True story, here’s a text conversation between Grey and I. Me: How gross is it that I am excited to write about Dan Straily? Grey: Gross. What, you wanted more? Like all the things we say we want to do to Giancarlo? Sorry, I’m no Olivia Munn. Or at least I’m not until I get hacked. But whatever, I’m not being facetious here nor am I trying to drum up mock enthusiasm; I really do like the concept of Straily in deeper league settings. You remember that time way back when when he had you a little excited too? Yeah, we forget quickly in this silly little game of ours that at one point, Straily was a thing. The pitching world can do that to you sometimes. Guy gets hurt or misses a couple of years and poof, everything he could’ve ever been or ever was is gone faster than Bruce Jenner’s adam’s apple. Don’t know what I mean? Well let me show you. Here’s my looking to Straily and why he could be a diamond in the rough for deep league 2015 Fantasy Baseball…
To talk about the merit of Straily for 2015, I’m gonna do something that’s confusing: not talk about Straily. Given how tough a sell this might be, it’s probably the best route for both sides. The first thing I’d like to point out with regards to Straily is that he just went to the Houston Astros. The big thing in deep league settings – and for making the right transactions in regular settings – is to know your teams and who runs them. Jeff Luhnow took over as general manager in December of 2011 but prior to that, he was known as one of the masterminds behind the St Louis Cardinals and their scouting from 2003 on. He’s also the guy that noticed Collin McHugh’s curveball spun 2,000 times per minute, compared to the average curveball that spun 1,500 times…yeah, he’s a bit in depth on these things. All this to say, the Astros don’t take on bad arms and put them into the rotation without some reason and logic behind it. Point number two for me is Hank Conger. Though it was a smaller sample size than others on this list, the Astros didn’t just snap up Hank because of his hitting ability. He looks to be a potential elite catcher when it comes to framing pitches. If you’re curious who Straily used to throw to, go take a peek at Wellington Castillo…if that’s the beef, I’ll take the chicken, please. But of course, none of that says much about Dan himself and now we must. Straily came up through the Athletics organization as a 24th round pick in 2009 but became one of their top prospects in 2012. He’s not an overpowering pitcher as his fastball typically sits around 90 MPH but his offspeed pitches, in particular his slider and his change-up, are a big plus to his arsenal. As you can see from those listings, great fastball isn’t always needed to be a fantasy-relevant pitcher. Last year, Straily suffered from what he called having a ‘weak arm/shoulder’ which diminished his fastball and changed his arm slot. Though he’s not guaranteed the final spot in the Astros rotation, in looking at the competition for spot 4 – Brett Oberholtzer – let’s just say I don’t believe he’s just competing for slot #5 in that rotation. If Straily can get healthy and come out strong, he could be a viable breakout candidate for regular fantasy, especially if he develops an above-average curve and increases his groundball rates. Who knows, maybe Grey meant ‘gross’ like ‘gross profit’. Yeah, I’m sure he’ll say that when Straily takes off.
