Newsletter for games through 8-28-16

Brush with death and greatness:  At a spring training game Leo, Tim Walsh, and Rick Wynne attended in about 2004, a golf cart carrying Garrett Anderson almost ran over Rick Wynne.  That makes it a little more fitting that the Angels would retire Garrett Anderson’s number within 2 weeks of Rick Wynne’s actual retirement…

COMMENTS:

Philly and Atlanta were a collective 10-2 this week…never say die, and Philly is +1 WOR…by the way, I’m kind of proud of the fact that ASFBL has been using “WOR” and “WAR” (I dropped the more violent sounding acronym a while back, but early uses of the figure were interchangeable) and “Saved Runs” about a decade before they worked their way into the MLB-highlight lexicon…Western division leaders Colorado and Seattle added to their lead…Toronto had the huge week with 6-0…others probably noticed this before, but who would have thought that the AL would be the tighest race around?  Boston, Toronto, and Baltimore are all within 2 games of each other…they are collectively +11 WOR…one big week could swing the race…Cleveland and Detroit remained locked, with Detroit picking up a half game this week…Colorado moved into a first-place tie in the WOR standings…Christmas-card lists: Boston and Toronto add Washington for taking 3 of 4 from Baltimore…Cleveland to Anaheim for taking 2 of 3 from the Tigers…Matt Shoemaker turned in a 1-0 victory…Detroit to Oakland from taking 2 of 3 from the Indians and preventing them from capitalizing on the Anaheim victories…Washington and Colorado to the Phillies and Cardinals for keeping the Mets at 2-4…Tampa, Milwaukee, and Oakland are all strong WOR contenders and all are in the top 6 spots…in case you haven’t noticed, 9 of Mark Trumbo’s last actual 13 hits have been HR….2 of his 6 hits for the ASFBL Mets were homers this week….

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Ketel Marte of SEA had 5 hits against NYY on 8/22/2016
Julio Urias of LAD had 11 strikeouts against CIN on 8/22/2016
Roberto Perez of CLE robbed 3 hits against OAK on 8/22/2016
Miguel Cabrera of DET had 6 RBI against MIN on 8/23/2016
Miguel Cabrera of DET had 5 hits against MIN on 8/23/2016
Rich Hill of CHC had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 8/23/2016
Cole Hamels of TEX had 11 strikeouts against CIN on 8/24/2016
Angel Pagan of SFG robbed 3 hits against LAD on 8/24/2016
J.D. Martinez of NYY struck out 4 times against SEA on 8/24/2016
Jon Lester of HOU had 10 strikeouts against PIT on 8/24/2016
David Freese of BOS struck out 4 times against TBR on 8/24/2016
Curt Casali of TBR struck out 4 times against BOS on 8/24/2016
Yoenis Cespedes of NYM had 6 RBI against STL on 8/25/2016
Patrick Kivlehan of TEX struck out 4 times against CLE on 8/25/2016
CLE and TEX played 13.5 innings on 8/25/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against BAL on 8/25/2016
Troy Tulowitzki of TOR robbed 3 hits against MIN on 8/26/2016
Jose Quintana of CWS had 10 strikeouts against SEA on 8/26/2016
Anthony DeSclafani of BAL had 11 strikeouts against NYY on 8/27/2016
Danny Duffy of SEA had 10 strikeouts against CWS on 8/27/2016
Xavier Scruggs of MIA struck out 4 times against SDP on 8/28/2016
SDP and MIA played 13.5 innings on 8/28/2016
Ryon Healy of OAK hit 3 home runs against STL on 8/28/2016
Ryon Healy of OAK had 5 hits against STL on 8/28/2016
Adam Duvall of CIN struck out 4 times against ARI on 8/28/2016
Eugenio Suarez of CIN had 6 RBI against ARI on 8/28/2016

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Newsletter for games through 8-21-16

COMMENTARY:

