• All right, home work time. Here is a must read article by Tom Verducci from SI on Tommy John surgeries. A key point for fantasy baseball owners is this:

But in a sport in which 24.2 percent of players on Opening Day rosters grew up in Latin America, only one of the 20 Tommy John patients came from there (Detroit reliever Bruce Rondon, of Venezuela).

“Latin American pitchers are allowed to grow into their velocity,” said one international scouting director. “It’s a common story to sign a guy throwing 84, 85 [mph] who eventually winds up throwing in the 90s. Michael Pineda is one. You’re looking for someone with a good, athletic body who can throw the ball around the plate and has a feel for spinning the ball. The velocity comes in time, with training and better nutrition and physical growth. Here? The statistics don’t lie. We need to look elsewhere around the world to learn a better way. It’s time.”

Young American kids throwing hard for long time may be a major factor in tearing their UCL.

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This week we’ll take a look at four middle relievers with at least five appearances, a 0.00 ERA and a 25% K% or better. These middles may or may not be owned in your leagues, depending on depth, but they sure can be relevant in holds, solds and standard leagues…

Warning: small sample sizes to follow.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.
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I’m not ashamed to admit that I once had a love affair with Edinson Volquez. He was wild, unfaithful at times, but I was younger then. (That’s how time and the aging process work, as I understand them.) The willingness to live on the edge, the danger he brought, it was part of his allure.

We occasionally reconciled through the years, but for only brief periods. As I matured, I grew to know my boundaries, and too often, Volquez crossed them. Eventually, I understood that he was just no good for me. I taught myself not to answer the phone. Eventually, he stopped calling.

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Agenda

1. What not to do
2. DFS picks
3. Friday picks
4. Table

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Anybody had enough rainouts (and snow-outs) yet? Yeah, me too, but hopefully it provided a bit of opportunity in daily leagues for those of you who set their lineups at the very last minute. Those who can’t were likely burned.

If you do have to set your lineup early, DailyBaseballData is always a valuable resource. But guess what? Today it shows zero games with more than a 10 percent chance of rain. So let’s baseball, weather free.

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It is with the permission and endorsement of the founder of the Corey Kluber Society, Carson Cistulli, that I urge you to buy low on Corey Kluber. Right now. He is scheduled to pitch this Saturday at home versus the Blue Jays, a neutral offense based on wRC+ so far this season. With only three starts to date, any solid start could have a dramatic impact on his 5.40 ERA. I think it will start with this one.

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Welcome to your regularly scheduled Carlos Carrasco update. It’s another season, but two starts in, Carrasco has already disappointed his biggest fan. It’s easy to point to his 3.51 SIERA, ridiculous .400 BABIP and 53.8% LOB% and claim he’ll enjoy better luck moving forward. Similarly, it’s also simple to call him a head case, perform no analysis whatsoever, and move on. But of course, I’m not going to do either of these things. With a repertoire that seemingly appears fantastic, why isn’t Carrasco the best pitcher in baseball?

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This morning’s Roto Riteup lacks the Thursday staple of arbitrary endpoints, simply because they’re not as much fun with only a few weeks to dive into.

On today’s agenda:
1. Nick Franklin arrives in Seattle
2. Joe Kelly hurt
3. What Zach expects from George Spring
4. James Jones up in Seattle…for now
5. The Funky Five

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• Two games, two shutouts, two saves, two different closers for the Yankees today. Current closer Shawn Kelley polished off Masahiro Tanaka’s gem in game one of a doubleheader, while Adam Warren finished off the day’s eighteen straight scoreless innings against the Cubs in the nightcap. Kelley’s easy save solidifies his role in the ninth; he should be available to finish the game tomorrow. He impressively has yet to walk a batter this season. That the team went to Adam Warren when having the rest of the bullpen available in the second game speaks to his position as second-in-command on the depth chart. The concern about this bullpen appears it will be short-lived, however. David Robertson is going to try throwing off a mound tomorrow and hopes to return when eligible next week.

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Third base was supposed to have more depth this year, despite knowing we wouldn’t have Manny Machado and if you planned to use him at third, Jurickson Profar. As far as tiers go, third base had perfectly acceptable names headed down into a fourth tier, and it looked like you could focus your angst on other positions as the season got underway. Now we’ve lost Adrian Beltre and Ryan Zimmerman. And although you might not have noticed, we’ve also lost Ed Lucas. ED LUCAS!

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