Roto Riteup: May 8, 2015
Since the May 10 Roto Riteup falls on a day where the despicable capable Zach Sanders is responsible for it, I’ll use today to note The Starting Line’s second album, Based on a True Story, was released on May 10, 2005. Somewhat off-topic, Sanders made a joke on Twitter the other day about the two of us creating a podcast and I begrudgingly decided to hear him out. I’m just not sure the world is ready for our potential podcast.
@davidwiers Roto Riteup Radio! And in every episode I introduce myself as host and say that unfortunately you’re joining me.
— Zach Sanders (@zvsanders) May 5, 2015
On today’s agenda:
1. Don’t panic over Corey Kluber
2. Michael Bourn to be platooned
3. Yasmani Grandal’s big day
4. Streaming Pitching Options
Don’t panic over Corey Kluber
Despite dropping to 0-5 on the year in the wake of yesterday’s bumpy start, no need to sound the alarm over Kluber just yet. He’s generating whiffs at a high rate — 13 swinging strikes in 104 pitches yesterday — and he’s been unfortunate with his batted ball rates and sequencing. Kluber currently sports a .364 BABIP and a corresponding 62.3 percent strand rate, numbers that should regress over time. A 3.12 xFIP compares closely with last season’s 3.02 mark and I’d feel comfortable going after Kluber in a trade if his current owner is frustrated enough to sell-low on him. For my teams, he remains an automatic starter no matter the match up.
Michael Bourn to be platooned
As I’m buying one member of the Cleveland Indians, I’m selling another. Via Paul Hoynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group, Bourn was reportedly told on Tuesday he will be platooned. Count on him in the lineup against righties, however the center fielder will be on the bench when the Tribe square off against a southpaw. Since signing with Cleveland in the 2012-13 off-season, Bourn’s 73 wRC+ against lefties ranks 135th out of 147 qualified batters. Even his numbers against right-handers over the same time frame are uninspiring as his 94 wRC+ is still tough to swallow. To be fair, Bourn has been drawing walks a solid 9.8 percent clip and he’s been haunted by a .246 BABIP this season, but at best he makes for a cheap option against right-handers in DFS right now. In my May version of AL OF rankings (where there was some really good movie discussions), I had Bourn near the bottom of the seventh tier, and if he can’t turn some of these numbers around, he may not appear at all in June’s version.
Yasmani Grandal’s big day
Grandal posted a perfect game at the plate yesterday, going 4-for4 with a pair of dingers, eight RBIs and two walks. Even before the monster day he was hitting a solid .261/.370/.420, good for 28% above average. The switch hitting — technically he bats both, but I digress — catcher does his best work against right-handed pitchers and yesterday was no different, taking two different righties deep. Grandal owns a career 126 wRC+ when a righty is on the mound and a decent enough 103 wRC+ when facing a southpaw. For a catcher who is at worst league average on any given day, his ownership rates are awfully low. One can find him freely available in 42% of CBS formats and over 60% of both ESPN and Yahoo! leagues.
Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.
A pitcher for today: Tim Lincecum vs MIA (Jarred Cosart)
While yesterday’s Hudson pick didn’t go so hot, Timmy is another right-hander facing a Marlins team that has rated below average against righties thus far. He’s available in over 50% of CBS leagues as well as more than 70% of Yahoo! and ESPN formats.
A pitcher for tomorrow: Carlos Rodon vs CIN (Johnny Cueto)
Rodon will be making the first major league start of his career against the Reds. I still worry about his fastball command and lack of an effective changeup in the long run, though he is worth a start tomorrow. The highly touted left-hander is available in just 35% of CBS leagues and 56% of Yahoo! formats, but can be picked up in over 85% of ESPN leagues.
You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.
I don’t want to overreact to one big day, especially when the names of the recent catchers that accomplished was Grandal did yesterday include JR Towles. That said, in a standard non-OBP league is Grandal ahead of someone like Derek Norris? I like the batting average Norris has given me as a LuCroy replacement, but as expected the power has dipped moving to PETCO and I worry his weakness against Righties will eventually creep back up and hurt his production like it did in the second half last year.
I’d take Grandal over Norris RoS.
As a Kluber owner, I am relieved that he should start to turn it around. It’s been rough so far, but like you I just keep rolling him out and hoping this is the start that he puts it all together again. I was reading through the NL starting pitcher tiers and noticed Descalfini is in a pretty “safe” tier, but do you have any concerns about him after his 2 starts? I know he was never gonna keep up his current pace and this might be just a leveling out of his numbers, but his control over his past two starts hasnt been overly sharp and the K’s have dipped significantly as well. I don’t want to overreact to 2 bad outings, but I’m also nervous when pitchers like him have such a small sample size of work and they string together some uninspiring outings.
The walks concern me, especially given his fly ball nature and home park, but DeSclafani is in my personal “roster him, but he’s a spot starter” tier.
