Apologies for the slightly abbreviated Bullpen Report tonight. Have to be on my way to the airport in [checks watch] less hours than Mark Melancon has walks (4) (but I still get more sleep than Edward Mujica’s two free passes!).

• Casey Janssen had such a rough outing tonight, Steve Delabar had to come in and clean up the mess. Now, in Janssen’s defense, he did come on with a three-run lead, retired the first two batters, gave up a couple singles that dropped in front of outfielders, walked a guy, then suffered thanks to an error by his first baseman that prolonged the game. At that point, Janssen had thrown 26 pitches so Delabar was tabbed and induced a Michael Brantley fly ball for the final out. Twitter is abuzz with “oh, did Janssen just lose his job!?” Unlikely. The man still sports a 3.36 xFIP and one of the lowest walk rates among all big league closers (although he’s no Mujica). He had a rough outing a few days ago in a non-save situation, however, other than that, he hadn’t been scored upon for almost a month coming into tonight. Do not panic. Or take advantage of someone else’s panic. Feel free to handcuff Delabar in deep leagues, though. You never know when injury might strike.

• Joaquin Benoit tallied save number eight tonight. He did walk a pair, but didn’t allow either runner to score. He has worked the ninth inning in his last five outings and certainly has the look of the de facto closer for the Tigers. Make sure he’s owned in all leagues.

Good news for guys who like to own Detroit players in leagues that count holds! Jim Leyland sounded like he was playing a fun fortune cookie game when he went on record as saying “I’m not stretching him out. He can stretch out during the winter – on his bed,” when asked whether bullpen revelation Drew Smyly might be an option in the starting rotation (except he confused in and on). Smyly is outpitching his xFIP by a bunch thanks to a minuscule 2% HR/FB%, but the strikeouts are up and the walks are down, so hanging out behind the fence instead of on the bench certainly is doing something for him. His velocity is not stereotypically way up in relief and his SwStr% only ticked up a little so I’m not expecting him to keep the sparkling 2.00 ERA going forward, but he should keep racking up the holds and helping you out in WHIP.

• Frank Francisco is still not throwing. It’s not surprising he’s suffering with an elbow ailment, but what is interesting is Mets doctors are befuddled as to where the pain is coming from. He hasn’t thrown a pitch since May. If you’ve been stashing him on the DL in a deep, deep league hoping against hope he could come back and garner some high leverage opportunities it’s probably time to cut bait.

Closer Grid:

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

As a Seattle resident, I have the pleasure of attending a good number of Mariner’s games each year, mostly in the company of another founding member of ottoneu (owner of this team). A couple weeks back, we attended a game and marveled at the massive swings being taken by one Raul Ibanez, which led to one of us commenting, “It’s like he’s decided, ‘Screw it – I’m old and I am going to try to crush the ball, even if I can’t do anything else.”

It reminded me of the Jerry Seinfeld quip about old people backing out of their driveways: “I’m old and I’m coming back! I survived, let’s see if you can.”

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In a time where names like Stephen Strasburg, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Gerrit Cole are dominating the headlines, rookie hype is making it awfully difficult for fantasy owners to acquire the services of several youngsters who are supposed to be leading us into a new generation of MLB superstars. But occasionally we get lucky and some diamonds-in-the-rough pass through without too much fanfare and linger on your waiver wire until they break out with a big game that lands them on an ESPN or MLB Network highlight reel. Darin Ruf and Sonny Gray may be well-known to the hardcore fantasy players, but without someone standing on a soapbox with a bullhorn, screaming “Pick this guy up now,” both seem to have slipped through the cracks in many leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Rain, rain, go away.

While no MLB games have been postponed the last couple of days, unsettled weather has been threatening. Tonight is no different, and the spatial extent of the wet weather along the east coast should be greater than it was the last couple of days.

Both Pittsburgh and Cleveland appear to be under the gun for scattered strong to severe storms this evening. Nothing implies a total washout, however, guys interested in starting pitchers on the Pirates, Indians, A’s, or Jays might want to check the radar closer to 7 PM to see whether a rain delay or two might be in their future. Few things smart as much as having a starter go three scoreless innings with five punchouts only to get yanked because the tarp had to stay on the field for more than an hour.

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We’ve reached the halfway point. With the All-Star game looming just around the corner, there’s probably not much to debate with most of the National League pitcher rankings. The biggest areas of contention of the struggling studs and the surprising breakouts. While July seems like a long way through the season, smart owners know that luck can carry this far into the season. Struggling studs will rebound, and early breakouts will turn into flameouts. How should we value these players? Let’s turn to the rankings. This month, the tiers will be characters from the show Lost, one of my first television obsessions.

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As long as you don’t own the player heading to the disable list, injuries could be a good thing. They open up opportunities for others and provide the chance for increased playing time. That is the theme of today’s deep league waiver wire. Even better, both these men have dual eligibility at both first base and outfield. Jackpot!

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Today’s Roto Riteup author defied all stereotypes by wearing pants while writing this article. The author did not wear a shirt, though, because it’s hot as balls out.

On today’s agenda:
1. It’s finally Adam Eaton time
2. Omar Infante goes to DL
3. Yasmani Grandal’s out a full year
4. Beware Biogenesis

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• It’s not the highest endorsement one could receive from their manager but if/when Kevin Gregg is traded, the Cubs could turn to Blake Parker as a replacement. Blake Parker is a rookie but he’s on the older side at 27 years old and with a 2.25/2.82/4.03 ERA/FIP/xFIP line, Parker’s deserving for the ninth inning even if he’s only thrown 16 innings thus far. Parker doesn’t have a fastball in the upper nineties but he’s still been able to generate a lot of whiffs with a 12.7% SwStr% leading to a solid 9 K/9 while exhibiting enough control (2.81 BB/9). Parker has shown an ability to miss bats throughout his minor league career but his control has held him back. If he’s able to maintain his walk rate like he has this season he should have continued success, if not, the Cubs might have to look elsewhere.

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Episode 35
Today’s episode of The Sleeper and the Bust stars yours truly and features RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris. We discuss a pair of hot first basemen and the long-awaited return of an exciting young arm in Seattle.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @mikepodhorzer or @enosarris on Twitter and tweet us any fantasy questions you have that we may answer on our next episode.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via the feed.

Intro by DJ Sinton (no, contrary to popular belief, I do not moonlight as a rap star)

Approximately 38 min of joyous analysis.

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Brooklyn, New York- In his two most recent starts, Giovanny Gallegos pitched like two very different pitchers. In his first year of short-season ball with the Staten Island Yankees, that’s unsurprising. While he got hit hard in his final start of June, it was good to see manager Justin Pope leave him in to work it out through three innings, despite coughing up an early 4-0 lead to the Hudson Valley Renegades.

Gallegos (pronounced Guy-A-Gos) struggled to throw strikes in the early part of his June 27th outing, unable to consistently locate his fastball. His fastball overpowers hitters low in the zone, but on that day, he couldn’t move it around the strike zone effectively.

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