I apologize for no Roundups the past few days, but I need a bit of a break from it. Today, I will discuss one of the top performers from Wednesday, in addition to Thursday's standout roto performers.
EPL Fantasy Week 4 Start/Sit Advice
Brian Stultz is back at it after a week hiatus in the English Premier League action. Here are links to this weeks Week 4 Start/Sit advice:
Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 31: Getting Defensive
Andrew and Zack were back at it with episode 31 of the Fake Teams fantasy podcast. In the podcast, they discuss Jose Fernandez, Julio Teheran, Billy Hamilton and a few other September call ups. In addition, they even had a loooooooonnggg conversation about how fantasy baseball is so much better than fantasy football. It was a very good listen.
You can listen to the podcast in several ways:
Zack Wheeler: Improving as the season goes along
I didn't get to write about Wheeler's last start, but he did fare well on Wednesday vs the Nationals, limiting them to just one run on 8 hits, a walk and 6 strikeouts over 7 innings in the Mets 3-0 loss. Wheeler moved his record to 7-5 with a solid 3.22 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and a 81-40 strikeout to walk rate in 95 innings. Over his last 10 starts, he allowed two runs or less in seven of those starts. While showing that he has trouble with the free pass in his 16 starts this season, Wheeler owns a 40-12 strikeout to walk rate over his last 44.1 innings, so he has settled down on the mound as the season has progressed.
In the most recent "What Scouts are Saying" article over at Baseball Prospectus, one of the scouts comments touched on Wheeler, and here is what he said:
Mets RHP Zack Wheeler: "[He] is developing into the top-of-the-rotation pitcher everyone expected. You can see him mature before your eyes, and his confidence has been key. He's starting to trust his breaking stuff, and he's relying more on his slider to help get guys out. I'd expect him to take another step forward in 2014."
I own Wheeler in one of my NL only keeper leagues at $3 and have him on a staff that includes a $7 Jose Fernandez, a $5 Brandon Beachy, a $6 Shelby Miller and a $1 Trevor Rosenthal. Yeah, I got lucky on draft day.
If Wheeler can limit the walks, he could be one of the top young starters in the game, and that could come as soon as 2014.
More from the What Scouts are Saying article
I had to post this for all of the dynasty and keeper league owners out there.
Julio Urias
Dodgers Low-A LHP Julio Urias: "It's not simply that he has three pitches that project to be plus—it's that he has a superior understanding of how to use them that separates him from all other pitchers in the low levels of the minor leagues. Tack on to that the fact that it will be four years before he's able to legally drink and you have the makings of a potential superstar. He's not perfect, though. His body is thick already, especially his lower half, so I would think you'd have to be concerned about how much good weight he can add to his body, and he puts stress on his shoulder in his delivery, but these relatively small nits to pick. He looks every bit the real deal."
Well, the Dodgers certainly had a solid offseason of signing international free agents, huh? Yasiel Puig, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Urias, and Alexander Guerrero is on the horizon, so the team is building their farm system while also investing in the big league team.
Round'em Up
I was beginning to lower Nationals third baseman in my third base rankings this offseason, but now he has gone and hit a home run almost every day for the last two weeks, or so it seems. Yesterday afternoon, Zimmerman went 2-4 with a HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI and is now hitting .277-.349-.470 with 23 HRs, 74 runs, 72 RBI and 6 stolen bases. I was pretty high on Zimmerman coming into the season, and in a way, he has been a disappointment. Coming into the last month of the season, Zimmerman had all of 15 home runs, but has now hit 8 bombs over his last 10 games, making his full season stats look respectable. I will still probably drop him in my rankings though.
For all of the Mike Trout fans out there, let this sink in for a few moments. The chances of this actually happening has to be pretty slim, but here it goes from Keith Law's chat over at ESPN yesterday:
JK (Chicago)
If you were in the Angels, would you just offer Trout 10/250 right now? He's going to make a ton in arb, and this way you are keeping him away from free agency while only locking him up through age 31. And that kind of money would be kind of hard to say no to, right?
Klaw (1:25 PM)
I'm not sure he'd take it. I've certainly heard enough stories of player discontent with Scioscia that I could see Trout saying screw it, I'll clean up in arbitration and go be a Dodger or a Yankee at age 26.
As a Dodgers fan, this would be tremendous, but they already have four outfielders for three spots once Matt Kemp returns. Then again, the "Trade Ethier" drum beat will start again this offseason, so he could be gone before the start of the 2014 season. And by the time Trout become a free agent, Carl Crawford probably won't be an every day player, and they can eat his salary without a second thought. Trout in Dodger Blue would be something else, but I don't see it happening.
The A's might be the hottest team in baseball, and one of the reasons is they are getting great pitching. One of those pitchers is A.J. Griffin, and yesterday he limited the horrible Twins lineup to just one run on just 2 hits, a walk and 8 strikeouts in the A's 8-2 win. Griffin moved his record to 14-9 with a 3.81 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 158-51 strikeout to walk rate in 189 innings this season.
Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes missed some time due to injury this season, but he has quietly put up a solid season at the plate. Last night, he went 4-4 with a home run, two doubles, 2 runs and an RBI in the Blue Jays 4-3 loss to the Angels. Reyes is now hitting .301-.355-.442 with 10 HRs, 49 runs, 34 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 19 attempts in just 78 games. Averaging his stats over a full season give you 20 home runs, 100 runs, 65-70 RBI and 30 stolen bases. I am not sure he can put up that kind of season in 2014, but the power bump is something to watch.
More from Fake Teams:
- EPL Week 4: Defenders and Midfielders
- Streamer Report: Friday's Streamers
- Low Level Prospect Review: Clint Frazier, OF, Cleveland Indians
- Justin Upton or Jayson Werth: Who would you rather have in 2014?
- Fantasy Football: Thursday Night Start/Sit, Week 2 Rankings, Waiver Wire and more
- Streamer Report: Thursday's Streamers
- EPL Transfer News and Week 4 Goalkeepers
- MLB Prospect Rankings Review: A Look at Our Preseason Consensus First Base Rankings