Matt Harvey returned after, you know, the usual supermodel drama we all deal with. After coming back from his suspension, Harvey allowed five runs and three balls were hit over the fence in five innings. He had a high K/9 rating during the outing, but that just left him at a 5.85 K/9 rating on the season.

He mentioned to ESPN following the game he got behind in the count and “left the ball in the middle of the plate.” He’s also not throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes which was very apparent Friday night in the loss to the Brewers.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes you try things and they don’t work out. The Brewers’ offseason signing of Neftali Feliz to be their closer always seemed a little superfluous, but it had a certain logic. The $5.35 million they paid for his services was less than what Joaquin Benoit and Koji Uehara got, and he was following up a comeback season with the Pirates. You could see the possibility of Feliz finding some consistency as the Brewers’ closer, and then they could always flip him at the trade deadline.

Feliz was 8-for-9 in save chances, but he was not consistent and certainly did not build up any trade value. When he coughed up a three-run homer to Mookie Betts in the top of the ninth on Thursday, Feliz was en route to his fourth loss. That was enough for Craig Counsell to make a change. He went on MLB Network Radio and said he was going to give Feliz “a break back there and get him right.” He also said Corey Knebel “has been outstanding,” but that doesn’t mean you should run out and pick Knebel up. Counsell told MLB.com he wants to use Knebel in a variety of situations, so essentially, the Brewers are going to a committee to close out games. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re 40 weeks plus two days on Warne baby watch — Harper Elizabeth was due Wednesday — so I’m pumping out as much #content as possible. Last week we ended up getting tied up a bit so I had to share my recs on my twitter account — follow me @Brandon_Warne, if you wish — and if needed, I’ll be doing that next week under the hashtag #2xSP. Baby will be induced Tuesday night into Wednesday morning if she isn’t here yet, so that might tie us up next time around. So just keep that in mind, thanks!

Here’s how we’re doing so far this season (through half of Week 5)

11-5 record
3.55 ERA
7.7 K/9
1.9 K/BB
1.39 WHIP
10 quality starts

Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses):

RHP Zack Wheeler – 18.4% ESPN – @ARI (93), v. LAA (89)

I’ve been a big Wheeler guy for awhile now, and I love the matchups this week. You can sort of see the outline of a pitcher on the right track, too. He’s fanning 8.1 batters per nine and inducing grounders at a 55.6 percent rate. As a result, his 4.18 ERA is backed by a 3.85 xFIP and 4.23 FIP. In other words, he’s been decent and I think there’s room to improve. The strand rate should go up and help mitigate the BABIP drop, and in the meantime I’m always looking to gamble on talent rather than a so-so pitcher with easy matchups. I don’t know, maybe the baby delirium has me talking out of both sides of my mouth, but I like Wheeler this week. Who’d have thought he’d be one of the last men standing in this rotation?

RHP Brandon McCarthy – 38.4% ESPN – @SFG (71), v. MIA (92)

There are obvious health risks here, but when healthy, McCarthy is damn solid. Of course, we haven’t seen that since 2014. Still, I’ll take the risk this week with a couple nice matchups. When on the mound this season (29 innings), McCarthy has been solid, with a 3.10 ERA (3.57 FIP), 7.8 K/9 and a good walk rate (2.8 BB/9). He’s kept the ball in the yard (for the most part) and on the ground — at least better than his recent work had indicated. Also, in a small sample size he’s throwing harder this year (93.1 mph versus a career average of 90.9). What do you think?

RHP Jerad Eickhoff – 31.4% ESPN – @TEX (87), @PIT (83)

Eickhoff is off to a bit of a rocky start, but let’s be honest — he wouldn’t be available if that weren’t the case. Eickhoff was quietly very solid for the Phillies last year (3.65 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9) and has a couple of accommodating matchups this week. He’s pitched a bit better (4.11 FIP) than his ERA (4.76) would indicate, and honestly besides that, I’m not sure what else to say. Good pitcher, bad stretch and good matchups. Let’s play!

