Roto Riteup: September 29, 2018

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September 29, 2018

We just hit dingers here at the Roto Riteup.

On the Agenda:
1. Various News and Notes
2. Streaming Pitchers

 

Various News and Notes
Kyle Freeland gave up 11 hits to the Nationals on Friday, but it only resulted in two runs allowed to go along with one walk and four strikeouts.


This has been a fabulous season for the southpaw, one that will finish with him sitting among the top-20 starting pitchers in fantasy. His GB% (46) also ranks among the top-20 – joining both of his teammates Jon Gray and German Marquez in that category. His xFIP sits at 4.22, which correlates with his luck in both LOB% and BABIP. He did start throwing his mediocre change-up more this season which helped keep hitters off-balance, but there’s obvious concerns with him repeating this in 2019. His K% (20) doesn’t stand to increase next season based on his 9% SwStr, but he did post 11% marks in that metric each of the last two months meaning there could be a few more strikeouts if it were to roll over into next year. All-in-all it’s a good time for a few of the Rockies starters when it comes to valuating them for 2019, but Freeland is not this good, and won’t keep this up. In the 2 Early Mocks, German Marquez was the first Rockies starter selected – going 115th overall on average. Freeland sat in the 150 range, with Gray rounding it out at 180th overall. At those specific costs I like Marquez the most, but Gray presents a decent bargain based on his skills. Freeland was barely drafted in most formats heading into 2018, but his skillset makes him a viable back-end starter for mixed leagues and his results from this season will push him much higher.

My fantasy baseball obsession – David Dahl – hit a home run in his fifth-straight game against the Nationals on Friday. Sometimes in life, we can have nice things – even if it’s for a little while. These are the moments we treasure, especially if we’re counting on him to produce in the season’s final moments.

Lucas Giolito will finish the 2018 season with the worst ERA among qualified starters (6.13).


He allowed seven runs in 1.1 IP against the Twins on Friday after coming into the outing with a 3.28 ERA and 1.34 WHIP over four starts (25 IP) against them this season. Giolito essentially had one good month (August), where he compiled a 3.86 ERA and 1.02 WHIP to go along with a 40/12 K:BB over 37 IP (five starts). Outside of that month it was a miserable first full major league season filled with substandard control and command. His name value alone will carry some weight in deep leagues and AL-Only formats heading into 2019, but we need to see some tangible progress before he can be considered fantasy viable.

Mike Foltynewicz held the Phillies to one run over five innings to go along with nine strikeouts and one walk en route to 13th victory of the year.


What a turnaround for 26-year old. He’ll end the year with a 2.85 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 202/68 K:BB over 183 IP. While he’s definitely more of a 3.50-3.80 ERA guy, his strikeout numbers aren’t a fluke, his BB% should stay relatively the same, and he’s doing a better job of limiting home runs. He finishes right in front of Kyle Freeland on the ESPN Player Rater, and is currently going just inside the top-100 in the 2 Early Mocks.

Just for the sake of helping out those fantasy owners that are looking for some possible offense in the season’s final days – here’s the top players over the last seven days that are less than 30% owned in ESPN leagues:

Christian Yelich – I’m kidding!

Renato Nunez – He’s not playing every day but he has a homer in three of-his-last five starts and is slashing .319/.324/.580 in September.

Victor Robles – Now this is somebody that should be getting some 2019 draft buzz (ahem, not Adalberto Mondesi). Robles has a homer and/or a steal in three-straight starts. He potentially could be sat in Colorado, but he’s worth playing the next two days if he gets the nod.

Greg Allen – Hitting .311/.426/.422 over 45 AB this month and has six stolen bases over the last week. If you need steals he’s your man.

 

Streaming Pitchers
Pitchers for Today: Steven Matz vs MIA, Jacob Nix vs ARI, Ryan Borucki vs TAM
None of these guys present much upside, but I believe they’re fairly safe options that should be available in most formats (maybe not Matz).

High-Risk Options: Trevor Richards at NYM
Mets are awful at home and Richards is coming off a stellar outing against the Reds.

Pitchers for Tomorrow: Joey Lucchesi vs ARI, Brett Anderson at LAA, Mike Leake vs TEX
Arizona and Texas have been awful this month offensively. Anderson has allowed two runs in 11.2 IP against the Angels over two starts against them. Lucchesi hasn’t had the best results against the Diamondbacks this season, but he did fair well in his last start against them and has been on a decent run recently overall.

High-Risk Option: Dylan Covey at MIN
This is the pure definition of high risk. Covey has held Cleveland scoreless over two straight starts and faces a Twins offense that’s sitting league-average overall for the month. This is only if you’re in a really tough situation.

 

Quick Comment
This is the last Roto Riteup I’ll be doing this season and I wanted to say a couple of things. It’s truly been an honor contributing to this column a couple of times a week and helping readers of this amazing site be able to wake up and get some fun fantasy related info. I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read and I hope it led to helping you in your leagues. I’ll strive for things to be even better on my end next year, but it’s you all who truly make this fun and I want to thank you for your support of the column. Good luck the rest of the season and I hope you all have a great time watching the playoffs and offseason unfold. If anyone ever wants to connect with me outside of this platform my twitter handle is @MikeWernerFWFB. Thanks again everyone for an amazing season!





 

Fantasy Baseball and Tampa Bay Rays enthusiast. Restaurant manager by day, fantasy analyst by night. Contributor to Rotographs, Baseball HQ, Fantasy Pros, and co-owner of Friends with Fantasy Benefits. Follow me @MikeWernerFWFB.

19 Comments
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Jimmember
5 years ago

I have read every single one. Thank you.

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Mike Werner
5 years ago
Reply to  Jim

Thank you.

0