Agenda

1. Merry July Day
2. Daily DFS
3. Saturday Selections
4. Table

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Agenda

1. More About Park Factors
2. Daily DFS
3. Friday Picks
4. Table

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Do you like baseball? Cool, me too. I have not watched nearly enough baseball the past two weeks or so, which is disappointing. NBA Draft, free agency, moving…they’ve all conspired to keep me from watching the games. Luckily, we don’t need to watch.

I kid, of course. Watching the games is important, both because it’s fun and because the aggregate numbers can only tell you so much. For the purposes of daily fantasy, where we rely a great deal on projection systems, context clues from Vegas, and analyzing specific matchups, watching the game after you make a pick can be instructive.

But you can get by, for a short while, on the numbers and with reading. That’s what I’ve had to do of late and it hasn’t cost me, but I’m getting to the point where Sunday feels like it needs to be an outright marathon baseball-viewing day. The itch, it needs scratching.

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Today features a massive edition of arbitrary endpoints, because we’re halfway through the season and it just feels right for this Roto Riteup.

On today’s agenda:
1. Cliff Lee to begin rehab assignment
2. Joe Kelly needs more DL time
3. Fun with arbitrary endpoints: June
4. Fun with arbitrary endpoints: Last 365 days
5. The Femicidal Five

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Much has been written about Justin Verlander’s struggles this season. He’s undoubtedly hurt – if not outright killed – fantasy title hopes for a ton of people. Glass half full, though. Over his last two starts, he’s looked a little more like the Verlander we all know and love. In those 13 innings – a measly sample, but we’re being positive! – he’s struck out sixteen batters while walking two.

The small sample size caveat applies, a ton, but perhaps Verlander is closer to being back. He thinks he is:

After giving up seven runs to Kansas City on June 16, Verlander sat down with manager Brad Ausmus and pitching coach Jeff Jones to pour over film, new and old. They saw that the right-hander was moving laterally in a way that needed to be changed. They wanted him to move more toward home plate. Verlander said it was the biggest midseason change he’s undergone.

Ausmus said pitcher’s often make changes of this nature during the offseason. Verlander is no common pitcher, however.

“I felt like this was something we have to do to get him back to where he was,” Ausmus said. “As pitchers get older and more mature, they have to make adjustments because, physically, they’re going to change.”
So between starts, Verlander has been throwing 25-30 pitches in an extra bullpen session. The more he does it in practice, the less he has to think about doing it during a game.

“It’s probably more strenuous than I would like it to be,” Verlander said. “I’m the kind of person that wants to get out there and repeat it, repeat it, repeat it until the muscle memory kicks in.”

We’ll see if his good work continues tonight versus a very potent Oakland lineup.

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Agenda

1. When Plans Backfire
2. Daily DFS
3. Thin Thursday
4. Table

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It was way too hot last night for any reasonable man to work with a computer on his lap, but this author soldiered through to bring you the Roto Riteup.

On today’s agenda:
1. Clay Buchholz didn’t suck last night
2. Steve Pearce keeps the bat alive
3. Shane Victorino a week away from rehab assignment
4. The Fardel Five

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Agenda

1. Some Stolen Basers
2. Daily DFS
3. Wednesday Picks
4. Table

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Nothing Mike Leake does is overly exciting, excluding his 12 strikeout performance versus the Giants last week. Over his last 47 starts(a little over 300 innings), Leake has posted a 3.38 ERA. His FIP during that time is 3.90. Throughout his career, he’s beaten his peripherals, so we keep waiting for him to fall back a little. So far, he hasn’t. In fact, he’s even taken a few steps forward this year.

Leake’s striking out more hitter than he ever has, even if you remove his impeccable effort last week, his K% this season sits at 17.4%; a career high. His walk rate, which has always been good, is also at a career low. And he’s posting the best groundball rate. All of that, plus a little more, is leading to the best year of his career.

Perhaps Mike Leake is a little underwhelming. It’s not hard to overlook him considering how many flamethrowers populate the game today, but he’s still pretty darn good. He’s facing the Padres tonight, who, as Blake noted on Sunday, are perhaps the best team in the majors to bet on pitching against; they do have a team wide wOBA of .270, after all.

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You guys are out and about. We guys are out and about. In between, we can help answer your fantasy baseball trade questions. Please tell us the settings in your league in a succinct way, as well as give us some idea of your team strengths. Without writing a novel!

You’ll get a response from me or one of our great RotoGraphs staff members for your trouble.