I don’t have much for a cool intro today. I’ve spent most of my time the past day and a half reading scouting reports of draft picks. Put it this way, I’ve spent way too much time on YouTube watching footage of batting practice, especially considering I have no idea what in the hell I’m looking for. Feel free to ask me questions, though. I’ll make up something that’ll make you feel good about someone who has a pretty solid chance of letting you down in the future!

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Today is the 29th anniversary of “The Goonies” being released. Here is a clip of Chunk’s confession because I can’t help but laugh every time.

On today’s agenda:
1. Solid outing for Drew Smyly
2. Jedd Gyorko to the disabled list
3. Thoughts on Asdrubal Cabrera
4. Marcus Stroman’s strong start
5. The daily five

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Agenda

1. What you want from a pitcher
2. Daily DFS
3. Sunday Picks
4. Table

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Agenda

1. Double Down on Effort
2. Daily DFS
3. Saturday Picks
4. Table

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Let’s talk a little about league settings today. I’m assuming a few of you still play in standard leagues. Different settings have begun to take hold, though. For the first time in my life, I’m not in one league that uses batting average or wins.

I’m in five leagues this year; one keeper and one dynasty. Three of the leagues have the following settings: R, HR, RBI, SB, OBP x QS, ERA, WHIP, K, SV+HLD. One other league has the same settings, except SLG replaces HR and SV replaces SV+HLD. And my final league, here on Fangraphs (shameless company plug), is points based; Fangraphs points, specifically.

I like portions of each league. I love OBP – sure would be nice if ESPN offered wOBA, though – and I like giving credit for saves and holds, because as we all know, sometimes the “closer” isn’t anywhere near the best reliever on the team.

So far, my favorite setup is the Ottoneu league. Admittedly, it took a little while to come around to it. Some plays that have positive value in other leagues (RBI, etc.) don’t do anything for you in Ottoneu. I’ve come around quickly, though. It’s isolation at it’s finest. Player hits a double? Gets credit for it. Teammates don’t drive him in, though? No harm done. The league’s settings don’t punish players for having weaker teammates. Nor do they help out mediocre hitters who happen to be in the right place at the right time – cough, 2013 Brandon Phillips, cough.

So, what are your favorite settings?

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Today’s Roto Riteup was written while I watch “Star Trek Into Darkness” on Netflix. I never watched any of the older films or the TV shows, but the reboot that came out in 2009 was something I enjoyed.

On today’s agenda:
1. Thoughts on Kendrys Morales
2. Another three-hit game for Chris Owings
3. Andrew Cashner to start tomorrow
4. Welcome to the big leagues, Eddie Butler
5. The daily five

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We’re now over two months into the season, so we’re starting to get an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of certain teams. One of the stats we can start to leverage in fantasy leagues is offensive performance by pitcher handedness. By evaluating which teams excel or struggle against a pitcher orientation, we can sometimes find value plays or dangerous matchups to avoid.

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Agenda

1. Some words about park factors
2. Daily DFS
3. Friday Picks
4. Table

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There are, naturally, two ways to look at every match-up. A pitcher in a good situation to produce generally means hitters on the other side have a bad match-up, and the same goes for pitchers with a bad match-up. However, the differences in the ways hitters and pitchers are scored is important and can mean the degree to which a match-up is favorable for one side isn’t necessarily proportional to how bad it is to the other side.

On Sunday, I looked at how many daily fantasy points per 38 plate appearances the hitters from each team have produced against right-handed and left-handed pitching. This can be a quick shorthand for “how dangerous is a team against a pitcher handedness,” useful for deciding when to select stacks and when to target or fade certain starters.

The table below re-produces those stats (excluding stolen bases and caught stealing) but now also includes the fantasy points produced by an opposing pitcher per 25 batters faced, the league average for a starter (it excludes points from results, like wins, losses and saves).
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After a couple days of wife-swapping, the Roto Riteup is back on its normal rotation, making you feel safe and secure in its stability.

On today’s agenda:
1. Carlos Gonzalez to the DL
2. It’s Corey Dickerson time
3. Aramis Ramirez activated
4. Fun with arbitrary endpoints
5. The Faux Five

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