Apologies for a shorter Bullpen Report tonight but wishing all of you a wonderful holiday!

• Heath Bell entered the 10th inning today for a save against the Brewers but wasn’t able to close the door, giving up a walk off home run to Aramis Ramirez. As Colin mentioned a few days ago, Heath Bell has been pitching well of late while the Marlins setup men have been struggling, so consider this just a blip on the radar with Bell maintaining a firm grasp on closing duties in Miami.

• The Brewers bullpen meanwhile had a bit of a meltdown today, giving up nine runs in total. Jon Axford was able to pitch a scoreless inning but his setup man, Francisco Rodriguez, struggled blowing the save for the Brewers. The Mets have reportedly been interested in K-Rod, but the days of Rodriguez being a top notch reliever appear to be over. K-Rod hasn’t been particularly awful this season (3.92 xFIP) but he clearly isn’t the same pitcher he used to be, losing a lot of his swing and miss stuff with a 8.7% SwStr%, down from his career 12.7%. K-Rod’s name may float around in some trade rumors, but it’s unlikely that he’ll be the best reliever in any bullpen he goes to and should only be relied on getting holds in 2012, not necessarily saves.

• Drew Storen is set to begin rehab on Thursday and is scheduled to be back on the Nationals for the start of the second half of the season. Nationals manager Davey Johnson has indicated that Storen will start the year as a setup man and Clippard has certainly pitched well enough to deserve to hold onto the job. So long as Clippard keeps pitching the way he has been, it will be hard to remove him from the role, although with Storen waiting in the wings he may not have the longest leash.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: David Robertson (NYY) at TB

The Rays have the big edge on the better starting David tomorrow with David Price facing David Phelps, but Yankees reliever David Robertson is fully rested and has a chance to show off his elite strikeout stuff (14.77 K/9) against the Rays.

Closer Grid:

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]

Jim Thome (ESPN: 2.5 percent owned; Yahoo!: 8 percent owned)

He has been in the league since Jack Morris was a relevant figure, not just the center of a Hall of Fame debate; his career has taken him from the AL to the NL, back to the AL back, to the NL, back to the AL, back to the NL, and now back to the AL; and though it all Jim Thome does one thing: Mash taters. That’s his reputation, and it’s not wrong, but those in OBP-based leagues will also enjoy his penchant for drawing walks by the bushel. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for our semi-regular look at which shortstops have been up an upward, and downward, trend over the past two weeks.

The past fortnight hasn’t been so kind to a few of the more famous shortstops. Namely Derek Jeter and Starlin Castro.

Fallers

Derek Jeter

After a blazing April that saw him hit .389/.433/.579 Jeter looked to be on his way to another good season, quieting his detractors once more. Since then, however, he has hit just .249/.285/.333. Over the past two weeks he’s been the 916th best player according to Yahoo! What’s been his problem? In May his ground ball percentage was over 70%. Unless you’re Billy Hamilton or Willie Mayes Hayes that’s not a good thing. He’s always hit a lot of balls on the ground, but when the number is that high, and you’re 38-years-old, you’re not beating many of them out. He also has a .575 OPS on balls hit to left field, by far the lowest of his career. And lastly, he’s swinging at more pitches out of the strikezone than ever before – 32%. He’s not worth a starting spot at the moment.

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Today brings the new monthly tiers and subsequent rankings of the American League outfield. As always, I’m basing this off of Yahoo! standard format eligibility. This list is how I value each player going forward, with consideration to what they’ve done so far.

Tier One:
Jose Bautista
Curtis Granderson
Mike Trout

Trout finally made the jump to the top tier. The only thing that keeps him from surpassing Granderson is that I weigh Granderson’s power and RBI opportunities going forward more heavily than Trout’s average and stolen bases. If you swap them, I wouldn’t sue. Bautista, .239 AVG and all, is still the top dog.
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It’s time again to re-visit the catcher tiers as the calendar flips to July. I’ve taken both current and expected performance into account, some thoughts and expectations of my own and a few comments from you, my very own Peanut Gallery. Things are looking a little different than they did back in June, so without further ado… Read the rest of this entry »

HI THIS IS JI-

JIM THOME.

