I’d like to send my thanks to the Cubs. Thank you so much for placing Willson Contreras on the injured list after lineup lock Monday. I am so appreciative of the fact that I will now have to take a zero at this position. I know what you’re thinking. This is my fault. We did know that Contreras was hurt, and I do preach to play it safe in this situation and start another the player. The problem is, I didn’t have another catcher on my roster, who does, and didn’t have an easy drop to pick some worthless backstop up. Ugh, oh well, live and learn.
Risers
Kevin Pillar, San Francisco Giants: Pillar has been a different player since being traded to the Giants. This was unexpected, to say the least as it seemed like San Francisco was the place offense went to die. Apparently not in this case. Pillar has a slash line of .357/.386/.595 over his past 10 games. The Giants offense as a whole has been on fire of late and has pushed themselves to within three games of the wildcard. If the Giants do make the playoffs, just give Bruce Bochy another Manager of the Year trophy.
Yuli Gurriel, Houston Astros: It’s July 16. Gurriel has hit eight HRs so far this month. He also has driven in 18 runs and is certainly one of the hottest hitters in the game. Gurriel plays in a strong lineup and can often be overlooked with the likes of Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and George Springer hitting atop a deep lineup. Gurriel can certainly be inconsistent at times, but he’s always someone you can roster. Whether or not you play him week in, and week out likely depends on what else you have on your roster.
Lourdes Gurriel, Toronto Blue Jays: Yuli’s brother has also been on a roll of late but his future is much less certain. Sure, he plays in one of the best hitter parks in the majors, but this is likely just a hot streak. The league already seems to be catching up with Gurriel as the word is to keep throwing him hard stuff as breaking balls seem to speed up his bat. Baseball is a game of adjustments, pitchers are making it to him, now Gurriel will need to adjust back.
Christian Vazquez, Boston Red Sox: Can someone please tell me when Vazquez became the best hitting catcher in baseball other than Gary Sanchez, J.T. Realmuto, and Willson Contreras? Now we know why the Sox originally sent down Sandy Leon before the season started. Vazquez is batting .297 with 15 bombs and 42 RBI. His bat has been so lethal that over the weekend the Sox had him play 1B in the lone game he didn’t catch. He should be long gone in your league, but if not, please grab him.
Yonny Chirinos, Tampa Bay Rays: Chirinos may only have one win in his last six starts but that hasn’t been his fault. He hasn’t let up more than three earned runs in any of those starts and has been a consistent member of the Rays starting rotation. Chirinos has a 3.11 ERA and 0.96 WHIP and pitches in one of the better pitcher parks in the majors. He’s a must-start week in and week out.
Fallers
Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals: Every Carpenter owner was hoping of a repeat of last season. Remember 2018, when Carpenter had a terrible first-half only to take off after to have an MVP type year? Yeah, that’s not going to happen this season. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the 33-year old. He’s batting .215 with 10 HRs and 29 RBI. He’s currently out of the lineup, again, due to injury (foot). It may just be time to move on from Carpenter if you just don’t have the roster room to keep him.
Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox: Sure, Porcello won his start Monday versus Toronto but gave up four more runs in the process. That brings his total to 21 runs over his last four starts (18 IP). You don’t need to be a mathematician to know, that isn’t very good. Hopefully, this is just a blip on the radar, but it’s getting very hard to trust Porcello start in and start out. Yes, I would’ve started him this week also has he will make two starts, but in those weeks in which he only has one start, he is quickly becoming a matchup guy.
Luke Voit, New York Yankees: Voit hasn’t looked the same since coming off the IL. He’s getting beat on inside fastball and until he proves he can turn on those, that’s all he’s going to see. Manager Aaron Boone still has him in the coveted slot behind Aaron Judge in the lineup, but one has to figure that will change sooner rather than later should these hitting woes continue. He could also lose playing time at 1B as the Yankees have a couple of other players who can play there and we all know that if Voit isn’t hitting, he doesn’t offer anything of value with his glove.
Michael Wacha, St. Louis Cardinals: Although the Cardinals haven’t announced anything publicly, Wacha is not scheduled to start this week and Daniel Ponce de Leon was kept in the rotation after covering for Adam Wainwright who had to be scratched from his start Friday. The Cards are going to stick with Ponce de Leon after he only gave up one run in 6.2 IP. It’s not like Wacha had done much to deserve to stick in the rotation. It’s time to cut bait here.
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins: This is just a shame. It was looking like this was going to be the year for Buxton. He was finally going to have a breakout. He still might actually, but he’s getting hard to trust as he always seems to be out of the lineup with one ailment or another. Buxton spent time on the IL after being plunked on the wrist with a pitch. Okay, that happens, but the way he plays defense, with reckless abandon, always seems to have him missing a game or two. It’s frustrating, especially when you consider he isn’t stealing the number of bases (13) we were expecting this year. Buxton was placed on the IL on Tuesday and while I’m not releasing him, not unless I have to, he is far from a must keep also.
