We went over four hours! Lots of pickup and “slow start” chatter. I’m not really worried about any top 15ish round picks so far, but definitely open to making moves on late rounders who are meant to be churned.
4/13/17
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Another Sam Dyson meltdown has everyone running to their waiver wires, but for who? Matt Bush is the fantasy favorite with a 97 mph and gaudy strikeout rate (26% since the start of 2016), but he’s getting an exam on the AC joint in his right shoulder and will be out for at least a few days. I tend to believe Jeremy Jeffress is the next-in-line even with a healthy Bush after notching 27 saves last year, but he lost the game after Dyson blew it on Tuesday night and has allowed runs in three of his five outing, so it’s not like he’s instilling a ton of confidence in manager Jeff Banister right now, either. We haven’t gotten much from Banister himself, though this non-committal comment from Evan Grant’s piece suggests it’s under review:
“We’ll evaluate all our options,” manager Jeff Banister said when asked about the closer situation.
Two arms who got a lot of attention this draft season made their second starts of the season and dominated the opposition. Michael Pineda and Jharel Cotton were bouncing back from opening week duds after both guys had bad second innings that eventually cut short their outings, but neither were exactly pummeled. They rebounded nicely in their Monday afternoon outings. Here are my thoughts on the two starts.
Michael Pineda – 7.7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 1 HR, 93 pit, 67 strikes, 18 swinging strikes v. TB
Few things are more “Michael Pineda” than following up a 3.7 IP/4 ER bomb with 7.7 nearly perfect innings (Evan Longoria’s double broke up the perfecto with two outs in the seventh). Hell, his first start was also the most “Michael Pineda” ever (4 ER in fewer than 4 IP yet still 6 K, 0 BB) so he’s been everything you’d expect thus far. The fastball velocity was up a tick and had the Rays tied up. They beat the piss out of it in his debut with a 1.417 OPS in 12 PA, the bulk of which came against lefties (9 of 12 PA). Yesterday they were 0-for-11 with lefties again accounting for nine of the plate appearances.
4/8/17
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Check out today’s chat. Lots of questions on Dylan Bundy, Kendall Graveman, and Brandon Finnegan.
4/6/17
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Day 2 of the season always offer a light slight because the Midwest and Northeastern venues have the built-in off day to account for potential weather problems, as we saw in Chicago with the Tigers-White Sox debut getting pushed from Monday to Tuesday. We still got nine games of action with eight of them seeing the road team emerge victorious.
On the Agenda:
BASEBALL’S SUPERCOUPLE IN MIDSEASON FORM
Justin Verlander was in Cy Young form during his 2017 debut, allowing just two runs in 6.3 innings with 10 strikeouts against the White Sox. The high fastball was instrumental in his brilliant 2016 campaign and he wasted no time deploying it on Tuesday. His 239 PA that ended on a high fastball last year were 2nd-most to Jake Odorizzi (244) and his .499 OPS and 41% strikeout rate were 8th and 3rd, respectively, among the 65 pitchers with at least 100 such PA. The Sox went 0-for-7 with a walk and four strikeouts on high heaters Tuesday.
They are here and they’re spectacular:
JAMES PAXTON IS A TOP-15 ARM.
I ended up with Paxton slotted at #33 in the March rankings update and by the time I was in the throes of my drafts, I was taking him as high as the late-20s. A 10-15 rank jump at this level would still be significant. Last year, some late-20s arms included Michael Fulmer, Cole Hamels, and Julio Teheran, all of whom had great seasons, but the likes of Noah Syndergaard, Tanner Roark, and Masahiro Tanaka were at the backend of the top-15. Paxton needs to stay healthy for the first time in his career, but the skills are there.
| 2:01 |
: Ladies and gentlmen, we are 2 days away from regular season games!!!! Let’s go!
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| 2:01 |
: better JD Martinez replacement: Mitch Haniger or Josh Bell?
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| 2:01 |
: Haniger
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| 2:01 |
: am I delicious?
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| 2:01 |
: obv
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| 2:01 |
: Hey Paul, are you not doing the weekly pitcher rankings at Rotowire this year?
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