Roto Riteup: June 8, 2013
When consuming sunflower seeds one should always, always crack the shell, eat the seed, then spit out the shell. People who eat the shell frighten me with their primitive ways.
On today’s agenda
1. Salvador Perez’s value
2. A potential return date for Giancarlo Stanton
3 . Tony Cingrani should start Tuesday
4. Musings on two of yesterday’s starts
Salvador Perez’s value
After hitting 11 home runs in barely 300 plate appearances last year, many had hoped for big power numbers from Perez this season. He has delivered just two home runs — including yesterday’s blast — but he now has a chance to provide RBIs without having to hit home runs. Recently the Kansas City Royals under went a bit of a lineup shuffle, or perhaps more accurately a lineup optimization. Since that change, Perez has found himself hitting exclusively in the three hole. With on-base machine Alex Gordon still leading off, expect a nice boost in Perez’s RBI count. For those of you in 5×5 leagues and are in need of catching help, Perez may be available to pick up. His ownership rate in both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues is barely 60%, though he is owned in over 75% of CBS formats.
A potential return date for Giancarlo Stanton
Yesterday the Miami Marlins manager Mike Redmond told reporters that there is a chance that Giancarlo Stanton will make his return on Monday. Stanton has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since April 29 and would be a welcome return the Marlins lineup, not to mention fantasy squads everywhere. Hopefully fellow Stanton owners also play in OBP leagues, as his batting average has never been outstanding and Stanton will probably lead the league in IBB’s. Don’t expect a ton of counting stats from Stanton, as the opposing pitchers have no real reason to ever challenge him.
Tony Cingrani should start Tuesday
With Johnny Cueto on the disabled list, the Cincinnati Reds find themselves one starter short. While manager Dusty Baker acknowledged that Cingrani was “the likely choice” to start on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs, Baker did leave room by saying it is too early to call for sure. Cingrani should be grabbed in weekly leagues now and daily leagues on Monday. Cingrani is owned in just 17% of ESPN leagues, 35% of Yahoo! leagues, and 60% of CBS leagues.
Musings on two of yesterday’s starts
In his second start in the majors this year, Chris Archer lasted seven innings and allowed just one run for his efforts. He was rewarded with the win despite a mere two strikeouts on the day. Through two starts he now has a .212 BABIP and a 6:5 strikeout to walk ratio. Neither of those numbers will last terribly long, as his BABIP is sure to climb and so will his strikeouts. Eventually David Price will return and Archer will probably be sent back down, however until that moment happens, Archer is a usable starter.
Jarrod Parker also pitched seven innings , though he managed to double Archer’s strikeout total. Parker allowed three runs, just two earned, and walked two en route to a win. Yesterday makes six quality starts in a row for Parker and while his strikeout rate still isn’t quite what most expected, he has pitched much better than his first handful of starts this season. Prior to yesterday’s start, Parker did have a 10.3% SwStr%, good for the 20th best mark in baseball. The good outings are here and the strikeouts are coming. Parker is a buy. He is owned 55% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues and 66% of CBS leagues.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
Where would you rank Perez in comparison to JP Arencibia? I love the power JP has given me, but he has predictably slowed down in all of his stats and his batting average once again stinks.
Different values. JPA will kill your BA but will give you pop, whereas Perez should have some RBIs while hitting three hole, a great average, but fewer home runs.
I’d probably prefer Perez.
Would you trade Josh Willingham for Jarrod Parker or CJ Wilson?
In a keeper league for Parker, yes. In a redraft, no, probably not.
How much of a steal did I just pull by trading Latos + Liriano for Verlander in a standard 5×5?
I don’t know man…doesn’t look like that much of a steal to me. Liriano is the best fantasy pitcher in baseball if he can stay on the mound, and 100 IP of Liriano could make way more of a difference than 150 of Verlander (whose fastball is averaging below 93 MPH by the way–a little concerning if you ask me).
