Yu Darvish (LAD) - The Dodgers went fishing and they landed a much-needed starting pitcher to help anchor the front end of their starting rotation with Clayton Kershaw on the shelf. Darvish, who will be a free agent at the end of this season, fetched the Rangers the Dodgers' 4th, 17th and 27th ranked prospects. From a fantasy perspective, moving to the National League and pitching for the team with the best record in baseball can certainly help boost his value. Additionally, moving from a home ballpark with an average ballpark factor of 107, the 3rd friendliest hitter's park in the AL, to a home ballpark with a factor of 95, the 4th friendliest pitcher's park in the NL, will certainly add to the positives for fantasy owners in this deal. Darvish has taken a bit of a step back after a strong return from Tommy John Surgery a year ago. This season, Darvish has a 4.01 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with a 6-9 record. The righty should see a boost in his strikeouts given the unfamiliar opponents and getting to have the pitcher two to three times per game. He's a break your budget type of acquisition in NL only formats in FAAB this week.
Gio Gonzalez (WAS) - On a day when big name starting pitching was getting dealt right and left, the Nationals seemingly got a new player from one of their existing starting pitchers. Gio Gonzalez pitched eight no-hit innings before giving up a base hit to Dee Gordon in the 9th inning. He finished the game with a brilliant line of 8.0 IP, 1H, 0ER, 3BB and 5K. The outing also marked the 11th time out of his last 12 starts that he posted a quality start and managed to lower his ERA to 2.66. Beware, his xFIP is still 4.27 and his 85% strand rate is just begging to come back down to earth.
Ahmed Rosario (NYM) - With an injury to Jose Reyes, the Mets were finally forced to call up top prospect Ahmed Rosario. There was nothing left for Rosario to prove in Triple-A after going .328/.367./.466 with 7 homeruns, 58 RBi, 66 runs and 19 stolen bases in 94 games. Rosario figures to play everyday for the Mets and Rosario should be a speculative add in all formats. Speed will be the most valuable asset of Rosario's, but caution should be taken if you're expecting a lot of stolen bases from Rosario immediately. He'll likely hit towards the bottom of the batting order and rookies rarely have the green light from the get go.
Johnny Cueto (SF) - Giants beatwriter Joe Ritzo reported on Twitter that Johnny Cueto was only able to throw 34 of his planned 70 pitches during his rehab appaearance on Monday. Cueto is trying to come back from blisters on his throwing hand, so this outing has to be seen as a step backwards. Consider it unlikely that he will return the the Giants this week. Cueto is having his worst season since 2009 and it's also the first season since joining the Giants that he has hit the disabled list. His 4.59 ERA is actually supported by his 4.43 xFIP and his drop in velocity can be a considered a contributing factor to his drop in strikeouts. The biggest change however, has been his enormous drops in effectiveness of all his pitches, resulting in negative pitch values for his fastball, slider, curveball and change-up.
Jimmy Nelson (MIL) - If you're not able to pay up for Max Scherzer or Chris Sale, Jimmy Nelson is an intriguing value play on Tuesday in DFS. On FanDuel, Nelson is priced at just $8,800 and he draws a matchup against the Cardinals. Jimmy Nelson has developed into an excellent starting pitching option this season with a 50% groundball rate and a 27% strikeout rate that's supported by a 12% swinging strike rate. Nelson's biggest gains can be attributed to his improved success against left-handed batters, with this season limiting lefties to a .302 wOBA versus a .299 mark by righties.
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