2017 REL Dynasty League Update: Week 3

Brewers Trade: Scott Schebler (OF), Dilson Herrera (2B, SS) to Cincinnati Reds for Sal Romano (SP)

Padres Trade: Erick Aybar (3B,SS) to J.T. Marlin for Matt Adams (1B)

Padres Trade: Matt Kemp (OF) to NY Dodgers for Alex Verdugo (OF – farm)

Got a nice start out of Zach Elfin this week. I don’t have a roster spot for him yet but I really like his potential.

Elfin made nine starts last season as a 22yr old rookie and allowed 2 or fewer runs in five of them – – including a complete game shutout and a complete game allowing just one run. Not bad for a guy I got off the scrap heap for ZERO dollars.

I was also able to have a cheap solid week on the waiver wire, which gives me some options to play with in my Outfield now depending on who is in the lineup. I know have Kike, Bonifacio, Herrmann, Ichiro, and Niewenhuis to man the Outfield until my group gets back. Also picked up Miguel Montero and Chris Taylor to give some depth at other positions. Think Chris Taylor could get quite a bit of playing time with Forsythe out. Playing the Batty Call game which for me just means whoever is in the lineup. Go Rockies.

Quick update from me this week – the active team looks somewhat competent to not be a full-punt, as I wait for my youth to get to the Majors.  I really hope – not only for my REL interests, but as a Brewers fan – that Tommy Milone sticks in the rotation over stupid Matt Garza.  Unfortunately $$$$$$$$$$ might keep that from happening.  I hate Garza.

I may have overspent yet again on Brewers – but again I like owning all that I can that are useful to see what happens.  The whole “throw spaghetti on the wall” cliche.  Brewers catchers are – get this – .377 8 R 3 HR 8 RBI.  That’s the best catcher in the MLB so far right?  So who cares if it’s split amongst two guys in a deep league like the REL…  Hah!

Got a nice little early-season surprise from Raimel Tapia, who went 0-7.  Booooo.  I watched one at bat though, and it was a liner to right in San Fran.  Can’t wait for him to flirt with .350 for years with Coors’ BABIP.  And happy to see them burn through another promotion – sounds like he’s close and might be a post-trade deadline every-dayer.  One can dream!

Mostly my pitching staff has been holding their own. Mike Leake is still pretending to be the best pitcher in baseball without actually striking that many people out. I’ve only picked up 2 wins (Leake,Wacha) in the last week but my ERA and WHIP haven’t been too affected by the loses. Jamie Garcia gave me a decent outing, Carlos Martinez was all over the place with 8 walks and 11 strikeouts. I keep getting notices from yahoo that Adam Wainwright has been dropped by thousands upon thousands, It’s kind of funny, in my head I see that notice and just say “shuuut up.” Hoping he can give me a line closer to last years rather than the 7.24 ERA 2.20 WHIP he’s carrying now!

My relievers put up a decent week with Oh, Rosenthal and Hudson picking up 2 sv/h a piece this past week. Maurer picked up an unscathed save last night, his first since April 7th. Siegrist, Cecil and Neshek all picked up a hold this past week as well. Well, bullpen in order, check. What else do I need?
Oh yea, batters.

My batters…well they’ve combined for a .204 avg, with 6 HR, 17 R, 22 RBI and 5 SB. Piscotty has been my best hitter but surprisingly Jose Martinez has the best the AVG, 6 hits with only 13 plate appearances but has hit in the last 7 games he’s played. That is including pinch hitting. Three of my 5 SB have come from Villar but he also gave me a .133 AVG.

I picked up LeBlanc and Brett Eibner last night. Hoping for a spark with Eibner. He had been batting pretty well in Triple-A to start the year. LeBlanc is just a reliever with SP eligibility that pitched 5 scoreless with 2 strikeouts and a hold this past week.

GO CARDS!

The other trade I made this week was Erick Aybar for Matt Adams. I think this is the kind of deal that I have to make given my position. Aybar likely won’t be on the Padres after this year or be an MLB player by the time I’m ready to compete. Adams doesn’t have a clear role right now, but he has a better chance to be a contributor in the future.

I set a goal of finishing in the 10-12 range that I’m quickly abandoning, this is definitely a last place team. I honestly don’t know what to do now that I’ve traded Matt Kemp. Starting a Chase Utley sweepstakes seems a lot less exciting, but alas, it is the path I must travel.

