Roto Riteup: July 17, 2012
Today’s Roto Riteup is being written while I impatiently wait for my internet to load episode two of The Newsroom. If you haven’t heard of this show yet, don’t worry, you will soon. Simply put: this show is amazing.
• Over the past week Brennan Boesch is hitting .417 with a .583 slugging. Given how poorly he started the season, any sign of life — even a BABIP fueled one — is welcome. After his home run last night, his recent batting line will only improve. Many people (myself included) gave up on Boesch already, but maybe this is when things turn around for him. His paltry career walk rate hurts him in OBP leagues but in standard 5×5 formats he should still be considered an asset. His current ownership rate in ESPN leagues is 20% and he is owned in 27% of Yahoo! formats. If you are hurting for an outfielder, Boesch makes for a solid rebound candidate.
• If you’re seeking a third baseman to try and acquire for you stretch run, take a look at Ryan Zimmerman. Over the past two weeks Zimmerman is hitting .314/.385/.657 and that doesn’t include last night’s 3-3 (with a walk) performance that included a homer. He has been battling injuries this season and that has dragged down his overall line. Hopefully you can target a disillusioned owner into trading Zimmerman away. Third base has been especially poor performing so far, and the league average third baseman line is .257/.318/.409. That line doesn’t include some third base eligible players like Jose Bautista, but it is indicative of the overall offensive struggles at the hot corner.
• Tyler Colvin has started 16 straight games and has hit quite well over that time frame. He is still striking out an awful lot, but he has 12 runs and 19 hits over those 16 games. He is hitting a very strong .295/.330/.600. His platoon split isn’t terrible, though his home and away splits are significant. Although he is owned in the large majority of ESPN leagues, his ownership rate in Yahoo! formats is only about 50%. If he’s floating out there on free agency I would definitely pick him up.
• Just because he isn’t closing doesn’t mean that Craig Stammen can’t be useful to your fantasy team. He has pitched the second most innings of any reliever in baseball and has a 1.66 ERA to show for it. His FIP and xFIP aren’t nearly as shiny, but 2.98 and 3.62 aren’t exactly things to easily throw by the wayside. His walk rate of 3.70 BB/9 is high for my taste, but his strikeout rate and SwStr% help even that out. He ranks in the top 20 of all relievers in terms of SwStr% and in the top 30 of F-Strike%. Put everything together and you have a reliever who pitches a ton of innings and gets a ton of swings and misses. Stammen is owned in less than 3% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues. If you have some holes in your bullpen then I can’t recommend Stammen enough.
For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here are a couple matchups you may be able to exploit.
A Pitcher for Today: Zach Britton at MIN
Britton is making his season debut tomorrow and looks to get more ground ball outs. What can I say? I am a sucker for anyone who burns worms at a 50% clip or higher.
A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Justin Masterson at TB
Read those last two sentences above.
A Hitter for Today: Casey McGehee at COL (Christian Friedrich)
McGehee is crushing left-handed pitching with a 133 wRC+. And he’ll be in Coors field. He should be freely available in just about any league (unless you play in a 6 team NL Central league) and his price in FG: The Game should be cheap.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
Fantasy advice = good
Tv advice= bad
Newsroom stinks
that’s your opinion. I haven’t seen it but ive heard good things.
Really? I’m only two episodes deep right now, but I love it. What don’t you like about it?
Aaron Sorkin is spewer of idiotic received wisdom… a classic example of why pwogs are so embarrassing, and why all discussion of politics in America is impassably stupid.
But yeah, Dumb and Dumber was a fine pic.
For me, when I watch something I want to learn something or be entertained. So far I’m being entertained thoroughly by The Newsroom. I’ll stick with it until I’m not anymore.
Newsroom is so legit. Jeff Daniels looks like a man genius. You actually need to be intelligent to like it, so that might explain more about ‘knocks’ intelligence than his opinion.
My name is TheOneWhoKnocks and you are questioning the quality of television I enjoy
Hi David, agree that Newsroom is great so far– real smart show. I need to activate L Cain off the DL… do I drop Avery or Cliff Pennington (20-tm keeper so SS is thin… but he’s also pretty awful this yr)
I’d stick with Pennington for now. Hes been awful (I’m an A’s fan, do I’m well aware), but at least he has playing time.
Oh yeah you totally need to be intelligent to like shows that start out with a cool premise and main character, but it quickly becomes clear that they will focus too much on relationships and other BS drama once they run out of story ideas (see House for example). Jeff Daniels is awesome in the show, but they’re only two episodes in and they’re already starting with the recent college grad-age writers/producers/interns relationship soap opera stuff.
But yeah you’re probably right. People that don’t like it aren’t as smart as you. It has so many plot twists and is so current events-related that us simple-minded drones can’t begin to understand it. Maybe one day I can aspire to have the intellectual prowess to understand the show that stars one of the leads from Dumb and Dumber…
(this was in reply to Grane Wetsky)
O.o
Whoa.
#1 – Wiers, great work. You and the team have put together a rock solid resource for a ridiculously stat heavy fake sport we all love.
#2 – Luke, relax dude. I actually don’t care if anyone else likes the show, I just dropped a (unnecessary) protection comment for a show that I have early love for. Let’s just say, The Newsroom and I are courting – date #3. I’m sure that “TheOneWhoKnocks” has many leather bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.
#3 – David, we carry 5 OF… I just lost Votto, so I plan to pick up Viciedo (I guess…) and slide Butler into my 1B spot. Could you rank my OF (once I own Viciedo), please? I can’t stand my one trick ponies much longer (Maybin, Rajai). J Upton, Pence, Morrison, JD Martinez, Maybin, Rajai, Viciedo. Thx
Thanks, but it’s more like the incredibly brilliant RotoGraphs team…and me floating in an ocean of knowledge, trying to build a raft of coherrent sentences.
I lost Votto in a league too. /sobs.
Assuming this is a redraft league, I’ll go as follows:
J Upton, Pence, Morrison, Maybin, Viciedo, Davis and Martinez
I love when this feature recommends pitchers who aren’t available in The Game … Tillman yesterday, Britton today. Glad I didn’t get the chance to pick Tillman. Yikes.
Whoops. I didn’t cross check it, I assumed Britton would be available. Apologies.
boesch, quentin or lombardozzi?
drafted and dropped boesch a while ago but have two empty spots because of injuries. added and dropped lombarozzi because of his slump. now quentin’s knee hurts…
also – bud norris or alex cobb?
Norris. NL plus K-rate. As long as he keeps his walks down too…
I like Cobb, but .. constant AL Beast matchups (especially down the stretch), and velocity is down.
thanks! do you think anthony gose is worth a look in a deep keeper league?
Depends on Quentin’s knee. If he’s playing, I’d pick him over either of the other options.
And yeah, I’m taking Norris.
I would strongly advise against Masterson tomorrow. The last time I ignored his career splits vs TB (1-7 with a 7.69 era over 48 innings) I felt extremely foolish as he gave up 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings on 9 hits and 4 walks.
At least he struck out 7, but demolished my era and whip at the same time.
I wouldn’t sweat that too much, but I can see where you’re coming from.
Always good to have well reasoned counter-opinions.