The Mets continue to find new ways of being “Amazin’,” albeit this reference is to Jacob deGrom and his bothersome elbow. Recall he has TJS in 2010, and for whatever reason scar tissue has enveloped parts of his elbow, especially around the ulnar nerve. Recall from your anatomy classes that the ulnar nerve is also the “funny bone.” About as poorly named as “Microsoft Works.” Anyway, also recall how that feels when you hit that nerve….try throwing a baseball and hitting your spots with your elbow feeling that way. Point being is that he is most likely done for the year. Surgery, albeit minor, is required to clean the elbow up of scar tissue. No hesitations as of now for 2017.

Let’s get caught up with our friend Stephen Strasburg, shall we?

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Bryce Harper Disappoints

Coming into 2016, many people had Bryce Harper rated as the top fantasy player. This season has been a disappointment for sure after a .330 AVG and 42 home runs last season. It just seems like injury related struggles are derailing his potential.

For example, he popped again on my batted ball injury finder for this last week with just a 78 mph average exit velocity which is 11 mph less than his season average (89 mph). Over that time frame, he hit .067/.263/.067. The last report of an injury was a neck issue in early August, but I would not be surprised he is dealing with something new. He can’t be an MVP caliber player and just not show up for an entire weeks at a time.

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Welcome to the annual series that provides both a review of your favorite teams’ 2016 season, as well as a early look toward 2017. It also serves as a helpful guide for keeper and dynasty leagues.

The Graduate: Archie Bradley (RHP): Between 2012-13, Bradley looked like a future ace-in-the-making. However, the former first round draft pick was struck by the injury bug in 2014-15 and he hasn’t been the same since. His command and control just haven’t improved as much as hoped — which results in too many baserunners. Bradley also has a tendency to give up the long ball. Although he’s still only 24, it might be time to consider a permanent move to the bullpen where his heater might play up. That would allow him to abandon the below-average changeup and focus on the fastball-curveball combo. With so many question marks in the starting rotation for 2017, though, Arizona is no doubt going to give Bradley another shot to start for them.

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Agenda

1. Two Weeks!
2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard
3. Daily DFS
4. SaberSim Observations
5. Tomorrow’s Targets
6. Factor Grid

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Episode 241 – Nobody Is Deeper Than Hernan Iribarren

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt’s phone getting repaired, Matt laughing about catchers being the moms of the team, possibly the deepest pick ever made on the show, Marco Estrada’s struggles, Matt’s bad Bronx impression, September being “deep cuts season,” finding a hitter in the Kershaw vs. Bumgarner matchup, Matt making fun of Dylan for suggesting checking the lineup before picking a pitcher, finding a duel in Jharel Cotton vs. Brad Peacock, and more talk about Ancient Aliens.

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It’s not as if the Chicago Cubs’ trade for started-turned-reliever-turned-starter Mike Montgomery came cheap. Dan Vogelbach isn’t a top-flight prospect, but with plus power and a solid plate approach at Triple-A Iowa this season, it’s not like he’s a nobody, either.

Then again, neither is Montgomery. A supplemental first-round pick almost 10 years ago, he was a Kansas City Royals top-5 prospect for four straight years and a Baseball America top-40 prospect for three of them. Then 2012 came; he was thrown into the James Shields–Wade Davis–Wil Myers–Jake Odorizzi blockbuster before continuing to generally fail to impress anyone. The Seattle Mariners acquired him in 2015, the year in which he debuted, in exchange for Erasmo Ramirez, and Montgomery delivered 16 suboptimal starts. He’s in Chicago now, providing relief every sixth day to a starting rotation that has generated the best staff WHIP in more than 100 years. Cool. Got that out of the way.

Montgomery is no ordinary sixth starter, though. I beg you to read this automated scouting report generated by Brooks Baseball regarding Montgomery’s pitches and their outcomes in 2016. Extreme number of ground balls. Blazing fast. Extremely high number of swings & misses. The remarks for all five of Montgomery’s pitches are, in a word, glowing.

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I’m finally back from my two week Slovenia/Croatia jaunt (feel free to discuss the wonders of either of those countries in the comments) and what else does one write about when not totally in the loop? More home run surprises, of course! I continue to be in shock at some of the home run total, so let’s discuss more of them.

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9/18/16

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

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette
• @paulkastava

Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles/Game Play

• Hanley Ramirez – we decided to discuss him before a 2-HR night (Jason’s piece, also Petriello & Swydan on him)
• Khris Davis
• Mark Trumbo
• Danny Farquhar

Strategy Section: Streamers

• Monday: Jharel Cotton, Carlos Rodon, Tyler Anderson, Braden Shipley
• Tuesday: Joe Musgrove, Matt Boyd, Kevin Gausman (shallow leagues)
• Wednesday: Daniel Mengden, Collin McHugh, Chad Kuhl, Bartolo Colon

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A quick bullpen report as many head-to-head guys head into the last week of the semis.

– It appears the end of times may be upon us for Santiago Casilla. The maligned Giants’ stopper had already given up his stranglehold on the closer gig but kept hurting San Francisco’s playoff chances by taking a blown save/loss last night to the Cardinals. Admittedly, he didn’t get a clean inning, as Sergio Romo put a runner on before him, but that didn’t mollify fans. Casilla hasn’t been really that different of a pitcher in 2016 than his last couple seasons (outside of luck-based factors controlling his ERA). That said, relief leverage (especially in September) is a “what have you done for me lately kind of thing?” and Casilla’s ERA over the last month is ~8.00. With no RP pitching exceptionally well in this bullpen, it’s a bit of a dice roll to who is up next. Sergio Romo has the pedigree and a decent ERA over the last month, but he’s walking too many guys. Hunter Strickland is somewhat the opposite — unproven, decent peripherals, but bad performances lately. Derek Law and Will Smith might get the next shot (depending on handedness) but only Bruce Bochy knows. I’d stay away from here unless desperate.

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Saturday in the park, we’re pretty sure it wasn’t the Fourth of July because that was on a Monday this year.

On the agenda:
1. Various News and Notes
2. Streaming Pitcher Options

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