In The Field
Byron Buxton was a late scratch from the lineup on Friday. Jake Cave was called up from AAA.... Dee Gordon did some running on Friday and had no issues with his injured quad.... Robinson Chirinos is dealing with a sore shoulder so the Astros recalled Garrett Stubbs from AAA.... CJ Cron is going to rejoin the Twins this weekend.... Mitch Haniger could take batting practice this weekend. He's moving in the right direction after suffered a ruptured testicle.... Ryon Healy will miss the rest of the season after undergoing hip surgery. Healy was limited to just 47 games this year.... Didi Gregorious is day-to-day with a strained knuckle on his throwing hand. Gleyber Torres is filling in for Gregorious at shortstop in the meantime.... Luke Voit is dealing with a sports hernia and the team is hoping that he can avoid surgery as he received a cortisone shot on Friday. Surgery could mean that he misses anywhere up to six week of the season.... Giancarlo Stanton is feeling better but he's still currently shutdown from baseball activites and there's still no timetable for him to return to the Yankees.... Gary Sanchez ran and hit on Friday and it's sounding like he's very close to being activated off of the IL... Alcedis Escobar was released from the White Sox on Friday. He's a possibility to find his way to a team as a backup infielder.... DJ Lemahieu missed a week of action but returned to the Yankees lineup on Friday.... Brett Gardner was activated from the IL on Friday after missing the minimum 10-days with knee inflammation.... Jonathan Lucroy was designated for assignment by the Angels this week after the acquisition of Max Stassi at the trade deadline. Stassi should get the bulk of the playing time at catcher for the rest of the season.... Wellington Castillo was placed on the family medical emergency leave list on Friday but he's expected to be back with the team next week.... Danny Santana, who currently has an OPS of .949 (no the balls definitely aren't juiced), is going to get some work at third base for the Rangers in the future. The team has an opening their and are going to give Santana a shot to lock down the position... Mark Trumbo is reportedly considering retirement after this season due to his inability to stay healthy in recent seasons. He recently had a setback in his rehab from a knee injury, but he does expect to make it back by the end of the season.... AJ Reed was optioned to AAA by the White Sox after getting a small chance to finally stick at the major league level. He responded to that chance with a .136 average while striking out in nearly half his at bats. It just doesn't look like it's going to work for him.... Lourdes Gurriel Jr is dealing with a jammed knee but is reportedly still an option off the bench if needed.... Travis Demeritte was traded to the Tigers as part of the package from Shane Greene and he's already been called up to the majors by the Tiger s and will have a chance to stick in the outfield after the trade of Nick Castellanos. Demeritte hit 20 homers in AAA with a .286 average, but the braves didn't have room for him on the major league roster, or the 40 man roster which made him expendable. He's someone who's interesting in AL leagues but not quite at mixed league levels yet.... Tommy Pham missed a few days with a hand injury but returned to the lineup on Thursday.... Yasiel Puig was suspended by MLB for his role in the Reds/Pirates fight but he's currently appealing the suspension and is eligible to play for his new team, the Indians, in the meantime. Greg Allen and Jake Bauers were moved to AAA in the flurry of moves with Puig and Franmil Reyes coming to town.... Josh Harrison has been cleared to begin a rehab assignment with AAA Toledo. He's been out since May after needing surgery to fix his hamstring strain... Jo Adell has been promoted to AAA this week, making it a little more likely that we could see a glimpse of him in September with the Angels. He slugged .554 in AA this year and now gets to go play with the bouncy balls in AAA..... Nate Lowe was optioned to AAA following the acquisition of Jesus Aguilar.... Asdrubal Cabrera was designated for assignment by the Rangers this weekly. He'll likely find a home as a backup infielder with a team... Kevin Kiermaier homered an tripled in his return to the Rays lineup this week. He provides a solid blend of power and speed with 17 steals this season.... Yoan Moncada was placed on the IL with a right hamstring strain. It's been labeled as a grade 1 strain and he's expected to miss a few weeks. Ryan Goins has played third base for the White Sox for all three games since Moncada's injury.... Nick Madrigal was promoted to AAA this week after destroying AA pitching to a .241 clip. Madrigal won't hit many homers but he has the potential to hit for average that few can approach and he has good enough wheels to steal 25-30 bases over a full season. He's a very interesting fantasy player, but when everyone hit s for power these days it makes him very interesting..... Ramon Laureano was placed on the 10-day IL with a stress fracture in his right shin and he's going to miss more than the minimum 10 days according to Bob Melvin. Laureano has broken out this year with a .849 OPS and 21 homers to go along with 12 steals. Mark Canha is expected to play CF in the meantime for the A's.... Bo Bichette is up with the big league club and has a chance to be an extremely productive SS option the rest of the way. More on him in the player's to add tab.... Tim Anderson is back with the White Sox after missing a month with a right ankle sprain. He's going to be a very welcome addition back to White Sox... Derek Fisher is playing every day for the Blue Jays but was diagnosed with a facial contusion after losing a fly ball in the son.... Andrelton Simmons was scratched from the lineup with sore foot but it doesn't appear to be too serious.... Edwin Encarnacion was placed on the 10-day IL with a fractured right wrist after being hit by a pitch. It's uncertain how much time as of now that he's going to miss..... Stephen Piscotty was activated from the IL on Saturday. He's been out since June with a sprained MCL. He's provided some solid pop this year with nine homers in 76 games.
