Fresh off the buzz of excluding Joe Panik from my top 15 second base rankings, I’m doubling down and ranking the top 10 overall.

In late February, I tackled the task of ranking the safest hitter picks in the first round. Here are the safety rankings I came up with: 1. Mike Trout, 2. Andrew McCutchen, 3. Carlos Gomez, 4. Paul Goldschmidt, 5. Edwin Encarnacion, 6. Jose Bautista, 7. Giancarlo Stanton, 8. Miguel Cabrera, 9. Jose Abreu, 10. Anthony Rizzo

It doesn’t look too bad, though Gomez and Encarnacion are the obvious misses. Now I’ll work off of those rankings, but scrap the safety angle since it doesn’t really make sense at this point, and simply rank my top 10 players for the rest of the season. Statistics through June 17.

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We’re nearing the midpoint of the season, and a trio of players standout as potential difference makers for the stretch run. Included in that trio is a second baseman coming off a scorching hot stint at the Triple-A level. An outfielder I thoroughly pounded the drum for in the preseason remains intriguing to me despite the fact he’ll almost certainly fail to live up to the hype I bestowed upon him. Finally, a southpaw on the mend should be back soon to bolster his club’s rotation, and he could be a fantasy asset if he doesn’t suffer any setbacks in his continued recovery from Tommy John surgey. Read the rest of this entry »

Agenda

1. 98 With Movement
2. Daily DFS – Aumont
3. GB / FB Splits
4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Bettis, Lohse, Norris, Hechavarria
5. Factor Grid

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Episode 55 – You Could Swing a Dead Cat and Probably Hit Six Competent Options

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Hector Noesi being replaced by Scott Carroll, appreciating listener feedback, Kyle Schwarber’s DFS influence, believing in Jonathan Lucroy, Marco Estrada’s modest improvements, a guest appearance by the trains that go by Dylan’s house, the human Swiss Army knife, a weekly Robin Ventura tirade, and lukewarm takes on the Cardinals’ internet activities.

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Today at The Freshmen Report we’re taking a look at some recently-promoted top prospects, as well as a reliable — but unspectacular — American League starting pitcher.

Byron Buxton, CF, Twins: Minnesota is having a pretty solid season but the offence has definitely not been a strong suit for the club. Center field has been a big gap with both Aaron Hicks (now injured) and Jordan Schafer producing OPS numbers below .600. As a result, the organization reached down to Double-A to pluck top prospect Buxton away from a solid rebound season after he missed much of 2014 due to injuries. It’s been a rough going early on with a strikeout rate hovering around 38% but it’s only been four games and, frankly, the Twins don’t have many other options. Buxton, 21, is going to have some rough edges to his game but his athleticism — and value on the bases and in the field — should allow him to hang in there. The 2015 season likely won’t be a huge gain for him but he should be able to keep his head above water given enough patience.

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Today’s Roto Riteup features far fewer ponies than your typical Friday fare.

On today’s agenda:
1. Various news and notes
2. Streaming Pitcher Options

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The power outage wasn’t scary at all because it stays light out here until 11:00, so I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.

The Phillies back end power trio shut down the Orioles to win by a run Thursday afternoon. Once Jonathan Papelbon is traded to Canada, Ken Giles will capably take over saving the few games that the woeful Phillies will keep close. Just because they’re bad doesn’t mean they won’t have close games though. The Jays are playing great and save chances have been few and far between in Toronto. Luis Garcia will slide into the eighth-inning role. The trio struck out four over three scoreless innings.

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• Jose Fernandez is scheduled to join the Marlins rotation on July 2nd.

Fernandez is scheduled to make two more rehab starts, on June 22 with Jupiter and on June 27 with Double-A Jacksonville.

After that, the 22-year-old will return to Miami’s rotation on July 2.

• Corey Dickerson is back on the DL with his plantar faciitis.

As for now, his immediate future remains cloudy. Dickerson said he’ll be back in a walking boot, but that surgery still isn’t being considered. Weiss, however, said he has “no idea” when Dickerson will return.

“It did feel better after awhile, but after I played a couple games in Miami, it just didn’t recover as well.” Dickerson said. “It’s kind of that back-and-forth. It feels good one day and hurts the next. It won’t get better until it has time to rest.

“When you have tears or whatnot in your plantar fasciitis, you have to let it scar-tissue over and let it heal. But I just didn’t really have enough time to do that.”

This injury just never seems to clear up. If I owned him in a keeper league and an in the hunt for first, I may look to move him to a non-contending team for a more reliable player.

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Episode 243

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

I ACCIDENTALLY LIED AT THE END OF THE EPISODE AND SAID JASON & I WOULD BE BACK SUNDAY, WE’RE ACTUALLY OFF THIS WEEK. THE NEXT EPSIODE WILL BE TUESDAY’S EDITION.

In this episode, Paul Sporer and Eno Sarris discuss the news for Jose Altuve, Cole Hamels, Wil Myers, and Fernando Rodney. We finish with another edition of Hype or Hold covering some high-expectation pitchers who haven’t quite lived up to the billing yet.

Eno on the CLE rotation

Eno on Bad Fastballs

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About three or four times each week I create projections and player rankings for DFS contests. As an example, you can find my breakdown of tonight’s DFS action here ($). My projections start with the rest-of-season ZiPS projections, which I break down to a per-game basis. I then adjust each projection for matchup and ball park.

For hitters, the matchup adjustment is based on the wOBA allowed by the starting pitcher they will be facing against hitters of the same handedness since the start of the 2014 season. When small sample sizes apply, I manually set the matchup adjustment. But it recently occurred to me that adjustments for matchup should probably include the strength of the opponent’s bullpen. To date, starters are pitching an average of 5.88 innings per game this year, meaning my matchup adjustment is ignoring roughly a third of each hitter’s plate appearances. Read the rest of this entry »