About two months ago, I was asked by a member of the local league I commish to replace an inactive owner in the league he commishes. I replied that I don’t have the time to monitor another team, but if all I’m asked to do is respond to trade offers and ensure I maintain a healthy active lineup (I totally failed at that task), then sure, I’ll take over the team. This is a keeper league in its inaugural year that I was actually asked to join before the season began, but declined for several irrelevant reasons. The league rules are relatively standard, with mixed rosters, 14 teams, and a limit of three keepers. An auction was conducted to roster players and keepers could only be selected from players acquired via the auction, with a salary $5 above their auction price.

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As we march toward the final month of the season, we will continue to see many new faces in starting pitching rotations. Let’s discuss a trip of such in the American League.

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If you’re fishing in the bottom of the ocean, or even the middle layer, you might uncover these hidden gems…

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While we feel like pitchers change far more quickly than hitters, that doesn’t mean that hitters never adjust, regress, or improve during the season, moving their true talent level to another level. So let’s take a look at some of the more interesting names on the HR/FB rate leaderboard over the last 30 days.

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A week ago, I discussed some of the surprising and notable names atop the American League starting pitcher last 30 day strikeout rate leaderboard. Today, let’s check in on those pitchers that find themselves at the bottom.

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It’s a good time to need roster help as seemingly every day there’s a new player that falls into an every day job. Here are two of the most recent.

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It was a relatively unexciting trade deadline as fewer big names switched uniforms than usual. No, I don’t have any actual data to back that up, but I feel like I’m probably right. Anyhow, one of the bigger names to switch teams was Sonny Gray, as he departs the West coast for the East, joining the New York Yankees. Let’s analyze the park factors, the team defenses, and offensive support to help determine how this affects his value over the rest of the season.

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It’s been a forgettable year for Jonathan Lucroy. He has posted the lowest wOBA of his career and despite playing in a historical time for home run power, his ISO has slipped below .100 for the first time since his 2010 debut and HR/FB rate sits at just 6%. His Brls/BBE has dipped to a lowly 2.4%, versus 7.7% last year, so his weak performance doesn’t appear to be a fluke. He has simply lost all semblance of power. Where did it go? Who knows. But if anything could wake up a dead bat, it’s Coors Field!

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As I have been known to do, let’s take our every-so-often look at American League starting pitchers who are currently making a surprise appearance atop the last 30 day strikeout rate leaderboard. Since pitchers change so much more frequently than hitters, whether due to fluctuations in velocity or an adjustment to pitch mix, it’s far more valuable to analyze small sample pitching performance than hitting performance.

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A flurry of trades as we inch closer to the non-waiver trade deadline are going to boost the values of many players not currently on a deep league roster. But for now, I got two outfielders for you.

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