And, I’m back. After a small vacation, in which I recharged my batteries, hiked, and didn’t play any fantasy, it’s back to normal life. Thankfully, Blake and Brett held the fort down for me, otherwise I guess it wouldn’t have completely been a “vacation.”

While I didn’t play any fantasy, I did manage to get to the ballpark in Denver for one game. Jair Jurrjens pitched in it. Predictably, he was hit very hard. Considering I live in Atlanta, it was nice to see an old friend. Not much has changed for him. Breaking: The Earth keeps spinning and 88 mph over the middle keeps leaving the yard :(.

Probables Chart

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Just under a year ago “The Newsroom” launched their second season. While I personally preferred season one, I did like two a fair amount. I’m optimistic about the upcoming final season wraps things up gracefully — though I suspect the ending to the second season already finished a lot of things (warning: language). Here’s hoping Aaron Sorkin finishes strong and moves on to something even better: Sam Seaborn running for President in a new version of The West Wing.

On today’s agenda:
1. Injuries. Injuries everywhere
2. The daily five

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Agenda

1. Feature Topic Preview
2. Daily DFS
3. Friday Picks
4. Table

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I need to show some respect to Landon, who handles these daily posts a few times a week. I have two slots, and I believe he has four. I have no idea how he comes up with something interesting and useful to write in the space so many times a week. Yesterday, I talked about air density, for crying out loud.

But here we are, a second day in a row, and I could use a rebound. I got shelled yesterday but, as always, this is a process over results game in the short term, and you trust that if you make the right plays over the long run, you’ll be paid out as such. It doesn’t mean going back to check if and where you erred isn’t valuable, though.

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Today’s Roto Riteup leaves you in the able hands of Professor Pony for the weekend.

On today’s agenda:
1. Masahiro Tanaka hits the DL
2. Derek Holland to rehab after break
3. Tom Wilhelmsen to start today
4. Fun with arbitrary endpoints
5. The Faviformed Five

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Agenda

1. Some More Closer Notes
2. Daily DFS
3. Thin Thursday
4. Table

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Park factors are not made equal across all days. Yes, Coors Field is Coors Field every damn day of the week, but different ballparks play differently depending on the temperature and wind.

That’s why it’s not always enough to simply rely on general park factors, useful as they may be, from our Guts pages. Park factors generally take about three years to stabilize, and so how parks perform in specific conditions is something we may never get reliable samples on, since we’re splitting that data even thinner.

ParkFactors.com can be a big help in this regard, crunching the numbers for us and giving us a quick indicator of how a park may play on the day. There’s also DailyBaseballData, which gives you all the raw material for you to make your own decisions (not to mention hour-by-hour forecast information).

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White Sox rookie Jose Abreu may have already cemented his status as the best free-agent signing from the past offseason. Through his first 77 games, Abreu has flashed elite power skills, clubbing 27 home runs. Entering the year, there were legitimate questions surrounding whether Abreu could produce in the majors. While he hasn’t completely eradicated those doubts yet, it’s clear the league will have to adjustments in order to slow him down.

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Today’s Roto Riteup knows how to split wood like a real man, not just a pretend one.

On today’s agenda:
1. Three starters to the DL
2. Francisco Liriano to return
3. James Paxton to throw 50 pitches Saturday
4. The Fragmented Five

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Agenda

1. A Fellow Brad
2. Daily DFS
3. Wednesday Picks
4. Table

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