A fantasy baseball column about two Kansas City pitchers
The 2019 Royals are obviously on a road to nowhere. At 19-37, they have the second-worst record in the majors. Perhaps they’ve been a little unlucky given that eight teams have worse run differentials, but this rebuild is going to take several years.
Kansas City has a handful of interesting hitters (especially this guy), and that’s mostly it.
But that doesn’t mean we have to immediately dismiss the entire pitching staff. Thursday’s 4-2 victory at Texas opened up some long-simmering debates.
Let’s start at the end of the game. Ian Kennedy worked the ninth and was clean, two strikeouts and just 11 pitches overall. It’s his third save of the year, the team’s sixth.
At what point might Ned Yost start using Kennedy as a more-dedicated closer? A 4.18 ERA looks underwhelming, but Kennedy’s been somewhat unlucky to hold that. FIP suggests a 2.39 number, xFIP says 3.55. Kennedy’s spiked his ground-ball rate this year, and on a few messy outings, he’s been singled to death. His zesty strikeout rate (10.7/9) and skimpy walk rate (1.52/9) are points in his favor.
I’ve been in and out on Kennedy in the Friends & Family League this year. Thursday, I jumped back in. Maybe there’s finally some traction here. This isn’t a shallow-league play, but there’s room in the deeper pools — Kennedy is owned in just four percent of Yahoo.
Kennedy’s clean finish made a winner out of Jakob Junis, who acquitted himself well in the pitcher hell of Arlington (6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K). Junis has 20 strikeouts over his last three starts, as he’s started to rely on his slider more. For the season Junis is throwing his best pitch around 45 percent of the time.
At minimum, Junis deserves some streaming consideration. You can’t use him against Boston next week, but the following start against the White Sox is a possibility. I could see Junis setting into an ERA in the low 4s the rest of the way, with a WHIP under 1.30. Those aren’t knockout ratios, but in deep leagues, they’re worth a look — especially if you can steer him away from the extreme matchups.
Of course, Junis pitched well Thursday at Texas, one of the matchups you’d look to avoid. It’s not a perfect game, but we need to have these conversations.
Didi Gregorius nearing return
Over the years, I haven’t been shy about my Didi Gregorius admiration. He blossomed into a good player over the last few seasons, and in 2018 his OPS+ reached a career-best 122. A plus defender with 20-30 homer pop; sounds good to me.
This year, of course, all bets were off. Gregorius had Tommy John surgery in the offseason and was expected to miss about half the year. But it sounds like Gregorius is ahead of schedule in his rehab, to the point that he might join the Yankees on their next road trip.
The rules of realistic expectations need to apply here. Gregorius has missed a ton of game action and might need a while to get in form. But plausible upside also needs to be considered. Gregorius has been actively added in recent days but is still roaming free in 58 percent of Yahoo leagues. Does anyone want to shoot for that short right-field porch in The Bronx?
Mallex Smith turns it around
You want us to own swings and misses, I’ll own one here. Mallex Smith was one of my pre-season fades, and while that looked right for a while — heck, the guy was demoted to Triple-A at one point — he’s set to smash things now.
Smith is on one of those lovely stolen-base binges a rabbit often goes on, swiping six bags in four games this week. He’s also collected seven hits and walked three times.
The Mariners promoted Smith from ninth to first in the lineup Tuesday, a critical move for a rabbit. That assignment could easily stick for the rest of the year. Heck, Smith batted .296 and had a .367 OBP in Tampa last year, bona fide leadoff credentials. His ownership should be in the 65-80 percent range, but it currently lags in the 40s.
In the stolen-base chase, momentum is a thing. This could be one of those DGAF stolen-base binges, like what Jon Villar did in Baltimore last year. Go add Mallex, while he’s ten feet tall.
