Closing Time: Houston forms a bullpen committee
On Monday afternoon, Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch announced the formation of a bullpen committee — no great surprise, as Luke Gregerson has blown five of his last 11 save chances.
On Monday evening, two members of Houston's newly formed committee surrendered late-inning runs in a 6-5 loss at Arlington. Michael Feliz gave up a pair of singles and a sac fly in the seventh, allowing Nomar Mazara to score the game-tying run. In the ninth inning ... well, to be fair, Ken Giles deserved better.
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Giles coaxed a one-out grounder from Adrian Beltre that should have resulted in an inning-ending double-play, but Carlos Correa bobbled the transfer. Beltre was safe at first. Rougned Odor followed with a walk-off double to the wall in left, on a kinda/sorta catchable ball that Colby Rasmus couldn't locate.
So the Astros fell to 0-7 on the season against the division-leading Rangers, and Giles took a hard-luck loss. Again, let's be careful not to hammer him too severely for this one. It didn't have to go down that way. Giles has recovered reasonably well from his miserable April, and he certainly didn't pitch his way out of the late-inning committee on Monday.
However, if you're a fantasy owner looking to invest in Houston's bullpen, Will Harris seems like the priority add. Harris got the save on Sunday against Oakland, pitching a low-stress 1-2-3 inning. He's been obscenely effective so far this season (and last), posting silly ratios while piling up Ks. With 26.2 innings in the books this year, Harris has struck out 29 batters, allowing only four walks, 15 hits and one run. He has the stuff to hold down the closing gig and he remains un-owned in 50 percent of Yahoo leagues.
• Detroit rookie Michael Fulmer was great again, tossing 6.0 scoreless frames against the Blue Jays, striking out five and lowering his season ERA to 2.83. Fulmer hasn't allowed a run in any of his last three starts, and he has 49 Ks in 47.2 innings so far this year. At this point, we shouldn't need to tell you that he belongs on someone's roster in any mixed league. (For the record, I sat Fulmer on Monday, like a coward.)
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Tommy Joseph went 2-for-4 in a loss to the Cubs on Monday, with a ninth-inning bomb off Hector Rondon included. Joseph has multiple hits in four of his last five games and he's now batting .311 with an OPS of .903. So it would appear that Ryan Howard isn't getting the first base job back anytime soon.
• I feel as if I've owned Danny Duffy in every bad year of his career, and I've had zero shares when he's successful. So it goes. Duffy struck out nine batters and walked none over 6.1 innings in a loss to the O's on Monday, allowing five hits and two runs. He's delivered 20 Ks without a walk over his last three starts — incredible, considering his history of control issues. He issued 53 walks in just 136.2 innings last season; this year, it's only seven BBs in 43.0 IP. His swinging-strike rate is a ridiculous 16.6. Definitely worth a speculative pickup at this point.
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• Logan Forsythe (shoulder) should return from the DL next week, if not sooner. If he was dropped in your league while injured, go get him. Forsythe was slashing .308/.398/.523 when injured, plus he was leading off for the Rays. He hit 17 homers last season, so he offers excellent power by middle-infield standards. His ownership percentage has slipped to 52, but he deserves better.
• Notorious fantasy teases James Paxton and Trevor Bauer opposed each other on Monday, and both pitchers struck out 10 batters while posting useful lines. Bauer's next start will be against the Angels in Anaheim, so he's approved for streaming purposes. Paxton will face the Rangers on Saturday, a trickier match-up. I would only mess with him if you desperately need Ks at the end of your head-to-head week.
• Arizona prospect Peter O'Brien continued crushing baseballs at Triple-A Reno. He went 3-for-5 on Monday with another home run, his fifth in his last six games and No. 17 on the season, leading all minor leaguers. Monday's homer was absolutely destroyed, by the way. Although O'Brien is currently hitting an insane .332/.352/.678, we should also note that he's struck out 59 times in 205 at-bats and drawn only seven walks. He isn't a flawless prospect, and there's no obvious spot for him in Arizona right now.