i can't hit the broad side of a barn, but there's a bunch that looks good to me today
leans:
hernandeze since Sonny can't get through 6 and that puts a beleaguered bullpen in play for 3+ innings. Givens has been good in the closer role, Lorenzen better since he's returned and nobody is unavailable. Backing MIA is a scary thing since their offense is so limited and the bullpen is not great either, but Hernandez slider has been great and we've seen this movie with Gray in a plus matchup having a bad inning of control problems and a bases-clearing XBH
barria is very hard to trust, a pitch-to-contact guy who has shown flashes of brilliance but those are hard to repeat when you can't get Ks. HENTGES is not trustable, CLE bullpen is better than LAA but not as good of a lineup with a bunch of near-automatic outs at the bottom. A fastball strategy vs JoseRam seems sub-optimal, but the rest of the lineup is not scary. Mayers to Iglesias looks like a good formula, wild comeback yesterday but not sure who gets the ball to Mayers. CLE fresh but getting the ball to Clase has been a challenge lately with Karinchak running out of gas and Wittgren struggling
giolito since Wacha is back to being batting practice, but not realistic to play a road favorite @ TB
kikuchi has been far better than I would have expected vs HOU. He seems to have moved past his arm trouble, but a wild one yesterday likely removes Sewald (b3b) from the mix late. That's a decent loss, maybe Castillo closes but they don't want to pay him in arbitration so he's probably sticking in the 8th with Steckenrider getting the chance today. He or Middleton, not delightful and Swanson hasn't been as dominant as he was pre-IL. HOU has not been very good lately, McCullers neither as he runs into big jams and rarely survives unscathed. Just too hard to do that at this level, Dusty trusts him to get out of everything it seems but that may be a window into the HOU bullpen which they tried to fortify with trades but i'm not sure it worked. Stanek to Pressly seems like the preferred schedule, Graveman hasn't stuck the landing and Garcia neither. Big lineup discrepancy however, though I'm probably higher on SEA than most
kellerb as a dog to AAA CHC is very interesting to me. KC has it's flaws, but they're trying to build the team for the future and the mixing and matching bullpen is something I like. Keller has been very good when healthy since July, DAVIESZ can get outs and can keep people off-balance but KC is a MLB lineup and the pen behind him got raided at the deadline. Hope they close a dog
woodA has been really struggling to complete 6, can throw all of his pitches for strikes when he needs to but getting in jams a lot. SF had a bullpen game last time out that i don't think was planned, but the day off Thursday was big. OAK on the other hand had to survive the ugly Bassitt injury and were able to escape with a win in the final game of the CHW series. Had to catch a flight to the west coast while SF was in their own beds, Chafin on b2b may not be available and it was odd to me that Diekman did not get the 8th yesterday. If bullpen is a bit limited, that extends a SF advantage which may have been a disadvantage if both were at full strength. Kaprielian has been healthier than expected this season based on a career filled with injuries, but seems like a ticking time bomb and even then the HR power throughout the SF lineup seems risky. Big rivalry that should have plenty of SF fans in the park while they fight for the division and OAK has to feel the pressure of being chased from behind for the WC
