– Fernando Rodney is going to be shooting arrows a couple time zones over. With Jason Motte hitting the DL, the Cubbies procured themselves another deposed “proven closer(TM)” by acquiring Rodney for a player to be named later. For those thinking “hot lead on new closer candidate!” you can probably stop. The righty’s 5.68 ERA is only slightly uglier than his 4.63 xFIP and the 38-year-old’s plunging K% may be signifying the beginning of the end. The velocity is only off a touch, but Captain Crooked Hat’s Zone% is down and his Contact% is up. Not only are batters making more contact but Rodney is struggling to keep his stuff in the zone. If you are super desperate in holds leagues, you could try Rodney, I guess (although if the league was that deep, he probably wasn’t available to begin with), but I’m expecting small enough things he doesn’t crack the grid.

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Episode 270

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

In this episode, Paul Sporer and Eno Sarris discuss the potential call-up status for some big time prospects like Corey Seager, Tyler Glasnow, Jose Berrios, Max Kepler, and A.J. Reed among others. Then they judge some hot Augusts and determine how much staying they have including guys like: Jackie Bradley Jr., Cameron Rupp, Franklin Gutierrez, Nick Castellanos.

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• Carlos Carrasco is on the DL with a sore shoulder. It is never good to have pain, but this injury sounds pretty minor.

The Indians said they expect Carrasco to require just the minimum stay on the DL.

“Watching him throw his bullpen yesterday, he’s OK, he’s just a little bit stiff after,” Indians manager Terry Francona said before Tuesday’s game. “I was glad they did the MRI. Sometimes when you give MRIs to pitchers, you have to be careful because anybody that’s thrown a baseball can have something wrong in there. But his was very clean. We were thrilled.”

The news could have been much worse.

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Yesterday I offered up five potential September call-ups who could be substantial power boosts to your lineup if they are indeed called up and find a measure of playing time. Today I’m doing the same thing with some speedsters. While home runs are likely the most important category in fantasy baseball as they impact everything but speed, stolen bases often offer the best route to multiple points in a short timeframe.

This isn’t always the case as your league standings may have stratified in a way where you’re 10+ SBs from even the first point, but in many others that number of stolen bases could be worth three or four points. Expecting 10+ SBs from any one of these players is likely to result in disappointment as just eight players have had a 10+ SB September since 2012, but adding 6 or 7 to your count from an unexpected source can pay real dividends.

Here are five speedy players who might be ready to deliver just that in September:

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Agenda

1. One SaberSim Shortcoming
2. Daily DFS
3. GB / FB Splits
4. SaberSim Hi/Lo
5. Tomorrow’s Targets – Gray, Boyd, Gutierrez, Aoki
6. Factor Grid

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Episode 100 – Completely Arbitrary Milestone

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Brad Johnson discuss celebrating the 100th episode, a particularly strange and shallow DFS slate, Anthony DeSclafani’s terrible pitching splits at home, Dylan finally digging too deep on a pick, considering any warm bodies in the Angels lineup to stack against Randy Wolf and the Tigers, Edwin Encarnacion being truly “en fuego,” trying to compare Rubby De La Rosa to Justin Verlander, making an obligatory obligatory Jhonny Peralta mention, Greg Holland and strange closer mentalities, and the empty apartment that is the new iTunes page.

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The title of the article is an allusion to Schott’s Miscellany, which you should definitely check out if you never have and feel compelled to know that a group of larks is called an exaltation or that a member of the 32nd degree of Freemasonry is known as a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret.

— How Much Better Would Wade Miley Be with Hanley at First?–

Wade Miley was one of the major pieces of the Red Sox’s solid depth over an ace plan for the rotation entering the season. Like many of their players, Miley has struggled. After setting a career high with 8.2 strikeouts per nine in his last season with the Diamondbacks in 2014, Miley has regressed back to 6.7 strikeouts per nine this season, similar to his 2012 and 2013 production. Meanwhile, his ERA (4.51) continues to trail his FIP (3.91) and xFIP (4.10), as they did in 2014. At a broad view, Miley is not an attractive fantasy option, even in AL-only formats.

With a closer look, Miley does start to look better. For one, he is up nearly a strikeout per nine and down half a walk per nine in the second half compared to the first half. And for another, left fielder Hanley Ramirez is expected to move to first base for 2016 and possibly even later this season.

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In deeper leagues, especially those of the mono-league variety, everyone is typically always in search of better pitching. Hitting too, of course, but that’s for another article. The problem with deep leagues is that no one has depth. So to fill one hole you will almost assuredly create another one. It’s simply much more difficult to trade when your bench is filled with scrubs, except when it’s categorical, like trading an excess of saves for a starting pitcher. But that doesn’t happen often, so the alternative is to simply aim lower. Trading for a Chris Sale level pitcher is great and all, but it’s not the only way to improve your pitching staff. So here are four names who have all drastically underperformed their SIERA marks so far this year, which means they could likely turn you a profit in a trade if their fortunes turn.

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My fondness of pop punk music probably well known by this time, and today’s Roto Riteup will once again mention it, but this time in acoustic form! I penned — digitally, that is — today’s RR while listening to Punk Goes Acoustic 2.

On today’s agenda:
1. Quick thoughts on Starlin Castro
2. Patrick Corbin cruises
3. Matt Shoemaker’s promotion
4. Streaming Pitching Options
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– Even though his neck is supposedly fine, Glen Perkins was unavailable this evening due to lower back issues. Kevin Jepsen notched save number 8 in his absence, lowering his ERA to 2.48 in the process. While it sounds like Perkins thinks he’ll be A-OK going forward, Jepsen remains a necessary handcuff giving the former’s maladies. A word of caution, however; Jepsen is living on a .233 BABIP even though his HardHit% is 28%. Regression is in there somewhere, as evidenced by his nearly-4.00 SIERA. Hold onto him if you need saves, but if you think he’s going to help you in ERA and WHIP, I’d turn to a more elite middle reliever somewhere else.

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