Agenda

1. Satellites
2. Daily DFS
3. Monday Mania
4. Table

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“Stack Yankees lefties at home.” “Start (left handed pitcher X) against the Reds.”

Platoon-specific recommendations are frequent here and in the Daily Grind posts that Brad Johnson does such a good job with, but I find I constantly have to be reminding myself of which platoon situations are worth paying attention to. That is, there is a bit of fluidity in these recommendations, though at this point we should have a general idea of how teams perform against lefties or righties.

Still, it’s worth posting the team platoon splits here every so often as a refresher. What sticks out today when we look is that the Joey Votto-less Reds have slipped all the way to 30th in the league in wOBA against lefties, while the Braves happen to be the league’s most platoon-dependent offense, ranking first in wOBA against lefties and 29th in wOBA against righties.

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Today’s date marks the 37 year anniversary of the film “Star Wars” being released and 31 years since “Return of the Jedi” first opened. Rather than link to “Star Wars” itself, here is a great take on the ending of “The Empire Strikes Back” and RotJ, courtesy of Kevin Smith and “Clerks.”

On today’s agenda:
1. The Odor in Texas is growing
2. A big day from George Springer
3. Welcome back, Adam LaRoche
4.The Daily Five

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I was going to riff a little on Corey Kluber today, but Fangraphs’ newest addition August Fagerstrom took care of that yesterday. I moved onto to Dallas Keuchel, only to remember that Mike Petrellio wrote about him wonderfully. Finally, I said: “I guess I’ll write about Phil Hughes.” Too late, Jeff Sullivan already beat me to it and I can’t compete with him.

I found someone to talk about, though. Jimmy Rollins. Rollins’ obituary was written by most fantasy players late last season. His power had vanished, and his speed was just waning with age. Not so fast. Using wRC+, Jimmy Rollins is having the best offensive season of his career, by a rather large margin. Rollins has only posted a wRC+ better than 105 once, when he posted a 119 mark during his 2007 MVP season. He’s currently (Friday afternoon) sitting at 132. His power has bounced back, and so has his walk rate.

His batted ball profile hasn’t changed much, but his approach at the plate has. Rollins is swinging at fewer pitches than he ever has. His 38.5% swing percentage gives him the 16th lowest swing% in the major leagues. You may be wondering, why does that matter so much? Well Rollins has always had pretty good contact skills, so dropping the percentage of pitches he’s swings matters a ton. His overall swing% has dropped; likewise his o-swing%. He’s chasing less, and even when he’s chasing he’s making less contact, therefore putting fewer bad balls (which usually don’t amount to much) in play. Rollins is swinging less, but it appears when he swings he’s swinging at pitches he knows he can do damage with. It’s an approach that has helped countless people over the years including: Brian Dozier, Adam Lind, Edwin Encarnacion, and Jose Bautista (go Blue Jays, I guess?).

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Agenda

1. Which do you prefer?
2. Daily DFs
3. Sunday Sauce
4. Table

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Twenty-five years ago today “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was released in theaters. It is by a significant margin my favorite Indiana Jones film. The trailer alone makes me want to re-watch it.

On today’s agenda:
1. Appreciation of Adam Eaton
2. A home run display in Miami
3. Stephen Drew in Single-A
4. The Daily Five

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Agenda

1. From yesterday’s comments
2. Daily DFS
3. Saturday, Saturday
4. Table

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Another Friday is upon us. On Wednesday, we talked a little about Sean Doolittle. Today, let’s focus on C.J. Wilson, who happens to be pitching tonight.

Wilson has often been labeled: inconsistent. Maybe he’s been a little inconsistent at times, but that happens to everyone.  Since 2010, though, Wilson has been the 15th best pitcher in the major leagues according to WAR. If you prefer RA9-WAR, he’s been the 13th best pitcher. Granted, WAR isn’t of much use in fantasy leagues, but humor me. Without looking, would you have guessed Wilson was essentially James Shields’ equal during that timeframe? I wouldn’t have. I also wouldn’t have placed him above Gio Gonzalez, Mat Latos, or Matt Cain, but there he is.

The past few years, the only qualm anyone has been able to have with Wilson has been the amount of free passes he’s given out. Well, he’s remedied that somewhat in 2014. His walks are down a little; the lowest they’ve been since 2011. His strikeout rate is also the highest it’s ever been as a starter. And so his his ground-ball percentage. Keep it rolling, sir.

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Today is the 14th anniversary of Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP.” Personally, I think the album has held up well over time and is my second favorite album of his after “The Eminem Show.”

On today’s agenda:
1. Bad news for the Texas Rangers
2. Mike Moustakas demoted
3. An update on the Oscar Taveras watch
4. The Daily Five

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Agenda

1. The Right Bet
2. Daily DFS
3. Friday Stuff
4. Table

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