We didn’t anticipate an abbreviated outing like we had with Francisco Liriano Friday night, did we? Just 1/3 inning of an inning pitched, seven base runners and five earned runs.

Playing in Tampa did give me some apprehensions with Liriano, but I wasn’t expecting this disastrous outing. In that weather, the ball tends to fly, but this was absolutely nuts. Fantasy players were not happy about it either.

Taking a look at the entire slates on Friday though, the popularity and ownership surrounding Liriano is not too much of a surprise.

R.I.P to any technical devices that may have been harmed following his outing.

via GIPHY Read the rest of this entry »

• The only blown save by a closer in Friday’s games was by Francisco Rodriguez, and his occurred in the eighth inning. Rodriguez entered the game with the Tigers clinging on to a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth with runners on first and third. Pablo Sandoval took Rodriguez’s 0-2 offering over the wall in left center field, giving the Red Sox a 5-4 lead. But all was eventually well for the Tigers, who got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth, followed by a scoreless ninth. Rodriguez made things interesting in that inning, too, allowing a Dustin Pedroia single and a Mitch Moreland double, but he stranded them and got the win.

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Hey, we’re back for another season of #2xSP! As you may already know, we’ll try gear this article up for Thursday afternoons during the season. It’s a two-way street, so if you see something you’d like to have changed or something that should be altered, let me know and I’m willing to listen!

Here’s how we finished last season:

46-46 record
3.90 ERA
8.2 K/9
2.9 K/BB
1.32 WHIP
61 quality starts

That’s not too bad considering we do below 50 percent ownership, no? If you want us to go lower, we can consider that as well. Pardon the brevity this weekend — we have a baby shower tomorrow and I’m in crazy prep mode!

Here are this week’s recs (usually with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses, but not this week since the season just started):

RHP Jerad Eickhoff – 45.2% ESPN – v. NYM, @WAS

He just sneaks in under the wire in terms of ownership, and is coming off falling on the short side of a duel with our second guy this week. Eickhoff does pretty much everything well but not excellently, though the penchant for allowing home runs is a little concerning. Still, solid strikeout rate, no walks and at least so far this year it looks like he might try keep the ball on the ground a bit. Give him a spin! Read the rest of this entry »

Check out today’s chat. Lots of questions on Dylan Bundy, Kendall Graveman, and Brandon Finnegan.

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Quick Look: Antonio Senzatela (Rockies)

Note: Let me know if you like the additional videos. They take a little more time to put together so I will be limited on other content I can add.

I watched most of Senzatela’s start yesterday and came away impressed. He allowed no runs while striking out six, walking three, and hitting Keon Broxton in the face.

Here is what I saw from him during the start.

Note: For the Grades, I am using current value, not future.

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The season is less than a week old, but the ottoneu waiver wire is as busy as ever. The sample sizes of early performances are microscopic, but if you want to snag the next breakout or “popup” performer the early bird gets the worm. In what will likely be a recurring feature again this year, let’s look at the ottoneu most added (and cut) players in the early going.

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I went to the SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix about a month ago, and one of my favorite presentations was by Perry Husband, creator and champion of the concept of Effective Velocity.  The presentation actually jogged my memory for an article I read on SB Nation by Jason Turbow back in 2014 that introduced me to the concept and chronicled some of Husband’s efforts to get MLB teams to buy into his idea.

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At the beginning of the year, a couple of the things I’m keeping close tabs on for hitters are lineup spot and platoon situation. If a player hits in a better lineup spot than expected, they immediately get a value bump. That concept isn’t Earth shattering, and Mike Podhorzer discussed some players whose value changed due to batting order here and here.

A player who shares less playing time than expected gets a value boost, too — under most circumstances. If you’re in a league that allows daily lineup changes, there’s zero downside for a player playing more than expected since you can conceivably still sit them in their weaker split situation. If, however, that player makes strides against the handedness of pitcher they typically struggle against, the additional playing time can pay off in the form of more counting stats. Having kept tabs on those things during the opening week of the season, a trio of players stand out as better options than I expected entering the year. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was a day of the unexpected. We were gifted with four multi-home run games, mostly from unlikely sources. Listed prices are for FanDuel.

AGENDA

1. Hero Picks
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. Fade Fade Fade
5. SaberSim Says…
6. TDG Invitational Returns!

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Episode 252 – The Only Way To Win Is To Not Play The Game

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss being off to a hot start with their picks, Yasiel Puig’s new approach, forgetting about Miguel Gonzalez, Amir Garrett “winning” a rotation spot with the Reds, Clayton Richard’s surprising viability, Rajai Davis pounding lefties and leading off for Oakland, ironing out some new rules for the contest, the Padres playing Baseball Mogul, a borderline unbelievable Harold Reynolds quote, the White Sox controlling the weather, and narrowly escaping a recording disaster.

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