This should go without saying, but fantasy owners have to be careful with starting pitchers who previously spent time in the bullpen. As we all know, good relievers aren’t all cut out for the starting rotation. The ability to go hard for short bursts allows relievers to cover up deficiencies that prevent them from being starters, with the lack of a third, or even second, pitch being a prime example. But sometimes it is easy to forget that a pitcher spent time in the bullpen when looking at his player page at the end of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

After evaluating Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom in my previous post on the 2015 Mets Commanding Rotation, I was hoping to follow-up by looking at pitch release point consistency for a number of pitchers that prevented contact in the zone but didn’t have elite swinging-strike/contact rates. Initially, I found good results using root-mean-square deviations.

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Last second I changed the title from “Having a Presence” to “Commanding Attention”. If I were to talk about the team as a whole, I would have had to go with “Having a Presence,” but I’m focusing on their rotation, and well…they command our attention…

It’s rough to be a Mets fan living in Minnesota. It’s rough being a Mets fan anywhere, but watching the Twins and their approach to 100 losses doesn’t help. Despite being only 6.5 games back from the 2nd Wild Card to date, I don’t think the Mets will have enough offense to sustain next year, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be fun to watch. There will be quite the trio that commands attention – or even a quartet with the assumption that Noah Syndergaard makes an impact. And with a quartet…who knows?!

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All good things must come to an end, and for the purposes of this space, that means this is my final deep league wire column of the 2014 season. It’s been a lot of fun plunging the depths of the fantasy dumpster with you, and I appreciate you joining me each week in our ongoing quest to find cheap value in deep leagues.

But the fantasy playoffs are still ongoing in many leagues, so now is not the time for us to rest on our laurels. Let’s take a look at two young hurlers who could provide help with strikeouts in AL-only leagues this week.
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Yesterday, I shared and discussed the 10 starting pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched who have outperformed their SIERA marks by the greatest degree. Today is a look at the opposite end of the spectrum — those starters whose ERA has most underperformed their SIERA marks. This could be an early list of pitchers who will be undervalued next season.

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We’ve got streaming for steals. We’ve got your streaming two-starters sussed twice over. Tomorrow, I’ll look at some late week streaming for power options.

But today, I’m going to look at ahead at mid-week starters that deserve your attention. You may need to pick them up early, or at least identify them for quick waiver work. Because now is the time for all hands on deck — no more waiting for a bounce-back or a could be or even a should be. If you’re still in it, look at all your roto categories or every position on your head to head bench and ask yourself “What have you done for me lately?”

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Morton

Yes, Charlie Morton is 5-12 and just coming back from the disabled list due to a sports hernia, but I like him this week as he faces the Red Sox in a home matchup on Tuesday evening followed by a second start at home against the Brewers.
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I spent an hour trying to find something relevant to say about the last two weeks of the season but was unsuccessful. Or at least there was no topic worth spending several hundred words on. If you’re looking for a two start streamer in what is likely the last week of your H2H playoffs, look at Blue Jays Marcus Stroman and Drew Hutchison. They’re the most talented pitchers owned in less than 50% of ESPN.com leagues in terms of K-BB% and OPS allowed on balls in play (aka limiting hard contact). Instead, let’s spend a few hundred words quickly running through a way too early top 10 SP list for next year. Read the rest of this entry »

By simply taking the difference between a starting pitcher’s SIERA and ERA, you could quickly identify which guys are likely to be overvalued and undervalued in next year’s drafts and auctions. We do still have a couple of weeks left this season, so things can and will change. But it’s unlikely to change so dramatically so that the players discussed will finish out the year on the opposite list. So let’s talk about some of the biggest SIERA overperformers as these pitchers may be next year’s busts.

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This is a weekly series on players I have selectively watched while exercising. Usually, I will concentrate on lesser known players or rookies just getting their first call ups.

Kevin Gausman

Why I watched: A highly touted prospect.

Game Watched: 9/1/14 vs Twins

Game Thoughts

• His fastball is elite. He normally throws it around 94-95 mph, but can change speeds to launch it up to 97 mph. It sometimes has some release side run which makes it about unhittable. For a 4-seam fastball, it gets a good number of groundballs (43% on the season) mainly because he pitches low in the zone.

• Well, that is about it for good news. His other pitches, a change/splitter and slider, are horrible. He couldn’t throw either for strikes and they just don’t have good movement. His change/splitter gets a bit of swing-and-miss because everyone seems gearing up for his fastball which he throws almost all the time. He throws his fastball 72% of the time which is good for the 8th most in the league (min 80 IP).

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