Mostly MLB Notes: Talking Jake Arrieta, the trade deadline and a look around the league
Jake Arrieta has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts, yielding three in his other. He’s been a top-10 fantasy starter this season in a year that’s featured a bunch of great pitching, and obviously his ADP was nowhere near that cost. He ranks in the top-10 among all starters in K-BB% (20.6) as well as top-15 in GB/FB ratio (1.98), which is a pretty good combo, especially since he’s also ranked No. 10 in the fewest Hard% allowed (23.8). When Arrieta left Baltimore in 2013, he had a 7.23 ERA and 1.77 WHIP, but since the beginning of 2014, he’s posted a 2.57 ERA (which is the sixth-lowest in all of baseball) and a 1.00 WHIP (fourth-best). He’s developed into an elite starting pitcher, so make sure fantasy owners in your league treat him as such. Arrieta should be one of the first 10 pitchers off the board in 2016 drafts.
Here’s a pretty funny mouth-to-mouth prank.
Here’s a Rubik’s Cube Magician fooling Penn & Teller.
Guy rips epic fart in court and judge throws tantrum.
Quick Hits: If I had to guess now, I’d predict I’ll rank Jose Fernandez as a top-10 player entering drafts next year. His career home ERA is 1.14…Gerrit Cole vs. the Reds in 2015: 0-3, 5.95 ERA. Gerrit Cole vs. all others in 2015: 14-2, 1.68 ERA…Drew Storen was the No. 5 fantasy closer before the Jonathan Papelbon trade. What a horrible break for his owners…After giving up six homers in 8.1 innings during the postseason last year, Hunter Strickland has allowed zero over 28.0 innings this year (and none over 35.0 in his career in the regular season). He’s the Giants’ future closer…Lucas Duda’s last eight hits were all home runs before he doubled in the bottom of the eighth inning of Saturday’s game to give the Mets the win. He leads MLB with five multi-HR games this season…Over the last two weeks Melky Cabrera is batting .449 with three homers, 12 runs scored and 17 RBI, when he’s been the No. 3 overall fantasy player. Only Carlos Gonzalez, who’s hit eight homers over his past 11 games, has been a more valuable hitter over that span…Brandon Belt’s Hard% (42.1) ranks first in the National League (and third in MLB), he hasn’t hit a single pop out all season and has grounded into just two double plays all year…This defensive play by the Royals was pretty legit…Nathan Eovaldi has pitched much better of late, allowing three runs or fewer in eight straight starts, a span in which he’s won six games while posting a 3.06 ERA. Still, despite averaging the highest fastball velocity (96.3 mph) among all starters in MLB this season, Eovaldi has struck out more than six batters in just one of 21 starts, owning a pedestrian 8.2 SwStr%.
Headlines of the Week: Man Tries To Get Cat Arrested For Eating His Bacon…Man Caught Having Sex With A Bush…New Urine Resistant Walls In San Francisco Shoot Pee Back…Mystery Pooper Targeting Holes At Norwegian Golf Course…For MH370 Families, Hope Hangs By A Thread After Reunion Discovery…Florida Family Finds Intruder Sleeping On Couch…Bulletproof Armadillo Puts Texas Man In Hospital After Shot Bounces Off Hard Shell.
Quick Hits Part Deux: Saturday marked the first time in MLB history reigning MVPs faced each other when Clayton Kershaw went up against Mike Trout. Kershaw extended his scoreless streak to 37.0 innings (he’s the first pitcher in the modern era to record 45 strikeouts over a span of four straight scoreless starts. On a side note, one of the craziest stats ever is during Orel Hershiser’s 59.0 record innings scoreless streak, he averaged 9.1 innings per start). Despite getting off to a slow start (owning a 4.32 ERA entering May 26), Kershaw currently owns the lowest FIP (2.11) and xFIP (1.99) and the highest K-BB% (28.7) and SwStr% (15.6) in all of baseball…Here’s Jose Altuve making a sick play…Over his last six starts, Jon Lester has a 1.66 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP with a 50:5 K:BB ratio over 43.1 innings. He’s been the No. 3 fantasy pitcher over this span despite winning just two games…Justin Upton struck out four times Sunday on a total of 12 pitches…Shelby Miller owns a 2.44 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP on the year, but he hasn’t won a game in any of his last 13 starts, dating back to May 17…Wade Davis allowed his first home run Saturday since Aug. 24, 2013, a stretch that lasted 125.2 innings…Here’s Pablo Sandoval leaving a game after getting hit by a pitch in which he struck out…I don’t see any real major value changes among the players who were traded at the deadline (other than the closers of course), although obviously go ahead and spend your entire FAAB if you’re in an “Only” league on Troy Tulowitzki, Cole Hamels, Carlos Gomez and Yoenis Cespedes.
Police Blotter: Man Charged With DUI While Driving Lawn Mower Down Street…Gunshot Victim Dropped Off At Florida Walmart Instead Of Hospital…1 Car, 2 DUIs After Passenger Jumps In Driver’s Seat…Smoking Man In Motorized Wheelchair Leads Cops On Low-Speed Chase Through Ohio Town…Suspected Serial Killer Pensioner Dubbed ‘Granny Ripper’ Captured On Film ‘Carrying Dismembered Body Parts’…Subway Clerks Ignore Robber Until He Just Goes Away…Man Accused Of Murdering Neighbor For Mowing Her Lawn…Suspect Eats His Fingertips To Avoid Identification.
Longread of the Week: Why I Left Scientology.
Quick Hits Part Tres: After homering five times in the past four games, Mark Teixeira already has his most long balls in a season since 2011. His .266 BA is his best since 2009. Over the last month, he’s been the No. 6 fantasy hitter…The Yankees were down 5-0 after one inning Wednesday and then won by 16 runs, as the Rangers became just the second team since 1900 to have two pitchers allow 7+ runs while recording three outs or fewer in the same game. New York has scored 13 or more runs six times this season, twice as much as any other team in baseball…This slide at home plate by Kendrys Morales is as good as it gets…R.A. Dickey has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last five starts and three runs or fewer in 11 of his last 12. He hasn’t exactly returned to his former Cy Young form, but Dickey is currently pitching as well as ever since joining Toronto, and he’ll benefit from what should now be one of the most loaded lineups in all of baseball. He’s owned in just 32% of Yahoo leagues…Bryce Harper’s .345 ISO easily leads MLB, and his BB% (18.2) ranks second. He’s already baseball’s best hitter at age 22…Fangraphs grades Kris Bryant’s base running as the second-best in MLB, behind only Billy Hamilton, who has 17 more steals than any other player and as many as the Dodgers and Angels combined.
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