As Tom Petty once sang: the waiting sucks. (I may be paraphrasing.) So while anticipation is brimming over a prospect who will make his major league debut later today, alas, there was ungood news about another elite ‘spect who was also ready to help fantasy owners, until as Phil Collins once sang, something happened on the way to the big leagues. (Paraphrasing again.) Plus? A whopping kit and a heaping caboodle of other callups.
With Rafael Furcal (oblique) back on the DL for the Dodgers and Oakland’s Mark Ellis leaving Monday night’s game with a right hamstring injury, a pair of top middle infield prospects are primed to get plenty of big league playing time over the next few weeks, and possibly much longer.
Shortstop Dee Gordon made his debut for L.A. last night as a pinch-runner. Manager Don Mattingly intends to start him most nights as the increasingly fragile Furcal heals, according to a Tweet by Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Second baseman Jemile Weeks hasn’t officially gotten the call to the majors yet, but the move is expected with Ellis possibly landing on the DL. Here’s a quick look at what to expect from Weeks and Gordon.
In this installment: Kyle McClellan‘s temporary rotation replacement and Jack Cust’s potential DH intruder.
This week’s edition covers one top prospect making his MLB debut and a pair of recalls who didn’t fare so well earlier this season. Plus? The usual batch of players who only apply to really deep leagues. In fantasy, no transaction is too small.
This column has a rather wide range when it comes to fantasy impact. It’s a nature-of-the-beast thing, trying to predict when minor leaguers are going to get their shot. And so there have been players highlighted in this space who have soon thereafter become relevant (Chris Davis) or even useful (Jerry Sands) to fantasy owners. And there have also been those mentioned — many more, in fact — who remain in Triple-A (Charlie Blackmon) or downright useless (Mark Rogers). This time, however, expect a 2-for-2 performance. At least in terms of how soon this pair of prospects will be reaching the majors.
As May comes to an end, so mitigates some of the financial incentive for teams to keep their prospects in the minor leagues (i.e. Super Two status), which means youngins should start popping up all over big-league rosters once the calendar hits June. Get ready to get busy, my little waiver wire watchers.
Jonathan Broxton was a question mark coming into the season following his second half struggles in 2010, but the Dodgers had backup options in place in case he was unable to regain his past effectiveness. Hong-Chih Kuo had been one of the best relievers in all of baseball over the last few seasons, and the Dodgers also had the flamethrowing Kenley Jansen at their disposal. Vicente Padilla would also be in the mix once he recovered from offseason elbow surgery. Less than two months into the season, it’s all fallen apart in Chavez Ravine.
Teams try to avoid having a rookie get labeled with the Super 2 status so they can pay the rookie less over their career. The call up time is coming soon, so it now looks like it may be time to pick up one of these rookies before other fantasy owners in your league.
After focusing on pitchers for the past couple Mining the Minors Fridays, let’s switch gears and check out two hitters who could soon be making their way to a major-league ballpark near you.
Last Thursday, there was a lot to get to, what with plenty of minor-league players — and even some really big-name prospects — making their MLB debuts. Just because there may not be an Eric Hosmer or Julio Teheran to introduce to owners this time, does that mean recent recalls should be altogether ignored? Disregard at your own risk, fellow fantasy fiends.
