I fielded a few questions on the Twitter last week about stolen bases. For many, as you get into late August, you’re preparing to make that last push in roto leagues. Astute owners perform a little mental math and figure out “what categories are safe” and “what categories can I make up ground in?” This is/was important at the trade deadline. Owners were not huge fans of me trading Edward Mujica and Joe Nathan for Anthony Rizzo as I search for homers — but (as a Bullpen Report author) I have a 25 save lead with two other closers still rostered. But even with the deadline past, understanding when and where you can or cannot make up ground in roto categories is critically important in mixing and managing your daily lineups heading into the last month of the year.

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(I tried to come up with a good Sunday night *NSync joke but couldn’t…)

• Not a good day to be a Kevin Gregg owner. After the Cubs finally scratched out the first two runs of their game versus the Padres this afternoon in the top of the 13th, Chicago’s “still” closer promptly coughed the runs back up, meaning the 3,000 fans left at Petco had to stick around for another few innings if they wanted to see a resolution. Gregg has been bad — to put it mildly — over the last couple of months, posting a sub-1.00 K/BB (0.69) and a 5.62 xFIP (not including today) since the all-star break. He somehow has racked up nine saves over that span, but has allowed multiple baserunners in most of them. Talk about walking on the edge. There hasn’t been too much chatter as to how hot “the goggled one’s” seat is, but even if he was assured the ninth inning job, I don’t know if I could stomach the ERA/WHIP hit (and marginal K loss) as the roto season enters its final stretch.

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• Well, OK. Baltimore’s closer situation officially might be becoming interesting. After bringing on Jim Johnson in a non-save situation last night, Buck Showalter screamed “matchups, ho!” from the dugout while nursing a two-run lead in the ninth today. Darren O’Day started the inning against the right-handed Wil Myers who promptly singled. Next up was Brian Matusz, tasked with facing the left-handed James Loney. Walk! Likely exasperated, Showalter finally turned to Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who reads this space regularly knows I love exploiting platoon splits in daily pools more than Kel loves orange soda. So today I’m taking a crack at trying to find guys among today’s probable pitchers with big platoon splits in 2013. This could help your roster management in a couple ways. Should you play that platoon-heavy (Matt Joyce?) guy against today’s pitcher? (the answer is no). You could also ask questions like “should you really run out that guy with a .400 wOBA against lefties against righty-mashers like the Red Sox?” (also no).

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• Deadbeat owners who had left J.J. Putz in their lineups were rewarded with his sixth save of the year and first since April 28th. It’s far from a definitive changing of the guard as the game was a 14-inning affair and current Diamondbacks closer Brad Ziegler tossed two scoreless innings (getting the win) immediately preceding Putz’s appearance. In early July, Eno Sarris gave Putz essentially a clean bill of health upon his return from an elbow injury, citing only a slight decline in fastball velocity as the only red flag. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry for the slightly tardy post, but hopefully most of you can wait until noon or so for your Draftstreet lineups. Sundays are notorious for players (especially catchers) getting “day game after night game” breathers, so you’ll want to double check all your starting lineups just before game time. For fantasy leagues with daily lineup movements, I like to use my streaming spots for a couple util-type hitters on Sundays/Mondays (since I can sub out guys getting the day off on Sunday and those whose teams don’t play on Monday) and then use those slots for pitching streamers the rest of the week. Make sure you are hitting those “games played” maximums!

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• Danny Farquhar is no longer perfect. Seattle’s new closer had an absolutely brutal ninth inning against the Rays tonight, allowing five batters to reach without recording an out. His blowup today aside, he still possesses a 2.16 xFIP and is a nice option going forward. Of course, managers are a finicky bunch (and don’t worship luck-neutral peripherals) so hopefully this was just a blip in the road for the 26-year-old. With Tom Wilhelmsen in the minors, Yoervis Medina seeing a decline in leverage usage, and Carter Capps still not pitching like Carter Capps should, Farquhar should get the next save opportunity. Just keep the finger closer to the waiver trigger in case he falters again.

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While strikeouts from a hitter’s perspective may not mean a whole lot to the sabermetric community (OK, that’s amazingly oversimplified, but they generally have near-zero linear weights), getting docked 0.75 points for them in Draftstreet (or your non-Ottoneu points leagues) is kind of a big deal. So if we’re trying to decide between a few hitters, one thing we may want to take a look at is opposing pitcher strikeout rates.

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• Mariano Rivera got the day off today after a recent stretch that’s seen him blow his last three saves in a row. Trying to finish off a 2-0 gem by Hiroki Kuroda, Boone Logan came in to start the ninth and put a runner on first with one out for David Robertson. Even with a two-run lead, Robertson didn’t make things easy on himself, walking Mike Trout and giving up a bloop double to Josh Hamilton. With Trout acting as the tying run on third, the Yankees setup man intentionally walked Erick Aybar to load the bases before making Mark Trumbo and Chris Nelson look absolutely foolish on swinging strikeouts to end the game.

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• What has gotten into Mo? Mariano Rivera blew his third consecutive save on Sunday, serving up solo jacks to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Like Friday, the Yankees were able to come back and win after the fact, but there is no denying Rivera is in an uncharacteristic funk; the three “BS”s in a row are something the 43-year-old has never done. Read the rest of this entry »