Regret After the Euphoria
The section focuses on suspect adds from the past weekend in the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship. These are 12-team roto leagues with 23-man rosters and seven bench spots.
My focus is to look to see if anyone was over-bid on (subjective, and honestly not likely at this point in the season) or had no way to live up to Sunday night expectations.
| Name | Cost | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Leody Taveras | $9.10 | 104 |
| Andrew Kittredge | $7.60 | 94 |
| Giovanny Gallegos | $14.10 | 81 |
| Frank Schwindel | $14.20 | 79 |
| Bailey Ober | $12.70 | 55 |
| Adam Ottavino | $13.60 | 51 |
| Aaron Civale | $19.10 | 49 |
| Joe Ryan | $7.30 | 45 |
| Lane Thomas | $6.10 | 45 |
| Carlos Estevez | $4.50 | 40 |
| Josh Harrison | $7.60 | 35 |
| Nick Solak | $6.20 | 33 |
| Triston McKenzie | $25.80 | 32 |
| Adrian Houser | $7.30 | 32 |
| Ian Happ | $9.10 | 29 |
| Rowan Wick | $4.10 | 28 |
| Jose Urquidy | $12.00 | 26 |
| Carlos Hernandez | $8.80 | 25 |
| Alejandro Kirk | $8.20 | 25 |
| Bobby Dalbec | $7.00 | 25 |
Joe Ryan: The hype around Ryan would have been out of hand if this were earlier in the season -- I would not have been surprised one bit to see him go for over $100 in leagues with a $1000 budget. It's just not a profile I want to rely on every week. He has a 91-mph fastball that he threw over 70% of the time in his debut. Additionally he's always been a flyball pitcher, so he's going to run high home-run rates. When making bids this past weekend, I prioritized several other pitchers over him.
Regret After the Euphoria
The section focuses on suspect adds from the past weekend in the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship. These are 12-team roto leagues with 23-man rosters and seven bench spots.
My focus is to look to see if anyone was over-bid on (subjective, and honestly not likely at this point in the season) or had no way to live up to Sunday night expectations.
| Name | Cost | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Leody Taveras | $9.10 | 104 |
| Andrew Kittredge | $7.60 | 94 |
| Giovanny Gallegos | $14.10 | 81 |
| Frank Schwindel | $14.20 | 79 |
| Bailey Ober | $12.70 | 55 |
| Adam Ottavino | $13.60 | 51 |
| Aaron Civale | $19.10 | 49 |
| Joe Ryan | $7.30 | 45 |
| Lane Thomas | $6.10 | 45 |
| Carlos Estevez | $4.50 | 40 |
| Josh Harrison | $7.60 | 35 |
| Nick Solak | $6.20 | 33 |
| Triston McKenzie | $25.80 | 32 |
| Adrian Houser | $7.30 | 32 |
| Ian Happ | $9.10 | 29 |
| Rowan Wick | $4.10 | 28 |
| Jose Urquidy | $12.00 | 26 |
| Carlos Hernandez | $8.80 | 25 |
| Alejandro Kirk | $8.20 | 25 |
| Bobby Dalbec | $7.00 | 25 |
Joe Ryan: The hype around Ryan would have been out of hand if this were earlier in the season -- I would not have been surprised one bit to see him go for over $100 in leagues with a $1000 budget. It's just not a profile I want to rely on every week. He has a 91-mph fastball that he threw over 70% of the time in his debut. Additionally he's always been a flyball pitcher, so he's going to run high home-run rates. When making bids this past weekend, I prioritized several other pitchers over him.
Carlos Estevez: It's always a gamble when rostering a Colorado pitcher and Estevez is not different. He has not been a total disaster with a 3.93 ERA and 1.35 WHIP, but other closer options (e.g. Rowan Wick or Andrew Chafin) are posting better ERAs and WHIPs since they don't have to throw in Colorado half the time.