Big thanks to the 25 of you who submitted lineups this week…makes my job easy and is just doggone impressive for this time of year…testament to how competitive the league is…One owner entered a rotation, covered all the starting slots, but refused to mark anyone has his #1 starter…we’ve all been there…another owner identified two #3 starters and no #5…perhaps taking mediocrity to new middles…Mets got boosted by the return of Cabrera and Cespedes to the lineup and had the only winning record in the NL East…Washington is still a comfortable 6 up in the first wildcard spot, and the Marlins are dead even on WOR…Pittsburgh was the only team with a winning record in the central, and they went 4-2…Colorado helped themselves with a 5-1 record, best in the NL this week…second NL wildcard spot is a real dogfight, with the Marlins, Cardinals, Dodgers and Giants all within 3 games of each other…one good or bad week could swing the race in any direction…Top 3 WOR teams in the AL are Seattle, Tampa, and Oakland…Baltimore, Toronto, and Tampa all made up ground in the AL East…top 4 teams in that division are all even-or-better in WOR….Boston still holds a 1 game lead and Tony has his club 4 better than the actual Bosox, so without his managerial acumen first place would not be a reality…Cleveland and Detroit both stumbled a bit in the AL central this week, but the Tigers picked up a half game and the Tribe held to first….Twins tied the Rays for the best AL record with 5-1…Seattle had the best week in the west, added to their divisional lead, and boosted their league-leading WOR total…Cubs have a gaudy 2.63 team ERA…nobody else is under 3.00…Pirate bullpen has allowed only 14% of runners to score, tops in the league…Bosox hitters lead the league with a .281 team average…Texas defense has robbed 216 hits this year, two ahead of the Nationals…nobody has been helped more than AJ Griffin, who has 110 fantasy innings and an ERA a full run lower than the actual average…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Tommy Pham of STL struck out 4 times against HOU on 8/16/2016
PIT and SFG played 18.5 innings on 8/16/2016
Yoenis Cespedes of NYM had 6 RBI against ARI on 8/16/2016
David Dahl of COL struck out 4 times against WAS on 8/17/2016
Danny Duffy of SEA had 11 strikeouts against LAA on 8/17/2016
Rickie Weeks of ARI struck out 4 times against NYM on 8/17/2016
OAK and TEX played 15.5 innings on 8/17/2016
Madison Bumgarner of SFG had 12 strikeouts against NYM on 8/18/2016
Mike Napoli of CLE had 6 RBI against TOR on 8/19/2016
Cole Hamels of TEX had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 8/19/2016
Miguel Cabrera of DET had 6 RBI against BOS on 8/19/2016
MIL and SEA played 13.5 innings on 8/19/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 10 strikeouts against ATL on 8/20/2016
WAS and ATL played 13.5 innings on 8/20/2016
George Springer of HOU robbed 3 hits against BAL on 8/20/2016
Ervin Santana of DET had 10 strikeouts against BOS on 8/20/2016
Archie Bradley of ARI had 10 strikeouts against SDP on 8/20/2016
Mike Zunino of SEA had 6 RBI against MIL on 8/20/2016
Mark Trumbo of NYM struck out 4 times against SFG on 8/21/2016
Melvin Upton of SDP struck out 4 times against ARI on 8/21/2016

Newsletter for games through 8-14-2016

COMMENTS:

