Fantasy Baseball Today: Alex Cobb sharp in return; Bryce Harper's monster second half continues; waiver adds

by 24USATVSept. 18, 2021, 7 a.m. 35
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With just two weeks left in the season, deciding who to start and who to sit is everything. Whether you're playing in a head-to-head matchup, preserving ratios or chasing wins, we need to get this right. There are currently two pitchers who are started in 50% or less of CBS leagues who need to be in your lineups next week: Jose Urquidy and Jordan Montgomery. Urquidy has slowly built up and has two starts lined up against the Angels and A's next week. The other is Jordan Montgomery, who is coming off a 12-strikeout performance and hosts the Rangers in Week 26.

On the other hand, you can drop Trevor Rogers. It's been an awesome season for the Marlins breakout, but it seems he has hit a wall, failing to exceed 4.1 innings in any of his past three starts. He could be in line for two starts the final week of the season, but he's just not offering much at this point, regardless of format.

Of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify.

Angels SP Alex Cobb made his return to the mound Thursday night and looked quite good. Cobb threw five shutout innings against the White Sox. He allowed just two hits, two walks and he struck out five. He also induced nine swings and misses on just 66 pitches (a strong 13.6% swinging strike rate). He is just 23% rostered and has a two-start week coming up against Houston and Seattle.

Phillies OF Bryce Harper has been on an absolute heater since the All-Star break and it continued on Thursday night. Harper delivered five more hits on Wednesday and Thursday combined and on Thursday he tallied a homer and a steal. He's now up to a .314 batting average with 33 homers and 13 bags. Here are his second-half numbers: .354, 18 HR, 6 SB, 1.255 OPS in 57 second-half games.
• Blake Snell was placed on the IL Wednesday with that left adductor groin strain.
• Michael Brantley finally went to the IL with right knee soreness. We spoke about Jose Siri recently and he's started three of the past four games.
• Nelson Cruz exited Thursday with a right forearm contusion after getting hit by a pitch.
• J.T. Realmuto returned with a sock and a shoe Wednesday and then left Thursday's game after being hit by a pitch in his left elbow area.
• Jo Adell went on the IL with an abdominal strain and isn't expected back for the rest of the season.
• Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Willy Adames could be activated Monday against the Cardinals. Adames is on the IL with a quad injury.
• The Blue Jays are hopeful Jose Berrios will make his next start after dealing with abdominal tightness Tuesday.
• Shane McClanahan is expected to be activated from the IL to start Sunday against the Tigers.
• Wander Franco hopes to rejoin the Rays sometime next week.
• Carlos Rodon is expected to make two more starts in the regular season with one of those coming next week
• Shohei Ohtani will not pitch Friday due to a sore arm. They're hopeful he can still pitch this season
• Amed Rosario was placed on the bereavement list Wednesday.
• Framber Valdez was scratched Thursday with a cut on his hand. Dusty Baker told reporters he's hopeful Valdez can start Monday against the Angels.
• Ian Anderson's start was postponed Thursday but will start Friday against the Giants.
• Jesus Aguilar is not expected to return this season. That means Lewin Diaz will continue to play everyday.
• Gabe Kapler said there's a good chance Alex Wood is activated off the COVID IL Saturday against the Braves
• Luis Severino will throw two innings in a simulated game Friday.
• Jake Odorizzi is expecting to return after the minimum 10 days on the IL.
• James Kaprielian will transition into the bullpen for the rest of the season.
• Seth Beer dislocated his shoulder on Tuesday but feels better and is considered day-to-day.

Scott White dove into some players you'll want to scoop if they are still on your waiver wire. You can find that column here. Below, we'll feature some of our favorite adds:

Phillies RP Ranger Suarez: First is Ranger Suarez, a ground-ball generating extraordinaire who continues to maintain an ERA around 1.50 even though he joined the starting rotation nine turns ago. He's scheduled to face the Orioles and Pirates next week, followed by the Marlins in the season's final week, but frankly, the matchups are irrelevant. He's just darn good, and at 74 percent rostership, he's close to being fully appreciated.

Royals OF Andrew Benintendi: Andrew Benintendi collected five hits Tuesday, albeit all singles, continuing a seven-game stretch that has seen him hit .581 (18 for 31) with three homers. He's batting well over .300 since the middle of August, which has gotten his season batting line back up to a respectable level. His upside from one week to the next is only so high, but it just so happens the Royals have some of the most favorable hitter matchups over the final two weeks, facing the pieced-together Indians pitching staff for two series and the Tigers and Twins staffs each for one.

Twins 1B Miguel Sano: Sure, he's volatile, but we know Miguel Sano is still perfectly capable of putting balls in the bleachers when he's going right, continuing to deliver the same elite hard-hit rate and average exit velocity that he always has. He's enjoying maybe his best stretch of the season right now, and while putting your trust in him could leave you holding the bag, now isn't the time to play scared. If you're trying to catch up in the home run category, he's among your best bets, particularly with the Cubs, Tigers and Royals rotations in his sights the next two weeks.

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