After the Bullpen Report posted last night, Fernando Rodney blew a save against the Dodgers. Given that he allowed four runs and six base runners in his previous outing on Sunday, my baseball writer-heavy Twitter feed was awash with the names Danny Farquhar and Yoervis Medina with the pseudo-hipsters of the group bringing up Carson Smith’s name.

Some seem to think Rodney has already lost the closer’s job or will imminently, while others simply think he won’t last the year with the job. Given that he has 133 saves in the last three years and saved 48 games last year while blowing just two, I’m not as convinced that his job is in much danger. But to get a better idea, I want to take a look at Lloyd McClendon’s history dealing with struggling closers.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I identified potential stolen base streamers for daily fantasy leagues and weekly leagues with daily transactions and lineup changes. I used a pitcher’s career caught-stealing and pick-off rates as criteria to determine if a particular matchup was primed for streaming a speedster with the hope of him stealing a base (or two or four).

I like how it turned out, but it felt hastily constructed. A pitcher’s career rate seemed too broad a scope, especially considering the possibility that a pitcher can get better (or, perhaps, worse) at limiting steals and picking off runners over time.

With a little more time and care, I fleshed out everything a bit more and added an additional criterion: catcher effectiveness, which can be most obviously measured by caught-stealing rate. But I think there also is merit to calculating the frequency at which runners attempt to steal on a catcher. In a sense, it measure runners’ perception of a catcher’s skill, especially for those at the tails of the distribution.

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Agenda

1. The Process Pep Talk
2. Daily DFS – Pompey
3. GB / FB Splits
4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Bradley, Vargas, Plouffe, Pompey
5. Factor Grid

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Episode 8 – The Contest To Pick The Contest

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin record a do-over “blitz episode” after finally losing a recording and discuss picking up Shane Greene sooner rather than later, Matt repeating a Mookie Betts pun, attempting to “turn the key at the same time,” and creating the first Field of Streams listener contest. Please leave your suggestions on how we should decide to rename Matt’s Twitter handle in the comments below.

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Return with us now to the distant evening of April 2, 2015, when we were young, life was simple, and Jennrys Mejia was the Mets’ closer. Our task: conducting the NFBC Main Event draft (15 teams, 30 rounds) without embarrassing ourselves. The setting: the “Rhinelander Gallery” of a Manhattan hotel, and it is depressing indeed to think that we are so ancient that we remember not only when the Cincinnati Reds were officially nicknamed “Redlegs,” but also when they were widely known by the unofficial nickname “Rhinelanders,” a nod to the ethnic group that once dominated that city, and at some point during its hegemony concluded that chili is best served over spaghetti. The immediate situation: the approximate midpoint of the draft. For an outline of our overall approach to the draft and an account of the first half, see our previous post. Read the rest of this entry »

In two starts spanning 12 innings, Brandon McCarthy has allowed six home runs. Out of 12 fly balls. For a 50% HR/FB rate. After witnessing the last of those homers in Monday’s game, I Tweeted about it. Because that’s what all the cool kids do nowadays, Tweet, right? After a couple of back and forths, I then Tweeted the following:

@RotoLance Anyone who claims to have evidence for why McCarthy, or any pitcher, has allowed an inflated HR/FB rate is lying or just wrong.

— Mike Podhorzer (@MikePodhorzer) April 14, 2015

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Today’s Roto Riteup was written while I watched highlights of the opening leg of the UEFA Champions quarterfinal fixtures.

On today’s agenda:
1. Terrifying moment for Carlos Carrasco
2. David Wright likely to the disabled list
3. Denard Span begins rehab assignment
4. Streaming Pitching Options
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Last week I shared my Hitting Portfolio, detailing the hitters I have across my 16 leagues by position. I was going to do the entire portfolio initially, but the hitters ran pretty deep so I decided to split the pitching off as a separate post. Let’s begin with starting pitchers. I have at least 73 starters on one club, 33 of which appear just once. The sheer quantity is inflated by being a part of two draft-and-hold 50 round NFBC leagues. We are digging deep by the end of those so there are some guys who wouldn’t be rostered in a lot of other league formats. But let’s start at the top with the guys I have the most.

I ended up with three pitchers on at least six rosters. All are from the American League which isn’t too surprising since ALers are eligible for 15 of my 16 rosters (while NLers could only hit 12 of the 16) and I’m sure the names won’t come as much of a surprise if you‘ve listened to the podcast or read the SP Guide. So here they are:

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• As some of you brilliant readers noticed last night, Mark Melancon was missing several mph off of his fastball. While I don’t believe his job is in danger due to performance, his decreased velocity could signal struggles to come, in which case Tony Watson and co. could replace him in the ninth inning. After averaging 92 mph on his fastball last year, Melancon sat at 89 mph last night. That’s obviously not a good sign but doesn’t signal a changing of the guard quite yet. Melancon will have ample opportunity to remain closer but closer monitoring of his velocity, coupled with any struggles could signal a future change.

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Episode 217

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

In this episode, Paul Sporer and Eno Sarris discuss the injury news surrounding Alex Rios, Rusney Castillo, Ivan Nova, and Drew Smyly. They finish the news discussing the Colorado pen before jumping to their main topic: notable starters. The guys discuss five pitchers of note, including three featured in Eno’s recent piece on Rotographs. Read the rest of this entry »

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