After seemingly 12 weeks of status quo, we finally have a new leader in one of our REL divisions! The Toronto Blue Jays hot off a streaking week 11 took the AL lead by 1.5 Pts following a 5-point surge last night. Right in time for the weekly update! The Blue Jays offense has been red hot, so this massive streak the past few weeks makes sense.
Over on the NL side, the Nats continue to dominate with the Cubs starting to sag a bit behind. Got a few teams still in this race! Here’s how week 12 went down in the 2016 REL League:
| NATIONAL LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – NL | ||
| Nationals | 135 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Despite a real life Nationals skid (lost 5 in a row), we’ve still maintained a comfortable lead in 1st, with a 17 point advantage over the 2nd place Cubs. Michael A. Taylor (7-22, 2 HR, 3 SB) and Danny Espinosa (6-22, 2 HR) have helped propel our offense in the last week, while Daniel Murphy has come back down to earth. | ||
| Cubs | 118 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $96 | n/a |
| San Fran Giants | 113 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $81 | Stephen Drew Was – 2B,3B,SS $0 |
| Suplex City Cards | 105 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $86 | n/a |
| Pirates | 96.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $66 | Jedd Gyorko StL – 2B,SS $0, Rookie Davis Cin – SP $0 |
| J.T. Marlin | 90 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Mookie Mets | 86 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $95 | n/a |
| Knoche’s Rockies | 78 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | 65 | n/a |
| Well the Rockies season long plan has taken a tumultuous turn thanks to Zach Wheeler’s elbow. I have slowly been building up pieces for 2017 to anchor my pitching staff, and unfortunately Wheeler was my #1 starter in that grand plan. To go along with that Jon Gray now has a “Heavy Arm”. Maybe pitchers should just stay away from New York altogether, right Johan Santana? Having said that I am cruising along nicely in 8th place which is ahead of where I expected to be with my piece meal starting staff so I am fairly happy. I am hoping I can swing maybe one more deal before deadline for another mid-top tier starter. | ||
| Dodgers | 73 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Diamondbacks | 73 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $75 | Matt Szczur ChC – OF $22, Tyler Wagner Ari – SP $0 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 56.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $5 | Sean Gilmartin NYM – RP $0, Cody Reed Cin – SP (called up) |
| Philadelphia | 50.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $47 | Zach Eflin Phi – SP $0 |
| Brewers | 47.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $57 | Sean Nolin Mil – SP $0, Yhónathan Barrios Mil – RP $0 |
| This recap can be summed up by one word… WILLLLLLLLLSON!!!!
The catcher of my future had about as thrilling a first few days in the Majors that you could dream up, homering on the first pitch he saw, getting a hit in every game where he’s logged an AB, and homering again off Wainwright in a pinch-hit appearance yesterday. I’m in love! Hopefully the fruits of my tanking all pay off like this! Really nothing else that exciting for my active roster: Scoot is swingin’ a good bat and Junior Guerra looked great yesterday afternoon… Junior is available if you’re looking for some pitching help fellow NLers. Oh almost forgot about Zach Davies! Man, if he can be a serviceable mid-rotation arm for the next 5 years, that would be an incredible get for a half-year Gerardo Parra rental… To the farm, FINALLY found news that Oscar De La Cruz is dealing with arm issues. Ughhhhh. He was a long-term investment anyway, but a bummer. To the other long-term pitching investment, Chris Paddack has now had back-to-back no hit 5 inning appearances, this last time striking out 8 and walking 0. So 5 perfect innings! Dear lord this guy is on fire! 1.16 ERA 0.47 WHIP 39:2 K:BB in 23.1 innings. Holy moly! |
||
| Jay the Wrongest | 41 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $100 | n/a |
| Braves | 37 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $84 | Bud Norris Atl – SP,RP $0, Elvis Araujo Phi – RP $0, Alexi Amarista SD – 2B,SS,OF $0 |
| AMERICAN LEAGUE | ||
|---|---|---|
| REL Dynasty – AL | ||
| Blue Jays | 123 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $92 | Danny Worth Hou – 3B $3 |
| For the first time this season I finally sit atop the standings for one of these updates. World Series here we come! It’s extremely close though as the Orioles and I have been going back and forth all week. The pitching is doing it’s best to hold strong, and the hitting is coming around. Keep it up guys!
My minor leaguers are even starting to look good, well the pitchers anyway. Sean Reid-Foley, Connor Greene, Jonathan Harris, and Angel Perdomo have all looked good lately. The bats on the farm continue to be a bit of a disaster, but at least Anthony Alford appears to be over his concussion. Baby steps… Finally, another quick comparison of MLB standings versus REL standings in the American League since this league is so tied to what your real life equivalent does in a lot of ways. TEAM MLB Rank/REL Rank |
||
| Orange Birds | 121.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | Tommy Hunter Cle – RP $0, Oliver Drake Bal – RP $1 |
| The Tribe | 106.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $79 | n/a |
| Tigers | 105.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $68 | n/a |
| Red Sox | 101.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $45 | Tommy Milone Min – SP $8 |
| Astros | 94.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $55 | Kyle Ryan Det – SP,RP $3 |
| So much has changed since I last checked in two or three weeks ago. Nowadays I roll out a starting lineup of Gattis, Morrison, Altuve, Correa, Valbuena, Springer, Calhoun, Gomez, while util rotates between J.Marte, J.Castro, and Marisnick depending on who’s playing on any given day. For the most part the bats have woken up a bit lately but the Astros are still dead last in the AL in batting average and I currently sit 3rd to last in the REL, and I have absolutely no idea how to improve it.
