From Jeff Sullivan’s chat that’s happening *right now* on the site:

9:02 Comment From bdhudson
Jordan Zimmermann is developing a really unpleasant trend.

9:02 Jeff Sullivan:
This is an example of a prompt that sends me to 60 seconds of research

9:02 Jeff Sullivan:
This is why my chats go so much slower than others do

9:03 Jeff Sullivan:
Zimmerman’s first 13 starts: 2.00 ERA, 4% BB, 17% K

9:03 Jeff Sullivan:
Zimmermann’s last 12 starts: 5.27 ERA, 7% BB, 20% K

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Despite being first among all qualified shortstops in wRC+ over the past 30 days, you don’t see Yunel Escobar’s name pop up as a waiver wire recommendation very often.

After all, in that same time span, he’s just 18th among shortstops in fantasy value according to Baseball Monster. He’s just 15th overall for the season despite a wRC+ of 101, seventh among qualified shortstops.

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Brooklyn, New York — Eric Jagielo measures up, literally, like a New York Yankee.

At 6’2″, weighing 195 he fits the mold. So does the power he projects. But in his first professional season, Jagielo, for all his abilities is still raw, with far to go; but there were plenty of glimpses of the future in two recent games.

After making his pro debut in the GCL — playing four games — he was assigned to play third base for the Staten Island Yankees of the short-season New York Penn League. He ended July with 21 hits in twenty-three games. Through July and August combined he struck out forty times. He’s hitting .294 with fifteen hits, eight of them doubles in August.

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With B.J. Upton’s struggles and Jordan Schafer returning from the disabled list a few weeks ago, the Braves have quietly moved to a platoon in centerfield. This obviously destroys almost all of B.J. Upton’s fantasy value for any owner who was holding onto him down the stretch, and makes Schafer an ownable asset for teams in need of some steals.
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As we head into the last month of the season, many fantasy owners are clamoring for more strikeouts and wins. Obviously, chasing wins is a fool’s errand (see: the Cardinals boxscore last night as Michael Wacha blew Shelby Miller’s win, allowing 3 runs in an inning of work, yet recorded the almighty win). But obviously, the more starts you accumulate, the greater the opportunity for the holy win, and of course, strikeouts.

With a large base of innings already in the books, that means that a pitcher’s implosion won’t hurt nearly as much at this point, so a streaming strategy isn’t ill-advised. So with that in mind, here is one recommended streaming play a day for games from Wednesday through Sunday. Pitchers should all be available in the majority of 12-team mixed leagues and shallower. Of course, since I don’t know who is in your free agent pool, there could be some better options, in which case I fully expect you to ask me about them in the comments.

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Today is National Radio Day! Rather than a traditional radio program, the present author urges one to check out the Born On Third Podcast (warning: language). The podcast is done by three people whom the author would consider good friends and good baseball people. Of course the podcast itself is largely baseball focused, however it is prone to wandering tangents. They’re entertaining tangents, though.

On today’s agenda:
1. Albert Pujols is done for the year
2. Pick up Wilson Ramos
3. Brian Roberts‘ value
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The Nationals made a move that could leave fantasy owners mildly perturbed, acquiring David DeJesus from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later. DeJesus was batting .250 with a .330 OBP while playing a well-regarded centerfield before being traded.

When you boil it down, this is a deal involving a newly minted fourth outfielder, but there are many players whose values could be altered with this simple deal. Let’s examine each and every one of them, shall we?

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Quite a bit of injury information for once. I am looking at a few reader suggestions from last week and examing a few bigger named pitchers coming off the DL. Later this week, I will look at the PAIN and HURT leaders with an attempt to look at PAIN over a section of the season vice the whole enchilada.

First some reader questions from last week.

• Me and Adam Jones asked the following about Adam Jones “Is it an injured psyche from the banana incident or something more?” I am going with the banana. His power was fine (ISO and HR/9 are almost the same as 2012). His Speed Score was the same as last year (5.2 vs 5.3). Also his contact was up about 1.5% points. No sign of a real injury.

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Alex Rodriguez was The Prodigy, a killer shortstop in his teens that did everything. Then he was The Contract, the super star handcuffing a Texas team from being any better just by virtue of his salary. Then he was The Newcomer, the new third baseman in the Bronx that wasn’t quite a True Yankee, even when he helped bring a title to town.

Now he’s The Heel, possibly ratting on players, inspiring hate from opposing pitchers, hitting home runs and glaring back at the world as he grinds his cleats into home plate. It might be his best act ever.

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In the age of prospect rankings and (thankfully) an increased coverage of the minor leagues, fantasy owners tend to covet the top prospects in baseball. They don’t want to miss out on the next Mike Trout, Bryce Harper or Yasiel Puig — and that fear of whiffing on these young phenoms obviously becomes amplified in dynasty leagues.

So this morning, when media outlets reported Xander Bogaerts had been promoted to Boston for the final month and a half of the season, owners immediately flocked to their respective waiver wires to see if Bogaerts was still available. If you’re just hearing the news and need help at shortstop, you would be wise to do the same.

That’s not to say Bogaerts is guaranteed to be a stud throughout the remainder of the season, though. In fact, it’s slightly unclear as to what his ultimate role with the Red Sox will be.

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