For this series, I’m focusing on pitchers going after pick 300 in the NFBC ADP. It’s just some more grinding away.
Starting and Relievers, Part 1 & 2($$):
Deep League Starting Pitchers
For this series, I want to focus on pitchers going after pick 300 in the NFBC ADP. It’s just some more grinding away.
Starting and Relievers, Part 1 & 2($$):
Deep League Starting Pitchers
• Dan Straily 스트레일리 is looking to join a major league club after pitching in Korea.
After two very strong seasons in the KBO Pitcher Dan Straily declined the Lotte Giants offer for 2022 last week with the intention of returning to MLB. Straily is now a free agent and is eligible to sign with a team when the lockout ends.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 24, 2021
Here is a brief history of his recent results.
The righty posted a 3.22 ERA and 24.75% strikeout rate over 360 1/3 innings with the Busan-based Giants, and perhaps the most intriguing statistic is the fact that Straily allowed a modest 22 homers in the hitter-friendly KBO.
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Straily also allowed 22 home runs during his time with the Orioles, except that total came over only 47 2/3 innings, resulting in an ugly 9.82 ERA in 2019. A move to the bullpen didn’t help Straily get on track, and while the Phillies acquired Straily at that year’s trade deadline, he didn’t see any big league action in Philadelphia. Injuries contributed to that down year, as Straily mentioned in the reader chat that he only discovered after the season that he had been pitching with a torn meniscus.
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Straily said in his chat that “we changed something on almost all of my pitches to make them better,” using such familiar pitching analysis “toys” as “Rapsodo, Driveline, and Edgertronic cameras” to both improve his changeup and add velocity to his fastball.
For this series, I want to focus on pitchers going after pick 300 in the NFBC ADP. While I’ve moved well past pick 300, three names just dropped below after 300 so I will go back to examine them before moving further down the list.
Starting and Relievers, Part 1 & 2($$):
Deep League Starting Pitchers
After just updating the appendix last year, The Process has been fully updated for next season and is available in digital (full and appendix) and print versions.
Some of the new highlights from the book are:
Angels
• Michael Lorenzen has a guaranteed rotation spot.
If and when spring training begins in 2022, Lorenzen will not come in needing to earn a rotation spot. He confirmed his spot is “locked in.”
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Lorenzen disagrees with the perception he’s a “failed starter” because he believes his arsenal has evolved significantly. Throw that rookie year out the window, he argued, because he’s a totally different pitcher.
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“I don’t think people understood how rudimentary my skills were when it came to being in the rotation my rookie year,” Lorenzen said. “I had no idea what I was doing. … I’m surviving with no skill.”His changeup now, he says, is 10 mph slower than his fastball. His two-seamer is different from his four-seamer. And his curveball is refined and he’s excited to use it as a starter. It wasn’t often called upon when he was a reliever.
He needed to sell himself on these changes because he’s been horrible as a starter (4.95 ERA, 4.68 xFIP, 1.50 WHIP). The biggest issue while starting was the walks (4.3 BB/9) and those didn’t go away last season in the bullpen (also 4.3 BB/9). He’s fine as a late-round flier, but I don’t expect some major step forward. Read the rest of this entry »
Another dive into pitchers going after pick 300 in the NFBC. Here are the arms I’ve already examined.
Starting and Relievers, Part 1 & 2($$):
Deep League Starting Pitchers
Another dive into pitchers going after pick 300 in the NFBC. Here are some arms I’ve already examined.
Starting and Relievers, Part 1 & 2($$):
Deep League Starting Pitchers
Free agents
• Masahiro Tanaka will not be coming back to the MLB to play.
Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka’s two-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles contained an opt-out clause this winter, but the team announced that Tanaka will return to the club in 2022 (hat tip to Yahoo Japan). Tanaka’s comeback season in NPB went well, as he posted a 3.01 ERA with a 20.19% strikeout rate and a 4.65% walk rate over 155 2/3 innings with the Eagles.
Astros
• Lance McCullers Jr. is still about a month away from throwing and may not be ready by the start of Spring Training.
The right-hander said that he is “about a month” away from beginning to throw, which represents a longer rest timeline than the six-to-eight weeks McCullers projected in late October.
Still, it would seem like McCullers is still tentatively on pace to proceed relatively normally during Spring Training, and then be ready for Opening Day
The focus of this article isn’t to list all the moves. Instead, I’m going to focus on the moves where I think fantasy values changed the most. Also, I dived into a few muddled situations.
There has been quite a bit of discussion on how bad the Rangers lineup was last season. They ranked 24th in hitter WAR (only team WAR projections are available), but are projected for the 12th highest total as of now.
I’m not shying away from this offense that rates to be better than the Red Sox and Braves. Since the offense will be respectable, there is no worry for Seager or Semien seeing a major drop-off (possibly some with home run regression but EVERY OTHER ANALYST has covered this angle). Read the rest of this entry »