Chat transcript is below!

Read the rest of this entry »

Cody Bellinger has been superb in his call up with the Dodgers, hitting 6 home runs in 65 plate appearances. With Andrew Toles out for the season with a torn ACL, the likelihood of Bellinger staying in the big leagues has improved. However, what should reasonably be expected for the Dodgers phenom for the rest of 2017? It doesn’t take an advanced statistician to understand that the .446 wOBA he has posted thus far will regress, but the question is how far? Does Bellinger’s performance line up with what was expected? The first place I want to start is with Bellinger’s scouting report courtesy of our own Eric Longenhagen. (Trimmed it down a bit)

…That power comes from the monster hacks that Bellinger takes in all counts. He doesn’t protect or shorten up with two strikes and instead he’s constantly threatening low-flying aircraft with his incredible torque, hand speed and uppercut swing. This results in lots of airborne contact (majestic blasts as well as weak pop ups) and plenty of strikeouts… Bellinger has shown the ability to stay back on breaking balls, as well the ability to turn on plus velocity in on the hands and, while he does try to pull everything, he has solid plate coverage…

He’s also seen time in the outfield, including center, and there are scouts who think he could play all three outfield spots in a pinch…

There’s some risk here because of the swing and miss, and I expect major-league pitchers will feed Bellinger a steady diet of offspeed pitches, especially back-foot sliders, once they see the swings he takes…

Jeff Zimmerman has already dived into Bellinger’s defense in the OF, which may be better than expected. While defense isn’t really pertinent to our discussions for ottoneu/fantasy, (Bellinger has already secured OF eligibility for 2018), Jeff does good work. If you’re not reading it, you’re missing out. Read the rest of this entry »

At the beginning of the 2017 season, I wrote pieces reviewing the potential impact rookie hitters in each league for 2017. Today, we begin a semi-regular review of how those players are actually performing. The American League East is the first up for review with my original projected ranking.

1. Andrew Benintendi, OF, Red Sox: Benintendi has been as good as advertised. He’s third on the club in OPS behind Mookie Betts and Christian Vazquez(!). After striking out 21.2% of the time in his brief 2016 debut, the rookie outfielder has trimmed that by almost 10% to 12.7%. He’s playing solid defence, running the bases well and hitting. You can’t ask for much more from a freshman hitter on a club with high expectations.

Read the rest of this entry »

By now, most gamers have noticed Trevor Cahill’s excellent start to the year for the Padres. Another member of San Diego’s rotation is pitching fairly well, too. A 4.13 ERA and 1.38 WHIP don’t result in fantasy gamers flocking to the waiver wire to add a player in most cases, but this pitcher’s underlying stats are mighty intriguing.. This groundball-inducing machine is owned in just 20% of CBS leagues, 4.0% of ESPN leagues and 3% of Yahoo! leagues. A look under the hood hints at some very real breakout potential, and at the least, deep league relevance. Read the rest of this entry »

Zack Greinke had an almost no-hitter Thursday night. He struck out 11 in eight innings after giving up a solo home run to Gregory Polanco. Following the game, he said he was throwing harder, but as he was “trying to throw it down the middle, it kind of goes down and away.” He also credited his slider that was feeling better since spring training. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Friday baseball – 15 games, one contest.

AGENDA

1. The Missing Link
2. Weather Reports
3. Perfect Lineup
4. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
5. SaberSim Says…
6. TDG Invitational Returns!

Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 262 – The Homeless Man’s Eric Thames

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt Harvey’s dramatic return, Andrew Cashner’s crazy peripherals, not sleeping on Joe Biagini, the first Jim Adduci reference, the return of Mike Clevinger, not knowing what to do with Trevor Cahill, the arrival of Jose Berrios, having to buy on Yonder Alonso, the immense boringness of Yunel Escobar, Jake Arrieta’s struggles, and Jered Weaver getting thrown under the bus.

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (field-of-streams): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS