In his village of Cambio, Venezuela, every family had multiple changes of clothes, had change for a peso everywhere they went and the city’s favorite TV show was RuPaul’s Drag Race because of how well the contestants would change before our eyes, Ronel Blanco was raised in this culture of change from his crib to–Kidding! Come on! There’s no way I’m doing a lede Buy for Ronel. Mr. White’s the biggest sell in history! No, this is a buy about a guy who the doorman to Superstardom says, “Hey, man, I can just hold the door open for you, you don’t need to keep knocking.” That man standing at the door to Superstardom for some time is Alex Kirilloff. He has so many posts in front of hype for his post-hype prospect status that if you linked them together, they’d reach the moon. Kirilloff, if you can imagine it, was once considered the next great prospect — 60-grade this, 70-grade that. Looked like a 35-homer, .300 hitter. Whatever they’re giving their hitters in Minnysoda that keeps getting them injured (Royce Lewis, Buxton, Kirilloff) has gotten out of the Minnysoda lab and is in their water. As long as Kirilloff stays thirsty, he’s going to whet our fantasy beaks! Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
PSYCHE! This post was released on Wednesday for Patreon members. It will be released all year early for Patreons, so if people are getting a jump on you, it’s because they paid the $10. Anyway, the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell:
BUY
Logan O’Hoppe – Getting some people who are asking about dropping O’Hoppe, so I figured he was doing poorly. Then I went to look at our 7-day Player Rater, and he was a top five catcher, so I have no idea what criteria people are using to drop players.
Reese McGuire – He’s always had a panache for zoning in, blocking everything out, thinking he’s all by himself and slamming his bat into balls, but never before with baseballs.
Connor Joe – Where’d he come from? (San Diego, I believe.) Where’d he go? (To the leadoff spot then to the three-hole then to the five-hole back to leadoff, and has hit just about everywhere.)
Joey Gallo – One week a year Gallo is hot. Welcome to Gallo Hot Week! Refreshments in the back, feel free to take one donut. Just one! You don’t want Gallo thinking he needs to provide more.
Jared Walsh – An excerpt of Season’s Been Good (So Far) by J. Walsh:
Took him in a draft, forget the price,
Ain’t never rostered him before, they tell me it’s nice,
Michael Busch – [Moe from Moe’s Tavern on the phone] “Mike Busch? Is Mike Busch here?” [on the other end of the phone, Bart giggles] Ya know if you go to the 7-day Player Rater, you can see immediately who’s been hot, and schmotatoes grow in a Busch.
Oliver Dunn – Fun fact! Leaving Las Vegas’s working title was O’ Liver Dunn.
Luis Garcia – Statcast doesn’t stabilize for a couple more weeks — prolly around 50+ BBE. So it’s still small sample size, but Luis Garcia’s Statcast is gorge.
Jake Cronenworth – Not to be a hater my whole life, but Jake Cronenworth looks barely hot and should be a utility man, at best, not a three-hole hitter, i.e., Padres are a mess. They don’t know if they’re buying, selling, coming, going.
Davis Schneider – One of the hottest hitters in September of last year was Schneider, and he’s started the season hot, and no one cares. Usually a hitter does well at the end of last year and again to start the year, and people would be so excited to have him.
Josh H. Smith – Many people don’t know the H. in his name stands for HowisheplayingoverEzequielDuranbutheissothere’sthat. You can see why he abbreviated it.
Brett Baty – Not 100% why I’m so pot-committed to Baty coming around for the Mets, but he’s shown very little so far. Yet, I believe for some reason. Might be his 70-grade power.
Jose Miranda – Don’t [google Jose Miranda sleeper] whatever you do. Okay, maybe once, but that’s it!
Wenceel Perez – Here’s what Itch said previously, “Perez posted a 124 wRC+ in 35 Triple-A games by slashing .264/.394/.493 with three home runs and six home runs with a 16.9-to-18.1 walk-to-strikeout rate. That line is a good reproduction of general outcomes throughout this minor league climb. The upside might not be monstrous here, but he’s a capable up-the-middle defender with great plate skills and a solid hit tool. It’s easy to envision Perez sneaking into a lineup spot and holding it for several years, like I’ve dreamt of sneaking into Grey’s bedroom and curb-stomping him.” What the heck?
