Phillies

Fire - Jesus Aguilar It's taken a lengthy DL stint for Eric Thames and another shorter stint from Ryan Braun, but here we are. Full-time at-bats for Jesus Aguilar! Of course, Braun has already weaseled his way back into the lineup, but manager Craig Counsell suggested recently that Aguilar will continue to see full-time work at first base despite Braun's return. Not only that, but he indicated that Aguilar could continue to hit in the three hole for the Brewers, where he has been since mid-May. Not a bad spot to be when…

Fire - Odubel Herrera There were two very different sides to Odubel Herrera's 2017 season. On one hand, you've got Odubel the performer, bat-flipping like a madman. He will bat flip a walk. Some people love it, some people hate it, and in the interest of self-preservation I'll keep my stance to myself. In any case, there is also Odubel the fantasy asset, whom we are here to discuss. Herrera as a fantasy player is quite the opposite of his on the field persona. He is — dare I say — bland. Sure, there was his breakout 2016…

Fire - Jose Peraza There was recently a changing of the guard in Cincinnati. Manager Bryan Price was let go in late April after a disastrous 3-15 start to the season, replaced on an interim basis by bench coach Jim Riggleman. It turns out, this may have been good news for Jose Peraza. Peraza had been struggling while typically floating down around the bottom of the order when Price was around, but Riggleman seems convinced that #2 slot is where Peraza deserves to be. Since taking over, Riggleman has batted Peraza either…

With a string of solid early-season starts, Nick Pivetta has already become a fixture in deeper leagues. After his latest effort, Pivetta is on the verge of entering the fantasy prime time.The Phillies' righty had a one-hit shutout against the Pirates through four innings on Sunday, and even with the subsequent blemish of a two-run homer by Elias Diaz, Pivetta had a fine afternoon. He finished with seven strikeouts and just two runs over 6.1 innings. Diaz's homer didn't just ruin Pivetta's shutout, though. Up until the…

I really wanted to call this "Dudes in the Outfield," but I think I'll leave that to an aspiring screenwriter. Kevin Costner is already lining up for the lead role. Outfield is a deep position, like starting pitcher, so as promised I'll be breaking the positions up into two write-ups each. There are plenty of outfielders I like early on (hello, Byron Buxton), but it doesn't do you any good for me to tell you to draft top-20 outfielders. Therefore, my Dudes are generally going to be the guys you're drafting as your third…