The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Fantasy: Fantasy 411
Is Dustin McGowan another Boof Bonser, or something else? What happened to all the good first baseman? Discussion about Kelvim Escobar, written well before he missed Saturday’s start.
Ask Rotoman
Questions and answers
Ask Rotoman at MLB.com
The new one is up, with a look at some young pitchers who may be keepers and next year and forever onward (at least until they get hurt), and a close-up look at whether Batting Average on Balls in Play is a leading indicator for ERA and WHIP the following year.
Ask Rotoman at MLB.com
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
The new column is posted. Would you keep Jack Cust or Jarrod Saltalamacchia next year? Do you know how I spell check Salty’s surname? I count. If there are 14 letters I figure that’s close enough. Would you keep AJ Burnett or James Shields?
Have you wondered which cheap pitchers are working wonders this year, and which are crashing their teams? You’ll find a list.
And then there are some notes on the past week’s top minor league call ups, though I’m sure I’m missing a few significant ones. If you seen an omission let me know.
Ask Rotoman at MLB.com
The new one is out, with a look at keepers in draft leagues and why you should keep Ryan Zimmerman over Manny Ramirez next year, Pedro Martinez’s return anticipated, and some suggestions for September call ups to get the heart a pounding.
Bonds passes Aaron as baseball’s home run king
On August 2 I linked to a baseballmusings.com chart showing the Mike Bacsik was the pitcher who threw to contact most this year, and noted the odd spell he seemed to have over Barry Bonds (who was 1-15 against Bacsik in his career at that point–that one hit a homer).
Since then Bacsik threw the pitch which Bonds hit to break the record. What are the odds of that?
The missing question
It looks like I failed to sign one of the questions in today’s Ask Rotoman column, and my editor ditched it because the column was running long and without a witty sig what use was it?
But you shouldn’t suffer because I missed a stroke. So here it is:
TRADE
Rotoman:
Making a trade. If I have my choice of Cole Hamels or Erik Bedard (K and K/BB) make 6 categories; who do I go for?
“Starting Switchâ€
Dear Switch:
How many times am I going to pick someone over Hamels this year? This time, at least, I’m going with a guy who is already a Cy Young candidate after being named the AL’s Pitcher of the Month in July. That is Bedard, of course, who is older and more experienced and has bettered the impressive Hamels in every category this year. But not by that much.
Bashfully,
Rotoman
Ask Rotoman: Fantasy 411
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
A reader asks for the best of a long list of free agents, considering he can only take one for the rest of the season. Another wants me to tell him who to offer to get Ichiro, since he needs batting average. A third, a bastard, asks me about my miserable Tout Wars NL team.
Reading my answer to the third question, now, later, I wonder if I gave enough explanation. Certainly a big part of why my team sucks is because Chris Carpenter, the linch pin of my pitching strategy, crashed on Opening Day. But my bigger point was that I bet on Clay Hensley, Jason Jennings and Zach Duke, hoping that one would be good and one would be okay, and all three failed.
That, more than Carpenter’s injury, crashed my season. And it is probably a good idea in next week’s Ask Rotoman to look at what $4-$9 starters paid dividends. Unless you think we should look at something else.
Ask away at askrotoman@gmail.com. Thanks.
Fantasy 411: Ask Rotoman is out!
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
I didn’t blog last week’s Ask Rotoman because I was on vacation and, well, it slipped by. This week I evaluate some underperforming pitchers, reconsider Robinson Cano, and discover a reader for whom one question isn’t nearly as good as five. I hope you enjoy.
Ask Rotoman
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
If pressed should teams rely on pitching, or cling to hitting? I think the answer (pitching) is clear. Especially if you can sing for Santana, Dump Carpenter (this post comes after the story was written), and stand by Brad Penny. At least until he fades.
Good luck into the second half.
Ask Rotoman at MLB.com
This week we look back on the season’s winners, the roto all stars so far. We also reiterate that dumping a slumping star is a bad idea, it’s better to collect multiples of future stars than set your sites on one, and evaluate the chances that the surprising Shaun Marcum just might be worth owning. In AL-only leagues, at least.