Leody Taveras: A strict stolen base play who could lose playing time because he su…. is not good. In the first half of the season, his OPS was down at .247. It has jumped up since he was recalled, but to just .607. For roto leagues, the two homers and five steals are golden in 50 PA, but there is a real risk he heads back to the bench or the minors.
Who's Playing Where
This section points out some playing time situations to monitor over the weekend.
Struggling Yankees: With the team in a tailspin, several underperforming star players have been heading to the bench. Joey Gallo is one such player since he is hitting just .130/.291/.325 since joining the Yankees. Also, Gleyber Torres isn't doing any better by hitting .231/.231/.231 since coming off the IL. Both sat Tuesday night and they may sit even more if they can't improve.
Blue Jays Center Fielder: Since the All-Star game, Randal Grichuk is hitting just .188/.260/.346 and is now on the short side of a platoon with Corey Dickerson facing righties.
Padres Second Base: Adam Frazier has been a disaster (.225/.289/.261) since joining the Padres. He's no longer leading off or playing every day with Jurickson Profar and Ha-Seong Kim also getting some second base starts.
Platoons to Attack
Giants (6 vs RHP): It would be a dry week for platoons if this option wasn't available. Here are the players to target and their season stats versus righties.
Position: Player to roster
LF: LaMonte Wade (.274/.350/.561) - A must-add in all formats.
CF: Steven Duggar (.282/.343/.492)
RF: Mike Yastrzemski (.237/.322/.519)
2B: Tommy La Stella (.237/.299/.374)
Yankees (6 vs RHP): They don't seem to have any hard platoons, but one player who has been sitting against most righties is Luke Voit. Voit has not hit horribly against righties (.779 OPS vs LHP, .739 OPS vs RHP), but other hitters on the team are better against righties.
Rangers (5 vs RHP): The only regular who sits against lefties is speedster Yonny Hernandez. After only one steal over 13 games, he has stolen three in as many games. Like his teammate Taveras (see above), Hernandez isn't hitting great (.649 OPS), so there is a chance he loses playing time.
Versus five righties: Diamondbacks, Braves, Cubs, Guardians, Astros, Dodgers, Marlins, Twins, Phillies, Pirates
Middle Relief Options
Decent starting pitching options can be hard to find, so here are five middle relievers who provide great ratios and some strikeouts. Also, because of how teams utilize them, they have a better-than-average chance of getting a win.
The picks are based on the following criteria from this article.
- Contending Team: Win% >= 45%
- The manager has the tendency to use the pitcher in close games: gmLI >= 1.1
- IP/G >= 1.0: Has average more than one inning.
- The pitcher is getting strikeouts: K/G >= 1.1
- The pitcher has the tendency to throw more than one inning: IP/G >= 1.1
- Full schedule: At least six games the next week, preferably seven.
- Available in leagues: Rostership under 50% in NFBC leagues
Here are this week's top five choices and my thoughts on a few of them.
| Name | Team | G | IP | K/G | W | SOLDS | WHIP | ERA | Games | Roster% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett Whitlock | Red Sox | 41 | 67.2 | 1.9 | 7 | 14 | 1.12 | 1.86 | 6 | 34% |
| Garrett Crochet | White Sox | 44 | 46 | 1.3 | 3 | 9 | 1.28 | 2.93 | 6 | 17% |
| Seth Lugo | Mets | 37 | 38 | 1.1 | 3 | 12 | 1.26 | 3.32 | 6 | 15% |
| Yohan Ramirez | Mariners | 16 | 19.2 | 1.6 | 1 | 2 | 0.81 | 3.66 | 6 | 0% |
| Jarlin Garcia | Giants | 47 | 58 | 1.3 | 6 | 9 | 0.83 | 2.33 | 7 | 0% |
Jarlin Garcia: He's an ideal candidate to add for this week and then re-evaluate the situation next week. He's getting wins, throwing multiple innings and has great ratios. All those traits with a seven-game week and readily available? Sign me up.
Garrett Whitlock: He has performed better than most starters this season. He's had a hiccup this week (3 ER in 1.1 IP), but it's tough to turn down those strikeouts.
