Today’s Roto Riteup is better than Saturday’s. I promise.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Steve Cishek polished off save number nine on Saturday, but not before Marlins fans had to reach for the antacid. Cishek gave up three singles to turn a three-run game into one where Jordan Pacheco came to the plate as the winning run. Luckily (for Miami) Pacheco grounded out, preserving a 6-5 win. Cishek had previously been untouchable since being installed as the new Marlins closer (0.77 ERA, 13/3 K/BB in 11.2 innings since mid-July), so owners shouldn’t panic yet. Yes, Cishek does have unfavorable platoon splits and, yes, the Marlins would surely like their $27 million man (Heath Bell) to do what he’s being paid $9 million a year to do (close games) but — for the time being — the closer job is not up for debate in Miami.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fear not, my beloved RotoGraphs readers, for I am alive and well. And with internet! Many thanks to the handsome Zach Sanders for filling in for me!

• Norichika Aoki stole another base last night (although he was also caught once) and that gives him 17 on the year, four of which have come in the past two weeks. Over the same 14 day time span, Aoki is hitting a solid .292. Power still isn’t his game, but with a seasonal line now at .280/.349/.404, he is most certainly own-able in deeper leagues. He is owned in just 8% of Yahoo! leagues and 9% of ESPN formats. If you’re in the market for cheap average and the occasional steal, grab Aoki. His ZiPS rest-of-season is a very attractive .288 and four more stolen bases.
Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday, I identified the starting pitchers whose average fastball velocity had increased the most over a couple of August starts versus July. Today, I look at the opposite side of the coin, the pitchers who have experienced a velocity decline. Since on average, velocity should be around its peak at this time in the season, a steep decline may be a red flag.

Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that the Pacific Northwest is capable of producing indoor temperatures north of 90 degrees? Because that what today’s Roto Riteup author had to go through.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tyler Clippard appears to be back on the wagon. After a couple bumps in the road the last few weeks, he has now turned in four consecutive saves since his last “BS” in Houston on August 6th. Tonight’s outing was a bit shakier than you’d like, as Clippard walked a pair to let Ruben Tejada come to the plate as the go-ahead run with two down in the ninth, but a harmless fly ball to left gave the Nationals another victory. There has been a lot of discussion as to whether Drew Storen could come back in and snatch the ninth inning job back for himself, but the Nationals have to be somewhat concerned with a fastball velocity that still isn’t quite to where it has been in the past. Interestingly, even with the one-plus mile per hour drop, Storen’s SwStr% is up to 11.5% (career average: 9.3%) — unfortunately (for him) his 15.9% BB% is driving a 5.21 xFIP. Storen needs to throw more strikes before he’s a legitimate option to finish games again, so Clippard’s owners should be a bit more relaxed than they might have been a couple weeks ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s two-start group is a right-handed trio of entirely new faces. Reminder: number in parentheses is wOBA versus all pitchers of that handedness. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve often stated that I was going to run a fantasy baseball team simply by rotating players in my lineup coming off of terrible offensive weeks. I’ve never spent enough time to actually formulate a plan (and frankly, when I spend any time on it at all, the whole thing blows up in my face) but you know where I’m going with this. The idea is simply to play the regression game, for better or for worse.

Would it work? Probably not, because as a dedicated reader, you know there’s a lot more behind a BABIP than whether a ball happened to be a frozen rope right at the third baseman or if a ball Texas-leagued itself in the Bermuda triangle between the 5, 6, and 7. Or if you get your hits like this.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Braves have gotten some stellar performances from a few unlikely places the past few weeks, Paul Maholm and Kris Medlen. With a rotation that was expected to be among the deepest in the league, the fact that Medlen and Maholm are in the rotation to begin with is a surprise, but it is an even bigger surprise that they are performing as well as they have. I documented Maholm’s success and potential future success in Atlanta yesterday, so today I will look at where I believe Medlen fits into the Braves plans.
Read the rest of this entry »