Archive for randall delgado

Last week, I reviewed my NFBC Draft Champions League results. I think some of my speculative saves (Joel Peralta early on; Adam Ottavino later on) could come to fruition, and I am pretty bullish on the depth of my rotation. I have a sundry of sleepers that could provide supplemental value: Daniel Norris, Randall Delgado, Jaime Garcia, Rafael Montero, Trevor Cahill and Robbie Erlin.

With that said, some of the feedback was helpful. I agree that based on my closing situation (among other things), I can’t possibly compete for the grand prize unless I get very lucky. I also do not have enough sure-thing starters to punt saves altogether to at least ensure a league win.

I don’t agree with a lack of depth on offense. I have CI/OF flexibility and a sundry of power (Justin Smoak, Travis Snider) and speed (Billy Burns, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor) on the bench. My second catching slot is in question, but Caleb Joseph could provide some surprise value until Matt Wieters returns. I like Andrew Susac, but I need to hope for a Buster Posey or Brandon Belt injury.

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You have seen some Tout and LABR reviews for the past few weeks here on the site. We all can’t be so lucky to participate in such glorious leagues. On the other hand, we can all take part in NFBC leagues.

NFBC’s $150 NFBC Draft Champions leagues are a perfect format for me:

a) I have impending time constraints including my first child in June!

b) I didn’t have to ask my wife for permission to use our mutual bank account.

c) I was able to dwell on each pick if/when needed (8 hours to make a pick) and

d) There are no trades or free agent pick-ups once the draft is complete. This feature is my wife’s favorite, and I appreciate the preventative collusion measures. I am also much more interested in draft strategy and player projections/rankings/draft position than I am jumping on small sample sizes in-season.

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As I write this, Mike Trout is sporting a .556 batting average in Spring Training. I also had the pleasure of drafting him first overall in my NFBC Draft Champions league. To celebrate his feat and my luck, I am shooting for at least five of nine of the following bold predictions.

Here goes (extra ballsy right from the start):

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Any day now, Zach Sanders (@zvsanders) will come out with his end-of-season FAVRz/Fantasy Rankings. Look out for them.

For this post, I will provide three sets of rankings using that same approach (summed up z-scores) for our end-of-season “Bullpen Report: Expected Fantasy Rankings”. The Bullpen Report team should follow up with role reports for each division in the coming weeks as well.

The first set of rankings you will find almost anywhere: on the fantasy sites that you use, via player-raters, etc. It’s the standard 5×5 fantasy value (Wins, ERA, WHIP, SO and Saves). The second grid will be for 6×6 leagues (addition of Holds). The last grid will be for 5×5 and 6×6 leagues, but instead of standard ERA and WHIP, we’ll look at rankings if you were to use expected ERA (via SIERA) and adjusted (adj)WHIP through BABIP differential: I will explain below.

1) 5×5 Rankings (Wins, ERA, WHIP, SO and Saves) – actual 5×5 value in column 4; expected 5×5 value in column 5:

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I’ve stolen from the movie before. I’ll do so again…

Guarantee? If you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your fantasy teams’ sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about listening to quality content from me.

If you don’t know where this reference is from, then well…just ring your call button, and Tommy will come back there and hit you over the head with a tack hammer.

I actually will play guarantee fairy here, specifically for deep leagues since there are no uber-exciting names that jump out in my below grid. So here goes…

So long as they pitch to a qualifying level of innings without getting hurt or losing velocity (not ballsy enough to leave out these contingencies), I GUARANTEE these starters won’t be any worse next year (although in the grid below I highlighted in different strengths of green/red both starters and relievers):

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In standard drafts, the late round flyers are some of my favorite picks because on the one hand they “cost” you extremely little and on the other, there’s always the chance that you’ve picked up a gem on the cheap. Position battles are perfect spots to look for hidden value because many managers aren’t willing to float a pick for someone without a regular gig. With that in mind, there are a few starting pitching battles which might actually feature arms worth rostering.

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Today’s Roto Riteup mysteriously focuses on the Braves and Rockies.

–  The Braves have finally decided that Tyler Pastornicky is their shortstop, at least for the 2012. Pastornicky is what some would call a “contact machine,” but he doesn’t have much in the way of power production. Pastornicky has put up decent SB numbers in the minors, but don’t expect him to swipe more than, say, 20 bags while hitting in the eighth hole.

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Welcome to our first installment of the Deep Keepers series at RotoGraphs. Today, we’ll take a quick peek at four prospects who had impressive minor league Opening Day performances last night.

Mike Montgomery | LHP | Kansas City Royals: With young pitchers Zack Greinke and Luke Hochevar rolling along in Kansas City right now, Montgomery has the next highest ceiling in the organization (sorry, Aaron Crow). The left-hander had a dazzling 2010 debut against Atlanta’s high-A affiliate and he allowed just two hits and one walk in 5.0 innings of work. He struck out six batters and induced six ground-ball outs.

Randall Delgado | RHP | Atlanta Braves: Montgomery’s opponent on Thursday night, Delgado was equally as impressive and he allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter in 5.0 innings. He struck out five hitters and saw seven balls scooped up his infield defense. Just 20, Delgado has good fastball velo, solid control for his age, and does a good job of getting ground-ball outs. There is some thought that Delgado may be destined for a bullpen job at the MLB level, but I think he can stick in the starting rotation.

Ike Davis | 1B | New York Mets: As we mentioned in our most recent Podcast on the FanGraphs side (available today), Mike Jacobs and Daniel Murphy are not the long-term answers at first base for the New York Mets. They’re just not first division first basemen. Davis, though, could be… especially if he keeps tapping into his power. After failing to hit a home run in his ’08 debut, he slammed 20 last season split between high-A and double-A. The former No. 1 draft pick also just missed ending the season with a .300 batting average. While his teammates struggled during Opening Night 2010, Davis went 3-for-4 and slugged two doubles. He represented 50% of the team’s hits and he was the only Buffalo player that got an extra-base hit.

Brad Emaus | 2B/3B | Toronto Blue Jays: Emaus opened a lot of eyes this spring and actually stuck around camp longer than expected. He’s opening the 2010 season back in double-A, which is where he spent all of ’09. Emaus is being asked to play more third base this season because of the much clearer opening at the MLB level (Aaron Hill is at second, signed to a long-term deal). The infielder does not have more than 15-homer power, but he should hit for a good average with gap power and can even steal five to 10 bases. He also has some versatility that could help out a fantasy roster.