–Edward Mujica blew his first save opportunity of the twenty-thirteen campaign on Independence Day, yielding two earned runs on four hits — one of which left the park — in a 6-5 loss to the Angels. The longball turned out to be the third of its kind Mujica allowed in his previous six trips to the bump — leading to five earned runs — spiking his ERA from 1.57 to 2.62. The fifth of July, however, seemed to be a bit friendlier to the veteran right-hander. Mujica faced the minimum in a clean ninth-inning of work on Friday, fanning two Marlins and inducing one worm burner en route to a 4-1 Cardinals’ victory and Mujica’s 22nd save of the season.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are this week’s recommendations, with ownership figures help from Twitter pal @eblack35:

Scott Feldman – 40.9% ESPN/45% Y! – v. TEX (.321 team wOBA), v. TOR (.318)

I like Feldman in just the way I used to like his now-teammate Jason Hammel. Oodles of grounders (50.7%) with just enough strikeouts (6.8 per 9) to have sneaky utility in a veritable plethora of leagues.

And while I don’t think the move from Chicago –> Baltimore will be quite as beneficial as Denver –> Baltimore was for Hammel — at least at first — I think he’s going to be a perfectly fine fantasy option starting on a team that’s starting to look pretty dang formidable both now and into the future under the direction of Buck Showalter. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve ever had to go through a rebuilding phase with a dynasty league roster, you may have run against the difficulty of finding a minor league first baseman who projects as a bigtime MLB force. A couple of years ago, I discussed the extreme paucity of first base prospects here, and I feel that many of the points I raised in that piece still largely hold water. First base prospects are held to such a high standard of offense and are constantly competing with not only other first base prospects, but also defensively-challenged third base and corner outfield prospects, for the few open MLB spots at the position. Most of the first base prospects that do ascend to considerable MLB playing time–let alone success–at the spot are the players who are pegged as bigtime prospects from the moment they sign a professional contract–witness Prince Fielder, Mark Teixeira, Eric Hosmer, Adrian Gonzalez…even guys traditionally at the lesser end of the quality spectrum like Justin Smoak, Ike Davis, and James Loney.

If you’re in a dynasty league with any depth, chances are that most of the “obvious” first base prospects have been swept up (if you’re looking for a first baseman of the future and the big prospects aren’t swept up, stop reading this article and grab Jonathan Singleton). Who might you be able to turn to that’s a bit lower-profile (and thus available) but still could end up as a solid producer at the first base position? Today, I’m going to look at five players who might fill that void.

Read the rest of this entry »

When I heard the news that 41-year old Manny Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers, I just laughed. Usually when I hear news of a player who is unable  to accept that the game of baseball is finished with him, I feel bad; sympathetic to the notion that, no matter what you do, you just can’t stop time. But in this case, there is no sympathy. How do you feel bad for a guy who, not only was a complete [insert your own expletive here] throughout his career, but was also caught cheating on more than one occasion and opted to leave the game rather than accept his punishment? You don’t. You move on and leave the past in the past. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick update on injuries over the long holiday weekend.

• Darius Austin of MLB Injury News put together nice write up on how the Mets may handle Matt Harvey innings pitches as the season goes on with all the latest research.

• Jeff Locke is having a break out season for the Pirates with 8 wins and a 2.12 ERA. Signs of regression exist with a .233 BABIP and with his ERA estimators near or above 4.00.

He was been a leader on my PAIN index because of an extremely low Zone% (41.4%). His last start was the first since the season’s start with a plus 47% Zone%. I would be selling him right now if possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I wrote about hitters who might be undervalued because of poor recent performance that was being caused by something other than a decrease in skill. Today I’d like to take a quick look at the pitchers whose xFIPs were the farthest below their ERAs over the last thirty days. The idea again is that recent performance seems to be weighted too heavily in pricing, and these guys might have a little extra value in the immediate future. Read the rest of this entry »

With apologies to the late night games, today’s Roto Riteup was written before they concluded. Fireworks are cool.

On today’s agenda:
1. Dan Straily’s strong outing
2. A new place in the batting order for Elvis Andrus
3. Marcell Ozuna fills up the 5×5 line
Read the rest of this entry »

Since joining the RotoGraphs team, I’ve discussed two minor leaguers who were (at the time) leading the minors in a fairly notable stat category. There was Micah Johnson with his stolen bases, and Ryan Rua with his home runs.

Today, I’m going to talk about another player leading the minors in something: righthanded pitcher Matt Koch, who sports a 61/2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. No, K/BB ratio isn’t a fantasy category in many leagues, but it’s also a broad stat that encompasses a lot of ability, so such dominance merits a closer look into Koch’s skillset.

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy America Day from Canada!

For those of you who plan on spending your Independence Day doing the most American thing possible (drinking beer and watching baseball), DraftStreet has provided early start time pools as well as late start time pools. So you can root your picks along while you watch all day.

And this wouldn’t be a July 4 fantasy baseball column without a bad segue about fireworks – if you’re not planning on going anywhere to watch them, tune in to San Diego at Boston, where Fenway is sure to provide just that.
Read the rest of this entry »

On this very special of days, the Roto Riteup is going to celebrate in its own special little way. Instead of the usual barrage of shit-hot news and analysis, we’re going gimmicky! Today, the Roto Riteup will touch on fantasy baseball topics relating to the theme of “independence.” You may find some of them newsy, entertaining, or (God forbid) both.

Read the rest of this entry »