This week’s two-start starter piece features a trio of righties, including two young fireballers and an aging former ace who may soon find himself in a new locale. As a reminder, team wOBA versus whatever handed the pitcher is will be what’s listed. Let’s dig right in: Read the rest of this entry »
We’re about a third of the way through the season, and while the proverbial gloves aren’t going to come off, I think I’ll stop coddling some and for others, I’ll be giving credit where credit is due. I wouldn’t say this is a “if the draft were held today” kind of list, but perhaps some amalgam of ranking based on current performance and anticipated performance for the rest of the season. I’ll do my best to tease out a rationale for the higher tiers.
The top tier of third basemen has historically been quite small, in large part due to the dearth of real superstars at the position. But since Jose Bautista has been acting like he might actually be mortal, it’s left room for some others to join him at the top.
| Tier 1 |
|---|
| Miguel Cabrera |
| Jose Bautista |
| David Wright |
| Hanley Ramirez |
| Adrian Beltre |
Well, we can talk beer or real baseball or Lucas Duda if you want.
With 13 holds, Josh Lindbolm has the third highest total in all of baseball. This past year, Lindblom was rated the fourth best prospect in the Dodger’s system by Marc Hulet (8th by Baseball America), so the talent in the arm is certainly there. He has a big ERA-FIP split, as his 2.51 ERA is nearly half of his 4.98 FIP. Both numbers should begin to converge, as his HR/FB% will likely not remain at 18.2%. Lindblom has a nice fastball and slider mix, with both his four-seamer and two-seamer sitting in the low 90’s. A guy like Lindblom can help right now in a holds league and should be in the set up role for the next number of years. In dynasty or deep keeper leagues with high keeper totals that use holds, Lindblom is definitely an attractive target.
The updated shortstop rankings will be available on Tuesday. Until then lets take a look at some shortstops that have risen and fallen over the past fortnight.
Risers:
The-Riot is a second basemen for the Giants, qualifies as a shortstop for our purposes. Owned in just five percent of leagues he’s hit .403 over his last 46 at bats. His three steals is tied for tops at his position over the past two weeks. He’ll never hit for power – 17 career HR in 827 games – but is capable enough to go on a hot streak. His four hit game last night was the fifth time in the past eight games he’s had multiple hits. There isn’t much depth at the position so if he can keep a starting job, and Bruce Bochy loves veterans, there’s a good chance he’ll be able to maintain a .275-.290 average with double digit steals. That has real value in deeper mixed and N.L. only leagues.
For everything that minor league baseball lacks, and it lacks in just about everything, it makes up for with absurdly entertaining baseball. Plus, it’s the only place where one can see the mascot for the San Antonio Missions, named Ballapeno, doing the dougie. Seriously, that happened. What it doesn’t lack, however, is a slew of tomorrow’s major league stars. Last night, I tuned into the Missions taking on the Frisco Roughriders (hence the dancing jalapeno pepper) to get another look at the loaded Texas Rangers’ farm system. Today, I’ll specifically discuss 19-year-old Jurickson Profar. Why? Recently Fangraphs and ESPN conducted their second annual Franchise Player Drafts and the young shortstop was selected in both drafts. So, let’s look at Profar and then talk some fantasy baseball. Read the rest of this entry »
In late February, the Astros shocked the baseball world by announcing they’d be converting longtime starter Brett Myers into the bullpen to serve as closer. Considering that the Houston rotation looked incredibly thin beyond Wandy Rodriguez & Bud Norris, many questioned the logic beyond trading ~200 innings of Myers as a starter for ~60 innings of him as a reliever. A third of the way through the season, the move has worked out reasonably well for the surprisingly competitive Astros, as Lucas Harrell & J.A. Happ have capability bolstered the rotation and Myers entered play on Tuesday tied for fourth in the NL with 14 saves, making him one of the few to survive the unending turnover and volatility in the ninth inning so far this year. Though I hardly need to remind you that saves don’t exactly equate to quality and that Myers’ sparkling 2.25 ERA isn’t backed up by his 4.08 FIP, saves are still a mainstay category in nearly every fantasy league, and that alone makes Myers valuable.
Yet it’s also that value which comes from saves that’s exactly why he’s one of the best sell-high players of the first half of the season. Read the rest of this entry »
Today is Friday, and thus represents the light at the end of the work week tunnel. Today is going to be a good day. Today’s Roto Riteup was created especially for you.
• After just coming off of the disabled list a week ago, it seems as though Yoenis Cespedes could miss some more time in the upcoming days. He pulled up lame and holding his left hamstring after a first inning single in yesterday’s win over the Texas Rangers. He is currently being listed as day-to-day with a strained hamstring, but it is certainly something to watch for. Those of us in weekly leagues should pay close attention to the A’s twitter feed before the deadline passes to set our lineup for next week.
• The St. Louis Cardinals placed Jaime Garcia on the 15-day DL yesterday after he had an examination on his throwing shoulder. Garcia is set to see a second doctor today and the door is open to see a third doctor. The reason for all these varying opinions is that although it has been officially named as a shoulder strain, the root of the pain still remains a mystery. Garcia’s ERA is a rather ugly 4.48, but his 2.74 FIP is much better and even his 3.59 xFIP is a considerable step up from ERA. I would stash him on your DL for now. Read the rest of this entry »
• He’s mortal! Aroldis Chapman finally gave up a run tonight, and it only took him until the Reds’ 56th game to do so. The run came after consecutive doubles in the 10th inning of a tie game, but one run was enough for the Pirates who held on for the victory. Obviously, I think we all expect mass drops in many leagues tonight which should send Chapman’s ownership value plummeting. OK, maybe not. However, one thing for Chapman owners to keep in mind — he is on pace for 87 innings, which is well above league-average for a reliever generally appearing in single-inning, high-leverage situations. It wouldn’t be out of the question for the Reds to dial back his workload a bit, especially since they’ve historically treated him pretty softly when it comes to pitching multiple days in a row.
Colby Rasmus (ESPN: 58 percent owned; Yahoo!: 38 percent owned)
This is definitely one of those moments where striking while the iron is hot is good business. A few nights ago, I happened to see someone ask a fellow fantasy writer on Twitter whether they should be picking up Rasmus and just assumed he must have been playing in about an eight-team league, since Rasmus hasn’t been available in any of my leagues since draft day. Apparently, the reality is that a decent number of owners were fed up with Rasmus’ slow start and kicked him to the curb, making him available in just under half of ESPN leagues and almost two-thirds of Yahoo! leagues. Read the rest of this entry »