Fantasy Baseball-- Week 3
Ballywood advanced to first place, 91 points, on the strength of 10Ks each by Chris Carpenter and Daniel Hudson. Michael Pineda added 5Ks in his win over Kansas City. The Beard allowed one baserunner and accumulated 4 saves and 5Ks. Elvis Andrus stole three bases. Hitting was unimpressive for the week, but still dominating overall. 57.5/60 in hitting, plus 23/24 in two pitching categories is enough to lead. W, ERA and WHIP lag. Mitchell Boggs replaces Sean Burnett in closer roulette.
Asakusabashi retains a small lead based largely on Matt Kemp's number 4 overall performance (.520, 5r, 2hr, 8 rbi,2sb). A-Rod actually won the weekly batting title, .546, though is missing games with back issues. Joses Reyes and Logan Morrison contributed to five categories apiece, while Kyle Farnsworth's 194/113 lifetime shutdown/meltdown ratio touched all five pitching categories. Jamie Garcia and Jorge de la Rosa won. Though pitching was mediocre, previous weeks carried over. Cumulative stats give 48.5 points to batting (lead in average, second in SB) and 42 points to pitching (tie, first in Saves; 3rd in WHIP).
Jed Lowrie was added based on his circa .900 OPS over the past half year. I figure Roberts or Reyes or Phillips will hit the DL, though consider Lowrie strong enough to start at 3B when he becomes eligible. Versatility makes Jed Lowrie strong at U. He is just now starting to take advantage of more playing time, as Scutaro is now on borrowed time. Justin Smoak, .421 for the week, was dropped for Lowrie primarily based on Safeco. (CI, Mitch Moreland's park is better. With Josh Hamilton out, I hope Mitch will miss fewer days.) C, Wilson Ramos bats fifth in the lineup when he plays, and thus replaced A.J. Pierzynski. (Though risks to not have regular playing time, the larger risk is not getting these two if Lowrie and Ramos are not added now.)
It is almost tempting to speculate on playing time and start Lowrie, who bats sixth this morning. Lowrie, a switch hitter, is stronger against lefties over his career and oddly, Scutaro, a right handed batter has a poorer career average versus lefties. Boston faces three straight left-handers and plays seven games this week. But, Mitch Moreland who plays at home can not be benched for Lowrie on the road. Meanwhile, Valencia has no risk of being benched. A-Rod is questionable for Tuesday, but is not on the DL and his MRI is clean, so he has to start, even if he is to miss a game or two. Two start pitchers this week are Liriano, Jackson and Kuroda. Buchholz @ Oakland and Ogando v. Kansas City fill out the rotation.
Monday Update: Lowrie went 4-5 with a homerun, 2 runs and 4 rbis. Moreland homered. Valencia went 2-4, had two runs and an rbi. Phillips spent another day on the bench. Phillips should not be benched, though Lowrie is eligible at 2B. All three of the options for CI plus U are off to good starts.
Both teams share Brandon Phillips (.354, 13 r), Jason Heyward (.234, 4 hr, batted second yesterday), Francisco Liriano (9.42 ERA), Alexi Ogando (.72 WHIP) and Danny Valencia (merely a temp, as Ryan Zimmerman is on the DL and Corey Hart debuts in a week or two).
Asakusabashi retains a small lead based largely on Matt Kemp's number 4 overall performance (.520, 5r, 2hr, 8 rbi,2sb). A-Rod actually won the weekly batting title, .546, though is missing games with back issues. Joses Reyes and Logan Morrison contributed to five categories apiece, while Kyle Farnsworth's 194/113 lifetime shutdown/meltdown ratio touched all five pitching categories. Jamie Garcia and Jorge de la Rosa won. Though pitching was mediocre, previous weeks carried over. Cumulative stats give 48.5 points to batting (lead in average, second in SB) and 42 points to pitching (tie, first in Saves; 3rd in WHIP).
Jed Lowrie was added based on his circa .900 OPS over the past half year. I figure Roberts or Reyes or Phillips will hit the DL, though consider Lowrie strong enough to start at 3B when he becomes eligible. Versatility makes Jed Lowrie strong at U. He is just now starting to take advantage of more playing time, as Scutaro is now on borrowed time. Justin Smoak, .421 for the week, was dropped for Lowrie primarily based on Safeco. (CI, Mitch Moreland's park is better. With Josh Hamilton out, I hope Mitch will miss fewer days.) C, Wilson Ramos bats fifth in the lineup when he plays, and thus replaced A.J. Pierzynski. (Though risks to not have regular playing time, the larger risk is not getting these two if Lowrie and Ramos are not added now.)
It is almost tempting to speculate on playing time and start Lowrie, who bats sixth this morning. Lowrie, a switch hitter, is stronger against lefties over his career and oddly, Scutaro, a right handed batter has a poorer career average versus lefties. Boston faces three straight left-handers and plays seven games this week. But, Mitch Moreland who plays at home can not be benched for Lowrie on the road. Meanwhile, Valencia has no risk of being benched. A-Rod is questionable for Tuesday, but is not on the DL and his MRI is clean, so he has to start, even if he is to miss a game or two. Two start pitchers this week are Liriano, Jackson and Kuroda. Buchholz @ Oakland and Ogando v. Kansas City fill out the rotation.
Monday Update: Lowrie went 4-5 with a homerun, 2 runs and 4 rbis. Moreland homered. Valencia went 2-4, had two runs and an rbi. Phillips spent another day on the bench. Phillips should not be benched, though Lowrie is eligible at 2B. All three of the options for CI plus U are off to good starts.
Both teams share Brandon Phillips (.354, 13 r), Jason Heyward (.234, 4 hr, batted second yesterday), Francisco Liriano (9.42 ERA), Alexi Ogando (.72 WHIP) and Danny Valencia (merely a temp, as Ryan Zimmerman is on the DL and Corey Hart debuts in a week or two).
posted by David Rasmussen at 8:04 AM
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