Bean Ball

Key Happenings 

Coming into this week, I knew that I should at least go 1-0. Holden’s Team was, in fact, not hot, despite the name, being 4-6 on the season. Further boosting my confidence, I was scheduled to have two starts by Cam Schlittler, Tarik Skubal, Jacob deGrom, and Logan Gilbert, meaning I would need zero pickup starts. This, however, did not come to fruition, as before Tarik Skubal was scratched a few hours before his anticipated start against the Red Sox, which was first dubbed “precautionary” and a few minutes was announced to need surgery. I immediately had to make a decision: trade Skubal at a low cost as people tried to buy low on him, or trust my staff and wait for him to return, trusting he would be his dominant self when he did. I chose the latter, as my rotation was deep with the additions of Will Warren and Kyle Harrison as keepers to a team that was already pitching-focused. However, this did lead me to cut off trade talks I was having centered around selling George Kirby, who I felt Will Warren replaced pretty easily. Some of these talks led to very interesting places, including a potential move for Bobby Witt Jr.; however, I did not feel comfortable after losing Skubal to trade away a pitcher. 

Transactions

Just before the week started, I dropped Tyler Rogers and added Erik Sabrowski. Both relievers are interesting, but the Guardians use Sabrowski in hold situations way more than the Blue Jays use Rogers in the same kind of situation, making Sabrowski much more valuable. I also finalized my dropping of Austin Riley for Casey Schmitt, which I alluded to in the last article. The batted ball data was way more favorable for the Giants’ utility man, which made it easier to do than I anticipated. I picked up Luis Severino for his start against the Phillies, which yielded only 5 points, and Carmen Mlodzinski for his start against the Giants, which only got me 9. I shuffled some relievers besides that, such as Tony Santillan (right before Emilio Pagan’s injury), JoJo Romero, and Juan Morillo. Schmitt was the only player that I retained and viewed as a long-term asset. 

Matchup Recap

Jacob deGrom, Logan Gilbert, and Cam Schlittler all capitalized on their two-start weeks, giving me 36, 35, and 34 points, respectively. Rico Garcia (a player I forgot to mention I picked up following Ryan Helsley’s injury in my last entry) gave me 22 points out of my bullpen. Miguel Vargas continued to prove my preseason prediction to be a good one with 30 points, and Byron Buxton was fine with 24 points. Beyond that, multiple relievers and hitters, and George Kirby, gave between 10 and 20 points, which proved to be enough to top Holden’s Heated Team despite a shaky start to the week from my team, beating them 351-273. This score also again placed me in the top 4, giving me another 2-0 week to maintain my lead in the standings with a record of 11-1.