Ten Sunday games today with a slight chance of rain in just one of them, so we should be all clear in terms of weather as I expect all games to play. I kind of wish here in August we had full Sunday slates like the olden days as there’s some nice pitching in the afternoon tilt slate to consider. Instead on this main slate we have the hall of fame of bad lefties with Dillon Peters, Keegan Akin, Kolby Allard, JA Happ, Drew Smyly, Eduardo Rodriguez and whoever the hell Charlie Barnes is all pitching.
So who exactly is Charlie Barnes? He’s a 2017 Twins 4th round draft pick who has appeared in 3 games, making 2 starts this year for the Twins logging 13.1 IP with 6 strikeouts. In the minors this season lefties actually hit him better (.286) than righties (.246) but he was below a K/9 in the minors and with a name like Charlie as a lanky lefty all I can think of is Charlie Leibrandt who was a pretty damn good pitcher back in his day for the Royals, Braves and a few other teams. I’ll be shocked if Charlie Barnes has as good of a career as Leibrandt however and this concludes this segment of — Who the hell is that guy???
Pitching is usually the one area that when it’s going right can be one of the better predictable aspects of Baseball but then you get a night like last night where everything gets turned upside down outside of one or two plays and it reminds us how fun Baseball really is. Today is kind of that way as well, there’s some reasons to not like a few guys but at the end of the day I am finding myself trusting pitchers who I know what they bring.
AARON NOLA
We know what Nola brings at home and especially thriving in home Sunday games. When I saw Sonny Gray vs Aaron Nola I immediately thought of two pitchers who when they’re on are going to be peppering the bottom of the zone and cruising through a nice quiet afternoon, but when they are off it will make you pull your hair out. I expect Sonny Gray to pitch a little cleaner than Nola, but Nola’s strikeout potential blows Sonny’s out the door today, so he is who I would prefer to pay up for.
DREW SMYLY
A much cooler game today in Nats Park than they have had of late and I am looking for Smyly to piece together back to back solid starts. Outside of Soto there’s nothing in the Nationals lineup which is presenting a likely challenge for Smyly today.
There is really nobody else that I want to even bother with today. Eduardo Rodriguez, Eric Lauer, Alec Mills all worthy of consideration but I am gonna pass.
OTHER THOUGHTS
Eliser Hernandez — South beach with a RHP vs the Cubbies. That’s basically the end of the good reasons to consider Hernandez today who is an $8,000 pitcher with just two pitches and most likely isn’t going to pitch more than 5 innings at best. Don’t like it.
RAYS
Arozarena, Cruz, Franco, Margot
One of the warmer spots today is in Minnesota, and the Rays vs Lefty narrative is changed with Cruz and Franco 2-3 in this lineup. They should hit 3+ homers in Target Field today and a lot of them should come from the top of the order.
RED SOX
Kike, Renfroe, Vazquez
After another touchdown filled game yesterday everyone is going to rush to Boston, which is really hard to ignore against Keegan Akin but I stand by what I wrote the other night (Friday) which is this is a team who is very jeckyl & hyde offensively and the top of the order is still a little overhyped. That said, the way Henfroe, Dalbec and others of that mix can produce and the balance they have now is hard to overlook. There’s no harm in going with Boston today but look at the lower tier type guys instead of just blindly trying to force in X, JD and Devers.
CATCHER
- Mike Zunino
- Yan Gomes
- Christian Vazquez
FIRST BASE
- Miguel Cabrera
- Bobby Dalbec
- Carlos Santana
SECOND BASE
- Whit Merrifield
- Enrique Hernandez
- DJ LeMahieu
THIRD BASE
- Jose Ramirez
- Yandy Diaz
- Hunter Dozier
SHORTSTOP
- Wander Franco
- Willy Adames
- Tim Anderson
OUTFIELD – MT RUSHMORE
- Nelson Cruz
- Hunter Renfroe
- Randy Arozarena
- Luis Robert – The White Sox are just being overlooked too much today
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- JD Martinez
- Trey Mancini
- Max Kepler
OUTFIELD – Value
- Tommy Edman
- Manuel Margot
- Jorge Soler
- Lorenzo Cain
The Dongers Club
- Nelson Cruz – OF – Rays – Chairman of the Double Dongers Club
- Wander Franco – SS – Rays
- Jose Ramirez – 3B – Indians
- Whit Merrifield – 2B – Royals
- Christian Vazquez – C – Red Sox
- Miguel Cabrera – 1B – Tigers
- Luis Robert – OF – White Sox
- Hunter Renfroe – OF – Red Sox
- BONUS ……………………………. Lorenzo Cain – OF – Brewers
BETS
- Reds/Phils UNDER 8.5
- Atlanta Braves ML
- Detroit Tigers ML
- Chicago White Sox -1.5
MOST POPULAR TEAMS
- Boston, Tampa Bay
GOOD TEAMS GETTING OVERLOOKED
- Chicago White Sox
FAVORITE DK PITCHERS
- Smyly and Nola
BEST LEVERAGE/SLEEPER PLAY
- Kolby Allard
FAVORITE HITTERS
- Nelson Cruz
- Whit Merrifield
- Miguel Cabrera
- Jose Ramirez