Not a lot of injury news over the last few days. A couple of pitchers return from the DL and couple of hitters fighting through injuries.
• Jered Weaver had seven strikeouts and no walks against the Dodgers last night in his return. His velocity was up, but not to 2011 or early 2012 levels.
Howard Bender wrote on May eighth that Jedd Gyorko could help you on the waiver wire, and apparently all of you have not listened. Well, maybe those of you who read it have, but he is only owned in 51% of Yahoo! leagues so apparently not enough people are reading RotoGraphs.
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Since you read Fan/RotoGraphs, you’re probably in the habit of looking at any number of peripheral stats while searching for your next streamer or roster plug. Allow me to add to the noise as you attempt to talk yourself into taking a chance on certain pitchers, while talking yourself out of others.
You might look at K%, for instance, which is a much better indicator of a pitcher’s usefulness than K/9, though K/9 is a much more common stat in that a number of sites will list it, and is included in lieu of K% on the default leaderboards at FanGraphs itself. Because K% displays strikeouts as a percentage of batters faced as opposed to the number of outs recorded (essentially what K/9 does), it is a better indicator of how efficient a pitcher is at striking batters out.
Understandably, then, K% correlates with IP, W, ERA, and WHIP at a significantly higher rate than K/9 does. Because I am an obsessive baseball lout, like you, reader, I recently explored differences in pitchers’ K/9 and K% just for the hell of it; while the results where not surprising, they were interesting. The results can be found here.1
What was slightly more interesting was when I went started fooling around with F-Strike% and saw how it correlates with certain other 5×5 stats. Generally, it correlates well with those stats, especially WHIP and IP. Eno Sarris explored the effect of F-Strike% on BB% last summer, and found that F-Strike% “explains almost half of the variance in walk rate.” This jives with the -0.401 correlation between F-Strike% and WHIP that I found.1
As I look through the standings of my various roto leagues, the common thread that ties them all together is the ease at which points can be accrued just by boosting your stolen base totals. In one league, less than 10 stolen bases separate fourth place in the category from ninth place. In two others, 12 steals could make up an eight-point difference. If people love the strategy of streaming pitchers so often, what’s the harm in streaming in a stolen base guy for a week or two? Obviously, those who are left on your wire are, more or less, one-category helpers, but for just a temporary boost, who cares? There’s nothing wrong with a quick fix if you know that’s all you’re looking for. Take your steals and…pardon the pun….run! Here are a pair of guys who fit the bill perfectly… Read the rest of this entry »
As we make the transition to the Daily Fantasy Update, I’ve lost my role as “Friday and Saturday Streamers Guy,” as well as the chance to shoehorn in a Bullet For My Valentine reference in all my post titles. And while finding four streamers across those two days was sometimes challenging, I’ve now been tasked with something equally challenging – making daily recommendations for Thursdays, perhaps the toughest day of the week.
After all, Thursdays and Mondays have the lightest schedules in baseball, and Thursdays can also pose the challenge of “getaway days,” where teams play afternoon games after night games. Those afternoon-after-night scenarios are especially important to watch out for when it comes to catchers and relief pitchers, as a manager is less likely to put that kind of wear on his guys in the more taxing roles. Tomorrow is a rare Thursday, though, in that all 30 teams play and there are only four afternoon games. So what the heck am I going on for? Thanks, Interleague Play!
Oh, Interleague. There’s another wrinkle to watch out for, as nine American League teams lose their designated hitter for the day. Guys like Victor Martinez and Adam Lind might feel the crunch with more valuable players taking up their potential positions. I know not everyone can check the line-ups diligently as they’re posted throughout the day, so it might be better to avoid DHs altogether (or scan each team’s site for context clues), since an empty spot is such a killer for daily leagues like Draftstreet.
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Garin Cecchini is the owner of one of the prettiest swings in the minor leagues. Over the last year and a half the Red Sox third base prospect has begun to turn his considerable natural talents into production. Recently Keith Law of ESPN.com even ranked Cecchini among his updated top 25 prospects (subscription required). He’s long been a favorite of mine and he may soon be a favorite for your fantasy team.
This week I take a gander at a much hyped recent call-up, a former minor league strikeout leader and a man whose bad luck may finally be turning. It’s American League starting pitcher day, a time when we make no mention of those less exciting guys in that other league with names such as Clayton and Cole.
Announcement! Today’s Roto Riteup author will be stopping by Reddit next Tuesday at 1 PM EST for a fantasy baseball themed AMA, so make sure to place a mark your calendars.
On today’s agenda:
1. Dustin Pedroia is dominating despite a UCL tear in thumb
2. A.J. Pierzynski’s hot return
3. Jackie Bradley Jr. is back
4. Michael Young lands on Bereavement List
• The Indians still haven’t had a save situation since Chris Perez went down, but Vinnie Pestano came on in the ninth of a four-run game today. He promptly gave up a round-tripper to Xavier Paul, but settled down to finish off the victory. I still don’t like his peripherals, but you have to own “the guy.” Cody Allen tossed a scoreless inning with a couple strikeouts. He probably got plucked up the last couple days following the Perez news, but even if he’s not closing, he’s a nice source of K’s and ERA for your squad.
Just over 50 games into the season — and about 200 plate appearances in — we have a little bit more information to judge our players on. One of the key statistics that tends to stabilize around the 200 PA mark is BB%. We’ll call today the all optimistic or all bullish version. Next Wednesday will feature the updated tier rankings, but perhaps two weeks time will bring us an all bearish write up.
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