Since there were only five games yesterday, once may reasonably expect today’s Roto Riteup to be a bit scaled down. It’s a good thing that there was plenty of action in said five games. I actually found myself cheering for the Royals to beat the Rangers, if only so that my beloved A’s could creep a half game closer to the mighty Rangers. If you’re wondering how to cheer for team outside of your favorite club, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash offer a clinic:
• Huston Street experienced a setback during his attempt to “ramp up” the recovery process during his recent trip to the disabled list for a strained left calf. The Padres’ closer, who recently signed a $14-million, two-year extension, initially hit the DL on August 11th with the calf strain. After a bullpen session on Tuesday, manager Bud Black indicated Street “felt great throwing and his delivery is fine.” The manager’s main concern was whether “Street could field his position” or not. As Colin also noted, there is no current timetable for the All-Star’s return. Street is 21-for-21 in save opportunities this season with a 0.75 ERA (2.30 xFIP) with a career high 35.7% K%. Street’s two trips to the disabled list have caused him to miss more than 50 games thus far in 2012.
In his absence, manager Bud Black asked Luke Gregerson, and to a lesser extent, Tom Layne to close out games depending on match-ups.
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Arguing for a potential rule chance in fantasy leagues can be an arduous process. The longer you’ve been playing in a league, the more difficult it becomes to move away from the status quo. When I first started getting into advanced stats, I began to realize the silliness of some traditional fantasy stat categories. Why were we still using pitcher wins and batting average as major components in our league, I asked myself. Wouldn’t it be better for our fantasy league to mirror real-life value? While this seemed like a no-brainer in my head, I knew it would be difficult to persuade my league to make some changes. From the FanGraphs After Dark chats, I also know that many of you are curious about moving to leagues that use more advanced stats. Here are a few suggestions on how to move away from a traditional fantasy set up.
With the season winding down, I thought now is as good a time as any to ‘fess up and have a little it of accountability. I usually do a full article at the end of the season that includes all of my picks and pans for the season, which will come at the conclusion of the season, but this year we all did a piece in a series called 10 Bold Predictions. It was “go big or go home” for many of us and we wanted to be as bold and as brazen as possible while still maintaining certain bounds of sensibility. In looking back at mine, perhaps I was a bit overzealous… Read the rest of this entry »
At the start of 2011, Jhoulys Chacin was actually a pretty hot commodity. While he didn’t pile up many wins in 2010, Chacin was striking out nearly 24% of batters, he had a tidy little 3.28 ERA, and even though he had an elevated walk rate, his WHIP was a respectable 1.27. In fantasy circles, he was largely seen as a bit of a risk-reward starting pitcher due to his penchant for the free pass, his high strikeout rates, and the Coors factor.
His 2011 season turned out to feature both reward and risk as his strikeouts regressed to an 18% rate, his walks remained high at 10.5%, although he maintained a decent 3.62 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. He came out of the gates smoking, with an elevated strikeout rate, only to see his K/9 fall off the table in July, all the way down to 4.13 K/9 in September.
I am not one to ever make much of a small sample size, especially just two weeks worth. However, pitchers usually show a change in skills more quickly than hitters (or at least it can be identified more easily). Plus, as we make our way through the final month of the season, we have to deal with the reality that pitchers do tire and/or, younger pitchers are getting figured out. Here are three American League starters who have posted surprisingly poor SIERA marks over the last two weeks.
I’m sorry I don’t have any fantastic baseball gifs to share. I have some lovely My Little Pony gifs, but I’d rather not have Eno make me disappear with his probable mob connections.
• Post All-Star break Howie Kendrick is hitting like a man possessed. I guess I should clarify that: a man possessed by a really good hitter. He is hitting .317/.363/.437 since the break and has even chipped in seven stolen bases. In about half the at-bats as the pre All-Star break, Kendrick has just four fewer extra-base hits so far in the second half. There is still almost a full month of baseball yet to play. It’s pretty safe to think that Kendrick has rediscovered his BABIP. If your league will allow you to trade for him, I would go ahead and do so.
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• John Axford won an 11-pitch duel with Rob Brantly by inducing a fly ball to left field for the third out in the ninth-inning and the 8-5 victory for the Crew over the Marlins. The save was Axford’s seventh consecutive successful conversion and 25th in 33 chances this season.
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Chris Carpenter – Carpenter has begun throwing a few pitches to see if he can possibly make a start before the end of the season. He has a small chance of returning after being out for the entire season.
The Cardinal hurler had a great 2011 season and helped the Cardinals win the World Series. He began the season with shoulder pain and eventually had surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (I am not sure exactly what it is, but it sounds bad) on July 19th. Initially, it was reported that he was not going to return this season, but signs are starting to point to a return.
This time of the year, the season long production of a player means a lot less than how they have played over the past few weeks. Colby Rasmus, Zach McAllister, and Jose Quintana have all had solid years, but it’s time to cut bait and pick up more useful players for the stretch run of the season.
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