In The Rotation
Ryan Borucki is going to meet with Dr. James Andrews at some point over the next few days as he's been dealing with a bone spur for the bulk of the season.... Aaron Civale is going to start for the Indians on Monday. He's making his second start for the Indians this year, the first was back in June and he threw six shutout innings.... David Price was placed on the paternity list on Friday but is still expected to make his scheduled start on Sunday against the Yankees. Interestingly enough, the Yankees Sunday starter JA Happ also went on paternity leave Friday but is also expected to make the start on Sunday.... Luis Severino is going to throw a bullpen session next Friday in Toronto. It's unsure what role he might come back to serve with the Yankees, but he's at least making progress towards getting back in the mix of things this season.... Danny Salazar was placed on the 10-day IL with a right groin strain in his first action back from being injured for the entire season. He's going to undergo a MRI to determine the severity of the injury. His return to the majors saw him as a shell of his former self with his fastball topping out in the high-80's.... Tanner Roark has slotted into the A's rotation after being traded from the Reds and Daniel Medgen has been removed from the rotation and optioned to AAA to clear space.... Kolby Allard is expected to get a shot in the Rangers rotation soon. The former first round pick has lost some of his prospect luster since being draft (and other Braves' arms have leapfrogged him) but he's still just 21 years old and is having a slight bounceback season in AAA. His ERA still is in the mid-4.00's, but his velocity is back up around 93-94 MPH instead of the 90-91 range he showed in his time in the majors with Atlanta.... Trent Thornton returned from the IL on Thursday and allowed just one run over six innings against the Orioles... Brendan McKay struck out seven Red Sox batters on Thursday to pick up his second win of the season. He deserves to be owned for his starts as he has a 4.38 ERA, but five of the eleven runs he's allowed came in on 3.1 inning start.... Asher Wojciechowski was crushed by the Orioles on Thursday and he revealed that he was dealing with a sore hip in the outing, which could have been the cause of the issues.... Jose Urquidy was optioned to AAA on Wednesday to make room for the newly acquired Aaron Sanchez, who will take his spot in the rotation.... Jesus Luzardo felt good in his simulated game this week and now the plan for the lefty is to get him some work in the AZL next week. There's going to be a lot of caution exercise a lot of caution with him, but he's a must own prospect if he ends up making it to the major league level this year... John Means is expected to be back with the orioles next week after missing the minimum 10 days with shoulder inflammation.... Felix Hernandez threw 20 pitches in a rehab assignment with Class-A Everett on Friday. He recorded every batter he faced and threw 13 of the 20 pitches for strikes. Hernandez isn't fantasy relevant anymore, but you can still cheer for him to work his way back to the majors.... Sean Manaea is expected to make one more start before rejoining the A's for the stretch run. He threw six innings his last time out and needed just 70 pitches to get through them.... Corey Kluber is set to start a rehab assignment on Thursday. He's scheduled for a simulated game on Sunday so as long as everything goes well there he'll officially be on the clock to return to the Indians.... Tyler Glasnow is scheduled to begin throwing again on Monday. Any more setbacks from him and there's a good chance we don't see him for the rest of the season... Felix Pena sprained his knee in Friday's start and is going to undergo a MRI to determine the severity of the injury....