Over the weekend, the Phillies did Jim Thome a solid, sending the future Cooperstown resident out to the equivalent of pasture for over-35 power hitters; the American League. The suddenly struggling (although their pythag always implied dark clouds on the horizon) Baltimore Orioles are likely to install Thome as their full-time (or near full-time) designated hitter in search of a bit of power in the middle of a lineup that was much quieter in June than either of the two previous months. Because of his newfound playing time, Thome has become a trendy waiver wire add in AL-only and deeper mixed leagues, but even so, still remains available in a ton of leagues (8% owned in Yahoo leagues and 2.5% on ESPN as of Monday night). Is he worth grabbing?

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Zach brought you the Roto Riteup over the weekend and I’m bringing you this Tuesday morning edition. We like to keep our readers on their toes.

• Chris Davis might be ready to go on one of his streaks. He has two homers in his past four games now, and has tallied six total hits in those games too. The last time he hit a home run was coming off of a four game, three homer streak. And before that it was a four home runs in eight games string. Going back to the very beginning of the season, Davis his four homers in another seven game span. If you need a power boost for the short term, I’d pick him up. Davis is available in over half of the Yahoo! leagues, despite being a fringe bat with 1B, 3B and OF eligibility. He won’t be your team’s savior, but for a one week flier, maybe he cranks out four homers for you. ESPN leagues are a similar story, where is owned in about half the leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

• Glen Perkins didn’t have the prettiest of saves tonight as he gave up two hits, but he still pitched a scoreless inning for his third save of the season. Perkins’ fellow bullpen mate, Jared Burton, has two saves on the year and has been solid himself (3.58 xFIP) this season but I see Perkins picking up the majority of save chances for the Twins. Jared Burton is still worth owning for owners in need for saves though, since he’ll give you a solid ERA and Whip due to his low walk rate (1.91 BB/9) and solid strikeout rate (8.45 K/9).

• The Fernando Rodney Experience™ continues to bear fruit for the Rays with Rodney pitching a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout tonight against the New York Yankees, recording his 23rd save this year.  We now know Rodney will keep the job even when Kyle Farnsworth returns from the DL, and its hard to fault the Rays for making that decision. Rodney’s improved control (1.26 BB/9 this year; career 4.6 BB/9) has enabled him to be on the most consistent and dominant relief pitchers in 2012. Even though Rodney’s been a little fortunate with balls hit in play (.223 BABIP)  and fly balls turning into home runs ( 3.8% HR/FB%), his 2.64 xFIP is more than respectable and Rodney should continue to get save opportunities for the Rays all season.

• After pitching in three consecutive games, Carlos Marmol rested tonight and James Russell came on to complete his second save of the season. James Russell and fellow setup man Shawn Camp can expect to receive some action in the eighth inning for the Cubs, but it is Marmol who will be receiving the ninth inning duty consistently from now on. Marmol did have a disastrous April and May but he’s turned his season around a bit since returning from the DL in late May, recording a respectable 3.73 xFIP in June, compared to his 5.47 xFIP on the year. A 3.73 xFIP isn’t anything to write home about, and in Marmol’s relative successes he still struggles with control (6.10 BB/9 in June) but saves are saves and Marmol will continue to get them for the Cubs.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.

A  Pitcher for Tomorrow: Sergio Romo (SF) at WAS

Tim Lincecum is coming off of his best performance of the season and his disappointing season is largely a victim of poor luck (3.70 xFIP/5.60 ERA), so I expect tomorrow’s matchup with the Giants and Nationals (Jordan Zimmermann starting) to be a low scoring affair. Santiago Casilla has struggled lately and while Romo won’t necessarily be closing for the Giants he should have a chance to show off his elite strikeout ability (11.51 K/9/ 17.1% SwStr%) in a close game tomorrow night.

Closer Grid:

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]

Lance Lynn – Lance started out the season hot, but recently he has been on the decline. Here are his main fantasy stats by month:

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Sure, it’s a buy-low piece. But what I’m really saying is, trade me Matt Moore. Because I’m buying.

We can start with his strengths, even if they are obvious. His 11.9% swinging strike rate is fourth among qualified starters. Only Cole Hamels, R.A. Dickey and Stephen Strasburg garner more whiffs. That leads to a strikeout per inning, which is extremely valuable from a starter. All from a wicked 95+ mph fastball and a great changeup and curveball combination.

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