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Fantasy Baseball Today: Corey Seager fractures hand, Jazz Chisholm returns, Lucas Giolito concern level

May. 17, 2021
Fantasy Baseball Today: Corey Seager fractures hand, Jazz Chisholm returns, Lucas Giolito concern level

Happy Monday! Let's start with the elephant in the room: it sucks Corey Seager will miss the next four weeks, maybe even more with a fracture in his hand. While there is no replacing Seager, we have a few shortstop options for you below.

Lucas Giolito wasn't the only starting pitcher who struggled this weekend, with Dylan Bundy getting roughed up by the Boston Red Sox. Bundy has now allowed five or more runs in three of his last five starts. His ERA now stands at 6.02, albeit with a much more manageable 3.84 xFIP and 3.53 xERA. Basically, Bundy has been super unlucky this season; his velocity is actually up. He's just struggled a bit with runners on base and home runs. While I have faith in a Bundy turnaround, I think you should bench him this week against the Twins until he starts to show us something.

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Dodgers SS Corey Seager looked like he was emerging as one of the five best pure hitters in baseball during Los Angeles' World Series run in 2020 and he was one of Scott White's favorite early-round values this offseason. Seager was dealt an unfortunate break during this weekend's action. According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Seager broke the fifth metacarpal of his right hand is expected to miss at least four weeks with the injury.

Former top prospect Gavin Lux (60% rostered) is now likely take over at shortstop, and he started there in place of Seager on Sunday. He's worth taking a flier on now if you need a replacement for Seager. However, if Josh Rojas is on your waivers, you should prioritize him over Lux. The top priority waiver replacement for Seager for both Scott and Chris is Chicago's Nico Hoerner. So to recap: Hoerner, Rojas then Lux. Good luck!

White Sox SP Lucas Giolito continues to struggle and on Friday he couldn't find a way out of trouble against the Royals. He allowed five earned runs through six innings while also allowing eight combined hits and walks. After another disappointing outing, Giolito's ERA is all the way up to 4.97 on the season. The most alarming underlying number here is his three-year high 3.9 BB/9 ratio, and he has walked 11 batters over his last four starts.

While Giolito's 14.9% swinging strike rate is still strong, it's down from 17% last season. He has also allowed a career-high 19.5% HR/FB ratio -- that was under 14% each of the past two years. The whiff rate on his slider is way down, and that could be impacting his overall performances even though it's just his third pitch offering.

Chris remains unconcerned long-term with Giolito. There are still positive takeaways, including that he's throwing his changeup better than ever. It all comes down to the slider improving, but right now that pitch is getting absolutely crushed by right-handed batters. As Scott mentioned, even during his breakout season Giolitio had a stretch like this one from an ERA standpoint. He's still missing bats, and this just might be the kind of pitcher he is -- one who runs hot and cold rather than being consistently elite.

It's hard to figure out when Giolito will get back on track, but with a start this week coming against a Twins lineup that is seventh-best in wOPA vs. right-handed pitchers, it begs the question -- should we leave him out of our lineups this week? Both Scott and Chris agreed he still belong in your lineups.

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