Eric Thames- If anyone tries to tell you they expected this kind of production from Eric Thames, they are straight up lying to you. Even he couldn't have told you he was going to have these kind of numbers. He has played in 28 games this year and has reached base safely in 25 of them. He is sporting an unbelievable slash line of .322/.444/.739, put that with his 20 RBIs and league leading 11HRs and you've got yourself a very productive batter. The only knock there is on Thames is that he strikes out a lot with 25 already this season. If you have a chance to buy in on Thames do it now. Over the next week Thames and the Brewers have series against the Pirates, Red Sox and Mets. In those 3 series they are only projected to face 2 starting pitchers with winning records (Pomeranz 3-1 & DeGrom 2-1). It could very easily be a big week for the big slugger.
Jose Urena- Now I'm well aware that this is a guy owned in less than 1% of ESPN fantasy baseball leagues, but he is a very interesting player. A quick look at his stats and you could easily ignore him and leave him on the waiver wire. Urena started this season off in the Marlins bullpen and that is where he belonged. He has had little to no success as a starter in the past, but this season out of the bullpen he has been solid. On Sunday he is scheduled to make his first start of the season. If you're looking for a Starting pitcher for Sunday that won't cost you much Jose Urena may be your guy. In 15 innings this season he already has 8 K's and if he impresses here he may lock down a spot in the rotation. His 1.37 WHIP as a reliever is troublesome as it might only get worse as a starter.
Koji Uehera- This is not the same Koji we saw on the Red Sox a few years back, this is a much older Koji now and he's not even the closer for the Cubs. So why am I telling you about Koji? The Cubs have had a problem of starters not lasting long in games this year. It has been very taxing on the bullpen, every guy in the pen is getting looks. The bullpen just blew a brutal 9th inning lead to the Yankees on Friday. In 14 appearances so far this season Koji hasn't done much he's 1-2 with 0 Saves and an era over just over 3. He did pick up his first win the other day vs the Phillies. As a guy that has proven he can do it in the bigs before I wouldn't be surprised if we started to see a little more Koji. He is a guy I promise you can get for free in any league. The upside isn't extremely high but he could be a guy worth taking a risk on. Koji holds a favorable 9.26 K/8 and 2,31 BB/9.
Koji Uehera- This is not the same Koji we saw on the Red Sox a few years back, this is a much older Koji now and he's not even the closer for the Cubs. So why am I telling you about Koji? The Cubs have had a problem of starters not lasting long in games this year. It has been very taxing on the bullpen, every guy in the pen is getting looks. The bullpen just blew a brutal 9th inning lead to the Yankees on Friday. In 14 appearances so far this season Koji hasn't done much he's 1-2 with 0 Saves and an era over just over 3. He did pick up his first win the other day vs the Phillies. As a guy that has proven he can do it in the bigs before I wouldn't be surprised if we started to see a little more Koji. He is a guy I promise you can get for free in any league. The upside isn't extremely high but he could be a guy worth taking a risk on. Koji holds a favorable 9.26 K/8 and 2,31 BB/9.
Josh Bell- Josh Bell is one of the young guys that seems like he can only keep getting better. It seems they love him in Pittsburgh and he's earned a nice spot in the top half of the lineup night in and night out. Bell is on pace now for what looks like a solid 20+HRs season which really is very good considering this is his first full season in the show. The Pirates offense in general has under performed to start this season off. There is too much talent in that lineup for the numbers not to go up. You can already see a slight increase in numbers for a guy like Bell whom is hitting .285 over his last 8 games compared to the .250 average he has for the full season. The hitters around him will start to put it together too. I think this is a good time to buy low on a hitter like Bell whom very easily could finish the season with some impressive numbers. Bell has a strong 1.55 GB/FB ratio which is likely to push his batting average up.
