The trade deadline was alive and well, with deals or talk of deals consuming our collective bandwidth at a time when actual games were still happening.
It overshadowed what to me was one of the most impressive pitching performances of the year Saturday ... from a pitcher owned in just 61 percent of CBS Sports leagues.
I'm talking about German Marquez, a Rockies rookie with a 99-mph fastball and wicked trap-door curveball. But describing his stuff doesn't really do it justice. I want you to see what I saw.
I mean, what?
"I was really impressed by the breaking ball all night long -- you saw some funny swings," Rockies manager Bud Black told MLB.com after the game.
It was Marquez's third straight outing with nine strikeouts or more. And did you catch who he did it against? That curlicue W signifies Bryce Harper and company, the highest-scoring offense in the NL.
The other two came at home at Coors Field.
| 2017 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
German Marquez
COL SP
| 4.08 ERA | 1.29 WHIP | 2.8 BB/9 | 8.8 K/9 |
The perils of playing in high altitude have resulted in just one Rockies pitcher who was a Fantasy standout in the club's entire 25-year history (Ubaldo Jimenez), but as we've been saying for Jon Gray (between his injuries and staggered development), rarely have the Rockies had a pitcher as talented as Marquez. The thin air may reduce the break on his curveball a little at home, but it's emerging as one of the best at generating swings-and-misses in all of baseball. Exciting times are ahead.
| Saturday at Tigers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Collin McHugh
HOU SP
| 6 IP | 4 H | 1 ER | 7 K |
Collin McHugh's first start back from a lengthy bout with an elbow impingement didn't go as smoothly as Monday's outing -- he allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings July 22 -- but in that first start he got five swings-and-misses on a slider that wasn't even known to exist. He picked it up from Brad Peacock, who himself picked it up during his time in the Astros system, and you see the kind of difference it has made for Peacock, a 29-year-old who had bounced around three organizations before emerging as a bat-misser extraordinaire this year. McHugh was already known to have a special curveball, so the two pitches together could do some real damage.
| 2017 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Brad Hand
SD RP
| 2.00 ERA | 0.96 WHIP | 2.3 BB/9 | 11.7 K/9 |
Overshadowed in the deadline hullabaloo was the fact Brad Hand didn't go anywhere despite our insistence he would follow Brandon Maurer out the door. So suddenly, his 55 percent ownership in CBS Sports leagues seems absurdly low given that he's arguably the best left-hander not named Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman. Even though he pitches for the lowly Padres, he has accumulated four saves in just a week in the role, and he's going to stand out in so many categories that you won't mind so much if he lags in the one.
| 2017 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Shane Greene
DET RP
| 2.74 ERA | 1.22 WHIP | 4.9 BB/9 | 9.8 K/9 |
Among the relievers who inherited the closer role by way of the trade deadline, none is more exciting to me than Shane Greene -- not because he's a special talent on the level of Brad Hand, but because he's the only talent in the Tigers bullpen. (I mean, there's rookie Joe Jimenez, who was just called up Monday, but he has a lot of proving to do before he sniffs the ninth inning.) The Tigers didn't completely disassemble either, so they should be competent to close out the year, unlike some of the more notable sellers.
| 2017 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Derek Fisher
HOU LF
| .317 BA | 3 HR | 1.014 OPS | 41 AB |
The trade that sent Norichika Aoki to the Blue Jays Monday only got a passing mention, but it meant everything to rookie Derek Fisher, who now has a job all to himself even when George Springer returns from a quad injury. Fisher celebrated by going 3 for 5 with a home run and a double Monday and could make an impact near the level of Tommy Pham the rest of the way.
| 2017 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rafael Devers
BOS 3B
| .417 BA | 2 HR | 1.231 OPS | 24 AB |
Despite his best-prospect-in-baseball-type pedigree, Rafael Devers' ownership has lingered around 75 percent, in part because we didn't know how his playing time would shake out with the Eduardo Nunez addition. And we still don't know how much he'll play against left-handers, but he's doing his part to make sure it's a lot, going 4 for 4 with a double Monday. When a player with this kind of potential gets off to this kind of start, you want to be the one to see where it goes, as everyone who missed out on Cody Bellinger can attest.
