If you read only one thing…..

One man’s competitive balance is another man’s parity. Depending on your mood, you may consider the tightness in the standings as a positive thing or a negative thing. Leaving play on Friday night, only one team (St. Louis) had a winning percentage better than .600. Two teams had winning percentages worse than .400 (Milwaukee and Philadelphia). The upshot is that a lot of teams still have hope left in the season. I would call that a good thing.

In fantasy terms, there seem to be a record number of players that are either huge disappointments or are injured. Of course, that could just be perception in a season of frustration for some of us. With injuries come opportunities for other guys to step up, and if you take advantage of that, you can be right back in business.

Just as we expected….

The combination of David Price and Miguel Cabrera was deadly against the Indians. It was too bad because Danny Salazar had another good outing where he made only one major mistake. Miguel Cabrera tattooed that one for a three-run home run. In fact, he had the only four RBIs in the game. Price is now 6-2 with a 2.44 ERA on the season. Cabrera hit his 13th home run to go along with 43 RBI on the season.

It’s hard to believe anyone was worried about Josh Donaldson at the beginning of the season. He got off to a slow start in Toronto but lifted his average to .322 on Friday night with another three hits. He added a run and RBI to his season tallies as well. When you add in his glove, he has the look of an early season MVP candidate. Don’t look now, but the Blue Jays have been going nuts and have won nine games in a row. It has elevated them to two games out of the NL East lead, and Donaldson is a huge reason why.

But we didn’t see this coming….

The last time I saw Wandy Rodriguez he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates and seemed to be lost in oblivion. An injury riddled 2014 campaign sent him to the waiver wire and baseball’s wasteland. The Braves tried him out this spring, but he couldn’t cut it there and many thought his career was done. While he did not get the win on Friday night, he did throw 6.2 innings with only one run surrendered. His season ERA stands at 3.03 ERA.

The Astros broke a seven game losing streak on Friday night largely on the back of Brett Oberholtzer. He pitched eight scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 2.25. Oberholtzer was solid last season, but had been bothered by blisters and other minor injuries for much of the year this year. If this past outing is any indication, he might be one of the more popular adds in most fantasy leagues this time tomorrow.

The Rest of the Details

Save Chances

• Jake McGee (converted)
• Brett Cecil (converted)
• Aroldis Chapman (converted)
• Jeurys Familia (converted)

Lineup Moves

• Yankees outright Esmil Rogers
• Dodgers acquire Ronald Torreyes and designate Darwin Barney
• Athletics sign Dayan Viciedo
• Cubs sign Rafael Soriano (includes escape clause)
• Tigers option Shane Greene
• Blue Jays call up Phil Coke

Rumors and Transactions

Two separate rumors on MLBTR involve the Nationals. One simply postulates that they want a late inning reliever via the trade market. No kidding. The second was more specific and more intriguing. Apparently, the Reds and Nationals have had discussions involving Aroldis Chapman. Chapman just earned his 13th save tonight and seems to be pitching as good as ever (2.22 ERA). Unfortunately, save opportunities have been rare for Chapman so far this season, and his contract is up after the season. Meanwhile, the Nationals seem to have a number of solid arms in their pen, but no one has that wow factor. Chapman would certainly give them that. Stay tuned….