So, it’s the day after #JoseFernandezDay. It’s so unfortunate that we’re only treated to one, or if we’re really lucky, two of those per week. Unfortunately, we can’t have nice things. The baseball gods knew Fernandez’s next start was today, so apparently they decided us mortals shouldn’t be treated to a Chris Sale start as well.

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Dave Cameron tweeted something interesting yesterday. As of yesterday, the top three offenses in the major leagues were: Colorado, Oakland, and Miami.

Strange, right? Although, aside from the Marlins I’m not too shocked. After all, the Rockies’ roster still has Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. Except, I am surprised that Charlie Blackmon has been their best hitter thus far. It’d be fun to see what that team could accomplish if they had a solid rotation, but alas. They’re not terrible, but they’re not very good either. As it stands, Colorado is one of the best offenses to stack – shocker. I’m buying into the Athletics’ offense a little more as well, especially versus right handed pitching. As far as the Marlins are concerned, I’m going to need to see a little more.

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Can we take a moment to talk about Chase Utley? I briefly mentioned Scott Kazmir’s come back the other day. Utley’s isn’t very similar because he hasn’t actually gone anywhere the past few years, even if it felt as if he had at times. Utley’s stayed productive despite his body’s seemingly ill wishes. From 2005 – 2009, it’s hard to put into words how good he was. He was second in WAR over that time period with a 37.4 mark, second only to King Albert’s staggering 41.

Obviously his prime was fantastic, even if, as a Braves fan, it was tough to watch. But damn, if it wasn’t fun, too. Over the past few years, injuries have been a bother, but he’s still remained remarkably productive at the plate. Since 2010, his wRC+ marks are as follows: 128, 111, 113, 126, and 252 (’14; small sample, etc.). Utley’s revert back to otherworldly excellence so far has been marvelous to watch, and to read about it, which you can do here. Hopefully he continues his tear for a little while longer, because it’s been fun.

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So, remember that time I recommended stacking Giants versus Paul Maholm? Yeesh. Oh well, perhaps you’re nice enough to let me slide on that one. Hell, I can’t be the only one who thought he’d get hit pretty hard. I thought the match-up itself had tremendous blow-up potential, considering Ryan Vogelsong was on the other end of the bill. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way. The Giants I happened to pick performed alright, but they weren’t winning you any money. So hopefully, we have a little better luck today.

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On Mondays I write about daily fantasy strategy. On Wednesdays I’m supposed to write about closers. To be frank, I enjoy the topic I have been assigned for Mondays much, much more. I despise chasing saves (as I discussed a couple of weeks ago), and the guys doing the Bullpen Report really have relievers covered. But a commenter on one of my recent daily fantasy strategy posts asked me a question that involved both daily fantasy strategy and closers. The commenter wanted to know how viable it is to use closers in daily contests.

Closers are usually the cheapest players available in daily contests. In today’s contests on Draftstreet, the 34 cheapest players are relievers and only 2 relievers have a price tag above $3,000 when the average salary of all non-relievers is just over $6,000. The obvious reason is that relievers are the only players that we don’t know whether they’ll play before their game starts. That uncertainty drives the price down and is why I’ve ignored using closers to this point. But I may have been doing it wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse Chavez has been mentioned a lot on Fangraphs lately. Wiers mentioned him in the Roto Riteup yesterday. Cistulli dug a little deeper, and even added a few gifs later on in the day. Chavez’s start has been impressive, but I want to shed some light on Oakland’s rotation as a whole. The Athletics lost Jarrod Parker in spring training. A.J. Griffin will be back eventually, but his timetable is still a little uncertain. All told, the Athletics had to replace two pitchers that were firmly slotted into their Opening Day rotation. They’ve done that, and then some.

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Swinging strikes are half (more than half?) the battle. But you can use pitches for grounders, too.

Take Marco Estrada, for example. By whiff rates, his change (18.4%) is plus, but his curve (9%) is not. That’s okay! By grounder rate, his curve is plus plus (60.8%). That means he has two great secondary pitches and qualifies to be a Guy I Like.

In order to help you spot good grounder pitches, I’ve run the benchmarks on each pitch type below. Should pair nicely with a Cabernet and this post which shows the benchmarks for whiff rates per pitch type.

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April 15 is one of my favorite days of the year. And not because it’s tax day. It’s Jackie Robinson Day. It’s the day our sport comes together to honor Mr. Robinson and his magnificent achievements. Without his sacrifice and perseverance the game we love wouldn’t be nearly as special as it is today. So, today when you’re enjoying the game, think a little bit about Mr. Robinson.

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Well, last night was a dud. Chris Sale and Jose Fernandez got knocked around a bit. Andrew Cashner was phenomenal, and pretty much everyone I recommended performed rather poorly despite their match-up advantages. Here’s to hoping today is a little more fruitful.

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I now realize I kind of hate April. I want to do analysis, but the best I can do with the current data is note peculiar observations. Rather than pluck out more guys based on some tenuous indicator, let’s refresh ourselves on a few critical strategies.

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