Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images

American League

Blue Jays

• Sounds like Spencer Miles will be throwing bulk innings at a regular interval.

Meanwhile, Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles is slated to pitch the bulk of the innings in the Blue Jays vacant rotation spot for the time being, either as a starter or behind an opener.

“You don’t want to move him back and forth too much. If we’re going to do it, try to be consistent with it,” said Schneider before the Blue Jays game against the New York Yankees on Monday.

In his last appearance, he threw 56 pitches across 3.2 IP. Miles has been solid this season with a 2.55 ERA (3.24 xFIP), 1.09 WHIP, 8.4 K/9, and 52% GB%. Similar rate stats to Nathan Eovaldi. Nice upside play. Read the rest of this entry »

7:31	Jeff Zimmerman:

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Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

In thiss article, I cover the players using CBS’s and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. I start players being added at CBS who started the week on less than 40% of rosters.

The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by hitters, starters, and relievers. Read the rest of this entry »

Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Vaughn Grissom (.264/.353/.431, 2 HR, 0 SB) started five straight games, hitting in the top half of the lineup, and playing at first, second, and third base. Read the rest of this entry »

David Richard-Imagn Images

American League

Athletics

• Zack Gelof flattened his swing to take a step forward.

Glovework has never been a question mark. For Gelof, the increase in playing time is largely a result of rediscovering his swing. Through struggles and injuries over the previous two seasons, Gelof’s swing mechanics had gotten out of whack. This offseason, he worked on “leveling out” his swing, and the result has been a noticeable decrease in whiffs and increased ability to put the ball in play.

It used to be tough to see if a swing change happened, but bat path is available here at FanGraphs via Baseball Savant. Here are Gelof’s numbers.

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7:32	Jeff Zimmerman:

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Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. I start players being added at CBS who started the week on less than 40% of rosters.

The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by hitters, starters, and relievers. Read the rest of this entry »

Pablo Robles-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Vaughn Grissom (.264/.349/.396, 1 HR, 0 SB) started in four of the last five games at second base. Accumulator. Read the rest of this entry »

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even larger entry fees ($2.5K to $15K). They are named Elite leagues (previously called High Stakes Leagues), and there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain any advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

Astros

• Because the team needed Kai-Wei Teng in the bullpen on Saturday, the plan to move him to the rotation hit a snag.

Teng stands out as a saving grace. He is one of perhaps three leverage relievers in a bullpen that boasts a league-worst 6.22 ERA. The team has toyed with stretching him out as a starter — and planned to deploy him as one in Sunday’s game. Using him for 23 pitches on Saturday scuttled the plan, setting this dismal two-day cycle into motion. Teng could not pitch at all on Sunday, which perhaps forced Espada to extend both Blubaugh and Abreu beyond reason.

That Teng threw 31 pitches across two scoreless innings on Monday — in a game the Astros trailed by five runs — epitomizes the excruciating position in which Espada is mired. He deployed one of his leverage relievers in a lopsided game because turning to anyone else would’ve jeopardized their health.

Doing so almost ensures Teng won’t be available to pitch on Tuesday or Wednesday, putting the Astros at a further disadvantage against a Dodgers team with an already superior roster and more pressure on a pitching staff that can’t absorb it.

The team needs to find some stability in their rotation. Their starters have a 5.35 ERA on the season, the 2nd worst in the league behind the Diamondbacks (5.42 ERA). Read the rest of this entry »