The pitching has come on extremely strong in the past couple of weeks. Keuchel, McCullers, McHugh, Fiers, D.Duffy, Mengden have been servicable starters recently. Unfortunately in the past couple of days I lost C.Lewis but at the same time I’m going to gain Griffin so hopefully that’ll be a net push. My relievers are Herrera, Gregerson, Giles, M.Feliz, Morin, Abad, and I added Kyle Ryan again now that he’s back in the majors and already pitching important innings, oh and the SP eligibile RP that gets holds carries a ton of value in this league and I’m pretty sure Ryan is going to get a few more of those before it’s all said and done. My biggest pitching needs though are wins and ERA which have been improving, just not as quickly as Ks (I’m in 1st!) and WHIP. 6th place, 94.5 points. Obviously my team has grown by leaps and bounds when compared to two to three weeks ago when I was languishing in the middle of the pack with about 75 points, but I’m not even remotely satisfied. 1st, I need AJ Reed who’s hitting about .350 over his past 10 games. 2nd, I need Bregman who’s numbers have come down a bit lately but still sports the steller 35:25 BB:K ratio while hitting for power. Derek Fisher – OF – AA – If there’s one Astros prospect that continuously gets left out of the conversation as a top prospect it’s Fisher. In 2015 across 2 leagues, mostly high A-ball, Fisher finished the year hitting .275 with 22 HRs and 31 SBs, while walking 66 times and striking out 132 in 495 ABs. In April of this year he hit .216 and looked lost, but in May Fisher turned it around and hit .323 with 7 HRs, and even though June’s average of .257 isn’t ideal it comes with more BBs than Ks and 10 SBs. Alltogether that comes to a .271 avg, .895 OPS with 12 HRs and 16 SBs, while playing all 3 OF spots. Not a bad 1st half for the 22 year old 1st round (CBA) pick in 2014. I kind of doubt we see Fisher this year given all the OFers in Houston but with Rasmus being vastly overpaid and both him and Gomez being free agents after this year I think we can safely assume Fisher gets his feet wet in the majors next year. Francis Martes – SP – AA – The Stros top pitching prospect had an abismal April to the tune of a 9.00 ERA and 1.85 WHIP in 13 innings. May saw some improvement with a 3.44 ERA, but too many walks still yielded a 1.58 WHIP. In June though Martes finally looks like the best pitcher in the system with a 1.93 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 7:25 BB:K ratio in 23.1 innings. At 20 years old it’s tough to imagine Martes sniffs the majors this year but he’s become one of my biggest draws for watching AA Corpus Christi. Not that I need another reason to watch that team. For reference sake the Cubs are currently 47-23. The Hooks 1st half record, 47-23. |
||
| Mariners | 91 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $25 | Tim Lincecum LAA – SP $47, Chris Young KC – SP,RP $0 |
| Yankees | 73.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $59 | Ike Davis NYY – 1B $6 |
| White Sox | 72 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $84 | Buddy Boshers Min – RP $1, Marlon Byrd Cle – OF $0 |
| Power Rangers | 66.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $74 | n/a |
| Royals | 65 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $67 | Bruce Rondon Det – RP $16, Adrian Sampson Sea – SP $1, Brian Flynn KC – SP,RP $0 |
| The re-tooling (not calling it a “re-build”) has begun. Not nearly done, but have made several trades and acquisitions in the past couple of weeks with the goal of adding younger, high-upside players. Obtained top Red Sox pitching prospect, Anderson Espinoza in exchange for Eduardo Nunez and Ian Kennedy. Slight of build, and still only 18, Espinoza has drawn comparisons to Pedro Martinez and I kind of see it. Certainly, I’ll accept that comp as a reasonable “floor” for my lofty expectations of Little Pedro’s future career.Surprising news that Oswaldo Arcia, who I obtained recently in another trade was DFA’d by the Twins, but it should still work out. Hopefully Dave Dombrowski agrees with me, but I’ve already found a new and better home for young Oswaldo…in Boston, as the platoon mate with Chris Young in left field. Perfect fit and can’t wait to hear those Sawx announcers say “and anotha blast by Ass-EEE-yuh leaves the pack…”. I may be getting ahead of myself though because the dude is still brutal with the glove. I’m not up on all the defensive metrics, but if I understand them correctly, every time Oswaldo steps into leftfield, the other team gains something like an extra 1.2 runs per game. But with all those 13-10 games in Fenway, who’s going to even notice, right? Make it happen Dave! (old Jedi mind trick)
So as not to make this Royals update exclusively about the Red Sox, I also made an aggressive FAAB bid to insure I got Bruce Rondon, who was called back up and seems likely to get late innings opportunities right away. With a new attitude, a 100 MPH+ fastball and only crappy relievers ahead of him, I’m liking his chances to emerge and stick next season as the Tigers’ long-term option at closer. |
||
| Halos | 63.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $51 | n/a |
| Rays | 62.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $4 | Deolis Guerra LAA – RP $0 |
| Athletics | 36 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $83 | n/a |
| Minnesota Twins | 17.5 | Waiver Adds and Prospect Callups Past Week: |
| FAAB Remaining: | $70 | n/a |