In The Bullpen
Emmanuel Chase has been promoted from AA to the Rangers. He's had an outstanding season across two level with a 2.82 ERA and just nine walks over 44.2 innings.... Kelvin Herrera is going to begin a rehab assignment in AAA this weekend. He's working his way back from a strained oblique..... Sergio Romo picked up his 18th save of the year on Friday and it was his first save since being dealt to the Twins at the trade deadline.... Heath Hembree was placed on the IL with a right elbow strain and after seeing a dip in his velocity since returning from his previous elbow injury. Ryan Braiser will take his spot in the bullpen.... Jose Leclerc is back in the closer's spot for the Rangers after some moves at the deadline, and he converted a save on Friday but allowed two runs in the outing. He's struggled as a whole this season but has shown stints of dominance and is worth an add in leagues... Brad Peacock is going to begin a rehab assignment in AAA this weekend. It's expected that he'll return to the bullpen when he comes back after the acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Aaron Sanchez.... Ken Giles has been dealing with an elbow injury (likely reason he wasn't traded) but Charlie Montoya is expecting to have his closer back in the bullpen on either Sunday or Monday.... Jose De Leon was called up to the majors this week, but was sent to AAA on Thursday without making an appearance. De Leon has rehabbed his way back after Tommy John Surgery and should be in the mix in Tampa Bay at some point... Joe Jimenez is the likely ninth inning man for the Tigers after the trade of Shane Greene..... Cody Allen was released by the Twins and should find a home in another bullpen.
PLAYERS TO ADD
Joe Jimenez, Detroit Tigers - Jimenez is slated to be the closer for the Tigers the rest of the way and has a chance to put up some solid save numbers over the second half. Jimenez has an elite 32% strikeouts rate though his walk rate (9.4%) and his HR/9 (1.93) definitely need some work, especially in the ninth inning where those type of things are magnified. Don't let the fact that the Tiger are awful scare you either, most of their wins are close and Shane Greene was able to rack up 22 saves before his trade to the Braves.
Bo Bichette, Toronto Blue Jays - Bichette might have already gone in last week's free agency frenzy, but in case waivers processed before the news was made: pick him up. Bichette is off to an absolute tear to start his major league career and he's slashing .423/.483/.692 and five of his first 11 hits have gone for extra bases. We likely would have seen Bichette in the majors far earlier than this point in the year if not for a broken hand, but he's shown no side effects upon his return to action and smashed his way to the majors. Bichette could finish the season as a top 10 shortstop from hear on out as he brings power and speed to go with a high average.
Aaron Sanchez, Houston Astros - Should you roster a player in two simple questions: 1. Does he have at least one elite pitch? 2. Does that player with the elite pitch also throw with the Astros? If the answer is yes to both, you pick them up. Sanchez was one of my favorite moves at the deadline as he brings his elite spin rate curveball to Houston, a team that has thrived over the last few years with that setup. The results? Six no-hit innings and six strikeouts and he allowed just three batters to reach base via two walks and a HBP. Sanchez threw his curveball at a 30% rate for the game, his fastball at a 30% rate, and both his changeup and two seamer/sinker 20% of the time each. His CSW (called strikes+whiffs) was at 35% for the outing, above the typical elite threshold of 30%. The blister issues stick have to stick in the back of your mind, but this was the best possible landing spot for him and the Astros could have the key to unlock his immense talent.
Jose Leclerc, Texas Rangers - I feel like I've mentioned Leclerc as a player to add a few times, but never has he had the opportunity in his lap like he does now to take over the closer role. Chris Martin was dealt to the Braves at the deadline and Shawn Kelley has been battling some injuries lately. Leclerc has stick been posting his elite strikeout numbers and his walk rate is one percent higher than last season but his HR/9 has jumped to 0.92 this season after a ridiculous .16 total last season. There's still so much to like in his profile, it makes him worth an add now that he should have the 9th inning down.
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