When looking at weather reports for the next couple of days, this Roto Riteup author wants to never stop vomiting.

On today’s agenda:
1. Let’s talk about Yovani Gallardo
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

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We’ve had amateur drafts for two of the Big Four sports this week, but it’s not baseball, so we won’t speak of the likes of Kristaps Porzingis in today’s Roto Riteup.

On today’s agenda:
1. Giancarlo Stanton’s broken hand
2. J.D. Martinez is spitting hot fire
3. Various news and notes
4. Streaming Pitcher Options

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Agenda

1. Stealthy Rebuilds
2. Daily DFS – Rain
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Matz, Masterson, Ike, Espinosa
4. Factor Grid

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Zach Britton kept humming right along for the Orioles, notching his 22nd save. He continues to lead qualified relievers with a 71.6% GB%. He has an excellent 23.2% K%-BB% and a 14.3% whiff rate, both numbers putting him in the top 25 of relievers. He throws his 95 mph sinker over 90% of the time, no reliever throws his fastball more. As a result of the sinker usage, he hasn’t induced a single pop up this year. He’s having one of the best seasons of any reliever. His 1.99 ERA is right in line with his 1.91 FIP.

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We’ve been banging this drum for weeks, but continued progress is the goal here. I’ve also added a week-to-week change meter on the numbers so you can get a feel of how things are progressing. Similarly, how else can I better justify a collective 4.78 ERA? Ha.

Here are the totals through half of week 11 (with week-to-week change listed):

15-30 record (+ 1-0)
4.78 ERA (-0.31)
6.2 K/9 (no change)
2.2 K/BB (-0.1)
1.43 WHIP (+ 0.02)

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wOBA in parentheses. Y! ownership numbers pulled courtesy of twitter pal @PandaPete21, whom you should give a follow:

RHP Nate Karns – 19.3% ESPN/20% Y! – v. CLE (.315), @NYY (.331)

Karns doesn’t really have easy matchups this week, but the pickings aren’t great across the board. I also considered Colby Lewis, Mike Pelfrey and Wandy Rodriguez before settling on these three. Karns has had a nice run with the Rays, with a 3.28 ERA and 8.2 K/9, though he oddly leads the league with 10 wild pitches. C.J. Wilson also has 10, and only one other pitcher — Sonny Gray with eight — has more than seven in the AL. Karns’ mix of strikeouts and grounders (45.4 percent) is solid, though his control teeters on the brink of being troublesome (3.6 BB/9), though he has done a fairly good job of not having any games where he comes completely unraveled in that respect. He has three four-walk games, but also importantly has yet to go an entire start without issuing a free pass. Karns’ last three starts have been really good, resulting in a 1.04 ERA and 17-5 K/BB ratio in 17.1 innings. Opponents have hit just .246/.300/.292 off him in that span, which includes team wins over the White Sox and Indians, and a tough 1-0 loss to Toronto. Shutting down the Jays offense for six innings is no small task, but he did just that last time out. Read the rest of this entry »

Disappointment is entirely about expectations. Hence the hedging and inclusion of “potential” in the headline. If you weren’t expecting Michael Brantley to have a 20-20 season, he is not disappointing you at all right now. If you were, he has been kind of a bummer. I’m taking a closer look at four players ranked in the preseason RotoGraphs top 35 who may have not performed quite as expected.

I’ve addressed Edwin Encarnacion, Carlos Gomez and Troy Tulowitzki in other articles, so I won’t revisit those potential disappointments. Since we’re already working with smaller-than-ideal samples, I’m not going to include anyone who’s played fewer than 40 games (Anthony Rendon, Yasiel Puig and Jacoby Ellsbury). Statistics through June 24.

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In keeper and dynasty leagues, keeping one on the present and the other on the future is the norm. Balancing now with later results in some difficult decisions, and moving a player of Carlos Gomez’s ilk (he ranked eighth with a 7.31 average pick in NFBC drafts entering the year) amidst a disappointing season is the type of difficult decision gamers are presented. His value isn’t as high as it was entering the season, but there are a variety of reasons why I’d suggest moving him now as opposed to waiting for him to — hopefully — go on a heater. Read the rest of this entry »

Agenda

1. Trading For Closers
2. Daily DFS – Bettis, May
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Anderson, Danks, Davis, Venable
4. Factor Grid

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Episode 60 – Newest Prospective Downloader

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Marco Estrada’s legendary performance, Matt’s neighbor, the rise of Josh Phegley, Robin Ventura’s surprisingly strong move, selling on Yunel Escobar, Steven Matz’s upcoming debut, changing the order in which picks are presented to mess with Matt, trying to find a way to afford Max Scherzer, weekend plans including a high school reunion, and a Bud Selig anecdote.

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Today’s Roto Riteup was written while the film Whiplash played in the background. And by that I mean I procrastinated writing this and watched Whiplash, as it was my favorite film of 2014.

On today’s agenda:
1. Welcome to The Show, Steven Matz
2. Dustin Pedroia to the disabled list
3. Buying Adam Eaton
4. Streaming Pitching Options
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