All 13 Tampa Bay Rays fans in attendance last night almost got a little too much excitement with their “closer” once again. Romo and Colome were both warming in the bullpen, up by three runs, as the Rangers threatened with two on, two out in the bottom of the eighth.
Greg Holland pitched in the 8th inning against the Reds on Saturday afternoon. It was a non-save situation, as the Cardinals had a 6-1 lead. He topped out at 93 mph with his fastball but continued to demonstrate lapses in command on all his offerings. He left his off-speed stuff hanging over the middle of the plate with little life, but he was able to get Billy Hamilton to whiff on one of his hanging sliders for his lone strikeout nonetheless. He did deliver a couple of nice sliders on the outside corner against Devin Mesoraco, as well as a nice fastball on the black against Joey Votto, but at large his command is still a major question mark.
The Roto Riteup is sliding into the weekend like:
Coming home to bed after a long week like … pic.twitter.com/TrqrzsI3ka
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) April 14, 2018
The Roto Riteup would like to wish you a Happy Friday the 13th!
A few weeks ago, esteemed analyst Ryan Bloomfield of BaseballHQ Tweeted indirectly about late-round lottery picks:
From 2014-17, we've had six players post first-round value with a 195+ ADP:
2014: Brantley, Rendon, DGordon
2015: Keuchel
2016: Villar
2017: JudgeRecent history says 1-2 will do it this year. Who ya got?
— Ryan Bloomfield (@RyanBHQ) March 21, 2018
As a measure of quality control — only because I noticed Corey Kluber omitted from 2014 — I compared his list to my historical average draft position (ADP) data from the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) to compile the following unofficial blended list of players drafted outside the top 195 players by ADP* who achieved first-round value:
It’s certainly been a rough start to the season for Kenley Jansen thus far, but on Sunday the 30-year old was finally able to notch his first save of the season in the 10th inning against the Giants. He faced four batters, with all three outs coming via strikeout. Hunter Pence laced a one-out single and stole second base after a Brandon Crawford strikeout, but nothing came of it after Jansen caught Brandon Belt looking at strike three to end the game.
It’s Ohtani’s world, we’re just living in it:
Ohtani walks to bring in a run! Score is Athletics 8, #Angels 7 as we head to ⬆6⃣. pic.twitter.com/j9mvY6Avuy
— Angels (@Angels) April 7, 2018
Let’s all give a round of applause to the Roto Riteup!
The fans in Philly were NOT happy when Gabe Kapler came to take out Nick Pivetta after 97 pitches.
There’s two down in the sixth after 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball. pic.twitter.com/yAsYHaJe2w
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 5, 2018
While the closer grid might start green it doesn’t take too long for some different colors to emerge.
• The current situation in Anaheim has been interesting to say the least. Blake Parker’s hold on the job was never seen as particularly strong and he hasn’t done himself any favors early on this year, needing to be bailed out by Keynan Middleton as Al Melchior mentioned last night. I’ve changed this situation to yellow and added Middleton to the grid. It might be anyone’s guess who gets the next save opportunity but I’m keeping Parker in the lead for now. If Mike Scioscia wants to go with the hot hand he could turn to Middleton again and there’s also Bedrosian who’s been deployed a setup man thus far as well as Jim Johnson who does have that trademarked closer experience. At some point this situation might settle but for now there are a few guys who are worthy of speculative adds but also not provide any saves. Helpful, I know.
• As far as other colors go, we’re sticking with Baltimore at yellow before moving to a code red. Brad Brach obviously has not looked effective so far but until we see O’Day pitching in a save situation or Buck Showalter address the situation, we’re going to keep Brach in the lead. Darren O’Day did get some action on Monday but he entered in the 8th inning in a 6-1 game. It’s possible he’s was getting some work in as he had only pitched on Thursday so far this season. O’Day did look effective, striking out a pair in a perfect inning. If he’s still on the wire I would definitely look to grab him over Mychal Givens.
• We had Pedro Baez as the next-in-line in LA but it looks like Josh Fields is the man of the eighth for now. Baez looked good getting four perfect outs but he entered the game in the fourth inning. Josh Fields meanwhile took the ball in the eighth and pitched around a hit, striking out two batters. If something were to happen to Kenley Jansen I would keep an eye on Baez, but Fields would be the man to own. Speaking of Jansen, after taking the loss in his first appearance this year he doubled down with a blown save tonight, allowing three earned in the ninth. Jansen’s velocity has been down a few ticks this year and consider me worried. We don’t know if something is going on yet but I would look to grab Fields if I was in need of saves. If one is willing to chase saves in Miami, they should be willing to use a speculative add on Fields. Jansen certainly has a laughably tighter grasp on the role than Brad Ziegler but the payoff on getting the Dodgers closer is much greater than one in Miami. I’m a little hesitant to jump the gun here and make this situation yellow, but better safe than sorry with a big payoff if Jansen is to miss anytime.
Panik at the Disco!
.@JoePanik has accounted for both of the @SFGiants runs this season.
They were homers off guys named Kershaw and Jansen. ? pic.twitter.com/pjzJWxhJpb
— MLB (@MLB) March 31, 2018