American League

Angels

• Brandon Marsh (vs RHP) and Juan Lagares (vs LHP) are in an outfield platoon.

• Taylor Ward (1.034 OPS, 10 HR, 1 SB) is back and leading off. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

Injuries have the team using completely new outfielders than the regulars from just a week ago.  It’s tough to make any calls on its status.

Astros

• Jose Siri (.589 OPS), Mauricio Dubón (.431 OPS), and Chas McCormick (.719 OPS) are splitting one outfield spot.

Athletics

• They have too many healthy, below-average hitters. Few play enough to be fantasy relevant.

• In three of the last four games, Elvis Andrus (.242/.308/.376, 3 HR, 3 SB) has hit second. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Luis Rengifo (.295/.380/.386 with 1 HR and 1 SB) has started seven straight and even hit leadoff on Thursday. He has played three times in the outfield so far.

• I can’t figure out why Jared Walsh (vs RHP) and Matt Duffy (vs LHP) are in a first base platoon. Marsh has been better against lefties than Duffy.

• Tyler Wade doesn’t face lefties.

Astros

• Over the last three games, Jose Siri (.693 OPS), Chas McCormick (.689 OPS), and Mauricio Dubón (.592 OPS) have each started in center field. Read the rest of this entry »

Every week, I try to go through each team’s lineups and when I get to the Rays, I just want to quit. It allows a mess and there needs to be a reason behind the actions. My plan was to just dig in until I found a better answer than a shrug. I feel somewhat confident with my answer, but now need to find and track starters with reverse platoon splits.

I’m going to start with these two guidelines.

1. I ignored the catchers.
2. The following rules can completely go out the window if/when injuries occur. There are always exceptions but most of the ones I found involved an injured player.

With those disclaimers out of the way, here is how the lefty lineup is determined. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Steady.

• Luis Rengifo (.304/.385/.348) is getting regular playing time at second base while batting mainly sixth.

Astros

• Same guys all the time.

• One of Michael Brantley or Yordan Alvarez is normally the DH with the other in the outfield.

• Over the last ten days, Jose Siri (.675 OPS) has started six times and Chas McCormick (.700 OPS) seven times. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Luis Rengifo has started two straight games after being recalled from AAA where he was hitting .313/.384/.525 with 4 HR and 2 SB.

• Andrew Velazquez (.171/.253/.229 with 5 SB) has started 10 of the last 11 games while batting 9th. He might be worth starting this next week against the Texas (5th most) and Oakland (9th) pitching staffs who give up a decent number of stolen bases.

Astros

• Chas McCormick (.239/.284/.386 with 2 HR) is no longer a regular and is back to splitting time with Jose Siri (.207/.270/.310 with 1 HR and 1 SB). Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• David Fletcher (.487 OPS) and Tyler Wade (.648 OPS) are splitting time at second with Andrew Velazquez (.392 OPS) at shortstop.

• Brandan Marsh is hitting just .216/.216/.378 over the past two weeks, has been moved down the lineup, and sometimes to the bench.

Astros

• Since Jose Altuve came off the IL, Chas McCormick (.719) is no longer batting leadoff and splitting time with Jose Siri (.574 OPS). Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Taylor Ward has led off the last four games.

• Jared Walsh (vs RHP) and Matt Duffy (vs LHP) are in a platoon.

• Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh are splitting time in left field.

• Tyler Wade (.660 OPS) is not a full-time player (started seven of the last ten) and usually sits against lefties.
Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Since returning from the IL, Taylor Ward (.985, 1 HR, 1 SB) has hit either second, third, or fourth.

• Jared Walsh (vs RHP) and Matt Duffy (vs LHP) are in a first base platoon.

• For now, Tyler Wade (.760 OPS, 2 SB) and Andrew Velazquez (.429 OPS) are getting full-time with David Fletcher on the IL. Read the rest of this entry »

There were a few years in my ESPN home league where Gary Sánchez was the first catcher off the board. Take a look at his 2016 end-of-season game logs and it’s easy to see why. Sánchez made the Yankees appear as if they had struck gold and found a franchise catcher that could have been the Yankee Posey (Ohh how I can just hear the cringing of Yankee fans behind computer screens after reading that sentence). But, things don’t always work out in such a storybook kind of way and Gary Sánchez is now in Minnesota splitting time with Ryan Jeffers. Read the rest of this entry »