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FanDuel: SB Nation One Day Fantasy Leagues
Many of you play in season-long leagues, while more and more of you are playing one day fantasy leagues. If you like the action of the one day leagues, make sure you join the FanDuel/SB Nation one day fantasy baseball leagues. All you need to do is click on the link below and join a league.
FanDuel/SB Nation One Day Fantasy League
- Leagues start at 7pm every evening
- It is only $5 to enter, and the top 4,378 win cash
- Top prize of $10,000
- Click the link above to learn more and get started
- On most days, our own Tim Finnegan (@TimFinn521 on Twitter) offers his picks for your daily FanDuel rosters. His articles post at 6am daily.
Zack Greinke: NL Cy Young Award favorite?
The National Leagu Cy Young Award race is going to be very interesting as we head into the second half of the season. There are three legitimate candidates at the moment, and you can never count out Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, The three leaders at the moment are Nationals ace Max Scherzer, Pirates ace Gerrit Cole and Dodgers ace Zack Greinke. Scherzer has the near perfect game and no hitter,. Cole leads the NL in wins, but Greinke might be the best of the three/four.
Last night, Greinke tossed seven more scoreless innings in the Dodgers 4-3 win over the Mets. Greinke limited the Mets to just 4 hits, no walks and 4 strikeouts in the 7 shutout innings, raising his record to 7-2 with a 1.48 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and a 98-20 strikeout to walk rate in 115.1 innings this season. He hasn't given up a run in his last four starts, covering 27.2 innings, and has given up one run or fewer in eight of his last ten starts. He has given up zero runs in 7 of his 17 starts, and one run or fewer in 13 of his 17 starts this season.
Greinke isn't as dominating as Scherzer and Cole are, but he is my favorite the the NL Cy Young award at the moment. although Scherzer and Cole are very good candidates as well, as Scherzer is the MLB leader in fWAR with Kershaw and Greinke sitting at 2-3 among NL starting pitchers.
For more on Greinke and the Dodgers, make sure you check out True Blue LA, SB Nation's Dodgers fan site.
Roto Roundup
Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is the favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year award, and he helped his cause on Saturday, belting two home runs and driving in six runs in the Cubs 7-2 win over the Marlins. Bryant hit a two-run shot off of Marlins starter Jarred Cosart in the first inning and a grand slam off of him in the second inning, sending Cosart to the showers early. On the season, Bryant is hitting .278-.381-.486 with 12 home runs, 44 runs scored, 49 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 300 plate appearances. Some rookies struggle against either right-handed or left-handed pitching, but not Bryant. Here s how he is faring vs lefties and righties this season:
RH: .272-.374-.452, 8 HR, 33 RBI, 250 PA
LH: .310-.420-.667, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 50 PA
He is crushing left-handed pitchers this far, and is on pace for a 90-25-100-14 season. Pretty impressive for a rookie.
Sticking with some thoughts on early award favorites, based on how he is playing through the first three months of the season, Braves outfielder Cameron Maybin is a favorite to win the NL Comeback Player of the Year. He is having the best season of his injury-filled career in 2015, and he continues to build his case last night, as he went 3-5 with a home run, double, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI and a stolen bases in the Braves 9-5 win over the Phillies. On the season, he is hitting .295-.364-.418 with 7 home runs, 34 runs scored, 39 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 278 plate appearances. The former top prospect is on pace to hit 14 home runs and steal 30 bases and is still available in 30% of leagues right now. If you are in need of an outfielder or utility hitter, don't hesitate to grab him.
The Red Sox starting rotation has struggled for most of the season, but after some early season hiccups, Clay Buchholz is pitching like an ace. Yesterday, Buchholz dominated the young Astros lineup, giving up just one run on 6 hits, no walks and 8 strikeouts in the complete game win. The win moved his record to 7-6 with a 3.27 ERA, 2.55 FIP, 1.19 WHIP and a 104-23 strikeout to walk rate in 110 innings pitched. He has given up two runs or fewer vver his last ten starts, and has given up just three earned runs over his last four starts, a span of 31 innings. After putting up an ERA near 6.00 in April. Buccholz has monthly ERAs of 3.31 and 2.21 in May and June.
I was texting with a friend of mine who is a Mets fan on Saturday morning, as he was giving me grief about the Dodgers 2-1 loss to the Mets on Friday night. I told him felt the Dodgers were going to get to Matt Harvey in Saturday's nights' game….it was just a hunch, and it proved to be accurate….sort of. Harvey struggled on Saturday, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits, 5 walks and 4 strikeouts in just 5 innings of work in the Dodgers 4-3 win. Harvey has had his share of struggles this season, but yesterday he was not his dominant self. Actually, he hasn't been dominate since early June. In his last five starts, Harvey owns a Kyle Kendrick-like 20-10 strikeout to walk rate over 30.2 innings. On the season, Harvey is 7-6 with a 3.11 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, and a 100-22 strikeout to walk rate in 104.2 innings. Is it time to start worrying about Harvey, or is his drop in performance recently just a minor bump in the road? Here is a trend that shocked me: Harvey's monthly K-BB%, courtesy of FanGraphs:
April: 26.2%
May: 20.5%
June: 14.6%
July: -3.7% (one start)
His K% has followed a similar trend, as his walk rate has been pretty steady.
Is it time to sell Harvey?
When Athletics GM Billy Beane traded Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays in the offseason, many thought he was off his rocker. Even though Donaldson has played like an all star, it appears the A's made out just as well. One of the four players they received in return was pitching prospect Kendall Graveman, a pitcher many had never heard of before. At least I didn't. Yesterday, Graveman pitched another gem, shutting out the Mariners on 5 hits, a walk and a strikeout in the A's 2-0 win. The win moved his record to 6-4 with a 3.16 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 1.34 WHIP and 45-24 strikeout to walk rate. After finishing April with an ERA over 8.00, earning himself a demotion to AAA, Graveman has given up three runs or less in each of his last nine starts since his return, lowering his ERA by more than five runs. He is a sinker ball pitcher who relies on ground balls and limiting hard contact to get batters out. He is available in 75% of leagues right now, so if you need a starter, or can stash one, I recommend grabbing him off of your league waiver wire.
Fantasy Rundown
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