Life was good for Derek. Retired from the Yankees in 2014 at the age of 40. On top of the world. The King of New York. Started up ThePlayersTribune.com. Opened restaurants. Partnered on multiple business deals. Even got married in 2016! Was able to join Bruce Sherman’s consortium in purchasing the Marlins. Life was indeed good. Then the Marlins lost seven of their first ten games. Jeter knew it’d be bad, but he didn’t know it’d be this bad. The competitive juices began bubbling in his body. Then the Marlins lost eight of the next ten games. Steam began venting through his ears. Jeter stormed into Sherman’s office. “Bruce! I can’t take this shit anymore. I gave you my Black Book for this? You’re a gazillionaire. Do something.” KAPOW! Bruce b-slapped Derek with the Black Book…knocking him out. Little did Derek know, but underneath Marlins Park, a group of scientists had been working feverishly after getting the order earlier in the year. “I’ve been watching Westworld. I’m a gazillionaire. Do something.” When Derek woke up, he felt woozy. “Mirror. I need a mirror.” Ahhhhhhhhh. After the doctors had explained what they had done, Derek got up. Legs felt spry. Arms felt strong. Let’s do this. It was tough sledding in the beginning. From April 22nd to the end of the month, a span of eight games, Derek “Dietrich” (36% owned – increase of 15.4%) hit .179 with one home run and a 42.9% strikeout rate. Once the month of May hit, though, Derek got his groove back. 8 home runs, 25 runs scored, 21 RBI, .348 batting average and a 23.4% strikeout rate. Now, the BABIP has been .426. That’s obviously going to come down, but….Derek is batting lead off against righties and fifth against lefties. While he strikes out more against lefties, he’s more than held his own against them and actually has a higher ISO (.211 vs .182). Playing for the Marlins stinks and regression will kick in, but the 2B/3B/OF eligibility is nice and there’s a chance it really could be Jeter. No? Show me evidence to the contrary. TREASURE
Freddy Peralta (48.7% owned – increase of 35.1%) has been slicing and dicing his opponents. Grey wrote about him HERE recently. Grey! Why you gotta be a heightist?! Anyways, 13.9 K/9!!! Dayam! He had a 12.81 K/9 in AAA and 12.86 K/9 in AA, so it’s not an outlier. The xFIP is 2.57 and the swinging strike rate is 15%. Very nice, but the BABIP is .154 and the sample size is only 22.2 innings. I really don’t know what to think of Freddy. He throws a fastball at 91.3 mph and complements it with a curveball. He throws the change up 2.9% of the time, so he’s essentially a two-pitch guy. The hard contact rate is only 27.4%. My ever increasing gut is telling me that regression will come…and come hard, but the numbers are telling me he’s been elite. Press and parlay!!! But walk away from the table at the first sign of trouble. That’s always helped me at the craps table and should be applicable with Freddy. TRASHY TREASURE or TREASURY TRASH
Shane Bieber (34.7% owned – increase of 30.4%) has me shaking my booty from side to side. 10.80 K/9 with a 1.47 BB/9. xFIP of 2.61 WITH a .408 BABIP. Yummy. Dan Pants wrote about him HERE recently. While the K/9 numbers and swinging strike numbers are lower than Freddy’s, I like Bieber a little better. He has better control and a more diverse arsenal of pitches (fastball, slider, curveball, and change up). I’m not going to look up how tall he is. I’m not a heightist like Grey. TREASURE
There were not many candidates for this week’s article. For the 25 players with the highest dropped percentage, 13 were a result of injury, 1 for suspension, 1 for demotion, 3 for part-time players, and 8 were pitchers (that weren’t injured). For the most added, 15 were pitchers and 4 were catchers. Why am I mentioning this? We are at the half way point of the season. Much of the waiver wire darlings have been picked up already. It’s like this. Earlier in the season was like going to the Bellagio buffet with every station open. Now? Only having rice and chow mein trays out. With that said, occassionaly a dessert tray will slip out from time to time. The lack of options shouldn’t bring complacency, but rather more vigilance.
