Today is July 4, which is of course Independence Day. Make sure you celebrate the freedom from tyranny properly, by gorging on hot dogs and watching Will Smith movies. There's not a whole lot out there today, presumably because of the three day weekend, but baseball rolls on and so does your fantasy team. Here are the links for today:
Fantasy Baseball Two Start Starters, Week 14 | Razzball
Playing the Name Game: Who's Who | COSFBA
This is from last Thursday but it's still incredibly relevant.
Buy-Winning Pitching | Sons of Roto
Latos is suffering from a .319 BABIP despite his excellent 14.2% LD% (fifth best LD% in baseball among SP). The defense behind him isn't playing as well as they did last season so that's something to keep in mind, but it doesn't fully explain the bad luck going on here. The Fastball velocity is still down a hair, but it is increasing as he further distances himself from the great injury scare (shoulder) of Spring Training.
Waiver Wire: Ben Revere and Chris Johnson | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball
Revere doesn’t walk much, but he has very good plate discipline (21.5% O-Swing%). He also doesn’t swing and miss much either, making contact nearly 92% of the time when he swings. When he does make contact, he’s putting it on the ground about 68% of the time allowing him to utilize his wheels.You might look at his .311 BABIP and think he’s getting a few lucky hops on those worm burners, but based on his current hit trajectory, his expected BABIP is fully .345.
More Fantasy Links after the jump:
Buyer Beware: Ian Kinsler | Fantasy Baseball Cafe
Those hoping to buy a player who can repeat his 2008 performance are likely to be disappointed. [Kinsler]’s also not likely to match his home run production of the 2009 season as he isn’t hitting as many fly balls as he did that season, and his home run-per-fly ball that season was almost a full two percent better than his career rate. Going forward, something in between, much like his 2007 season with a little less average and perhaps a bit more pop seems about right.
Huff on the Downswing | Baseball Analytics
Pitchers are throwing [Huff] more sinkers this season, and he seems to be chasing them. That chase hurts him.
Minor Accomplishments, Week 14 | Razzball
Gyorko, Kipnis, Miller, Peacock. Goldschmidt, Cowgill, Altuve, Blanks, Montgomery, Montero
Impact Pitching Prospects in the Second Half | BaseballPress.com
Cobb was sent back to Triple-A after his last start to make room for a returning Jeff Niemann, but drew rave reviews from Rays' manager Joe Maddon. With Niemann's health issues and poor pitching thus far in the season, it won't be long until we see Cobb back in the majors.