Archive for Daily Fantasy Strategy

Today’s Roto Riteup is being written while I cool down in the air conditioning. After a ridiculously long and cold winter my blood has thickened to the point where this mild 60ish degree weather feels like I’m baking. But I’m not complaining; I’d much prefer the warm weather over the cold.

On today’s agenda:
1. What to make of Josh Beckett
2. Second base in Atlanta
3. Welcome back, Adam Lind
4. The Daily Five

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Troy Tulowitzki has gotten a ton of press lately – rightfully so. He’s been fantastic. It’s almost hard to even see what other players have been up to thanks to the white hot blur in Colorado right now, but while looking away for a few seconds I noticed Brian Dozier. Dozier was pretty valuable last season in fantasy, and he’s on a quest to be even more valuable this season. The fact that he currently has 8 home runs and 11 steals draws most of the attention, but notice his walk rate. It’s a fantastic 16.3% – double his 2013 rate of 8.2%.

It feels like I’ve mentioned the Twins’ offense a lot in this space, but I can’t help it. I’m drawn to patience, and Dozier has had impeccable patience so far. His swing% sits at a paltry 35.4% – the seventh lowest rate in the league. He’s swinging less than he did last year, but his o-swing isn’t terribly different. It appears that Dozier is finally beginning to reap the rewards of his approach. He reaped them last year, although not nearly as much as he has so far in 2014.

ZiPS currently projects him to finish the year with 21 home runs, 27 stolen bases, and 100 runs. Those numbers – thanks to Kipnis’ injury and Cano’s slow start – might make him the best second baseman in fantasy baseball. Not bad a for mid-late round pick.

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Today is a day of returns, and one maybe significant debut. Clayton Kershaw returns from his month long DL stint. Obviously, it’s a big deal for fantasy players, but it might be an even bigger deal for the Dodgers. They’ve played well so far, but so have the Giants. The Dodgers have essentially been in survival mode due to the injuries their players have suffered. Today, they get their largest piece back.

Gavin Floyd returns from Tommy John surgery today, and the Braves will hope to catch lightning in a bottle with him the way they have with Aaron Harang this year and other pitchers in the past. Josh Tomlin also makes his return to the majors in Cleveland, delaying Trevor Bauer’s impending arrival even further. Thanks for nothing, Tomlin.

Robbie Ray and Blake Treinen square off in Washington. It’s Treinen’s first career start (3 relief appearances). The main attraction, though, is Ray. He’s making his major league debut against the Astros. Due to those reasons, neither will be featured in the chart below.

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I’m somewhat torn. On one hand, I linked to “Star Wars” and some of my childhood toys on May 4th. On the other hand, I neglected to mention May 4th was the 30th anniversary of my favorite John Hughes film, “Sixteen Candles.”

On today’s agenda:
1. A strong start from Nathan Eovaldi
2. Jay Bruce’s knee surgery
3. Thoughts on Seth Smith
4. The Daily Five

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Seriously, Jake Arrieta – fresh off the DL – struck out seven Cardinals over five and a third shutout innings. Yesterday’s stack of Matt Adams, Matt Carpenter, and Allen Craig were supposed to face off against a rusty, not very good Arrieta. They weren’t supposed to run into a buzzsaw.

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Today being Star Wars Day gives me a weak pretense to give you some links to things I find fun. This time it is the cast returning to their previous roles. The films, toys and books set in the “Star Wars” universe all played a major part in my childhood. I’ll always have a soft spot for playing “X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter” on the computer and fond memories of playing with my Star Wars Micro Machines.

On today’s agenda:
1. Several outfielders to the disabled list
2. A new starter in Toronto?
3. Juan Lagares, starting center fielder
4. The Daily Five

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Ah, it’s Saturday again. Saturdays are awesome because: A) most of us are off from work, and B) there’s baseball for the majority of the afternoon and night. Unfortunately, Saturdays can also be a pain – although, usually less so than Sundays – because rosters lock a little earlier. So if a player or two ends up having the day off, your chances of winning any money dip a great deal. Baseball giveth, and it taketh away.

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Happy Lumpy Rug Day! According to some sources this really is a thing. According to other sources, sometimes a rug can really tie a room together (warning: language).

On today’s agenda:
1. Jason Kipnis to the disabled list
2. The Los Angeles Dodgers rotating rotation
3. Thoughts on Travis Wood
4. The Daily Five

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Usually in April and early May we spend a lot of time wondering if certain fast starter’s are for real. Or we wonder aloud if player A is really in decline, or if his struggles are the by product of a small sample. Hell, maybe it’s both? Either way we have a lot of fun speculating. And speaking of speculating, many people thought Ben Zobrist was in for a rough year – rough by his standards – thanks to declines in his peripherals and age. All he’s done in 2014 is hit. Oh, and play good defense, like usual. As of this writing, he’s sixth on our leaderboard – as of this writing – in position player WAR with 1.4. That number is buoyed by his .302/.390/.434 slash line, which includes three homers and two steals already.

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The video game “Day of Defeat” was released 11 years and one day ago. At least that is when the commercial version of the game was officially released. I fondly remember playing DoD 3.1 Beta prior to the full release as a youngster. Back in the days before Steam, fellow nerds like myself had to use WON ID’s and deal that old ugly UI. Good times.

On today’s agenda:
1. Anthony Gose is back in the majors
2. Omar Infante’s quiet production
3. Yep, that Juan Uribe
4. The Daily Five

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