Best record anyone managed this week was 5-1, and the four teams that did it were the Cubs, Indians, Pirates and Jays….mattered the most to the Indians, who now have a 2.5 game lead over the Tigers…not the downplay how much the big week helped the Jays, who moved into the 2d AL wildcard spot where they lead the Tigers by half a game…Washington and Miami each had winning weeks; the Nats are in the first wildcard spot by 5 games…Colorado added to its lead in the west, and was the only team in the division to post a winning mark…Baltimore clawed its way a half game closer to the Bosox…kudos to Oakland and KC who each had winning weeks…Tampa Bay and Arizona are the 2 teams that most inherited a mess but are making real noise in the WOR standings…Oakland is also up there at +6…Atlanta has the rights to the largest number of players at 114, just ahead of Texas with 112…Baltimore only has 81 at the bottom of the league, and the Mets have but 83…Oakland, however, has the fewest number of total vowels in player names with a total of 91 players, and while Atlanta has 511 vowels with its mighty roster of 114 players, with a mere 104 players San Diego has 478 vowels…Anaheim leads Arizona with 1,278 characters to form the names of its 110 players, while Arizona has only 1,250 with an identical 110 uniformed officers…Christian Betancourt and Jarrod Saltalamacchia tie for the longest name with 20 letters each, and Jon Jay still has the shortest name…Jose Altuve has hit safely in 19 straight games, and is chasing the season-long hitting streak of 33 by fellow ASFBL Astro Charlie Blackmon…Six other players have had hitting streaks of 20 games or more this season…for players with at least 200 AB this year, the average distances in batting average between the real and fantasy numbers is just 5 points…Altuve leads the ASFBL with 114 runs across…30 ahead of second-place Anthony Rizzo…Polanco is third…but Carlos Correa has scored 71 runs to put him 17th in the league lead, had he has only 319 AB….that’s 43 fewer than anyone else in the top 25, and 22 of the league leaders have more than 200 AB…Chris Sale of the Chisox is the first pitcher to top 200 fantasy innings…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Brian Dozier of MIN had 5 hits against HOU on 8/9/2016
Robbie Ray of ARI had 11 strikeouts against NYM on 8/9/2016
Jose Peraza of CIN had 6 RBI against STL on 8/9/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 13 strikeouts against CLE on 8/10/2016
SFG and MIA played 13.5 innings on 8/10/2016
Jose Quintana of CWS had 12 strikeouts against KCR on 8/10/2016
Coco Crisp of OAK struck out 4 times against BAL on 8/11/2016
Eddie Rosario of MIN struck out 4 times against HOU on 8/11/2016
Danny Duffy of SEA had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 8/12/2016
Joseph Musgrove of HOU had 15 strikeouts against TOR on 8/12/2016
Raisel Iglesias of CIN had 11 strikeouts against MIL on 8/12/2016
Rick Porcello of BOS had 12 strikeouts against ARI on 8/12/2016
Melvin Upton of SDP struck out 4 times against NYM on 8/12/2016
Matt Kemp of SDP struck out 4 times against NYM on 8/12/2016
Alex Gordon of KCR struck out 4 times against MIN on 8/13/2016
Conor Gillaspie of SFG robbed 3 hits against BAL on 8/13/2016
LAA and CLE played 13.5 innings on 8/13/2016
Dylan Bundy of BAL had 11 strikeouts against SFG on 8/14/2016
Tommy Pham of STL hit 3 home runs against CHC on 8/14/2016

Newsletter for games through 8-7-16

NO-HITTER!  Lucas Harrell of Detroit threw a no-hitter against White Sox on 8/2/2016…walked 2, and only needed 87 pitches to finish the game…Iglesias backed him with 4 hits…Turner and Garcia each turned in hit-saving plays to make it happen…

