Another week is wrapping up in Diamond Dynasty. It was obviously a busy one with the trade deadline coming and going. The Trades & Rumors pack was released to coincide with the end of the deadline, but it did not have a major impact on the market. With that in mind, it's time to look ahead once again and try to predict who might be getting a ratings boost on Monday morning.
I'll be breaking the predictions into tiers based on my own confidence level.
Ratings Boost Probability: High
-Carlos Gonzalez - Carlos Gonzalez was horrendous for much of the start of the season, but he's making up for lost time. He's got 11 home runs in the last month and his OPS is up to .853 on the season. He was downgraded on 6/15 but maybe it's finally time to return some of his lost ratings.
-Mark Teixeira - He has 28 home runs on the season, which includes nine in the last month. Teixeira has just had a really awesome return to form this year.
-Carlos Correa - Here's my weekly reminder that Carlos Correa is still only 20 years old. He's got 12 home runs in his first 184 at-bats. He's really good.
-Scott Kazmir - His ERA is down to 2.10 on the season, and he's basically been untouchable for the past month. It's time to finally make him a Gold.
-Mike Leake - I'm all about the post-being-traded bump. It also doesn't hurt that Leake heads to the Giants with a WHIP of .83 over the last month.
Ratings Boost Probability: Moderate
-Chris Heston - He got dinged up a bit over the weekend, but Heston has still had a heck of a run (and so have the Giants). He's sort of like Mike Leake where his stuff and peripherals are not amazing, but he gets lots of weak contact.
-Melky Cabrera - Melky Cabrera was SO BAD the first half of the season, but he's put together an amazing streak of hitting, getting his line back up to .285/.325/.403. His OPS on the season is still just .727, but he's hit .386 over the last month to get there.
-Adam Eaton - Like Melky, Eaton was beyond awful from the leadoff spot the first couple months of the season. But on the season, he's showing a surprising amount of pop, and he has his OBP up to .345 now on the year.
-Jacob deGrom - Jacob deGrom recently went toe to toe with Greinke, and he has had an unreal year that includes striking out 33 in his last 27 innings to go with a .61 WHIP.
Danny Salazar - Maybe Salazar is figuring things out? He's got an ERA around 2.50 the last month, and his outrageous flyball to home run ratio has leveled out a bit as it was always going to do. Salazar has amazing stuff, and he seems to be learning to harness it.
Ratings Boost Probability: Low
-Eric Hosmer - Hosmer was just downgraded on 7/20 because his power left him for a whole month. Still, he's returned to hitting some bombs and is still clubbing the ball well overall.
-Chris Tillman - This predictions set has been sort of about revivals, and Tillman maybe fits that more than anyone. He was as bad as any starting pitcher for the first couple months of the season so his numbers on the year still aren't anything special, but there's no denying he's put together a very impressive last month and a half.
-Nelson Cruz - Cruz was also downgraded on 7/20 like Hosmer, and it was valid on some level because he sucked in June. Still, he hit 8 home runs in July and that's to go with a .350 average. He's insanely streaky, but when he's on there's few that are better.
-DJ LeMahieu - DJ is hitting over .400 the last month, but he's going to be hitting further down in the lineup now that Jose Reyes is in town.
Randal Grichuk - I thought Grichuk deserved an upgrade last week. He's been fighting an injury, but after getting downgraded last week due to a position switch, I think he should be boosted back up this week.
Jung Ho Kang - Kang has gone under the radar this year. He's come over from the KBO and shown he can no doubt play in the majors. He's now had to move back to shortstop due to all the injuries in the Pirates infield and is hitting as well as maybe he has all season. He's got an .832 OPS on the year, which from third base is good but from shortstop is awesome.