• Jeurys Familia is back. After dealing with a bit of groin tightness, the righty closer saw his first in-game action in about a week this afternoon, cleaning up a 2-0 win for the Metropolitans. Good news for fantasy owners? Familia said he was discomfort-free after the outing, meaning the green light is on going forward. The Mets’ closer has been outstanding this year, notching 20 saves with a minuscule 1.34 ERA. While some regression is to be expected, Familia’s 2.48 xFIP implies that his overall line isn’t going anywhere. It’s been an impressive transformation for the righty, who has seen his velocity tick up 2 mph with his full-time move to the bullpen last year. While he’s always generated big whiffs on his slider, he also is generating 10+% SwStr% marks on both his sinker and four-seamer. It seems like a long time ago we were wondering if Bobby Parnell would regain his old gig before July.

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• Dustin Pedroia was just placed on the DL with a strained hamstring. Currently, there is no news on a possible return date.

• Freddie Freeman was eventually forced to the DL because of his bruised wrist. He could be out for as long as two months.

While the Braves and Freeman were comforted that Monday’s MRI exam showed no structural damage, there is uncertainty regarding how long he will be sidelined with the bone bruise. The veteran first baseman would be eligible for activation July 3. But as of Tuesday, it would be optimistic to assume he could return on that date.

“We’ve had a couple of those [bone bruises] and it takes a while,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

The Braves filled Freeman’s roster spot by recalling Joey Terdoslavich, who was sidelined for nearly two months after he suffered a bone bruise when he landed awkwardly on his left wrist during a March 21 Grapefruit League game.

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A couple weeks ago I shared my Hail Mary infield, a group of infielders you should consider collecting on a struggling team in the hopes that you hit it big with them returning to form. The idea is that you can also get them at a discount, thus a surge to their talent level would net a huge payoff. Today I’m going to hit the mound and discuss the Hail Mary pitchers. Pitching can deliver a bigger payoff in most cases. League standings will dictate which side you’re better off attacking, but a big pitching run can pay huge dividends in relatively short order.

Four of the five hitting categories are counting stats so the accumulation to make a move can be more of a slow burn. Additionally, the one rate stat (usually AVG or OBP) doesn’t usually move too quickly once we get around this point in the season as the ABs/PAs start to pile up. A single exemplary performance from a hitter – even something like 5-for-5 with a homer and six RBIs – rarely has the impact that one huge start does and once start stringing them together, movement comes quickly.

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Many a fantasy article has pointed out that opportunity is a major factor in a player’s fantasy value, sometimes moreso than their actual talent level. I would argue this applies more to fantasy football than it does to fantasy baseball. In fantasy football, one guy for each team throws passes. One guy generally gets the bulk of the rushing attempts. Simply being in that role will allow a player to accumulate fantasy points and thus have value, even though that player might not actually be that good. Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 59 – The Day of the De La Rosas

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Brad Johnson discuss a bit of a reverse slate, analyzing the Orioles against lefties, Ian Kinsler’s surprisingly cold season, Joey Gallo’s extreme outcomes, attempting to afford Paul Goldschmidt, an especially tough day at shortstop, Yasmany Tomas’ strange progression, evaluating Eury Perez, Luis Valbuena’s transformation, the sound that represents Yonder Alonso, attempting to cover the bases when it comes to price points in numerous DFS formats, and checking in on the weather reports on plenty of day games.

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Agenda

1. A Trade Story
2. Daily DFS – Simon
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – May, Nicolino, Rosario, Rajai
4. Factor Grid

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If you guessed this post might relate to BABIP, you would be right. Last year, the highest BABIP by a qualified start in either league was .339, followed by four between .320 and .330. This season, the Major League average BABIP for starters sits at .297, while for American Leaguers it stands slightly lower at .295. The five starters below lead the American League with the highest BABIP marks. There doesn’t even need to be any deep analysis done to say with near certainty that better BABIP days ahead. But of course, that would be lazy, so analysis there shall be.

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Today’s Roto Riteup is being written right after my confidence was shattered after attempting one of the archived New York Times’ crosswords. Once the timer got to 20 minutes, I paused it out of shame. How some have finished these puzzles in three minutes is beyond me.

On today’s agenda:
1. Quick thoughts on Marco Estrada
2. Brett Lawrie is raking
3. Streaming Pitching Options
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• In “as the closer turns” in Toronto, it was righty Steve Delabar, not Roberto Osuna, notching the save in this afternoon’s matinee versus the Rays. Of course, the game wasn’t your run-of-the-mill affair, as it garnered most attention due to Marco Estrada’s bid for a perfect game that was foiled by a chopper up the middle. When the righty starter gave up hit number two in the ninth inning, Osuna was called on to try to preserve the 0-0 tie, which he did by retiring the only batter he faced. When the Jays finally did go ahead and take the lead a few innings later, it was Delabar who jogged in and set Tampa down 1-2-3, fanning a pair in the process. What does it all mean? Well, it probably means Osuna is not quite 100% “the guy,” although it’s worth noting that he is still only a full rest day removed from a 6-out save, so it’s possible the team didn’t want to push him for more than a batter or two. To Delabar’s credit, he’s posted a 1.42 ERA on the season, although his .128 BABIP will surely go up just as his 100% LOB% will trend down. For now, I’ll go ahead and bump Delabar ahead of Cecil (who picked up the win today, although he allowed three baserunners scattered around a pair of punchouts) on the grid, but will leave him behind Osuna for now. However, those desperate should go ahead and scoop him up for the time being — at least until this pen shakes out with a bit more certainty.

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In my younger (read: teenage angst years), one of my favorite up-and-coming bands was a little known group out of Reno, Nevada called This Calendar Year. While the band never gained much notoriety, despite a couple solid tracks (warning: they’re a bit loud), the name always stuck with me. Today for the American League outfield beat, we’ll be looking at two names that could surprise you with their strong numbers since this time last year (minimum 450 plate appearances).
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