Vaughn Grissom – Like a rapper watching Jesus on Easter, we’re all gonna be saying, “G’rissom” soon. G-rissom? No? Okay. You’re right.
David Hamilton – He has speed that you wanted from Victor Scott II, but middle infield eligibility. Sign me up like Ippei signed Ohtani up for parlays!
Taylor Ward – As I’ve said previously (and will likely keep saying all year), I’ve given up on ESPN for Most Added, but I’ll peak in each week and grab a name who should be rostered in 100% of leagues but is somehow rostered in under 50% leagues, according to them, and this week that’s Ward.
Nelson Velazquez – Don’t [google Nelson Velazquez sleeper] whatever you do. Okay, maybe once, but that’s it!
Dominic Canzone – I bet Joey Lucchesi knows Dominic Canzone’s been hot. Paisans stick together!
Jurickson Profar – Padres are being carried by Jurickson and Cronenworth. Basically, Mantle/Maris.
Gavin Sheets – Not to be confused with my bed, which I call, Havin Sheets.
Edward Olivares – Please, just play him, Derek Shelton aka Guy I Want To Call Clint Hurdle.
Colton Cowser – He’s been on a heater since Abner Doubleday’s been tossing BP to a kid in his neighborhood saying, “I call this baseball.”
Brent Rooker – I almost put Shea Langeliers in this column, but you can’t recommend more than one A’s player. Some city ordinance. Maybe when they move to Sactown.
Bowden Francis – Don’t fully trust this recommendation, but this is a Streamonator call, like the call it makes to the post office.
Dean Kremer – Unlike Bowden, I like Kremer in general, but this too is a Streamonator call. “I was standing at the corner and someone must’ve confused me with a mailbox, slipping an envelope into my butt. So, can I drop it off with you?”
James McArthur – Will Smith looks like he’s been supplanted as the closer in Kansas City. Too bad their names aren’t reversed because Smith’s the one who was bombing atomically.
Jeff Hoffman – I keep typo’ing his name to Hossman. RIP to the Pawn Stars guy. Which guy? I don’t know, but I feel like you say RIP to “Pawn Stars guy” and you’re gonna be right at least most of the time. Any hoo! I think it’s Hoffman/Alvarado as the Phils closer, but it might be Alvarado/Hoffman, depending on the game.
Kirby Yates – The French Kevin Smith movie, Leclerc, sucks almost as much as the English-language one, and David Robertson or Kirby Yates should likely be the closer in Texas.
Chad Green – Managers really think they can puzzle out the perfect strategy with the 9th inning. “Chad Green matches up better, let’s use Yimi Garcia in the 8th for the middle of the order.” That kind of thing. But they will start a guy like Cavan Biggio for five years of terrible hitting and just ignore him.
Elvis Peguero – Fulfilling my promise to give you a middle reliever who is dope with no saves opportunities: This week it’s Peguero. Elvis is lights-out, which makes sense since he left the building.
SELL
Max Fried – Tell the kids dreaming of the bigs to not chase velocity. Tell them to tell their families, “Sorry, I won’t be dreaming of making our lives better. I will instead dream of throwing an 82 MPH meatball so the hitter’s sitting dead red. I will dream of being rocked.” To tell pitchers not to throw max velocity is nice in some utopian society, but it’s not realistic. No one is going to puzzle out of, “Hey, you can throw 97 MPH and get drafted by a MLB team or throw 91 and win a SpongeBob at the local carnival,” and choose the plushie. With that said, pitching is risky by its very nature. When you have a pitcher who was hurt last year like Max Fried, it’s a ticking bomb. I told you not to draft Fried, but if you did against my wishes — shame on you. Also, if you have someone in your league that wants to buy into the bounce back after his rough start? Well, then you best be sellin’! I wouldn’t trade Max Fried for a bag of potato chips from across the pond that are flavored like Prawn Cocktail Crisps, but I would look at our Fantasy Baseball Trade Analyzer and explore options.
