With just over a week to go before the end of the season, it’s past time to use the schedule to help identify smart pickups. The Rockies end the season with a six game homestand, welcoming the Marlins and Dodgers for three game sets. The two hitters highlighted here stand to benefit from the friendly environment.
There are now less than two weeks left of the regular season! If you have been hesitant to sit your high priced bat that contributes in categories you don’t need in order to play the free agent pickup, don’t be. It’s totally okay to bench Khris Davis if you’re set in homers and RBI in order to try gaining a point or two in steals. Here are some lesser owned names who could chip in a couple of steals the rest of the way, which might be enough to gain you a point or two in the category.
Sort the last 30 day HR/FB rate leaderboard in descending order and ranking fifth out of 174 qualified hitters is Matt Olson. I first brought Olson to your attention back on August 9th when I highlighted him as one of my deep league wire selections after the Athletics traded Yonder Alonso, opening up at least a strong side platoon job for the rookie. After a power breakout at Triple-A this season, he was a good gamble to make in deeper leagues on the chance he had found a new level. And new level he indeed found.
Still paying attention or has preseason football pulled you away? If the former is your answer, then here are two manly man with the potential to help your team end your season in glorious fashion.
If you’re just looking at the full season results, you may not be aware of how fantastic Patrick Corbin has been. In his last 14 starts, he has posted a 2.69 ERA and 3.47 SIERA, reminding us of his breakout 2013 season. After missing the entire 2014 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, Corbin picked up right where he left off when he returned in 2015, posting a 3.60 ERA/3.44 SIERA over 16 starts. But then he suddenly fell apart last year as his control deserted him, he was afflicted with gopheritis, and his ERA ballooned to 5.15 as a result. And now, the Corbin with sterling control and the wicked slider is back.
Interestingly, it feels like I haven’t heard nearly as much this year about pitchers coming close to a potential innings limit. Actually, I’ve heard nary a peep about such a risk. But maybe it’s just because I don’t read other fantasy or real baseball news sites or fantasy message boards. But whether or not others have discussed it yet or not, there are going to be a smattering of starting pitchers who are shut down before the season ends. Let’s discuss four that may face such an early shut down.
You wouldn’t know it if you were just focusing on his 3.42 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, but this has easily been Cole Hamels‘ worst season as a Major Leaguer. His SIERA, xFIP, and FIP have all jumped above 4.00 for the first time, while both his xFIP- and FIP- have surged into the triple digits for the first time (higher is worse). Hamels missed two months of action thanks to an oblique strain, but since it was a non-arm injury, we certainly couldn’t blame it for the collapse of his underlying skills. What’s going on here?
Do you like M&M’s? Of course you do! Here are two hitter M&M’s for your pleasure.
We’re running out of time to improve our teams, so let’s use my xHR/FB rate equation (unadjusted for home park) to identify a handful of hitters potentially due for a home run spike over the remaining month-plus of the season.
This is an updated version of an article originally posted in 2013 and then reposted in 2015.
As we get closer to our league trade deadlines (if it hasn’t passed already!) and the final month of the season, and the effect any individual player will have on our place in the standings gradually diminishes, this time of year represents one of the final chances to improve our teams. It probably doesn’t need to be stated, but it’s important to reiterate for those still clinging to preseason values (I usually cling to them far longer than most, but even I know to give them up at this point!) — you need to essentially throw player values out the window and trade for needs based on your position in the various statistical categories. Don’t worry about overpaying if you still expect the trade to net you positive points. Obviously, you want to make a trade that brings back the greatest value in return and gain you the most standings points; but if the best return available to you is a so-called $15 player for your $25 player, it’s still easily worth accepting if you expect that it gains you points.
