Carlos Carrasco & Ezequiel Carrera: Deep League Wire
August 7, 2014
Archive for Roto
Josh Harrison Eats His Wheaties
He’s 27 and been a role player for the Chicago Cubs minor league system and more recently the Pittsburgh Pirates over the course of a seven year career. Drafted in the sixth round, Josh Harrison was kind of classic organizational depth — a stocky yet speedy guy who could spot start in a pinch in the infield or the outfield should the need arise. And even when the need did arise over the last several seasons, the results have certainly not been worthy of attention in fantasy baseball.
Relative Waiver Wire: Jon Singleton, Mike Fiers
The loss of a couple of big-name first basemen – one of whom is actually a damn good hitter and major fantasy baseball asset – for the rest of the season, or close to it, has turned rotisserie and head-to-head attention to alternatives at the position. A young buck at the cold corner has plenty of room to grow – and may have hit a spurt.
A division-leading club has lost one of its top starters for at least a couple of weeks. The fill-in could be the bum that this team previously booted from the rotation. But they know what he’s about, so why shouldn’t they go with another option?
Pitcher xBABIP Values
A couple of weeks ago, I released an updated list of hitters and their xBABIP values. After it was released I got a request for the pitcher xBABIP values. The xBABIP values are generated by using the hard hit batted ball data from Inside Edge. I have gone ahead and run the values and listed them below with some comments on a couple starting pitchers.
A few notes on the data. First, I have not tested it with pitchers to see if the data correlates better season-to-season than regular BABIP. I just applied the hitter’s formula to pitchers. Additionally, I used the league average Speed Score in the equation instead of adjusting it for each batter.
RotoGraphs Audio: The Sleeper and the Bust 08/05/2014
Episode 150
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is now live!
Eno Sarris and Nicholas Minnix discuss Javier Baez, Steven Souza, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mike Carp, Jon Singleton, Brian Flynn and Andrew Heaney, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brandon McCarthy, Vance Worley, and Jesse Hahn.
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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Yangervis Solarte or Javier Baez?
by Eno Sarris
August 5, 2014
Okay, in any sort of keeper or dynasty situation, the titular question is ridiculous of course. The recently promoted Javier Baez has all the pedigree, power and speed, and Yangervis Solarte is a 27-year-old non-prospect with few tools and a total lack of position. Game over.
But in redraft leagues, we’re only interested in what Solarte and Baez will do the rest of the way. And in Yahoo, they’re both shortstops that are available in more than three-quarters of the leagues out there. So… is it still obvious?
Catcher Tiers – August 2014
When one opens a fresh pack of crayons, the scent of those waxy art sticks is often what hits him or her first. If you need or just prefer markers, especially the permanent kind, then you may have enjoyed those whiffs a little more than most of your classmates. Maybe you didn’t even like to color.
It’s back-to-school time, kids. (Of course, according to the average merchant, that period began in early July.) I don’t have any, myself – children, that is, not crayons – so this is more of an opportunity to feel a little nostalgic. Crayons, like catchers, are essential supplies.
The eight classic colors set the catchers apart. No hierarchy from me, just the order in which they appear in an unopened box, from left to right. You, on the other hand, might be inclined to arrange the colors by favorite to least favorite … flavor. Taste the rainbow, little Jimmy.
Nick Swisher’s Done Helping You
For nearly a decade Nick Swisher has been a beacon of consistency. From 2005 until 2013, he posted a 119 wRC+ mark, and averaged 25 home runs per year. He manged to swat 20 home runs again, but he wasn’t quite as good as he was in 2012. Which makes sense: He was a year older, and beginning to enter his decline phase. This season, though, has been a disaster. His walks are down, his strikeouts are up, and his power has evaporated into uncharted territory. Read the rest of this entry »
Three Widely Available Power Sources For Stretch Run
August 5, 2014
Yesterday, I shared the names of four speedsters who are available in the vast majority of leagues played on CBS. Naturally today, I shift my focus onto the power guys. Unlike the speed demons, it’s more difficult to find strong sources of power available for free. But they might be there if you dig deep enough. Here are three names for your consideration.
MASH Report (8/4/14)
• I have had a couple people ask if Adam Wainwright is hurt. Going through some signs, he may just be.
First, he is in the window for needing a second Tommy John surgery after his one in 2011. Here is a description of when a second operation is needed from some of my previous work.
In the 2013 THT Annual, we found pitchers had about 650 innings between their first and second procedure, though the sample size was miniscule. Recently, I ran a brief study using the up-to-date TJS database and found those pitchers who had their first TJS from before 2011 averaged 4.5 years until they needed to go under the knife again, with a median time of 4.0 years. These numbers are in the ballpark of the 650 innings value we originally found.
