Week 4 LNHM

Listening to Noise and Hearing Music: Week 4

Hello all and welcome back to TheAABaseballBlog! Sorry about my absences in the recent weeks, with baseball and midterms I have been a little backed up, but we are back!

Lets not mess around and get right into the good stuff!

First lets take a look at the players that I recommended in last post and see where they are now.

Marcus Semien: 12/53 with 6 runs, 4 HRs, 6 RBIs and 2 steals
Dalton Pompey: 13/51 with 8 runs, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs and no steals
Kendall Graveman: 13 innings 8 earned runs, lets just stop it there and say it doesn't get better
Archie Bradley: 12.3 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 walks and 6 Ks.

Semien earned a SS eligibility so that on top of those nice stats have further increased his value. Pompey has proven himself and will be a strong member of an even stronger TOR lineup. Bradley's walk rate is a little concerning but he doesn't give up a lot of hits, expect the walks to come down with the strikeouts to stay constant. Ok, I am not wrong a lot but I will admit I was wrong about Graveman, he isn't this bad but he has lost his rotation spot to Jesse Chavez.

On to some new faces!

Batters

Wil Middlebrooks 3B, SD: SD is among the hottest teams in baseball right now and no one has a strong claim on the hot-corner. Middlebrooks however has made his case and appears to have taken his claim on third-base. His average last year was an awful .190 but at .240 this year we could be seeing the makings a of breakout season in San Diego's new lineup. Middlebrooks is owned in 25% of ESPN leagues and 18% in Yahoo leagues.

Caleb Joseph C, BAL/Kevin Plawecki C, NYM: Catchers woes got you down, look no further! Weiters and D'Arnaud are the two newest installments of the "Catchers to the DL clan" which is of course leaving vacancies in these powerful lineups. The Mets are the best team in baseball right now so it would make sense to take a look at Plawecki. Always in the shadow of ultra-prospect D'Arnaud, Plawecki has often been overlooked, however Plawecki however hasn't done much. He has shown some decent pop but his best tool is his ability to get on base. Slashing .283/.345/.421 last year in the minors shows us that he does have the ability to get on base and with the boys from flushing flourishing, expect Plawecki to be a decent option at backup backstop. Joseph is less unknown as he already had a full year of service in 2014. However injuries to Matt Wieters have left the door open to Joseph and he seems ready to fill. Hitting .311 with 8 RBIs combined with an amazing 16.4 walk-rate (this will normalize) has Joseph primed to see a majority of the time behind the plate in Wieters' absence. He is continues to hit well we could see Wieters taking time off at first base in order to save his knees which would further help Joseph's value. Joseph is owned in 53.4 % of ESPN leagues and 42% in Yahoo leagues, where Plawecki is owned in 9.5% of ESPN leagues and 15% in Yahoo leagues.

Alejandro De Aza OF, BAL: Much like the Boston, Baltimore has a good problem to have in that they have too many outfielders, De Aza has never been one to flaunt a great average but has the ability to obtain some decent counting stats if given the time. With Jones, Pearce, Paredes, Snider, Young and De Aza, Buck is going to have to make some decisions if he wants to employ some continuity in his outfield. De Aza may be listed as a fourth outfielder on their depth chart but has 51 at-bats so far this season showing us that Buck does have plans for De Aza and so far De Aza has been quietly putting together some good numbers. Hitting just .228 is quite lackluster but 9 runs, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs and 2 steals have created an interesting combo in counting stats. I expect De Aza to displace Paredes and become BAL true third outfielder. De Aza is owned in 16% of ESPN leagues and 15% in Yahoo leagues.

Pitchers

Joe Kelly SP, BOS: With two starts this week Kelly may be more of a pickup for just this upcoming week but you would be wrong to over look him. Kelly is owned in 25% of both ESPN and Yahoo leagues and there is one reason why you should go pick him up right now, currently Kelly owns the fastest fastball average in baseball. Averaging around 96 MPH, Kelly is making enemies with not only a high average fastball but his ability to miss bats. in just 17 innings so far this year, Kelly has 18 strikeouts! If you can ignore his ERA and except the fact that he is going to give up some hits and runs, Kelly could be a source of excellent strikeouts if only for this week,

Aaron Harang SP, PHI: Every year there are dozens of pitchers that balance themselves on the line of "rosterable" or not. One of my favorites in my early days of fantasy baseball was Wandy Rodriguez as every year would be just bad enough that no one expected anything but still could be good enough that he warranted a space on your roster, Harang is one of those pitchers. Harang has bounced around quite a bit and has landed in the rebuilding mess that is Philadelphia. In Harang's four stats with the PHL he has done rather well with a high K/BB and has only given up 4 runs in 26 innings. Currently Harang is on the good side of the fringe but you should expect some regression coming soon. However in that meanwhile grab him and squeeze as much juice as you can. Harang is owned in 47% of ESPN leagues and  38% in Yahoo leagues.

