Archive for Head to Head

The Bullpen Report team welcomes you back from a much needed All-Star Break rest. While there are lots of news and notes that could be covered, tonight I’ll hit you with what appears to be the most essential tidbits. However, if by chance there’s something I missed that you feel should’ve been addressed, please just drop a line in the comments below.

While we were away, the San Diego Padres shipped All-Star closer Huston Street up the 5 freeway to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a handful of Halos’ prospects. The addition of Huston Street parlayed with the recent acquisitions of Jason Grilli and Joe Thatcher, should bolster an Angels’ bullpen that ranked 21st in the majors with a 3.75 ERA (3.90 FIP). Street will likely take on the ninth-inning for Mike Scioscia’s bullpen, sending Joe Smith back into the eighth-inning setup role. Not a bad problem to have for the Angels as long as both hurlers continue shoving.
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These are dark times for Allen Craig owners.

It’s not just that those of us who drafted him realize he’s having a bad season — that fact became shriekingly apparent months ago — it’s that there aren’t a lot of signs that he’ll turn things around, and worse, such word is spreading throughout the fantasysphere, eroding his trade value.
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Episode 143

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is now live! RotoGraphs writer Brett Talley steps into the lineup with Nicholas Minnix to discuss the Seattle Mariners’ apparent interest in David Price and Ben Zobrist; a breakdown in talks for Ian Kennedy; and a trade rumor about Jonathan Papelbon. We then talk about players returning from absences: Jean Segura, Starling Marte, Evan Gattis, Emilio Bonifacio, Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz, and Geovany Soto. We discuss the health situations of Joey Votto, Miguel Cabrera, and Jordan Zimmermann. We then briefly get into some news about Kevin Gausman and Taijuan Walker before closing with a couple of previously requested pitchers, Yordano Ventura and Marcus Stroman.

As usual, don’t hesitate to tweet us or comment with fantasy questions so that we may answer them on our next episode.

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I’ve discussed fantasy baseball categories in this space on the last few Thursdays. Certain aspects of the traditional rotisserie formats (4×4 and 5×5) don’t appeal to me. I’m not a big fan of the fact that hitters and pitchers are valued a bit differently in traditional formats because hitters have only one ratio category and pitchers have two. That’s the main reason for my preferred 5×5 format.

I dislike the perceptible randomness of wins and, sort of similarly, saves and holds for pitchers. They are team-context stats, unlike runs and RBIs to hitters, for example, which aren’t necessarily reflections of a player’s skill. But the production of them does increase their team’s chances to win a little, just more or less depending on the context of the game. I’d prefer a couple of pitching statistics that can represent a pitcher’s contribution to his team’s chance to win a game a little more closely than wins, saves and holds do. Not everyone does, but I think that there are others who do, too.

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It may be because he is teammates with Felix Hernandez, who has been the No. 1 pitcher on ESPN’s player rater this season. It may be because he was already 31 years old before he threw his first pitch in the majors. It may be because he missed the first month of the season with a finger injury. Whatever the case, Hisashi Iwakuma has dominated batters very quietly this season. He deserves some attention.

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The second “half” is almost underway, as we still have nearly two and a half months of more baseball to look forward to. It might be hard to believe, but if you’re still within 20 points of a money spot, you probably still have a shot. Here are four American League starting pitchers who should improve their ERAs during the second half and therefore might good acquisition targets.

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Downtime. Major leaguers have some right now. Most of us fantasy baseball players need some, at some point. Today’s first entry had been getting some a little more regularly because the appropriate teammates of his were healthy. Today’s second entry hasn’t really had much because his organization wanted him to continue to pitch, just not for the parent club, understandably.

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Boy, it’s tough to do a deep league wire after returning from a week and a half vacation having looked at a total of zero box scores while being away! During my quick research for players to recommend, I was surprised at how much I missed. Unplugging does have its negatives.

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Episode 142

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is now live! Eno Sarris and Nicholas Minnix discuss the Baltimore Orioles’ rotation in light of its flux and the potential that they trade for an arm, as well as the Kansas City Royals’ outfield, specifically the battle for PT between Norichika Aoki and Jarrod Dyson.

We also pick up a few requests: Eric Hosmer, Jean Segura, and Hector Santiago. We talk Trevor Cahill’s prospects now that he’s back in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ rotation. We talk a couple of recent trade rumors. And we talk All-Star Game festivities, including Eno’s favorite observations from the Futures Game.

As usual, don’t hesitate to tweet us or comment with fantasy questions so that we may answer them on our next episode.

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It seems to be fair to say that most fantasy baseball gamers didn’t have high expectations for Travis d’Arnaud this season. The New York Mets’ backstop went undrafted in nearly all rotisserie and head-to-head leagues at Yahoo! and ESPN. His CBS ownership rate in the first week of the season was 63%. I surmise that the numbers basically placed him near the fringe of indifference in two-catcher mixed leagues, where he still resides, for the most part.

I thought that it was a tad surprising. Granted, d’Arnaud slashed .202/.286/.263 in the 112 plate appearances that made up his MLB debut in 2013, but peripheral numbers suggested that his control of the strike zone was good. His bat speed is considered top-notch. Plus, he was still a top prospect. Most who do the fantasy thing like prospects, don’t they? I don’t have and didn’t want any shares then, but I figured that someone did.

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