Now Available for 2012 THT Essentials: Now Available The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012, an annual "must buy" for all baseball fans, is now shipping. Read this article to learn more about it. 
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009Radio show appearanceI'll be appearing on the Fantasy Baseball Roundtable Radio Show again tonight at 10:30 PM EST. For those would like to listen, here's the link. Should be a good time. Posted by Derek Carty at 5:00am Monday, June 29, 2009Fantasy Baseball Roundtable linkHere is the link to this week's Fantasy Baseball Roundtable, hosted by Fantasy Phenoms. The question posed: Three pitchers who have exceeded expectations so far are Jon Lester, Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander. Owners of these pitchers have been relying on them as weekly starters who play an intricate role for their fantasy teams. All three are on pace to strike out over 240 batters. If you had to choose one of these pitchers to continue this trend, who would it be? Why? I'm really surprised that a few of the guys picked Greinke. He'd need to pitch a lot of innings to get to 240 Ks. Posted by Derek Carty at 11:01pm Bullpen Usage ReportsOur own Alex Zelvin recently opened up the doors to a website called Daily Baseball Data, which has some cool tools for fantasy players to use. Over the weekend, he unveiled a new feature called Bullpen Usage Reports. As fantasy owners are constantly trying to gauge bullpen situations, this tool should become very useful. If you haven't yet, check it out. Posted by Derek Carty at 2:52pm What do we make of CitiField?CitiField will make for an incredibly interesting case study at the end of the season. During the preseason, while some said it would play as a hitter's park, the raw data seemed to suggest that it would play as an extreme pitcher's park. ESPN's Tristan Cockcroft recently discussed the situation to this point in the season using data from our good friend Greg Rybarczyk of HitTracker. Tristan noted that Citi has robbed hitters of 36 balls that would have been homers in Shea Stadium. Earlier today, however, our own Dave Studeman noted that the Mets have actually hit more homers at home this year, giving it a very simple home run park factor of 1.12 — meaning that it inflates home run totals. Accounting for the robbed balls, the park factor for Shea this year would be an insane 1.74. Shea usually played as a pitcher's park, so something is amiss here. I don't have much to contribute to the discussion at the moment, but I think this is very noteworthy and worth bringing to everyone's attention. The moral of the story: don't jump to conclusions about Citi just yet. My guess is that it will eventually be declared a pitcher's park, and what we're seeing now will be some sample size shenanigans, but we really can't say anything for sure yet. Posted by Derek Carty at 2:38pm DeRosa to CardsAs I'm sure you've heard, Mark DeRosa has been traded to the Cardinals for Chris Perez and a PTBNL. I discussed bidding on him in NL-only leagues earlier today, and I believe Paul Singman is putting together an article tomorrow to discuss the trade in more detail. Quickly though, it seems that both players will receive a boost in value. DeRosa is moving to the friendlier National League (albeit in a little tougher park for home runs) and will be batting cleanup for a very good team (he's sandwiched between Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick). Chris Perez probably becomes next-in-line for saves in Cleveland, where incumbent Kerry Wood hasn't been very good at all. Rafael Betancourt will be in the mix when he returns from injury, but that is still probably a few weeks away. Unfortunately, the tougher set of batters Perez will face and his inability to harness his control could take him out of the saves picture soon. He doesn't look like a great short-term bet, but he should be owned in AL-only leagues anyway — at least for now. Posted by Derek Carty at 2:30pm Friday, June 26, 2009X-Man outXavier Nady was rehabbing at Triple-A and close to returning to the Yankees when he aggravated his shoulder on an outfield throw that will now require Tommy John surgery and likely keep him out for most, if not all of this and next season (h/t Rotoworld). He now joins a small group of athletes to have the procedure performed twice, and is only the second non-pitcher along with Vance Wilson to have it done more than once. This news is good to owners of Yankee outfielders—Nick Swisher in particular—as Nady's return would have cut into their playing time. Posted by Paul Singman at 8:37pm Thursday, June 25, 2009Snell demotedPirates starter Ian Snell was demoted to Triple-A today because of his general lack of effectiveness. Snell was 2-8 with a 5.36 ERA and almost as many walks (44) as strikeouts (52) this season. The Pirates would like to see Snell regain his control in the minors and bring him back to the majors as soon as possible as they probably want to trade him before the deadline. Although not yet officially announced, the probable replacement in the Pirates rotation is Tom Gorzelanny. Posted by Paul Singman at 3:29pm Wednesday, June 24, 2009Lindstrom to DL, out at least four weeksThe Marlins have placed closer Matt Lindstrom on the DL and will allow him to rest for four weeks, opening up a lot of save opportunities for his replacements. There are a few candidates, including Leo Nunez, Dan Meyer, Brian Sanches, and Kiko Calero (DL). Leo Nunez seems like the most likely option, although he did struggle last night, which will be in the back of manager Fredi Gonzalez's mind. Dan Meyer has shown the best skills so far this year (3.13 LIPS ERA), but most have considered Nunez next in line for a while. Either one would likely have the skills to hold down the job for a month, and both have similar gmLI's (1.48 to 1.46, Nunez). Brian Sanches doesn't look like as good a bet as the other two (less talked about and lower 1.33 gmLI), but Kiko Calero could factor in once he returns from the DL if the Marlins can't find a go-to-guy in his absence. All four should be owned in NL-only leagues for now, Nunez should be owned in all mixed leagues, and Meyer can be owned in medium-to-deep mixed leagues. This is all, of course, subject to change based upon who gets the first ninth inning call. |
Trade RumorsFrom MLB Trade RumorsRockies Notes: O'Dowd, Moyer, Guthrie, Pitching AL East Links: Jones, Wieters, Ohlendorf, Yankees D'Backs Agree To Extension With Miguel Montero Stark On Chapman, Twins, Lind, Braves 2013 Contract Issues: Tampa Bay Rays Orioles Designate Bill Hall For Assignment Most Recent Comments on "BoTR" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