COMMENTS: We’ve got the power ratings, but run differentials are probably the best indicator of fantasy performance….league leaders are the Cubs at +231, followed by Washington at 139, Boston at 123, and Colorado at 120….notice how far that 231 is ahead of second place…the Cubbies have played 111 games, so on average they are beating their opponents by 2 runs per game…Philly had the only winning record in the NL East last week; Nats picked up half a game…Cubs were back to their winning ways with the best record in the NL central, and Pittsburgh put together another winning week…Arizona was 5-1 last week, and that 1 loss was a doozey: 18-0 against the Nationals on the 2d…they were out-scored 28 to 39 on the week…Rockies held their ground at the top of the division…Boston stumbled at 2-5 and the Jays rolled at 5-2, but Baltimore held steady at 3-3 and picked up a game…Indians went 5-2 but lost a game to the red-hot Tigers, who put up a 5-1 mark including 2 games against my Mets and a sweep of the Chisox where they allowed 1 run in 3 games…Twins also had a winning week…Texas was 5-1 but the Mariners stayed pretty comfortable at 5-2…Arizona is a strong +9 in WOR and the Rays are up there with +7…Oakland is +6…Washington and St.Louis look like the teams to beat in the NL wildcard…5 teams in the AL have between 57 and 64 wins, so the wildcard is seriously up for grabs….AL East has the hottest divisional race by far…longest current hitting streak amongst non-injured Mets goes to Stephen Cardullo of Atlanta with 12…Andrew Chafin of Arizona hasn’t allowed a run in 13 games…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Chris Gimenez of CLE struck out 4 times against MIN on 8/1/2016
Devon Travis of TOR hit 3 home runs against HOU on 8/1/2016
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 15 strikeouts against ARI on 8/1/2016
Gregory Polanco of ARI struck out 4 times against WAS on 8/1/2016
Anthony DeSclafani of BAL had 10 strikeouts against TEX on 8/2/2016
Delino DeShields of TEX struck out 4 times against BAL on 8/2/2016
Raisel Iglesias of CIN had 12 strikeouts against STL on 8/2/2016
Yadier Molina of STL struck out 4 times against CIN on 8/2/2016
Tanner Roark of WAS had 11 strikeouts against ARI on 8/2/2016
Danny Espinosa of WAS had 7 RBI against ARI on 8/2/2016
Alcides Escobar of KCR struck out 4 times against TBR on 8/2/2016
KCR and TBR played 15 innings on 8/2/2016
OAK and LAA played 16 innings on 8/2/2016
Jay Bruce of COL struck out 4 times against LAD on 8/3/2016
Aroldis Chapman of DET had 10 strikeouts against CWS on 8/3/2016
Curt Casali of TBR robbed 3 hits against MIN on 8/5/2016
Matt Reynolds of NYM struck out 4 times against DET on 8/5/2016
Steve Selsky of CIN struck out 4 times against PIT on 8/5/2016
Justin Turner of LAD robbed 3 hits against BOS on 8/5/2016
Manny Machado of BAL hit 3 home runs against CWS on 8/5/2016
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 12 strikeouts against SFG on 8/6/2016
Joseph Musgrove of HOU had 11 strikeouts against TEX on 8/7/2016
Elvis Andrus of TEX robbed 3 hits against HOU on 8/7/2016
Eddie Rosario of MIN robbed 3 hits against TBR on 8/7/2016
Scott Copeland of TOR had 13 strikeouts against KCR on 8/7/2016

Newsletter for games through 7-31-16

Congrats:  Monday marked a big life event for Rick Wynne, who retired from his job at the North Carolina DOT.  Sadly, for the rest of us, this means that he’ll have even more time to spend on the fantasy teams…his retirement present to himself this week was getting the best seasonal record in the ASFBL…

Deadline postmortem: 15 trades involving 59 players.  Nice touch by the fantasy Yankees, who traded Chapman and Miller just like the real club…I have now personally acquired the entire d’Arnaud family, although it turns out that I benched all of them this week.  Boston and Toronto completed a 5-for-5 whopper and Washington and San Francisco did a 4-for-4.

COMMENTARY:  The NL central mauled everyone this week…every single team had a winning record…Cubs and Brewers each had 5 wins, but the best record went to Pittsburgh at 4-1….Miami and the Mets each came up with a 4-3 week, but the Nationals crept ever closer to the top at 4-2…Rockies went only 3-4 but gained 2 games in the NL West….Indians went 2-3 but still picked up a game and a half in the AL central…Anaheim and Oakland roared out of the break with a collective 11-2 record…Oakland is +5 WOR….Anaheim had the best record in the league last week…Houston picked up a game and a half to try to make the AL west a race…Baltimore, Toronto, and Tampa Bay all gained some ground in the AL east and all had winning records…Twins had a winning week and pushed themselves back into positive WOR territory…final tally for the most active traders are the Rockies (27), Tigers (26), Astros (24), and Royals (21)…league total was 77 trades…best average value gain went to the Mariners, who had 9 trades but gained the most statistically…Yankees were second, with 11 trades …the formula is as follows, and it is only applied to the stats after the trade:

