Archive for Uncategorized

I liked Lucas Duda going into the season, you may have heard. Ten days ago, he had a .188/.216/.396 batting line and my twitter timeline was blown to pieces. I started planning a mea culpa and some sort of investigation into his contact problems. Good thing life got in the way — Duda’s past week cleaned up most of his peripherals in one fell swoop.

From April 21st until April 30th, Duda went 11 for 30 with a home run and a double. But the batted-ball results weren’t what provide the most hope for the rest of the season. Saying that he struck out six times against seven walks in those 37 plate appearances gets a little closer — he’d struck out 15 times against two walks in the 50 PAs that came before. But per at-bat results are still inferior to per-pitch results in the early season. Most importantly, Lucas Duda started making contact.

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At the end of the night on April 23, I pulled down all of the standings for all of the ottoneu points leagues that had a full complement of 12 active teams. This being my first year playing in a points league, I wanted to know how my (at the time) third place team stacked up against the rest of the teams out there.

Was my 1,813.4 points a solid number that deserved to be in third? Would my 5.3 points per game and 4.7 points per inning hold up against stiff competition? I still not sure I have clear answers, but at least I have some additional data.

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Bryce Harper’s debut is nigh. The Nationals will call him up Saturday and put Ryan Zimmerman on the DL. Though he wasn’t available in any of my 14 leagues, perhaps he’s available in yours. Should you pick him up?

Despite having all the pedigree in the world, the answer is unclear. He already has two things going against him before day one. He’s only 19 years old, for one. Here’s the list of 19 year olds that managed at least 200 PAs since 1980 and how they fared in their rookie seasons.

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Drew Smyly wasn’t supposed to be here. Going into the season, it was the more heralded Jacob Turner that was supposed to move into the Detroit Tigers’ starting rotation. But then shoulder woes felled Turner, and the young southpaw with the happy last name and 46.1 innings in the high minors got the call.

The response was muted. Smyly was supposedly the kind of polished college lefty that would give Minor League hitters the fits — but then possibly have muted upside in the Major Leagues. His fastball is low nineties, not mid nineties. Maybe his secondary stuff isn’t the whiffiest. Maybe he’ll be forced to come into the zone more in the Majors.

So far, though, he’s been smiling in the face of his detractors. Well, he did have a bout with lesser control in his debut, but since then he’s been in a groove. Should we re-evaluate his upside? Should mixed-leaguers be picking him up?

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• Yes, Yu Darvish held a high-powered Detroit offense to one run in 6.1 innings. Yes, he struck out five guys and only allowed seven baserunners. It’s too bad that five of those baserunners were walks. Control like that is going to hurt him in the long run, if only because it will keep him from racking up longer outings and TeH WiNZ. From watching him, it seems like he has decent control, but that something is still off. Maybe it’s getting used to the new strike zone. Maybe it’s a mechanical issue. It’s tempting to say we know what Darvish is — another nibbler from the NPB — but even the complete sample of pitchers that have come to America from that league is small. And three starts certainly isn’t enough to condemn him. It might be interesting, if you have a fungible hot-starting pitcher (Matt Harrison, Kyle Lohse and Barry Zito come to mind), to attempt a buy-low that won’t hurt you if it goes wrong.

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There’s nothing more depressing than watching an athlete refuse to admit that the career is over. I understand the feelings involved and the internal struggles one has with their own diminished abilities and, in essence, their own mortality, but there comes a point where you just have to say, “enough is enough,” and learn to walk away from the game gracefully. Between Andy Pettitte‘s comeback with the Yankees, Jamie Moyer’s 78 mph fastball and the Indians’ recent signing of Johnny Damon, we’re seeing it far too much in baseball and every day is starting to look like Old Timer’s Day.

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Six games into the 2012 season, Kyle Seager has a .333/.360/.417 line and is owned in approximately 40% of ottoneu leagues. And that rate is dropping.

Seager is playing every day right now, but with Mike Carp on the verge of a rehab assignment and Franklin Gutierrez on his way back, the Mariners outfield is about to get awfully crowded, which will push the resurgent Chone Figgins back to third, and Seager to…probably the bench. On top of that, his bat probably isn’t good enough to play everyday at 3B. But I am not ready to sell.

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Today’s piece is the debut of start/sit: two start starters for this season. Obviously, in weekly leagues — like the THT/FG league that’s currently going on — lineups must be set prior to Monday’s tilts, so we’ll take this opportunity to have a gander at the pitchers currently slated to start two games for streaming starters if that’s a strategy you like to pursue.

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Today, I am going to have a rundown on some position battles and lineup movements for various 2B. Mainly, I am looking for any last minute changes in a player’s value.

Position Battles

Royals – Chris Getz ,Yuniesky Betancourt and Jason Bourgeois – When the Royals demoted Johnny Giavotella to AAA, Chris Getz looked to be the everyday 2B. With his supposed new found swing, he looked to be given the Royals 2B job. Almost immediately, it was stated that Getz and Betancourt would have to share the 2B duites.

Yost isn’t designating either of them as the starting second baseman.

“We’ll play them both there, we’ll mix-and-match now,” Yost said.

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Come on, man.  It’s one day out of the year.  That’s all we’re asking for here.  We’re not asking you to split the atom or anything; just give us your undivided attention for only a few hours on one day out of the year.  You better have one hell of an excuse for your absence because even just one team on autodraft messes with the draft strategy of everyone else.

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