I’m not sure if there’s value in this, but I’m kicking the tires on making my Sunday Daily Fantasy spot a “week in review” kind of piece, touching on what some of the others looked at, in terms of research, throughout the week. Let’s try it for today and then get to the Daily Five.
Monday: Talley looks at using ROS ZIPS to find value. It’s a long but potentially valuable process.
Read the rest of this entry »
Apologies for the tardy and abbreviated Bullpen Report this morning.
Here we go…
Chris Perez needed just 12 pitches to earn his 12th save of the season in a clean inning of work last evening against the Royals. The 28-year-old is now 12-of-14 in save opportunities this season, including a perfect 6-for-6 since coming off the disabled list in late-June. The right-hander has allowed just one earned run with a 16.6% K% and an 8.3% BB% since returning to action. The velocity on his primary offerings are down a tick this season but the good news is that it appears to have rebounded about half-a-tick over his last nine innings of work. Perez’s rates and ratios aren’t exactly exciting for fantasy purposes, but he’s earning saves again which is obviously beneficial for those in need of help in that category. He’s still available in 28% of Y! leagues. I’m adding and/or holding Perez right now.
Read the rest of this entry »
Today is the last day of the first “half” of the baseball season. Who has been your team’s MVP? Biggest mistake? In hindsight trading away Everth Cabrera after 17 games is saddening. Click to enlarge the appropriately named picture.
On today’s agenda:
1. Jonathan Lucroy’s big year
2. Ben Revere’s injury
3. Eric Young ‘s hot hitting
4. A no-hitter for Tim Lincecum
Read the rest of this entry »
The weather looks good for a full day of baseball today! Worst precipitation chances (outside of the domed Marlins Park) appear to be in Philly, Baltimore, and Atlanta, but coverage will be isolated at best. Low odds for a total washout.
Assuming it doesn’t rain in Baltimore, it appears they win the best hitter environment award, with high temperatures sitting in the upper-80’s (30-33 degrees for you Celsius kids out there) and a forecast wind out to left field somewhere between 10-15 mph. I like my right-handed hitting Blue Jays and Orioles today, especially guys who may be borderline in standard leagues (ex: teams that have J.J. Hardy as a backup shortstop, perhaps?).
In anticipation of the Chicago meet up, the present author is getting acclimated to the local tastes via the Half Acre Brewing Company.
On today’s agenda:
1. Brett Lawrie, second baseman?
2. Welcome back, Jedd Gyorko
3. Jarred Cosart’s debut
Read the rest of this entry »
Since joining RotoGraphs last month, I’ve spent the bulk of my time here discussing prospects who are worth considering as impact fantasy commodities. Today, I want to focus on the flip side, and talk about five prospects I’ve seen this season who don’t quite measure up to their hype or statistics and should be avoided.
Two years removed from an MVP-caliber season and coming off an injury-shortened campaign in 2012, Jacoby Ellsbury was a popular value-pick for many fantasy owners in the fourth-or-fifth rounds. His average draft position was 43.7 this spring, which placed him ahead of guys like Yoenis Cespedes and Matt Holliday. He was expected to produce, so when he hit .241/.303/.335 in his first 44 games this season, many owners were understandably frustrated.
Since that arbitrary point of May 20, though, Ellsbury has been one of the top-producing fantasy outfielders in all of baseball, torching opposing pitchers with a .382/.446/.532 slash line. In fact, in the last 30 days, he’s been the fifth-best overall player in ESPN leagues. Only Chris Davis and his home run binge has prevented him from being the number one fantasy outfielder in the past 30 days.
Many owners are not necessarily wondering if this hot streak is legitimate. It’s ridiculous to expect Ellsbury to continue hitting at almost a .400 clip throughout the remainder of the year. Instead, some are beginning to wonder if this impressive stretch at the plate is an indicator that the 2011 version of Jacoby Ellsbury is lurking around the corner. Because that would be a game-changer and perhaps even a reason for owners to buy high.
As Bryan Grosnick pointed out on Tuesday, the home run is king in daily contests. In Draftstreet scoring, a home run will get you a minimum of seven points (one point for each total base plus 1.5 each for the R and RBI). So I wanted to give y’all a list of the pitchers who allow the most home runs per plate appearance. The cut off for the reliability of HR/PA is 1320 batters faced (per @pizzacutter4) Here are the pitchers above that cut off that are on an active roster with the highest HR/PA (one or more standard deviations above the mean) against both left and right handed batters. Read the rest of this entry »
New Britain, Connecticut — Rain, humidity, and the Western Division dominated the 2013 Eastern League All Star Game in New Britain, Connecticut.
The game took place at the home of the New Britain Rock Cats on July 10th, and there were a few standouts for Eastern and Western divisions, with the West side taking down the East side (ok, kind of a ridiculous hip-hop reference there)5-0.
Here’s some of the standout moments and talent that graced the field:
Back in 2011, 24-year-old rookie Ivan Nova burst onto the scene, putting up an eye-popping 16-4 record for the New York Yankees and finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year balloting. Even for those with cold, black, jaded, hearts like myself who try to ignore pitcher win/loss records entirely, that’s a mark that’s difficult to miss, and it of course retains a great deal of value when you’re specifically talking about fantasy baseball. Nova’s peripherals didn’t quite back up that level of success, since he struck out only 98 in 165.1 innings to go with a 4.01 FIP, but for a guy who didn’t even have a guaranteed roster spot with the team entering spring training, it was a pretty fantastic debut.
Last year, he still won 12 games and improved both his strikeout & walk numbers, but a massive jump in his home run rate inflated both his ERA and his FIP, the point where the Yankees left him off the postseason roster. This year, Nova fought off David Phelps to keep his spot, but made it through just four short & uneven starts before a right triceps injury knocked him out for more than a month. After returning in May, he made two relief appearances before being optioned to Triple-A, though he’s since returned to make four pretty impressive appearances.
Nova appears to have regained his spot in the Yankees rotation and has looked good doing it, so we have ask: what Nova are we seeing here? Read the rest of this entry »