That calendar app has flipped to August. School supply shopping is all on the parent’s Facebook. A tropical storm might dump ten inches of rain on my house in the next three days. But none of these are the most significant events of the month for this site.
Football training camp is in full swing, and the common trope is to say that people check out and play fantasy football. This is no longer true; people stay connected to their baseball teams much more closely than 15 years ago. The check out kids often just don’t keep playing. you can still make the ground up; just keep grinding and looking for diamonds to mine.
Vinnie Pasquantino gets the glow-up to start this week. If you recall, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t, it’s called working memory, a certain corners analyst said Vinnie would start slow due to the shoulder thing but come on sometime soon after the All-Star break. 5 HR and an .832 OPS in his past 30 would seem to call me a prophet. I testified to patience with Vinnie; he’s delivering and is great for your late season push.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will always from now on be my first ranked player, what a great run he’s on. His slugging over the past month is .781. 9 HR in his last month will do that. Just stay in shape this winter again.
Jake Burger looooooves August in Miami. He’s only 66% owned on Yahoo; in his past month, he’s hitting .303 with 9 home runs. The Burger is on a heater. Fire up the waiver wire and let him pour some lighter fluid into your power grill.
Nolan Schanuel is swinging some sweet lumber, with a .303 average in his last 30. He’s not hitting for much power, and he’s in a lousy lineup, but if you need an average boost, and who doesn’t in this economy, there’s a guy who’s 83% available.
I would not run out to get Eugenio Suarez because he’s that kind of player you pick up because he’s on a hot streak only to see the streak run out. He has 10 dingers in his last 30, for a total of only 16 overall. You see, he’s not great. If you must, he is the number one rated third baseman out there over the last 30 days, but don’t come crying to me when he hits .220 with one long ball next month.
Kinda similar to Sir Vinnie, Manny Machado had an easily forecasted slow start due to elbow surgery during his vacation. He’s back. The theme here I guess is how players have done their past 30 days. Well, Manny Macho Man has a .310 average, six HR, and around a 90 full season pace for runs and ribbies. Congratulations on your patience, fair managers.
Did ya hear about Jordan Westburg? Basically done for the season, need to find a solution at his spot. Broken hands I hear make it hard to hit. I wouldn’t know, I couldn’t hit velocity with a good hand, slow pitchers were nice though, once they hit 85 I was toast. Anyway, Coby Mayo was called up and there’s your correlating add if Burger isn’t available, or Colt Keith. Tough luck for Westburg. If either of the rookies do anything, he’s probably traded this offseason.
Brooks Lee of the Minnesota Twins (who have a new hat that looks like the Marlins) is playing regularly and qualifies at third base. He’s struggling below a .300 OBP. I need to look at young guys and rookies this year, it feels like they’re taking a longer time to adjust than they used to. Maybe rookies take until July now, a few months? Don’t count on Lee too much this year, but remember talented rookies can pop at any time.
Christopher Morel has two hits in Tampa. They’re both HR but don’t be fooled, he’s not the guy you want, cut him loose.
