Roto Riteup March 26, 2017
In no surprise here, Stephen Strasburg has been named the Washington Nationals Opening Day starter with Max Scherzer ready, but not 100% ready for the responsibilities. This will be his fourth Opening Day start and is coming off of a 3.60 ERA in 2016. During the offseason, he decided to pitch from the stretch no matter what the scenario is on base.
“I’m not trying to reinvent myself,” Strasburg said to The Washington Post. “But I’m trying to simplify things as much as I can.”
Doubtful this messes with his value or changes any mentality surrounding his ADP rating.
On the Agenda
- New York Matz
- Kipnis almost ready
- Extensions with Lucroy
New York Matz
Uh oh.
Mike Puma reported Steve Matz will not be making his next scheduled start due to “irritation in his left elbow.”
The team is stressing he doesn’t have any structural damage, but at this point, during the spring training months, the precautionary measures are taken to an extreme. And I totally support that, because the Mets care what I think.
It’s also a bit worrisome considering the 25-year-old had surgery last October to remove a bone spur and is one of many pitchers to undergo Tommy John surgery.
He has a career 8.73 K/9 ratio and tossed a 3.40 ERA with the Mets last season.
He will not undergo an MRI but will play catch Monday to see if any additional steps need to be taken.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-sleeper-and-the-bust-episode-440-starting-pitcher-extravaganza/
Kipnis almost ready
Can we please just take a moment and talk about the power surges the second baseman had last season both fantasy and otherwise?
Thank you.
One of the guys to add to this surge of power was Indians’ second baseman, Jason Kipnis. He’s been sidelined with right shoulder inflammation and it seemed his return date continued to be pushed back.
He will be out for an additional 4-5 weeks which isn’t exactly the best news, but now there’s a more clear date when we could expect him back, and he continues to make progress in his rehabilitation.
The team is expecting Michael Martinez to take over the role at the position until Kipnis returns. Martinez is not someone who can replace the two-time All-Star in any fantasy format. He’s not going to get on base, and there isn’t any power there, so don’t be surprised if the team makes additional changes in the infield.
Extensions with Lucroy
The Lone Star State shouldn’t be getting sick of catcher Jonathan Lucroy anytime soon.
Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the Rangers have “tabled extension talks with Lucroy.”
He slashed .276/.345/.539 last season with Texas and hit 11 balls over the fence in 47 games.
A full season of him hitting at a hitter’s park (and hopefully taking advantage of it) could make the decision to commit to him longer a bit easier.
Thanks for finding the exact moment that Kipnis injured his right shoulder. It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.
Heard talk of Jose Ramirez taking time at second. Has that been shelved?
You are correct. Ramirez will play 2B until Kipnis returns, and the Indians are sorting out who will play 3B: Giovanny Urshela, Erik Gonzalez, Yandy Diaz (non-roster) or Richie Shaffer (non-roster).
Jessica’s source is a stale one, a tweet Friday from MLB.com Indians beat writer Jordan Bastian, who then posted a tweet and an article Saturday that Jessica apparently didn’t check: http://m.indians.mlb.com/news/article/220902672/indians-jason-kipnis-takes-swings-in-cage/
If you need to keep pace with breaking news as the start of the season approaches, you will need to turn to other sources.
I know these past few Riteups haven’t been great, but surely we gotta find a balance between solid feedback and just hating on the authors. I don’t want every post to have negative comments, every day.
It’s not much fun at my end to point out the concerns with quality. Jessica, as I said in an early post, is clearly passionate about baseball and staking a claim as a writer. Her Twitter feed is engaging and I would encourage others to follow it.
At the same time, readers of Fangraphs turn to the site, especially with the start of the season approaching, to gain insight and get accurate reporting. When your source is a tweet two days before the Riteup is published, surely you need to check for more current sources before the story is posted, especially when the more current source, available one day before the story was published, was from the same twitter account that served as the basis for that claim the story.
I hope Jessica takes what I have written as solid feedback from someone who writes for a living facing daily and sometimes hourly deadlines. Under those sorts of circumstance, some errors are inevitable and the quality of writing can fall short of the mark to which we aspire. But writers can take steps to mitigate mistakes and improve their prose.
In any case, both myself and others have made these points quite a few times. I hope they prove helpful but understand why the volume of critical feedback has become tiresome for others. In my case, anyways, I’ve said enough and I appreciate your suggestions.
IMO you are doing it right. Provide constructive feedback while don’t mind showing what could be done. For all the mistakes readers could point out, means readers can provide what writers may have missed. It’s not hating or bashing if you provide reason what could have been done better.
IMO, Fangraph is the site for best baseball analytical articles (the title used to belong to BP for me). Writing for Fangraph inherently will get challenge from sharp (shark?) readers. We can make the community better together.
These are pretty useless but at least my leaguemates aren’t getting any help from reading them. Gotta look on the bright side guys.
Is his real name Mike Puma? That’s as bad ass as Mike Honcho!!!