Thank you for your patience with me as I missed last week’s piece to attend a funeral in Minot, North Dakota. Now, onto this week’s business, but not before first taking a look at the running totals through week six:

9-8 record
4.17 ERA
8.3 K/9
2.8 K/BB
1.28 WHIP

Needless to say, the pre-DL Tyler Lyons clunker took its own toll on these stats. Let’s get back on track.

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses:

RHP Nathan Eovaldi – 46.2% ESPN/46% Y!/80% ESPN (50% start) – @WAS (.309), v. ATL (.298) Read the rest of this entry »

“Kyle Seager is having a terrible season.”

I heard that at the bar three times last night. From three different sources. “Is he?” was my response.

Now, most fantasy enthusiasts would likely posit that Kyle Seager isn’t having a particularly great season. If you drafted him, you probably feel that way. Heck, if you’re a Mariner fan, you probably feel that way. And there was a period of time at the beginning of the year where one might have ventured to argue that he was just totally useless. Because inasmuch as the term “use” equals “doing something,” well, he was pretty useless.

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In January, I wrote about my optimism regarding Jon Singleton. Coming off a disastrous 2013 season in which he slashed just .220/.340/.347 in Triple-A, he has rebounded in a way that should find him back in the upper tier of prospects. I’ve had the opportunity to see Singleton play quite a bit this year — throughout this piece, I will revisit my remaining concerns about Singleton from four months ago, discussing how the 22-year-old has easily surpassed even my own high expectations in 2014.

The first signs of life came in winter ball, as he led the Puerto Rican Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente with nine home runs. At the time, I wrote the following:

It’s only a 35-game sample, but he hit .268/.396/.537 and he showed more power against lefties than ever before, swatting five homers in just 49 plate appearances against left-handers. While it’s obviously a tiny sample, consider the fact that Singleton had hit just five homers in his previous 443 plate appearances against lefties over the last three years. The one bad trend from his stint in winter ball? His strikeout rate remained a bit high, at 24.8%.

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Agenda

1. From yesterday’s comments
2. Daily DFS
3. Saturday, Saturday
4. Table

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You want to see three of the best new change-ups in baseball? Call up the highlights for Jacob DeGrom, Chase Whitley, and Chase Anderson. Of course, there’s not a heralded prospect in the trio, so something must be awry. Let’s use the pitch type peripherals to get a sense of their strengths and flaws.

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• Just a bit more analysis on Jose Fernandez. He admits the pain started during the game and pitched through the pain.

Fernandez said he felt discomfort in his elbow during his last outing on May 9, a loss to the Padres in San Diego when he was roughed up for six runs in five-plus innings. He discounted speculation that the injury occurred because he might have altered his delivery after being hit in the knee by a line drive against the Dodgers on May 4.

Even after feeling discomfort during his next start, Fernandez said he didn’t think it was anything serious.

“It never popped, it was just a little pinch,” Fernandez said. “I don’t think I altered my delivery. Everything was the same because I was trying to not let anybody see that I was in a little pain. I was trying to pitch with it without anybody knowing, not even [catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia]. I didn’t think it was anything to worry about.”

A theory I have been pondering is “Pitchers throwing at the extreme limitations of their body have to be more cognizant of possible injuries/changes”. One small change in motion could just destroy them. For pitchers who aren’t throwing as hard, a little bump isn’t as big a deal. Take a car getting a flat tire. If a Civic is driving 30 mph and hits small unexpected bump, not much damage could happen. Now if a sports car hits the same bump doing 120 mph, th resulting crash will make the 10 o’clock news.

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Another Friday is upon us. On Wednesday, we talked a little about Sean Doolittle. Today, let’s focus on C.J. Wilson, who happens to be pitching tonight.

Wilson has often been labeled: inconsistent. Maybe he’s been a little inconsistent at times, but that happens to everyone.  Since 2010, though, Wilson has been the 15th best pitcher in the major leagues according to WAR. If you prefer RA9-WAR, he’s been the 13th best pitcher. Granted, WAR isn’t of much use in fantasy leagues, but humor me. Without looking, would you have guessed Wilson was essentially James Shields’ equal during that timeframe? I wouldn’t have. I also wouldn’t have placed him above Gio Gonzalez, Mat Latos, or Matt Cain, but there he is.

The past few years, the only qualm anyone has been able to have with Wilson has been the amount of free passes he’s given out. Well, he’s remedied that somewhat in 2014. His walks are down a little; the lowest they’ve been since 2011. His strikeout rate is also the highest it’s ever been as a starter. And so his his ground-ball percentage. Keep it rolling, sir.

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Today is the 14th anniversary of Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP.” Personally, I think the album has held up well over time and is my second favorite album of his after “The Eminem Show.”

On today’s agenda:
1. Bad news for the Texas Rangers
2. Mike Moustakas demoted
3. An update on the Oscar Taveras watch
4. The Daily Five

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-March and April were kind to 41-year-old LaTroy Hawkins. The Rockies’ closer converted all nine of his save chances while holding opposing batters to a .237/.267/.349 slash line and a .273 wOBA in 11.1 innings. However, May tells a different story for the veteran right-hander. He is 2-0 with one save (in two chances) this month, but he’s allowed five earned runs in his last seven appearances. And hitters are slashing .444/.464/.741 with a .513 wOBA against Hawkins across six frames this month. When looking at velocity splits between the months, nothing strikes me as red flag worthy. Hitters seem to be finding the holes a bit more in May (.440 BABIP) versus March/April’s .243 average on balls in play. He’s stranding fewer this month (69% LOB%) as well, so maybe it’s just numbers catching up with the old fella?
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Episode 120

The latest episode of The Sleeper and the Bust is now live! Jason Collette and Eno Sarris discuss Christian Yelich, Matt Cain, Prince Fielder, Michael Morse, Oscar Taveras, Eric Campbell, Phil Hughes, Mike Moustakas, Trevor Rosenthal, Chris Sale, Alex Cobb, Carlos Gonzalez, and Jason Motte.

As usual, don’t hesitate to 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.

Thanks to Ian Miller aka Teen Archer, for the new intro music. Approximately 59 minutes of joyous analysis.  

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