Liriano best in fantasy? Try galaxy. He has proven over the past 5 years his dominance over Verlander. Adding Latos to the deal probably makes it vetoable but you cant worry about that.
Hunter Pence’s Thorax’s comment just made my day.
I like Latos, but you just got probably the best fantasy pitcher. Hard to not like this deal.
Liriano has only had an ERA under Verlander’s current 3.71 ERA twice (2006, when he had a 2.17 ERA, and 2010, when his 3.62 ERA barely edged Verlander’s current 3.71) and has only beat his current FIP once (Though 2010’s 2.66 FIP comes close). Yes, Liriano looks like the best fantasy starter so far…but he hasn’t given up a HR in 36 IP.
Plus, 93.6 is still a pretty quick fastball, isn’t it?
(And fortunately our league got rid of vetos at the start of the year since nobody wanted them)
Ruki, I’m almost certain that Hunter’s comment was sarcasm. At least I sure hope so.
Ehehehe…whoops. I just realized that I misread Thorax’s comment to begin with. (I thought he said Verlander had 5 years of proven dominance)
Now I feel silly for missing sarcasm.
Glad to see you agree, Dave. 🙂
Rutledge due back any time soon or is he just in the doghouse for good?
Small sample sizes, but Rutledge has been hitting over .300 since going down to the minors while his replacement (LeMahieu) is hitting .250 with no home runs, fewer walks, and more strikeouts. Hoping we have him back up before the all star break at the very latest, but this is the Rockies we’re talking about so you never know.
I don’t have an answer on that now, but I’ll see what I can dig up for tomorrow’s RR.
Can we please stop with the “Stanton will only be walked and can’t get counting categories” narrative? Look at who he played with the last month of last season. If anything this team is an improvement.
Yeah, a team on pace for 100 losses is going to do wonders for his RBI count.
I’m saying that for a hitter who could still clear the 25-30 home run mark, don’t expect a standard amount of counting stats for someone with so many homers. I don’t see that as a narrative. I see that as a fact.
You also brought up leading the league in IBB, so I was including that. It’s just not based on reality. He had the same kind of protection last year and there was no reason to walk him, if only because the opposing team already had a big lead. He’s not going to Allen Craig his way into a ton of RBIs/homeruns, but he’s not a one category contributor either.
If your point was “He is on the Marlins, who are bad, and he won’t get as many RBIs as a player on a good offense”, but you wanted to make it more fun to read, I guess that makes sense? But best case it’s pretty no-shit-obvious, right?
Anyway, I thank you for the starcraft links which I’ve been living on, and am now killing time before the finals start.
Votto currently leads the league in IBB with 9. You really think Stanton can’t out pace that? This comment as the “no shit it’s obvious” and the “needs to be qualified” one below crack me up.
At least you like Starcraft. The finals are about to start. I hope you’re a fellow Protoss…
I like Parker but you need to look at who he’s done it against. He had a good game against the rangers, true, but playing the white sox every week will do wonders for your ratios.
True, but his velocity is right in line with what it was last year. Only difference really at the start of the year was the fact his control was so bad. He seems to have cured that, so I’m pretty optimistic on him going forward.
He’s a reliable starter who should be owned in more leagues than he currently is. I’m not saying he’s going to walk on water for the RoS, but as long as you’re careful with his starts (just like about 80% of other starters out there), he’ll be very good for you.
I said I like him, but his recent performance needs to be qualified. And it does, and it wasn’t.
Everything needs to be qualified. I tend to assume readers know that. I guess some people need it spelled out for them. Duly noted.
Is there any chance of Cingrani staying up past these 2 starts?
Man, I hope so.
I’d love to see it, at least!
Was offered Yadier Molina for my Manny Machado in a points league. Not sure if I should accept. What sayeth you?
I think I just answered this on today’s RR, but if you didn’t see it, no, I’d rather have Machado.
Perez has been hitting in that three spot for a long time now, and he’s done nothing with it for the last month.