096 in 92 plate appearances (with two home runs and three stolen bases), Seattle put their top-prospect out of his misery and sent back down to Triple-A. And guess what, Kelenic is still a pretty good baseball player. Of course, the jury will still be out until he makes his way back to Seattle and shows that in the big leagues but 92 plate appearances doesn’t make a career. Striking out 28.3% of the time doesn’t help, but Kelenic was also the victim of a .109 BABIP. He has resumed crushing the ball in Triple-A, so this is the time to make a relatively cheap investment in Kelenic and stash him on your bench in hopes that his inevitable return to Seattle goes better as it can’t go much worse and the clock on him has already began. 

Andrew Vaughn (CWS); FAAB Bid: 3% - If you want to talk about top prospects, it’s hard to ignore Vaughn but if you forgot about him, you are forgiven. Entering the season all of the buzz was on Vaughn who began the season in Chicago but then Yermin Mercedes emerged to decimate FAAB budgets. Mercedes has gradually fizzled out and now finds himself in Triple-A while Vaughn remains with the White Sox and he is starting to show he is capable of. Getting regular playing time was also key for Vaughn and he has started each of the last seven games for Chicago and he is working on a six-game hitting streak. Prior to Saturday, Vaughn had two hits in five consecutive games while hitting two home runs and driving in five in that span. Vaughn has brought his batting average for the season up to .247 with eight home runs and 22 RBI and I would look for this to continue now that he is playing everyday and has worked the kinks out. With an 11.4%-barrel rate and 49.4% hard hit rate, we have to like the quality of contact we are seeing from Vaughn. 

Manuel Margot (TB); FAAB Bid: 2% - Roto leagues force us to chase categories and specific production. For the most part Margot does play every day, but at .245 the batting average isn’t great although it is around league average these days, but that’s not what we are after. To this point, Margot has nine stolen bases to go along with his nine home runs and 42 RBI. That allows us to look past the batting average, and anyone that will put up a 15/15 season with the potential for a little more has to be on our radar. 

Starting Pitchers

Casey Mize (DET); FAAB Bid: 2% - Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem. On the surface, Mize had a 6.00 ERA in his last start along with a 1.67 WHIP in a losing effort, but the right-hander only allowed two runs and four hits in three innings. Had Mize been allowed to stick around longer we don’t know exactly where the night would have taken him, but the early exit was planned and not performance based as Detroit has to manage his workload across the remainder of the season. Let’s assume Mize gets a normal start against Texas this week in a favorable match-up as he continues to have a solid rookie season. Mize has five victories and a 3.55 ERA to go along with a 1.15 WHIP and 75 strikeouts in 91.1 innings. He has benefited from a .262 BABIP and his 5.08 xERA and 4.17 xFIP do paint different pictures, but the overall results have been solid. The matchup is good for this week, but over the next three months we do need to watch the innings. 

Steven Matz (TOR); FAAB Bid: 2% - The two-start market is tough this week so we will choose to ignore Matz’s last start. After a stint on the Covid-19 list the left-hander didn’t look all the way back on Wednesday against Seattle as he allowed four runs in 2.2 innings while lacking velocity. I would expect to see that improve this week now that he has a start under his belt and Matz gets two chances to do so. In facing Baltimore and Tampa Bay, he should have a good chance for at least one victory while racking up some strikeouts (78 in 72.1 innings). With a 4.60 ERA and 1.37 WHIP we are really just chasing the win (he has seven already) and strikeouts. 

Johnny Cueto (SF); FAAB Bid: 1% - There is nothing here that is overwhelmingly exciting, but Cueto is a solid starting pitcher who will get you innings. It’s possible to have a bad taste in your mouth after he allowed five runs against Arizona in his last start but Cueto was pitching under the weather so it’s very possible that was a contributing factor. Overall, Cueto has six victories this season with a 4.00 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 70 innings of work. This week he has a decent match-up against St. Louis and there are worse directions in which you can go. 

Relief Pitchers

Scott Barlow (KC); FAAB Bid: 4% - As far as tracking their bullpen, Kansas City hasn’t made things easy for us so far this season. All we can go on is who is getting the saves, and for the last two days that has been Barlow. That gives the right-hander four saves on the season, but even without that he has been impressive out of the bullpen with a 1.99 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 40.2 innings while striking out 59 batters. Barlow does have value without the saves, which is good if he gets moved by the end of the month, but for now we have to follow the saves. 

Drew Pomeranz (SD); FAAB Bid: 1% - Back from the Injured List, Pomeranz has thrown two scoreless innings to pick up two holds while striking out one batter. Through 15.2 innings this season the left-hander has 21 strikeouts while limiting the damage to just a 1.72 ERA in an extremely small sample size. There is value here from a strikeout and holds perspective while helping to manage your rations, but perhaps he finds his way into a save or two at some point as well as the Padres compete for the division title.