TAIJUAN WALKER DEMOTION
Taijuan Walker of the Mariners has a very bright future. The 23 year old owns an 8.15 K/9 mark, 2.36 BB/9 rate, a 1.20 WHIP in his young career (312.2 innings). He’s had issues keeping his ERA down, its 4.14, largely because his of his homer proclivities that include 1.32 homers per nine. Regardless, he’s a great talent who isn’t quite there yet, but it was still a shock to see him demoted Monday by the Mariners even though he has a 5.96 ERA he last five starts. “We’ve talked about this the last couple days, and it just made the most sense to send him down,” manager Scott Servais. Hopefully he responds the right way and he comes back with a chip on his shoulder and we get the good Taijuan back.”
That makes sense, but it’s the next part that is concerning. “There are plenty of things for him to work on, but I think the biggest thing is you have to continue to compete,” Servais said. “And when you don’t have it on a particular night or you give up some runs early in the game, how do you stay in the game?”
Yikes, not competing puts you in the Yasiel Puig realm. That’s not a place you want to be.
For 2016 it sounds like the prospects of Walker helping out a fantasy squad are slim. Doesn’t mean you should give up on him in keeper leagues though. There’s still a ton to like here.
Walker will be replaced in the rotation by Ariel Miranda who was recently acquired in the Wade Miley deal with the Orioles. Miranda is a lefty with a slider and changeup that may not even be league average pitches, and with a fastball in the low 90’s he may never develop to be anything other than… wait for it… Wade Miley.
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WHAT ABOUT ANOTHER MARINER?
Hisashi Iwakuma threw seven scoreless innings Monday night, this following on the heels of a 7.1 scoreless effort the previous time out. Five times in six outings he’s allowed two or fewer runs. In fact, three of those outings were zero runs, and another was one run. It took a while for Iwakuma to find his game, but he’s on it now. Here are the numbers the last six games: 5-1, 1.95 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 8.27 K/9, 2.19 BB/9, 0.49 HR/9.
If he’s on waivers… you know what to do.
JUST REMARKABLE WORK
Michael Fulmer, by any objective measure, has been tremendous this season. He’s been amazing the last 14 outings. Amazing might not be a strong enough term as he’s gone 7-2 with a 1.57 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. In those 14 starts he’s allowed three runs just twice.
We’re uncertain how many innings he will be allowed to throw. He’s thrown 126.1 innings this season, oh heck, let’s take a look at his yearly marks in frames thrown yet again.
2011: 5.1 innings
2012: 108.1 innings
2013: 46 innings
2014: 98.1 innings
2015: 124.2 innings
2016: 126.1 innings
They number of 160-165 has been tossed around a lot with Fulmer for months now.
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PEN STRUGGLES
Carlos Estevez has provided 11 saves this season out of nowhere.
He may not get to 12.
Estevez has picked up a loss in each of his last two outings as he’s allowed seven runs while generating two outs. Nothing official yet, but he simply can’t be given the ball in the 9th inning right now.
Jake McGee, brought to Colorado to close, has dealt with injury and poor performance. He has a 5.23 ERA and 1.53 WHIP on his way to 15 saves. Since July 1st he’s posted a 5.73 ERA, a 1.45 WHIP and has allowed 4.09 walks per nine. He’s not worthy of the 9th inning.
Seems like Adam Ottavino is about a must add as of this writing. In 15 outings this season he’s yet to allow an earned run as he’s posted a 0.94 WHIP with 12 strikeouts and a 4.00 K/BB ratio over 11.2 innings.
Get to that waiver-wire.
NOTE: The team officially made the change after this report was written.
IT ONLY TOOK FOUR MONTHS
We all missed on Ken Giles this year who was in a funk all spring and lost in the Astros bullpen shuffle for four months. Finally, the circle is complete and Giles is back to closing for the Astros..jpg)
On the year Giles has 69 strikeouts in 44.1 innings. That’s 14.01 punchouts per nine. In his last outing Sunday, he struck out six batters in 1.2 innings (passed ball from the catcher allowed him to rack up four strikeouts on inning). He’s struck out at least two batters each of the last 10 times he’s thrown a complete inning (he struck out none in a 0.2 inning effort on July 19th). Since July 1st Giles has 27 strikeouts in 11.1 innings. You can’t do that. Seriously, it’s not possible. In his last 11 outings Giles has a 21.44 K/9 rate. Oh, he also hasn’t allowed a run either.
About time.
DFS DIAMONDS
*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.
CATCHER: Tucker Barnhart has a hit in 6-straight games. He’s walked four times in those six games. He’s hit .262 with a .339 OBP against righties this season. He faces Mike Leake who has allowed 20 runs his last three starts (16 innings).
FIRST BASE: Billy Butler has hat .306/.368/.435 against lefties this season. Since the All-Star Break he’s hit .417 with a 1.086 OPS and two homers. He faces mildly effective Wade Miley.
SECOND BASE: Ben Zobrist has a .273/.385/.450 line against righties. He has 10 homers and 14 doubles in 260 at-bats versus righties. He’s posted a .370 OBP since the All-Star break. Against Jered Weaver he’s posted a .296/.321/.593 line with a homer in 28 plate appearances.
THIRD BASE: Josh Donaldson versus a lefty, duh (.316/.447/.571 this year). He’s lit up Drew Smyly as well with a .471/.500/1.176 slash line with three homers in 18 plate appearances.
SHORTSTOP: Alcides Escobar has four runs scored his las three games. He’s produced a hit in 14-of-17 games. Surprisingly, he’s long hit Chris Sale very well with a .367 batting average and .837 OPS over 62 plate appearances.
OUTFIELD: Jacoby Ellsbury has hit .285 against righties with a .357 OBP this season. In August he’s been crushing it with six runs and a .884 OPS over seven games. He takes on Rick Porcello with a .429/.467/.929 slash line with four homers in 30 plate appearances.
OUTFIELD: Ichiro has hit .359 this season with a .479 OBP against lefties, vintage stuff. He hit .309 with a .393 OBP at home this season. He takes on Matt Moore whom he has always had success against (11-for-24, a .458 average).
OUTFIELD: Matt Kemp has a homer and a .500 average in 14 at-bats against Wily Peralta who just stinks and is only in the rotation because Junior Guerra is hurt. Kemp has at least a hit, a run and an RBI in 3-straight games.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday-Tuesday and Thursday through Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).