Fantasy Baseball

After a brief surge late last month took his OPS from .609 to .742, Machado came into this one 1-for-10 in his last three games. Still, he took Anthony Kay deep today to help the Padres salvage one of the three games in a home series against the White Sox. He now has five homers and 18 RBI on the season.

Canning left with a two-run lead, but since that was blown in the seventh, he didn’t get the victory. The Padres did prevail in the end, though. Canning allowed three hits, walked three and struck out seven. He averaged 94.7 mph with his fastball, up from 94.1 mph in his 16 starts with the Mets before he blew out of his Achilles’ tendon last season. He might offer a little mixed-league value in a nice situation for pitchers in San Diego. He’ll face St. Louis next time out.

Miller had been stuck on 10 saves for eight days, just because the Padres hadn’t presented him any opportunities. It was nice to see him fan three out of four batters today. He had struck out just two in his previous four innings.

Kay struck out five, so that’s an improvement. Through seven appearances this year, he has a 5.70 ERA and a poor 20/15 K/BB in 30 innings. He’s also hit five batters. The White Sox gave him a two-year deal, so they’ll want to stick with him. He’s looked like a middle reliever at best, however. He’ll face the Mariners next weekend.

One of the reasons the Mets were willing to part with Acuña over the winter was that he was already out of options at age 24, and the speedster has spent this season looking like he belongs in Triple-A. He’s hitting .169/.235/.182 with one extra-base hit in 86 plate appearances. Acuña has pretty good bat speed, doesn’t strike out all that much and can run with anyone, so the tools are there. He’s just not ready yet.

Eldridge will get another shot after batting .333/.445/.518 for Sacramento, but his return really complicates things, what with his replacement, Casey Schmitt, being arguably the Giants’ best player to date. All of the team’s veteran infielders are used to being everyday players, and it’s hard to imagine any will be happy sitting once or twice per week to make room for Eldridge at first and DH, even if it’s the right call for the team. Rodriguez has started at catcher, second base and in left field this year, so he offers a lot more versatility than Eldridge and will be an easier fit. Still, we’re not sure either rates a pickup in mixed leagues at this point. Eldridge has the potential, but he’ll stay the bench against lefties and possibly the occasional righty.

Bubic struck out seven while allowing one or no runs for the fourth time in seven starts this season. He’s 3-1 with a 3.32 ERA ahead of a date with the Tigers next weekend.

Lynch struck out three of the four. Lynch was only the choice to close today because both Lucas Erceg and Matt Strahm had pitched the last two days, but he’s been the Royals’ best reliever this season. He still might wind up being interesting in fantasy leagues if Carlos Estévez fails to return to form.

Castillo had good velocity today and got through three innings scoreless, but really, he was hit hard throughout. At this point, it seems like it’d be difficult to justify keeping him and his 6.29 ERA in the Seattle rotation after Bryce Miller’s return. It’d be interesting to see if he could contribute out of the pen; all 250 of his appearances in the majors have been as a starter. Right now, he’s probably looking at one more start next weekend against the White Sox before Miller is activated.

Collins was also caught stealing for the third time in four tries this season. That’s a definite issue for him as a fantasy outfielder, since he probably has more potential in steals than in any other category. But Collins should be a fourth outfielder anyway. The Royals have thus far started him 26 times in 34 games, and he’s responded by hitting .236/.343/337 with below average defense in left field.