Is Preston Tucker worth a flyer? If he performs well until Springer is back, could he steal some ABs in the OF, 1B, and DH considering the underperformers the Stros have at each spot so far? I know he was not thought of very highly coming into the season, but he was destroying AAA.
OF and 1B is deep enough that I think Tucker can be overlooked for now.
“The switch hitting — technically he bats both, but I digress…”
What exactly do you mean by that? I’ve always called it switch hitting and MLB.com lists an “S” for his batting handedness. I figured that the “B” Fangraphs uses means “both”, but I’ve never known why this site uses the B instead of S.
He’s never had a plate appearance without the platoon advantage in his MLB career, but he does have one minor league PA where he hit right-handed against a righty.
So, technically, he has hit both, but for all intents and purposes, he’s a switch-hitter. At least that is my understanding.
Where are you with Cole Hamels? His SIERA is north of 4 and I saw him listed at the bottom of NL tier 3. Is it time to get what you can for him?
No, I still like him. A 4.02 SIERA isn’t great, but that is partially due to a poor walk rate. Hamels is still getting a good amount of swinging strikes and his F-Strike% is in line with his career average. Velo is fine as well.
He’s allowed a lot of home runs early, nearly twice his career rate. Sure his .247 BABIP won’t last forever, but I still think Hamels will get things squared away.
David, 12-team 5×5, Abreu and Bryant or Josh Donaldson and Corey Dickerson? Thnx!
Donaldson/Dickerson for me
Not worried about Dickerson’s health and/or production? Worried about Bryant being a rook? Abreu’s GBs? Thanks!
Not more than Bryan’ts .463 BABIP
Going forward ROS, do you like Vogt or Grandal? Would you trade Kipnis for Grandal now? I have Vogt and Gordon already as starters, so I’m trading for bench/depth to cover a slump/injury.
Vogt over Grandal, but Kipnis over Grandal.
I am streaming Bruce Chen tomorrow against Minnesota. If he pitches well, do i keep him or cut bait and get an early jump on Noah Syndergaard or Marco Gonzalez off waivers?
Noah > Marco > Chen
Quick question..Grandal or McCann..ROS..
H2H points, weekly league, 10 teams..thanks
McCann, but Grandal’s BB’s make it close.
Regarding possible streaming pitchers tomorrow, do you like Chase Whitley at home against the O’s or Chase Anderson at home against San Diego? Whitley has looked really good so far, but SSS and all that and it’s not a great match up either. That said, San Diego isn’t a great match for the other Chase either.
I could roll with someone a bit riskier like Travis Wood or Jesse Hahn, but both those guys scare me in regards to wrecking my ERA and WHiP.
Whitley was my next stream option after Rodon.
Two parter: ROS Grandal or McCann (I feel the power is slipping and YG had a top 10 batted balled distance last year)?
Also: Whitley, Frias or Gee (10% SwStr, 60% GB)?
Thanks
I should’ve asked to rank on the last one…
In a 5×5 or points league I like McCann, if OBP go with Grandal.
Whitley > Frias > Gee
Thank you. It is points, but no negative for K’s (+1 for BB).
Picked up Grandal, but who should I pick up when I dump Molina? I need another CI, but the pickings are slim. David, what do you think of Kyle Banks? Any other 1B/CI suggestions? Thanks!
Blanks is the first name? Woof. He’s owned between 7 and 15 percent in CBS/Yahoo!/ESPN leagues, so here are names with similar rates I like better, with sub-20 percent CBS/Y!/ESPN ownership rates.
Lonnie Chisenhall: 16% CBS/7% Y!/3% ESPN
In a platoon role vs RHP, I like Chisenhall as his platoon advantage can be used more than Blanks’ success against the fewer number of southpaws.
James Loney: 17% CBS/4% Y!/2% ESPN
Another 1B who should be platooned, he’s another lefty hitter who figures to play more than Blanks.
Yunel Escobar: I mentioned him a few days ago here http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/roto-riteup-may-5-2015/
ESPN standard league questions:
I just recently picked up Gattis to replace Grandal (since he was doing badly and Gattis was part way through his last-weekend homer binge). Should I keep Gattis or switch him back for Grandal?
Also, if you could help, I’m wavering on SS replacements for Zobrist. Options include W. Flores, O. Herrera, J.J. Hardy, D. Santana. I had Flores but dumped him for Hardy, and don’t know if any of these people are really better than the others until Zobrist comes back.
Gattis for me. No doubt Grandal holds the edge in OBP, but that doesn’t really matter in standard leagues. I like Gattis’ power and lineup spot — 3/4/5 for Gattis vs 5/7 for Grandal — but if Grandal continues to hit second like he did yesterday in that powerful Dodgers lineup, I’d swap out Gattis for him.
Stick with Hardy or maybe Santana if you need SB.
Thanks!