Fantasy Headlines: inside the Orioles 5-0 start, Tulowitzki in a slump
The Baltimore Orioles are the only undefeated team remaining after the first week of the regular season. Chris Tillman, Ubaldo Jimenez and Yovani Gallardo all notched wins over the past seven days allowing three earned runs and striking out 22 in 19 innings pitched.
One week of stats provides an awesome sample size of trends bucked. This includes Mark Trumbo – he of the .302 lifetime OBP – currently reaching base 50 percent of the time. His .529 BABIP suggests regression, while his zero homers should increase dramatically in week two if Trumbo’s historic sample size indicates the norm. This is a fun way of writing “we have seven days of stats folks!”
Adam Jones continues to deal with a rib / rib cage injury that will keep him out of the lineup on Monday, but told an Orioles beat reporter it only hurts when he swings.
Feel-good story out of camp Joey Rickard is 8-18 to start the season.
Toronto Blue Jays
Josh Donaldson and the Dodgers’ Corey Seager have at least one hit in their first seven games this season. Donaldson also has at least one homer in four out of those seven games.
While Trevor Story smashed seven homers in seven days, Troy Tulowitzki is in the midst of the worst start to a season in his MLB career - 3-25 with 10 strikeouts.
Marco Estrada shutdown the Red Sox in his first start of the season. His seven innings pitched, no earned runs and eight strikeouts marks only the third time since 2013 that Estrada has posted at least seven innings pitched, no earned runs and eight-or-more strikeouts in a start.
Boston Red Sox
From the “remember when this guy was knocking the cover off the ball during spring training” department, Mookie Betts hit .353 in March with four homers with nine strikeouts in 68 at bats. Through the Red Sox first five games, Betts has struck out eight times in 24 at bats and is carrying a .130 batting average with one homer. He’ll be fine and two postponements in Cleveland didn’t help, but worth noting.
Rick Porcello, Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly combined to allow 16 earned runs in 13 innings pitched in three starts last week. That’s an 11.08 ERA. In related news, Eduardo Rodriguez will pitch in a simulated game Wednesday and is on track to join team in late-April, early-May.
Sad Panda moments …
Pablo Sandoval's belt taps out. https://t.co/LujGfze7XQ
— Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) April 9, 2016
New York Yankees
Go figure, the first Yankees starter to record a quality start was C.C. Sabathia.
Starlin Castro received a lot of grief as he was booted out of Chicago. So, it’s easy to forget how touted he was as a prospect and how well he played six years before arriving in New York …
Colleague John Halpin and I debated for and against the Kyle Schwarber high ADP vs. Brian McCann value pick at catcher several times on the fantasy baseball podcast this past March. Now, Schwarber’s out for the season and McCann is hitting .467 with a homer for the Yankees. Let’s call the whole thing off and try again in 2017 when McCann is 33. That seems fair.
Luis Severino allowed 10 hits in his 2016 debut, but only one went for extra bags and he didn’t walk any Tigers. Not worth freaking out after one start.
Tampa Bay Rays
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times poses a great question and one fantasy baseball owners should take note of heading into week two:
Bigger concern from #Rays 2-4 first week?
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 11, 2016
Chris Archer’s eight earned runs in 10 innings pitched to start the season have some on edge. His xFIP is 2.67 and striking out plenty. He’ll be fine.
After a strong first outing against the Blue Jays in which he struck out 10, I streamed in Jake Odorizzi as my DraftKings SP2 on Sunday. If not for the four-ball crooked number on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning, he may have performed up-to-snuff.
Brad Miller is 1-17 to start the season, while Logan Morrison is 1-18. Both sub-.100 batting averages. Yum.
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