The Roto Riteup reminds you that baseball is more important than your phone:
He who hesitates is lost. pic.twitter.com/OHoEwfCsla
— MLB (@MLB) May 2, 2017
• Jeurys Familia has not given up many runs (1) since returning from suspension but he is not pitching too effectively either, having allowed six walks in five innings entering today. However, in the ninth this evening Familia pitched a scoreless frame giving up a hit and a double play to end the game. It wasn’t a particularly dominating performance but it’s always nice to see Familia not issue a free pass. On the season Familia now has ten strikeouts against six walks in six innings pitched. He’s very much the Mets closer but I wouldn’t release Addison Reed just yet either. This is mostly due to the fact Reed is quite good in his own right (18 strikeouts without a walk in 14 innings pitched) and also as some insurance in case Familia hits a rough patch. It goes without say that for those in Holds leagues, Reed remains a fairly elite option.
Current Trade Value: Eric Thames
The industry’s “Buy Low/Sell High” talk frustrates me because 90% of the time no context is given. Owners should expect to get some players at a discount but what are the player’s owners expecting and valuing in a rebound.
Ryan Zimmerman seems to be a sell high candidate. He’s having a great season with a .420 AVG and 11 HR. Pretty much everyone expects him to regress. But how much regression? Don’t guess. Do a little research and see how other fantasy owners value him by checking on actual trades.
The best source I’ve found to track 1-for-1 trades is Yahoo’s Trade Market. The site has a major limitation: only trades from that day are listed so it’s best to check in the evening. I will do a quick analysis of the league’s other hot hitter, Eric Thames.
Yesterday, I found Thames was traded straight up for Aroldis Chapman, Khris Davis, and Stephen Strasburg. Thames’s ADP was 182 or around a 15 round value. The other three had ADPs of 46 (Chapman), 50 (Strasburg), and 102 (Davis). They average out to around 66 with the two 50’s pointing to a possible higher value.
The players taken around 66 overall were Kyle Seager, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Carrasco, and Kyle Hendricks. Good but not elite players. It’s still a huge move up for Thames.
Welcome to another season of the Prospect Stock Watch — a series I’ve been writing for six years now.
Anthony Alford, CF, Toronto Blue Jays
MLB ETA: 2018
Ceiling: Lead-off hitter/All-star center-fielder
Selected out of high school in 2012, Alford signed a unique deal with the Jays that allowed him to dabble in baseball during the summers while play college football. He appeared in just 25 games over the first three years of his pro career before turning to the sport full-time in 2015 after his college football career went sideways.
Alford showed a lot of potential that year and posted an .820 OPS while splitting the season between two A-ball levels and he looked poised for a huge breakout in 2016. Unfortunately, he hurt himself in the first game of the year and missed about a month. A concussion clouded the remainder of his season.
AGENDA
Episode 259 – Every Weekend We’re Grillin’
The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!
In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss refreshing the picks calendar with the new month, Dylan being close to Zach Davies’ size, Alex Avila being inexplicably hot, Alex Cobb trying to get back on track, continuing to pick on A.J. Griffin with lefties, Chris Sale clearly being the cancer in the White Sox clubhouse last year (sarcasm), Kyle Gibson being bad still, and Matt’s weekend grilling habit.
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With the availability of Statcast data from the past couple of years, all we hear about now is exit velocities and launch angles. Armed with new data, players are adjusting and learning to become the best versions of themselves. We keep hearing about hitters that are increasing their launch angles, which is just a fancy way of saying they are hitting more fly balls. More fly balls usually results is more home runs. And home runs are good. The league fly ball rate currently sits at its highest mark since 2011, but since the HR/FB rate is at a historical high tied with last year, home runs are flying out like never before.
The Roto Riteup is thankful that you have decided to start your week with us:
Thinking about Monday morning like … pic.twitter.com/I0PaNf0fCy
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) April 16, 2017