American League

Athletics

• The team hopes to improve their pitchers’ setup by cleaning and adding AC to the dugout bathroom.

Severino came away with the idea after a conversation with pitching coach Scott Emerson, who believes the change will help him feel more comfortable with the field, which from the mound offers a view unlike any other ballpark in MLB.

“There’s a definite weird look from the rubber to home plate with where the walkway is behind the dish,” Emerson said. “The press box is off-center, and that can kind of give you an optical illusion of maybe the plate being in a different spot, per se. I think if we can get his [bullpen] sessions off the game mound and get him more comfortable seeing the visual there, that’ll help.”

Severino also has referenced the lack of a connected clubhouse to the dugout — the A’s new two-story clubhouse at Sutter Health Park is situated behind left field — as something he has had to adjust to. His usual in-game routine on days he starts consists of heading inside the clubhouse during the half-innings he is not on the mound to either watch film or move around to keep his body warm.

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“When you don’t have a clubhouse to go to, it can be frustrating at times,” Emerson said. “We’ve just got to find a way to be better. Whether it’s going into the clubhouse from the mound every now and then to kind of relax and decompress and sit down in a comfortable chair where you control the air conditioning or heat each and every game.

“But that’s going to be tough, too, because it’s going to take two minutes to get off the field and two minutes to get back on the field. Maybe we can find a comfortable spot in the dugout or the [dugout] bathroom. Clean it up a little bit to where he feels comfortable with.”

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Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

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Here are the latest significant playing time projection changes for position players since May 13. The Rockies stink, but hey, at least Jordan Beck is hitting!

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Maybe they will play him more now.

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Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

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Still in awe over this play.

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Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

Completely spaced on the 2-start board this week, my sincere apologies on that.

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Last week, the Giants decided to move Jordan Hicks to the bullpen and Hayden Birdsong to the rotation. While some fantasy managers had already stashed Birdsong, he was available in many leagues like these nine NFBC Main Event leagues.

These teams spent 15% to 20% of their yearly budget on a starter projected to be below replacement-level. Unless a manager wore blinders or took some analyst’s hype without any doing their own basic analysis of Birdsong. No line of reasoning points to Birdsong making a difference, and the most likely scenario is that he’s on the waiver wire in a couple of weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is today’s chat transcript:
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American League

Angels

• Matthew Lugo (2 HR in 13 PA, only 4 HR in 168 PA in AAA) started in three of the last five games in the outfield.

• Yoán Moncada is now batting third.

• Luis Rengifo (.533 OPS) and Tim Anderson (.475 OPS) are splitting time at second base. Read the rest of this entry »