If you read only one thing…..

Jerry Dipoto officially resigned as the Angels general manager on July 1st. Of course that whole saga has numerous angles, but the most important might be the team’s play in the wake of his resignation. The Angels lost to the Yankees 3-1 on that day, but since have 6-1 with tonight’s game still being played as we speak. Even if they lose this game, they still have the opportunity to go into the all-star break in first place.

Granted, the Houston Astros have floundered since George Springer went on the disabled list, but it has been a remarkable turnaround for the Angels. A part of the story revolves around the dysfunctional nature of the franchise. They’ve signed some duds to some humongous contracts, suffered a public relations black eye with their handling of Josh Hamilton (adding to the criticism for signing him to a stupid contract), and seen the two public faces of the franchise butt heads very publicly at seemingly every step of the way.

Of course, this brings us to the biggest industry wide story. Increasingly, teams are moving towards what most people would call analytics. Jerry Dipoto seemed to have that bent and Mike Scioscia resisted every step of the way. Obviously, Scioscia won that particular battle and that’s interesting given the current landscape in the game. Naturally, we don’t know all of the particulars, but he is definitely a more traditional manager. Back in the old days, managers carried a lot more juice than general managers. Those days largely went out when the Bobby Coxs, Tony La Russas, and Tommy Lasordas faded into the background. I don’t know if the Angels’s situation means anything industry wide, but it certainly is intriguing.

Just as we expected….

If you are looking for daily fantasy advice, take my two cents and start whoever is facing the Houston Astros tomorrow (Matt Moore at the moment). They’ve scored a combined four runs in the last five games. Jake Odorizzi was the beneficiary on Saturday night as he pitched five and two thirds scoreless innings. Brad Boxberger added his 22nd save of the season as well. It could be a thirteen year old and the Astros could be swinging boat ores. They are just ice cold at the moment.

The Red Sox have largely been panned this season for throwing a bunch of money at underperforming players and rightfully so. It’s hard to levy that criticism towards Hanley Ramirez. Sure, advanced metrics probably would question that move as well, but on the surface he’s having a good season. He hit his 19th home run on Saturday night and has 45 RBI before the all-star break.

But we didn’t see this coming….

Lost in the huge success for Mets pitchers like Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, and Jacob DeGrom has been the performance of Jeurys Familia this season. Saves are largely an opportunity statistic, but he also has a microscopic 1.28 ERA. He is a big reason why they are four games over .500 going into the last game before the all-star break. They may or may not be contenders for a playoff berth, but if they are, their pitching is what is going to get them there.

We profiled Prince Fielder here yesterday, now we need to profile his teammate Mitch Moreland. The first baseman is hitting .289 with 16 home runs going into the all-star break. The team is playing around .500, but very few of the offensive players are performing that well. Moreland has been rumored to be on the trade block. He may be dangled out there to bring more pitching. Fantasy players shouldn’t sleep on him.

The Rest of the Details

Save Chances

• Brad Boxberger (converted)
• Drew Storen (converted)
• Tyler Clippard (converted)
• Jeurys Familia (converted)
• Jason Grilli (not converted)

Injuries

• Jason Grilli tore his achilles tendon and is out for the season.

Roster Moves

• Red Sox designate Dailer Hinojosa

• Dodgers designate Matt West
• Rangers designate Ross Detwiler
• Red Sox promote Brian Johnson
• Rockies designate Aaron Laffey
• Tigers sign Neftali Feliz
• Royals re-sign Balbino Fuenmayor

Rumors Mill

Another day and another team appears to be in sell mode. No one can deny that the Padres have been a disappointment this season. Now, management must temper the desire to compete long term with the desire to maintain payroll flexibility. They want to keep Justin Upton long term, but that might precipitate clearing some room to do it. The rumor mill has them considering some moves internally such as trading James Shields and Craig Kimbrel. Ian Kennedy and Andrew Cashner could be moved as well in an effort to get something for players that could be in high demand. Stay tuned…….