Pitcher formula: ERA/LeagueERA * outs recorded
Batter formula: 1 pt for BB, SB, lose 1 for CS, 2 pts for single, HSP, -2 for E or bad play, 3 pts for 2B, 4 for 3B, 5 for HR. Divided by league avg per AB times AB.
Net def = net defense, hit saving plays – bad plays – errors

Here’s what trading problems looks like:

BOS gets:Omar Infante -38 (.251/0 HR/.341 SLG/1 net def/167 AB) Mike Moustakas 12 (.254/5 HR/.542 SLG/4 net def/59 AB) Salvador Perez 5 (.268/18 HR/.495 SLG/3 net def/366 AB)  Total: -21
KCR gets:Dustin Pedroia -24 (.303/7 HR/.436 SLG/-6 net def/314 AB) Pablo Sandoval 0 (0 AB) Blake Swihart -9 (.250/1 HR/.325 SLG/-1 net def/40 AB)  Total: -33

Here’s equal value:

BOS gets:David Freese -6 (.217/0 HR/.217 SLG/1 net def/23 AB) Dallas Keuchel -6 (4.50 ERA in 14.00 IP) Starling Marte 0 (.200/0 HR/.300 SLG/1 net def/10 AB) Mark Melancon 9 (.50 ERA in 3.00 IP) Frank Duncan 0 (0 IP)  Total: -3
PIT gets:Brock Holt -3 (.176/1 HR/.412 SLG/0 net def/17 AB) Tommy Layne 0 (0 IP) Hanley Ramirez -4 (.176/1 HR/.412 SLG/-1 net def/17 AB) Steven Wright 7 (2.84 ERA in 6.33 IP) Sandy Leon -3 (.294/0 HR/.294 SLG/0 net def/17 AB)  Total: -3

Here’s a trade that makes both teams better:

MIL gets:Carlos Correa 16 (.311/2 HR/.533 SLG/1 net def/45 AB) Mike Fiers 21 (2.38 ERA in 11.33 IP) Andrew McCutchen -4 (.200/0 HR/.286 SLG/2 net def/35 AB)  Total: 33
HOU gets:Aaron Hill -4 (.220/1 HR/.317 SLG/2 net def/41 AB) Travis Wood -12 (7.27 ERA in 8.67 IP) Shane Peterson 0 (0 AB) Junior Guerra 74 (1.46 ERA in 24.67 IP)  Total: 58

Great season of trading, lets enjoy the pennant race!

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Jose Fernandez of MIA had 10 strikeouts against PHI on 7/25/2016
Tyler Skaggs of LAA had 11 strikeouts against KCR on 7/25/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against CLE on 7/26/2016
Jose Quintana of CWS had 12 strikeouts against CHC on 7/26/2016
Julio Teheran of ATL had 10 strikeouts against MIN on 7/26/2016
Yu Darvish of TEX had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 7/27/2016
Raisel Iglesias of CIN had 13 strikeouts against SFG on 7/27/2016
Todd Frazier of CWS had 6 RBI against CHC on 7/27/2016
Collin McHugh of HOU had 10 strikeouts against NYY on 7/27/2016
CWS and CHC played 13.5 innings on 7/28/2016
Tanner Roark of WAS had 13 strikeouts against SFG on 7/28/2016
Freddie Freeman of ATL struck out 4 times against PHI on 7/29/2016
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 12 strikeouts against STL on 7/30/2016
Travis Shaw of BOS struck out 4 times against LAA on 7/30/2016
Archie Bradley of ARI had 11 strikeouts against LAD on 7/30/2016
Homer Bailey of CIN had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 7/31/2016
Jose Peraza of CIN stole 4 bases against SDP on 7/31/2016
Matt Kemp of SDP struck out 4 times against CIN on 7/31/2016