Carlos Rodon, RP, CWS: Rodon is widely considered the best pitching prospect in baseball got called up at the beginning of last week but hasn't created the splash we would have hoped. This is primarily due to the fact that the White Soxs have brought up Rodon to serve in the pen. This was to me an odd move as he has more than proved his ability to mow down batters. These uber-prospects do a really good job of getting picked up of free agency but Rodon has stayed available to a lot of leagues because they brought him up to the bullpen. You can pick up Rodon now and place him on your bench until the White Soxs realize how awful John Danks is and give Rodon the job that he deserves.


Mike Leake, SP CIN: Like Harang, Leake has been a fringe player for a long time and his success in the early going of 2015 is giving us nothing to change that. In each of his four starts he has given up at least 2 runs and 4 hits without getting one win and being on the Reds, this may not change soon. However there are reasons to be optimistic, Leake has been able to keep the ball in the strike-zone only giving up 2 walks since his first start in which he gave up 6 walks. If Leake can keep the ball in the park and the walks down I expect the ERA to go down while the strike-outs stay attractive. Leake is owned in 11% of ESPN leagues and 36% of Yahoo leagues.



Phil Hughes, SP MIN: At the end of the 2014 baseball season, Hughes was making waves for having a breakout season, however with what is considered a bad start in 2015 those rumblings have died down. Owned in half of ESPN leagues many people have given up on Hughes and I am here to tell you to hold your course. Hughes problem has always been the long ball. HR/9 measures how many home-runs a pitchers gives up in 9 innings and last year Hughes owned a cool .69 HR/9 rate. To start 2015, Hughes HR/9 rate currently sits at an monstrous 2.03 which has of course led to the spike in ERA. However there are a couple reasons why I say to hold the course for Hughes. For one a HR/9 rate of 2 is for sure unsustainable, his highest HR/9 rate was in 2012 but that was in Yankees Stadium, where fly-ball pitchers go to die, expect HRs to go down. The second and third reasons I am excited about Hughes this year is that he is actually striking out more and walking less so far this year. He has 2 walks to his 22 ks! That K/BB rate on any other pitcher would have us salivating but on Hughes it is masked by lack of run support and a tendency for the long ball. If he keeps the HRs in check expect Hughes to continue the success he started last year.



Finem Cogitationum
Final Thoughts

Two weeks ago I said the Mets look good, now we are all seeing it.

I also said the Yanks would struggle, I can't be right all the time.  Their team ERA is 3.49 which is really good, but not sustainable with the arms they have.

At the pace he is pitching I would not be surprised to see Gerrit Cole make a play for NL CY.

Victerino goes down for the Red Soxs and their solution is Allen Craig? Brock Holt? Nope it is Daniel Nava. Bostons outfield is quite stacked up I would have played Brock Holt who is batting .457 in 35 at-bats.

Speaking of Boston, Matt Barnes is getting a cup of coffee and I am really excited to see him pitch. He has an exciting arm which when coupled with his huge body creates an interesting combo. Even though he is working in the pen, I expect him to get some starts and we could see something special here.

Bryce Harper is on the cusp of a breakout season, if you don't have him trade for him now and watch the greatness ensue.

The most exciting player in baseball right now is Nelson Cruz, I know some where out there Jason Collette is smiling.


Don't Stop the Music with Mark Nessel


I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One by Yo La Tengo (1997, Matador Records)

Genre: Indie Rock, Noise Pop

As a Phillies fan, it pains me to see the Mets in their place on top of our division.  However, everyone has a team, and for the band Yo La Tengo that team is the Mets.  Hailing from Hoboken, New Jersey, their name is actually a reference to Mets player Elio Chacón.  Throughout their career they have released a ton of critically acclaimed albums.  I would recommend 1997's "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One" where we find Yo La Tengo blending several genres and showing off their chops as both songwriters and musicians.  Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get the opportunity to highlight some Phillies fans when they are leading the division.  It's still anyone's season.