Tag: Ken Giles

Top 5 Fantasy Baseball sleeper pitchers

Previewing the fantasy baseball landscape and highlighting the top 5 sleeper pitchers for the 2020 MLB season.

[jwplayer eksOOQvZ]

Fantasy baseball managers will need to act quickly in the shortened 2020 MLB season. The 60-game campaign will mean smaller sample sizes of both successes and struggles will carry more weight, and fantasy owners will need to be ready to pounce on the waiver wire and cut ties sooner than usual. Below, we’ll help you get a head start on the 2020 fantasy baseball season with a look at the top-five sleeper pitchers to target in drafts.

Fantasy baseball: Top 5 sleeper pitchers

Kenta Maeda, SP, Minnesota Twins

Average Draft Position (ADP): 171

Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason, Maeda joins Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi at the front of the Twins’ rotation. Maeda went 10-8 over 37 games (26 starts) and 153 2/3 innings last year while pitching to a 4.04 ERA and 1.07 WHIP with 169 strikeouts against just 51 walks.

Maeda will benefit greatly from the change of scenery. He’ll no longer need to pitch in the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field and Chase Field, and will instead get to feast on the expected cellar-dwelling Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers.

Baseball season is finally here! Get some action on the 2020 season with an MLB futures bet at BetMGM in NJ, IN, CO and WV. Bet now!

Steven Matz, SP, New York Mets

ADP: 277

Matz went 11-10 in 32 games (30 starts) while throwing a career-high 160 1/3 innings in 2019. He posted a lackluster 4.21 ERA and 1.34 WHIP, but both those figures improved greatly in the second half of the season, as did his K-BB percentage. The Mets lineup should be much stronger this season and can help provide more win opportunities with improved run support.

Andrew Heaney, SP, Los Angeles Angels

ADP: 198

Heaney was limited to 18 starts and 95 1/3 innings in 2019. He averaged more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings for the second time in his career and walked fewer than three batters per nine for the second straight year. The 29-year-old has been named the Angels’ Opening Day starter and will front a new-look rotation.

Playing fantasy baseball? A Draft Day like no other deserves a fantasy baseball Cheat Sheet like no other. Weekly HQBasics from BaseballHQ is $4.95 with coupon code SBW5. Sign up now!

Kyle Hendricks, SP, Chicago Cubs

ADP: 144

Hendricks hasn’t been able to replicate his breakout 2016 campaign in which he pitched to a 2.13 ERA, while going 16-8, but a regression to a 3.44 ERA in 2018 and a 3.46 ERA in 2019 are being viewed too unfavorably. He won’t steal matchups with strikeout totals, but his reliability and consistency will pay off nicely in an otherwise unpredictable season.

Ken Giles, RP, Toronto Blue Jays

ADP: 128

Giles recorded just 23 saves over 53 games last season, but pitched to a sparkling 1.87 ERA with a career-best 14.09 strikeouts per nine innings. He may still struggle to get save opportunities while backing the middling Blue Jays, but should get into games more regularly with teams expected to limit the usage of their top starters in 2020.

Want action on any 2020 MLB futures? Sign up and bet at BetMGM. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren on Twitter, and follow @SportsbookWire on Twitter and Facebook.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

[lawrence-newsletter]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1372]

Former Astro, current Blue Jays’ reliever Ken Giles says he would give up World Series ring if asked

Ken Giles, a reliever for the Astros on that 2017 squad — now with the Toronto Blue Jays — says he would give up his World Series ring if asked to.

Ken Giles, a reliever for the Astros on that 2017 squad — now with the Toronto Blue Jays — says he would give up his World Series ring if asked to.

Blue Jays pitcher Ken Giles says he’s willing to give back his Astros World Series ring

“Whatever they ask, I would oblige.”

Baseball is just in the early stages of 2020 spring training, and it’s already clear that many fans don’t think MLB did enough to punish the Astros for their cheating scandal. Astros players were not punished, and the team was allowed to keep the 2017 World Series title.

But if MLB were to change its tune — highly unlikely — and vacate that 2017 World Series title, one former Astros player would be more than willing to give back his championship ring.

Blue Jays reliever Ken Giles was the closer in Houston during that 2017 season, and in an interview with The Toronto Star, Giles said he would give back that ring if MLB asked. Via The Star:

“Whatever they ask, I would oblige. Because what was going on at the time was not OK.”

Giles recorded 34 saves for the Astros in 2017 before he unraveled in the postseason, allowing 10 earned runs in 7.2 innings. The Astros ultimately benched Giles after Game 4 of the World Series, and he was sent to the minors the following season after cursing out then-manager A.J. Hinch.

Giles, though, claimed that he wasn’t aware of the cheating tactics given that he spent his time in the bullpen far from the dugout and wouldn’t have needed to participate as an American League pitcher:

“I was not aware about anything. It crushed me to learn about the stuff that went on when I was there. I had no idea. I had no clue whatsoever. I was blindsided by the commissioner’s report. Up until then, I honestly didn’t believe it. Just crazy.”

He continued:

“I was still pretty young. And at the end of the day, I had my own problems in Houston, which were well documented.”

[jwplayer 78xaufRK-q2aasYxh]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]