*looks stoically into the distance and hits send on an offer for Starling Marte*

But alas, the Yankees seem to be pushing me for a decision on whether or not to contend now. Judge seems to hit a homer every other day while minimizing his love for striking out. Luis looks more confident than ever and his K rate is absurd and also can’t be maintained but his last two starts have been fun to watch.

And while the injuries to Sanchez and Didi and the early struggles of Greg Bird haven’t helped, I still find us near the top of most offensive categories. As for pitching, I won’t have the amount of starts, quantity or quality, to compete. I’m still finalizing my future rotation and being outbid for Montgomery and losing Kaprielian to Tommy John isn’t helping. However, I’m confident that guys like Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield can fill the need nicely.

Either way, Cashman has filled the farm for me and I’m appreciative. Thank you sir.

Now my complaint of the week. What is Minnesota doing with their Pitching? I understand punting a stat in a category but not an entire category. Leading the league in ERA and Whip but only pitching 3 innings this season seems to me to take away from the integrity of the league. I may be the only one who feels this way but think it needs to be addressed with possibly a minimum inning limit. I would love to hear other manager’s comments on this topic.

I’m trying to remain patient while looking to fill the holes I see in my team. With too many 1st basemen on my roster to play with Carlos Santana, Albert Pujols, and Mike Napoli I’d love to trade one. Unfortunately neither got off to a hot start which always makes it easier to deal. I believe both guys are .250ish, 25 hrs, and 80 rbi guys which I would think should have value in a league this deep. I would love to pick up a reliable start from one of these guys and so far it’s a mixed bag. We’ll see what I can work out.

It will be interesting to see what move Cleveland makes when Jason Kipnis comes off the DL this week. Will they send Yandy Diaz back to the minors or will the move come in the OF. I’m definitely feeling a roster crunch at the moment.

Go Tribe!

The Bad: My pitching staff has been bad to start the year. Lots of blow ups. However, it is still early and I have plenty of time to recover (assuming Gausman pitches better). Still need to address my lack of depth.

The Ugly: Injuries to Graveman and Britton have me worried as I need both to be healthy if I want to win this year. Just like the real Orioles, I also really need Tillman to come back strong and healthy. I think I realized too late how much harder it is going to be to get good pick ups this year so I will definitely have to be more aggressive on my bidding (was not even close to getting Jordan Montgomery).

League Related Note: I thought something was off with the REL Twins pitching strategy for this year. They are guaranteed 15 points in the rate stats and 1 point in the counting stats for a total of 33 pitching points. This seemed like a bad idea to me taking last in 3 categories, even if it means first in 2. I went to compare their finish last year and they ended the year with 5 total points for pitching so this new strategy definitely checks out. Well done!

I’ve climbed up to 10th place in the standings, and it seems like finishing 8th or 9th is plausible. We will see, particularly if the Twins can get something out of one of Park, Vargas, and Buxton.

The Segura injury has obviously been a boon to me as Taylor Motter is hitting like a man who wants more PAs going forward (7/3/6/0/.257 in the last two weeks).

Sano is obviously my other big contributor on offense, and I’m piecing together a few PAs from Gimenez and Narvaez (who is playing while Soto is hurt, I added him for $5).

Since our REL rules require me to carry 15 Royals on my roster, I focused on hitting over pitching and chose to roster pretty much all their starting position players. I chose badly. You’ll never guess which team is dead last in RBI’s, with half as many as the league leaders? Well, since this update is about the Royals, I guess you will guess correctly. How’s this for a “Stat of the Day”…the Royals are batting .149 with runners in scoring position this year, oy vey!!

I’m sure positive regression is coming, and they’ll be hitting .176 or so by mid-summer, but I am starting to get concerned about top prospect Raul Mondesi, who looks totally lost at the plate. So bad in fact that I’ve coined a new baseball term for him…”Reverse Pitch Recognition”. Never seen anything like it. He literally will not swing at fastballs straight down the middle, but never passes on a chance to hopelessly flail away at a breaking ball a foot off the plate. Serious question, why don’t they pinch hit Pitcher Travis Wood for Mondesi in key late inning situations? That dude can’t pitch at all, but man can he rake with the bat (Reverse Position Recognition?). If I was the Manager, I would pinch hit Travis all the time just to make a point to the rest of the team…”You guys all suck and a damn pitcher can hit better than all of your sorry asses”. Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t be known as much of a “Players’ Coach”.

Despite my frustrations, I’m still taking the long-term view on this thing (meaning no low-ball offers for Mondesi) and am still hoping to contend in another year…or two…maybe three and certainly no more than four…okay, five years at worst case.