One of the most pleasant surprises of 2015 has been the performance of the Minnesota Twins. Even if they fail to capture a wild card spot, this season has surpassed any reasonable Twins fan’s expectations. A team that appeared to be in the midst of a full rebuild ended up as a legitimate playoff contender, and one of the unexpected bright spots is their largely unheralded super-utilityman, Eduardo Escobar.

The switch-hitting Escobar entered the year as a bench player for the Twins, one whose versatile glove could plug a number of holes. Case in point: In his first four defensive appearances in April, he played four different positions (2B, 3B, SS, LF). Through July 31, he had 27 starts in left field, 20 at shortstop, seven as the designated hitter, five at third base and two at second.

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Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

Previous Reviews:
Baltimore Orioles
Atlanta Braves
Boston Red Sox
Washington Nationals
New York Yankees

The Graduate: Maikel Franco, 3B: A wrist injury may have ended Maikel Franco’s season early (He hasn’t played since Aug. 11) but he adapted more quickly to the Majors in his debut than I expected — at least at the plate. He significantly out-played incumbent third baseman Cody Asche and even out-performed Ryan Howard — who he’ll eventually supplant at first base. Fellow rookie Odubel Herrera was worth more in terms of WAR (3.0 to 1.3) but Franco was superior in wRC+ (weighted runs created — 125 to 107). It may not be a stretch to call the third base prospect the best hitter on the 2015 Phillies. On defence, though, Franco struggled as expected and will no doubt move from third to first once the Phillies decide to cut bait with Howard.

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Episode 117 – That Screams Field Of Streams To Me

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt’s trip to the zoo, the numerous Kyles that pitch for Detroit and their Rule of Two, Logan Forsythe once again being an obvious choice, Matt being halfway excited about a White Sox pickup in Mike Olt, naming Nolan Reimold “Mr. September,” Matt making a David Price pun, Matt’s traumatic baseball memories, and some nice new feedback from a listener.

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Say it ain’t so! There’s only two weeks of the season left? Wow, how time flies. Hopefully you’re either already in a prize spot or fighting to reach one. The final two weeks are fun because you might decide to make roster moves you would never consider during the earlier part of the season. So here are some random pieces of advice and thoughts for these final two weeks.

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Today’s Roto Riteup comes on the heels of a thrilling football weekend, and on the eve of some fantasy baseball semifinals.

On today’s agenda:
1. Fun with arbitrary endpoints
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

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Well, I have had making a two-start evaluator on my to-do list for a while. With the help of Jonah Pemstein, the project is done. A problem is its usefulness with only two weeks left in the season. I am going to roll it out anyway and take comments over the next couple of weeks. It will then be ready for full implementation to start next season.

The setup is pretty simple right now.
•Find the games a pitcher is expected to start this upcoming week.
• Determine the starters projected Steamer stats per start.
• Use my Standing Gain Points formula I calculated to start the season to give each pitcher a weekly value. Then rank them by this value.

This is all the data available for now, but running it for the first time I found a few ways to improve it going forward.
• I ran into a coding error for pitchers who have no more projected starts (end of the list like Hudson or Moore) according to Steamer. I am trying to get the depth charts updated to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future.
• On the same note, the stats for pitchers who are swingman (starter and reliever) may be a bit inflated because of the improved reliever rates.
• Wins are just funky but needed to show the value of the chance to pick up two Wins. Ideas?
• The strength of opponent and park factors are not shown or worked in yet. I am working on this portion now but wanted to make the list available before next week.

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Episode 279

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

In this episode, Paul Sporer and Jason Collette discuss a group of hitters who have failed to live up to expectation. These aren’t just injury guys, either. Some have dealt with injuries, but all have a substantial amount of playing time and just haven’t done what you’d expect. Names include: Yasmani Grandal, Albert Pujols, Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Gomez among others.

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Today’s Roto Riteup provides some white hot first hand scouting notes.

On today’s agenda:
1. Peter O’Brien and Catching
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

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The Roto Riteup’s College Gameday signs are strong.

On today’s agenda:
1. Brandon Finnegan gets a start
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

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Agenda

1. So You Need SB?
2. Daily DFS
3. SaberSim Observations
4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Tomlin, Hill, Gutierrez, O’Malley
5. Factor Grid

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