Both have a high amount of risk and both have tremendous upside but the trade that sent Troy Tulowitzki to the Toronto Blue Jays and Jose Reyes to the Colorado Rockies shouldn’t affect their fantasy value all that much.
For Tulowitzki, he enters the best hitting lineup in baseball, where he’ll presumably hit fifth behind Devon Travis, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Tulowitzki presents another right-handed hitting masher for John Gibbons, and although he’s left the altitude of Denver, Rogers Centre is actually a better ballpark for right-handed power than Coors Field based on ballpark factors from Baseball Prospectus.
This season, Tulo’s fly ball rate (40 percent) and pull rate (48 precent) are both above his career average but still, his home run per fly ball rate is 11.8 percent, the lowest it’s been since 2008. Despite his overall numbers slightly tailing off this season, there’s plenty to suggest that Tulowitzki should be just fine in his two plus months this season in a Blue Jays uniform. And the best news of all, he’s appeared in all but 10 games for the Rockies to this point. Stay healthy, Tulo!
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For Reyes, Coors Field is exactly the type of ballpark that he’ll thrive in. In terms of ballpark factors for this season, Colorado ranks first in hits, ninth in home runs, eighth in doubles and second in triples. The spacious outfield should do wonders for Reyes and his hack-and-slash approach at the plate. Perhaps the biggest news for Reyes owners comes from Jeff Passan, who reports that the Rockies are likely to hang on to the shortstop for the remainder of the season and try to trade him during the winter.
Rusney Castillo, OF (28 percent owned)
Remember when Castillo batted .333 with two home runs and a .928 OPS in his brief 10-game call-up last September? Since then, the $72.5 million man has spent most of the season in triple-A Pawtucket, not doing much of anything with his earlier stint in the majors. But with Shane Victorino being shipped out to Anaheim, Castillo is back in the big leagues and as GM Ben Cherington said, “We just want to see (Castillo) continue to get comfortable and acclimated at the big league level.” Castillo stole 10 bases and drove in 17 runs with three home runs during his 40 games in triple-A and he’ll be handed every opportunity to win the right field job, which shouldn’t really be that difficult.
Fernando Rodriguez, RP (2 percent owned)
Tyler Clippard has been traded to the New York Mets, so who will close games in Oakland? Based on the numbers, Fernando Rodriguez appears to be the odds-on favourite. In 30 innings this season, the 31-year-old is 1.03 WHIP with 38 strikeouts and just nine walks. Also in the mix are Edward Mujica (no thanks), Evan Scribner (homer prone) and as for Sean Doolittle, he’ll only start throwing off flat ground on Saturday. The fact that the A’s are pretty much out of the playoff picture this season makes me wonder how Bob Melvin will handle the ninth inning but if I’m taking a shot on one of these relievers, it’s Rodriguez.
Joe Ross, SP (18 percent owned)
Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to make a rehab start for triple-A Syracuse today, one of many games before the Nationals might decide to get him back up to the big league rotation. For as long as Strasburg is out, Ross will keep his place in the starting rotation and boy, he is throwing the ball well. After fanning seven Pirates on Sunday, Ross has struck out 34 batters over 32.2 innings this season while allowing just one home run in five total starts. His control has been impeccable – just three walks allowed – and his 3.03 ERA comes with a 1.85 FIP. I’d go ahead and stream him against the New York Mets this weekend.
Preston Tucker, OF (11 percent owned)
Tucker doesn’t fare well against lefties –.219 slugging in 64 at-bats – but the rookie has hit all nine of his home runs this season against righties to the tune of a .571 slugging percentage. The Astros left-fielder is rotating between second and fifth in the Astros lineup and this month he’s batting .293 with five round trippers, 10 runs and 11 RBI. He’s a fine power play down the stretch and I’m not fretting about his place in A.J Hinch’s line-up once George Springer returns from the disabled list. I could see Colby Rasmus moved to the bench, giving the Astros a Tucker-Marisnick-Springer outfield.