All right, we almost made it a week without a Covid positive test in MLB, but Sunday morning, the Oakland Athletics announced that a member of their crew tested positive for coronavirus and their play has been postponed. News will be developing more, but as of the time of writing (Sunday morning), you'll probably want to pay attention to your Oakland starters (i.e. Jesus Luzardo, Frankie Montas, Chris Bassitt) in weekly lineup leagues. For DFS and daily lineups, you can follow the news and do what you have to do.
Again, we're nearing the 60% mark of the season for most teams in MLB, and the same goes for most of your fantasy baseball teams. If you're going to make a move -- whether the waiver wire or a trade -- it's time to do it now. Don't believe me? Let's take a look at the
Rest-of-Season-o-Nator-o-Tron. That Sixto Sanchez guy that everybody's talking about? Hit Control-F and search his projections for the rest of the season. Come on, do it! Oh fine, I'll just tell you. It's 23IP, 1W, and a probably too-conservative 17K. What about Gerrit Cole? 36IP, 3W, and 49K. OK math majors, let's get to work! If you're trailing in pitching stats in your fantasy league, what's the likelihood that Sixto Sanchez helps you catch up to the team that's starting Gerrit Cole every 5 days? Not all that great, right? The Marlins have a lot of catch-up to do, and Sixto Sanchez can't throw those extra games, and no manager is going to risk The Sanchize by throwing him overtime in a year when 50% of the teams make the playoffs. For actual baseball, this is amazing, because the Marlins seem on track to make the playoffs and you're going to see The Sanchize playing in the wildest shootout of baseball playoffs ever seen in human history. But for fantasy baseball, you're getting, at most, maybe 2W and -- if you're lucky -- 30Ks from Sixto over the next few weeks.
So, how
do you overcome the teams that are starting the entirely-possible rotation of Shane Bieber, Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, and Andrew Heaney (all of whom are in the top 25)?
Trevor Rosenthal and Mitch Moreland were traded to the Padres. Here's what the Padres are saying to the major leagues: We are your father. Going the other way was Edward Olivares, and some prospects. The hug at the airport when Franchy Cordero sees Edward Olivares will be priceless. "What kind of things are there to do in Kansas City?" "Do you like jazz?" "I thought people just said they like jazz, but no one actually likes jazz." "True." Then after a brief pause, "Do the Royals let you play?" "Nah, they have Alex Gordon." As for Rosenthal, he goes to a place with no set closer, and they will win some games. Rosenthal could be a top 10 closer the rest of the way, or he blows up his 1st game, and Drew Pomeranz is the closer again, or Emilio Pagan. For now, I'd put Rosenthal, Pomeranz then Pagan, as the pecking order. In KC, I'd look at Greg Holland, Scott Barlow or Josh Staumont, that order, but with limited chances. Oh, and Jesse Hahn, who got the save on Saturday, is there and he had an affair with Reverend Jim Bakker. Finally, Mitch Moreland, well, nothing really changes for him, or the main Padres hitters. The DH gave the Padres more room to play with, and they got Moreland. He can hit it out of any stadium, and he enters a better lineup. Did I just say the Padres' lineup is better than a Red Sox lineup? Yup, welcome to 2020 and back from your coma! Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
"I want to be a cardiologist, to be a heart surgeon, but I don't know how that's gonna work with baseball as well. So, I might do something business-related, so I get a little bit of business acumen going into the real world. And then once I'm done with baseball, I can probably go back and continue my study in medicine."
--17-year old Triston McKenzie in 2015
[caption id="attachment_1936632" align="aligncenter" width="520"]
23-year old Triston McKenzie, 2020 Debut[/caption]
I mean, Triston McKenzie achieved both of his dreams, right? In his major league debut, McKenzie surgically sliced through the heart of the Tigers lineup, giving up one run over six innings while whiffing 10 batters. And you know what? There's a very good chance that he takes the heart out of Zach Plesac, whose arbitration schedule would be delayed if Cleveland keeps him at the alternate site much longer. Is it too early to call McKenzie the "Cardiac Kid?"
If you were to predict the ace of the Astros staff in April -- it would’ve been the Fram-Fram man wouldn’t it? Framber Valdez’s 1.72 ERA obviously isn’t sustainable, but his 2.59 FIP is showing me that maybe it’s not TOO far off from reality. The guy has improved drastically on his control (2 BB/9 compared to 5.6 last year) and has allowed only 1 HR in 31.1 IP this year. I’m a little worried about the walks and hits returning to previous numbers -- but for this week he has two relatively good match-ups (vs LAA; vs OAK) and you should ride his hot hand. He could be up in Code Blue soon.
I love fast cars, fast turnaround at the buffet, and fast waiting lines, so when it comes to pitchers, it only makes sense that I've got the need....the need for speed. Guys...or girls.....who can throw mid-90s make me hyperventilate. Even better when they are young. Now, no need to call the authorities or anything, but I'll admit that I'm an ageist. Once a player passes the 30-year threshold, I start giving the, "I'll call you back when I get a chance." So, then why do I sort of, kind of like Tommy Milone, a 33-year-old pitcher who averages 86 mph on his fastball?
