Closing Time: A change does Marco Estrada good

Marco Estrada deserved better. So it was in Tampa on Wednesday as Toronto's starter carried a no-no into the 8th inning for the second consecutive start. This time he was untouchable (untouchable, meaning perfect), until, with one out in the 8th, Tampa Bay's Logan Forsythe beat out (tie goes to the runner) an infield chopper that 3B Josh Donaldson did all he could do to make the out - and just before that play, he did all that Superman could do to make an out on David DeJesus - seriously, click the link and watch that Donaldson play if you haven't already. Sometimes, Billy Beane, you should just pay the player - and sometimes you should have thicker skin.

But, back to Estrada, who finished with 8.2 shutout innings before being pulled from the contest and watching a scoreless tie head into extra frames. He's a guy who always sort of hung around the fantasy periphery in Milwaukee, usually posting upper-3 ERAs and pushing a K per IP. But traction was an issue (never more than 150 IP), as was earning Wins (23 wins in 70 starts and 139 total appearances as a Brewer).

Traction has been a bit of an issue in Toronto, as well, as Estrada spent the first month of the season working out of the pen. But looking back at his past six starts, he's turned out a Quality Start in five of them. His change-up, which ranks as one of the best in MLB, was dropping Rays like flies on Wednesday. And you have to like that his HardHit% (24.5) ranks among the 20 lowest starters (min. 60 IP).

Not surprisingly, Estrada is the most added individual today in the Yahoo game. But considering he's thrown 118-plus pitches in each of his past two outings (and is second only to Chris Sale for number of pitches thrown this month), I'd probably hold off on Estrada for the moment as he faces a Boston team that roughed him up for five runs in five innings just three turns ago. There's also the long-term concern of pitching on the slippery slopes of the mounds of the AL East. But if he does something special again in his outing versus the BoSox, you probably have to pull the trigger and see if that change-up is something he can continue to ride with consistency going forward.

• Instead of Estrada, SP-needy owners might first want to look at Wednesday winners Jimmy Nelson and Clay Buchholz, a starter I've been pushing for employment for most of the season in High Fives. Both of these guys have been Pitching by the Numbers darlings, a weekly series by Michael Salfino that takes deep dives into pitcher analytics. Buchholz and Nelson have been particularly adept at limiting hard contact while also inducing a high SwingingStrike%. Weak contact and strikeouts? Yes, please.

• Brett Lawrie, the A's return for sending Donaldson to Toronto, has at least been doing his part to make that deal not look quite so bad (it still looks bad). Lawrie recorded his 10th multi-hit game of the month on Wednesday, upping his June average to .361. His season-to-date production now lands him in top 20 roto middle infield territory. He's well into the post-hype portion of his career, but people forget (an assumption based upon his current ownership rate of 50 percent) that this is still just a 25-year-old who opened his MLB career going 20/20 with a .278 batting average in his first 168 games.

• By my estimation, roughly two-thirds of Yahoo leagues still have a heartbeat. I use Justin Turner, and rookies Billy Burns and Lance McCullers, as my evidence of that - that is (roughly) the percentage of leagues in which they are owned.

Burns went 3-for-6 with two doubles and two runs scored on Wednesday, extending his hitting streak to 14 games (has a hit in 26 of past 27 games).Since his May 2 arrival, he's been a top 20 offense fantasy commodity, and has been more valuable in that span than Mike Trout.

McCullers picked up a no-decision against the Angels on Wednesday, but he did it in Quality Start fashion (6 IP, 1 ER) despite not having his best stuff. Luckily, even his ordinary stuff is filthy. Since his mid-May arrival, he's been a top 12 fantasy starter, striking out more than a batter an inning and holding those opponents to a .189 batting average.

As for Turner, I'll admit, even I have had to fight skepticism in regards to his hot start considering his past as a ho-hum utilityman with the Mets. But he has a different look to him as a Dodger, with an OPS in 171 games in LA of well over .900 to prove it. And since May 1, only Jason Kipnis and Brian Dozier have been better in fantasy among MI-eligibles. Of course, Turner also has CI eligibility. A platinum-plated Swiss Army knife to be had for free in a third of Yahoo leagues.

• I'll refrain from any "Champagne SuperNova" type of hyperbolic puns in describing Ivan Nova's first start of '15. He certainly gets credit for a rock solid line (6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K). But we must note that it was a against the NL's worst offense (Philly). And the one punchout underscores a big issue for fantasy, as he owns a career K rate below 7 - that doesn't cut it for IP-capped leagues.

• Considering the recent Aroldis Chapman trade rumors, it's worth noting that Reds reliver J.J. Hoover closed out the Pirates on Wednesday with a perfect, two-K inning while Chapman is on paternity leave. Hoover is Chapman's heir apparent, and he hasn't allowed an earned run since April 21. That kind of production makes a spec play on Hoover a pretty painless move.

• Colorado's John Axford and Washington's Drew Storen blew save chances on Wednesday, pushing both player's ERA in June over the 6.00 mark. That said. it's not yet close to time to lower the DEFCON levels on these guys, as the two have combined to close out 92 percent of their opportunities this season.  But certainly Axford is one that you can never get too comfortable with - he's allowed an average of right around a runner and a half per IP over the past three seasons, and LaTroy Hawkins has pitched well since returning from a biceps injury earlier this month.

• Good to see that Stephen Vogt's sore elbow checked out just fine in his return to the field on Wednesday. He went 3-for-5 with a couple RBI - he's now fifth in MLB in the RBI department with 53, one ahead of Miggy Cabrera.

That's it for now. Enjoy Thursday's De La Rosa vs. De La Rosa showdown in Colorado.