Spencer Torkelson (1B - DET) - I wish I had a giant "sad face" emoji for this one, but the Tigers aren't waiting around for Torkelson any longer, sending him down to bring up Justyn-Henry Malloy. Torkelson hit 4 homers in the two weeks up to and including Memorial Day weekend, but another 0-20 skid has apparently caused them to take drastic measures, and it's not like it isn't warranted. Even at his best, Torkelson is a good (not great) power guy that can only play a below average 1B and doesn't post a good AVG despite decent contact skills, primarily due to a massive flyball rate. I have no problem cutting him in any format, as the only upside here is in power. Malloy is apparently not being brought up to play full-time, which is......a choice. Malloy feels like a guy they should be playing to see what exactly they have there, because there's some power and a whole lot of patience in his game, but for the time being that doesn't appear to be the plan, so he isn't really worth a claim outside of the deepest of formats just yet.
Edouard Julien (2B - MIN) - In surprise demotion #2 of the weekend (rumored), it looks like Julien will be the one to make way for the return of Royce Lewis to Minnesota on Monday, as the recent hot streak of Jose Miranda appears to have kept him in the majors for the time being. Looking at Minnesota's roster, I guess that Willi Castro will be their primary 2B now? If they sent Julien down to play Kyle Farmer every day, I'm going to demand that they just forfeit the rest of the season now. In their defense, Julien was miserable in May (181/272/194), with only the plate discipline holding up. Miranda, Castro, Larnach....they've all hit well of late, so I can sort of see why they made this call. I still have some hope for Julien, who is just 25 and has shown average ability across the board, which makes him a reasonable option at 2B in a world where he isn't slumping for 4-5 weeks at a time. He can safely be dropped in most formats, although I'm hanging on for a bit in deep leagues because I'm not positive that Castro can handle every day at 2B, while I'm fairly sure that Farmer is cooked.
Reid Detmers (SP - LAA) - After 9 straight non-quality starts, the Angels made the surprising decision to send Detmers down to AAA, bringing up Ben Joyce to pump his gas out of the pen instead. The walks and homers have always been an issue, but Detmers offers upside due to the bat-missing that he brings to the table, and the 3.95 xFIP suggests that he hasn't had the best of luck this season (with a 6.14 ERA, that's putting it mildly). I'd be hopeful that this is a fairly short "reset" type of stint, so keep an eye on him at AAA. The K upside that he offers isn't all that easily found, and he could find himself on the waiver wire in many formats over the next few weeks if he hasn't already. I'm not done gambling on him just yet.
Trevor Larnach (OF - MIN) - Larnach homered and walked on Sunday, and that's his 3rd HR in the last 4 games. I dislike players being pigeonholed as platoon-only bats before they even reach their prime years, but that's where Larnach is. Max Kepler has an OPS differential of 135 points against same-side pitching, yet he's allowed to play against lefties and, lo and behold, he's been really productive against them this year. It isn't like the Twins have some serious lefty-mashers that they need to work into the lineup either. Anyway, regarding Larnach, the gains he's made so far this year are impressive. He's 6th overall in exit velocity this year, with a Statcast expected AVG of .309 and slugging of .540 as opposed to the .270 and .470 that he's currently putting up. The swinging strike rate is down for the 3rd straight year as well, continuing to minimize what was previously a pretty glaring weakness. I think he should be owned in most formats, although you have to monitor the Twins closely as they don't treat young players extremely well with regards to playing time. For the coming week the Twins face 5 RHP and only 1 lefty, so it's a reasonable week to deploy Larnach as well.
Brandon Pfaadt (SP - ARI) - Pfaadt has followed up his run of 5 straight QS with two straight outings with a good WHIP but one bad inning mixed in, so all in all he's pitched rather well since mid-April. The swinging strike rate is stable from last year, the control has improved, and the GB rate is up as well. Last season he was definitely just a streamer against teams without a lot of pop, but I have a bit more confidence in him in his second go-round. The Padres (good run-scoring team but only average power) are up next, followed by the Angels....I'm on board for both of those starts. I think an ERA under 4.00 is in the cards for Pfaadt this year if he doesn't end up scheduled in Colorado or Cincy very often. The HR issues have been muted so far this year, but I still expect them to rear their ugly head a few times during the course of the year.
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