Milone was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 10th round of the 2008 MLB draft. He was traded to the Oakland Athletics in 2011, where he spent two years before getting traded to the Minnesota Twins. To the New York Mets in 2017, then back to the Nationals in 2018, the Seattle Mariners in 2019, and finally ending up with the Baltimore Orioles this season.
[Chapter 1 of my upcoming novel, FML Grey]
Grey Albright, Fantasy Master Lothario, wakes in a haze. Last night was hard, but not in the way Cougs would have preferred it. After watching Chris Paddack get shelled by the Dodgers, Grey collapsed on the couch, crumpled boba containers at his feet. "Draft pitchers late," he muttered, falling into a fitful sleep with images of Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander haunting him.
Now awake, Grey runs to the bathroom and grabs the Barbasol. "5.54 FIP!" he spits into the sink. "Paddack has a negative value fastball!" Grey lathers his lip sweater, and grabs his razor. The man in the mirror is manic. "You're no lothario!" Grey shouts at himself, his Schick stick in hand. "You don't deserve this anymore!" With short, rapid strokes, Grey shaves off his mustache. The commotion wakes Cougs, who enters the bathroom. Grey looks up, wiping his now-naked philtrum, "Dylan Bundy's the top pitcher on the player rater," he says. "I need a boba."
Today’s already short Thursday slate is further shortened by postponements. Plus, the pitching pickings are a little slim. You may need to pick your poison today on
FanDuel: spend big on pitching, or punt pitching and concentrate on hitting. If you fancy the former option, I like (and will thus be starting)
Yu Darvish ($9,600) for the match-up versus the Brewers. $9,600 is not a bad price for
Streamonator’s current top pitching pick. He was great last time out versus the Royals, going 7.0 innings with only 1 earned run. Today he takes the mound in Milwaukee versus the Brewers, who are 23rd in MLB in batting average. If you want to focus on hitting today, there are some nice stackable options as the Phillies look to
beat up on Tom Eshelman at home.
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What is up people! It's Monday afternoon for most of you, and that case of the Mondays has you thinking about the next worst thing in your life. No, not the death of your dog, Peaches. Yes, that's it! The state of your fantasy baseball pitching roster! It's beer thirty somewhere, so crack a cold one, and let's explore the exploding world of starting pitching in the third installment of the Top 100 Starting Pitchers series!
August 10-16, 2020
Greetings all, I'm stepping in for Mr. Pants today throwing on short rest. I went and got loose in the pen and now I'm ready to get poppin'. It's been a long week so rather than beat around the bush, let's just dive right into what I saw around the MLB on Friday night:
Ryan Weber - 3 inn 7 baserunners 2 ER 3 Ks. He's bad and so is their bullpen.
Brandon Workman - 1 inn 0 ER and SV. Okay except for him, he's the only bright spot in that radioactive wasteland.
Andrew Benintendi - 0-4 with BB, 1 run, and the golden sombrero as he continues to bat leadoff hitting .061/.279. I've noticed he's walking a lot yet his contact is atrocious. His eyes are fine, but his swing is way off. I have no idea why Roenicke is keeping him at leadoff. Could be to ensure he has more ABs to help him out of his funk and/or further evidence the Sawx are mailing in this entire season. Just one big extended Spring Training.
Matthew Boyd ($7,900) had a tough time in his first two starts this year, but a night against the Pirates is what Boyd needs to bounce back. The Pirates were the weakest lineup in baseball against left-handed pitching last year with a .289 wOBA. They've hit lefties well so far this season, but I'm willing to bet against that small sample performance...
glances in the direction of Philip Evans and Guillermo Heredia... I wouldn't be worried about Boyd tonight. After posting a 30.2% K-rate last year, Boyd's got lots of upside to chase in GPP tournaments.
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August 3-9, 2020
The Major League Baseball 2020 season is a mess, and this is a post about it. As of Saturday night,
104 players and 24 staff/training members had tested positive for coronavirus since the inception of the season, with 42 cases identified in the last week. Boston Red Sox star and former Tier 3 member Eduardo Rodriguez
has been shut down for the 2020 season following myocarditis that was associated with his bout of coronavirus.
20% of MLB teams had games postponed this weekend, with the Marlins and Phillies not having played since last week. At the time of writing, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that he intended for the remaining teams to continue playing the truncated season, although there are reports that if more positive cases erupt on Sunday, then a work stoppage would follow. There's a non-zero chance that if you're reading this on Monday afternoon, baseball is again in a holding pattern.
What is going on everyone? I think this is the first FanDuel MLB slate where I have not had at least 10 teams to dig through and woof. Pitching is horrid today at first glance but we take what they give us. Luckily everyone has to deal with this dumpster fire today. Let's dig into this little 6 gamer that we are working with today.
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
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