Wow. A crazy trade deadline with 18 consumated swaps taking place on Tuesday, making for all kinds of fun speculation of the players this week who could help give your squad a boost as opposed to those players who might do better on the bench.
And, of course, we have our hot hitters and cold arms to contend with, so let’s take a peek at this week’s compendium of players.
Sizzle
Austin Slater (OF, Giants): Coming off a hot spring, Slater lost the numbers game to Austin Jackson Opening Day, but the Giants are retooling. And Slater, hitting .368 with a steal and four runs his last nine games, is a key cog.
Omar Narvaez (C, White Sox): In this year of the derelict catcher, Narvaez is almost a revelation of late, hitting .375-2-5 over his last nine games.
Corey Dickerson (OF, Pirates): Part of the PIttsburgh success this year is the offense of Dickerson, who has been hot his last 10 games, batting .381-5-9, adding to a fine season line of .318-11-44 with six swipes.
Marcus Stroman (P, Toronto Blue Jays): Stroman is yet another player who struggled, went on the DL, and has had to work back into a groove. Looks like he has with three wins, a 2.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 19 whiffs over 25.2 frames his last four starts.
Dereck Rodriquez (P, Giants): With a pedigree of the highest order (Dereck is Ivan Rodriguez‘ progeny), Dereck has been a savior to the Giants rotation, winning two of his last four starts, notching a season line of 5-1, with a 2.59 ERA, 1.13 WHIP with 54 strikeouts over 66 innings.
Fizzle
Shohei Ohtani (DH, Angels): One hit over his last 22 at-bats means an .091 average, and that is a drag on any team average.
Steven Matz (P, Mets): Matz has allowed 18 runs over his last 7.1 innings.
Carlos Villanueva (3B, Padres): He started hot, but has struggled a lot of late, batting .143-0-1 last week, bringing his season average to .220 and OBP to an anemic .274.
Ervin Santana (P, Twins): I am a big fan of big Erv, owning a lot of shares in him, but the right-hander is a bit slow coming off the DL, posting a 6.01 ERA over his last two starts over just 10.2 innings with a 1.55 WHIP.
Bartolo Colon (P, Rangers): It is hard to believe Colon remains in Texas as the relative ace of their staff, but there you have it. Irrespective, the Colon magic has not been as such of late, with Bartolo going 0-1, 7.71 with a 1.57 WHIP while allowing opposing batters a .310 average.
Find Lawr’s work at Creativesports2.com and listen to The Tout Wars Hour with Lawr, Justin Mason, and Todd Zola every Sunday on FNTSY from 2-4 PM, ET. Follow @lawrmichaels.
