Agenda
Episode 164 – Gonna Get Obscure Today
The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!
In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss a very split slate, a good pick in Justin Verlander + Jimmy Nelson, Jason Castro showing signs of life, the unfair criticism of Anthony Rizzo, not being able to have an objection opinion on James Shields anymore, trying to like Joe Mauer as a DFS pick, Eduardo Escobar vs. Eduardo Nunez, Jake Peavy being completely unpickable, Melvin Upton being good, Matt eventually being able to declare himself a genius on some Brewers picks, and what to make of a knuckleballer facing the Rockies away from Coors (no idea).
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Show of hands, please: Who thought, back in February, that we’d be approaching Memorial Day with the Baltimore Orioles in possession of the second-best record in the American League? Uh-huh; not many of you. Now: Who thought instead, three months ago, that the 2016 Orioles would be fortunate to end the season with 75 wins? A few more, and we are among you.
We won’t revisit our thinking, if you can call it that. We will point out, though, that the Orioles will certainly come partway back to earth. First of all, none of the other teams in the AL East are going to be pushovers. More importantly, the Orioles have been somewhat fortunate so far this year, just as they were somewhat unfortunate last year. Their record today is 26-17; their Pythagorean projection (we’ll assume you know what we mean) has them more like 24-19. Conversely, the 2015 Orioles finished 81-81, whereas their Pythagorean projection had them more like 83-79—which, over 43 games, makes for 22 wins. The small difference between the seasons can be fully accounted for by the acquisition of Mark Trumbo and the advent of Kevin Gausman. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s deep league waiver time. Please contain your excitement.
Baseball is a veritable goldmine of “sliding into your DMs” highlights. I give you Mike Napoli:
You won’t find a finer slide than this, @MikeNapoli25! pic.twitter.com/nPjrZA3u3l
— Carlos Carrasco (@Cookie_Carrasco) May 25, 2016
Happy Wednesday.
• Trevor May was called on to finish out the third inning last night and although May recorded the final out his troubles continued as he allowed two hits and an earned run in the fourth. May still recorded two strikeouts and has a decent 3.51 xFIP with a fantastic strikeout rate (30%) but his recent outings have been downright terrible. Over his last five appearances spanning 3.1 innings pitched, May has allowed 15 baserunners and 10 earned runs. When you combine that performance along with entering the game in the third inning, it’s safe to say you have lost your role. I’ve moved Fernando Abad as the next-in-line and put Michael Tonkin on the grid with May exiting. Kevin Jepsen threw in a non-save situation last night allowing two earned and now supports a 5.89/5.30/4.86 ERA/FIP/xFIP pitching line. Gross. If May was cruising he’d be getting save opportunities by now as the back end of the Twins bullpen has collapsed. Jepsen is on red alert and I would snag Abad and Tonkin in that order for speculative saves. To add more to the confusion Tonkin pitched in the fourth and fifth inning tonight with Abad getting the last two outs in the ninth down three runs. Who really knows what’s going on in Minnesota.
For now Jepsen remains the closer and we’ll hopefully be able to glean more information on the Twins order of operations the next time they have a lead.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Head to the pitching waiver wire, and you might remember this classic line from Coleridge’s tale of the albatross and the sailor. Yes, there are many pitchers you can choose from. They all have their flaws.
One of the most common mistakes when facing this situation in a single-season league is to reach for the young guy. Yes, prospects have that fresh feeling, and their upside reaches to the top of any rotation. To dream upon a golden arm and maybe, just maybe, be rewarded with an Asgardian hero like Noah Syndergaard!
Of course, reality is much more sober. More than half of all prospect pitchers — and even half of the very best — don’t provide their teams with more value than a middle reliever. Baseball will chew up the biggest of arms.
So consider instead the veterans that have improved their performance this year, in the order in which I would rank them.
The transcript is below.
| 1:45 |
: Let’s get this going. I tried putting an apple in my smoothie today and it’s gross
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| 1:46 |
: Hey Brad. My Drew Smyly and Rasmus for his Lorenzo Cain and Jepsen? 20 teamer, keep forever league.
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| 1:46 |
: I think you can do that, but it’s not a must trade if you don’t need saves
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| 1:46 |
: You gotta take out the seeds
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| 1:46 |
: I did that, it’ just gross mushy.
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| 1:46 |
: Would you trade McCann and Carlos Martinez (my 5th starter) for Posey?
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Agenda
Episode 163 – Pardon My Train
The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!
In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt’s unfortunate day, a Yuniesky Betancourt reference, believing in Matt Wieters again, quoting Carson Cistulli, Dylan’s train tracks that cross his driveway, picking on Matt Harvey, stacking Red Sox hitters against the Rockies, believing in Jimmy Nelson, and giving Josh Tomlin and Nick Tropeano their deserved credit.
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