Crushing the Orioles, buying Yonder Alonso
Everyone has their favorite restaurant. Most people have a bar of choice. But these days, my go-to is the Baltimore Orioles pitching staff. The service from those guys is incredible.
Very few pitching staffs are covering themselves with glory in Home Run Derby 2019, but the Orioles are their own kind of awful. Baltimore’s 6.05 ERA is a half run higher than anyone else. The Orioles have the worst strikeout rate in the league. And if you want a souvenir, get to a Baltimore game — the Orioles have surrendered a ridiculous 73 home runs.
Before this year, no team had ever allowed 50 or more home runs in what’s considered a month (March and April are combined for accounting purposes, same with September and October). St. Louis broke the seal in the National League, allowing 51 taters, but it’s no match for what Baltimore is doing.
Baltimore’s loss Monday at Chicago was tame by Orioles standards — a pedestrian 5-3 defeat. Lefty John Means, one of the few Baltimore pitchers doing well (2.81 ERA), allowed four runs and two home runs over five innings. Manny Banuelos (5.2 IP, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K) picked up the win for the White Sox, pleasing the stream police.
Things really get juicy when one of Baltimore’s right-handers take the mound — you can stack for fun against Andrew Cashner, David Hess, Dan Straily and Dylan Bundy. And for the rest of the Chicago series, maybe we can have some DFS fun with Yonder Alonso. Chicago’s Alonso homered Monday, his second in as many games, and has some interesting stats if you look past his strange .190 average.
Alonso has no right being Under Mendoza, of course. His walk rate is higher than his strikeout rate, and he’s carrying a .190 BABIP despite a stable hard-hit rate (line drives are down slightly). For the rest of the year, we should probably consider him the player he was in 2017 and 2018 — a modest average in the .250-.260 range, with mid-20s power. Alonso is owned in just 14 percent of Yahoo leagues; there’s a buying opportunity here.
The save rule no longer rules the dugout
Teams are getting smarter with how they handle leverage and relief decisions, but it’s going to cost us some saves down the line. Just the price of doing business in 2019.
Boston’s win over Oakland was a case in point, with presumed closer Ryan Brasier summoned into the game in the seventh inning. Brasier wound up recording four outs on just 11 pitches, then was removed prior to the ninth. Matt Barnes ultimately cleaned up for a two-out save, made possible when Hector Velasquez walked two batters.
Brasier (1.32 ERA) sits at six saves for the year, with Barnes (2.25 ERA) now up to two. Both pitchers look good under the hood, but what really catches your eye is Barnes’s 23 strikeouts against just three walks. If he’s going to be a wipeout reliever, I don’t even care about the role — Boston will find possible win or save chances for this guy, even if Brasier is more likely the ninth-inning solution. Barnes is still available in nearly half of Yahoo leagues.
Hunting for handshakes in Atlanta
The Braves save chase has been a fool’s errand for most of the year. Arodys Vizcaino lasted just four appearances before a blown-out elbow, and A.J. Minter has been his own carnival ride (9.35 ERA). Luke Jackson (2.57 ERA, 2 BB, 15 K) converted the Sunday save when Minter, once again, couldn’t finish, but it put the team in uncharted waters for Monday. Jackson needed a day off after two straight workdays, and Minter needed a rest, too.
Enter Jacob Webb, a 25 year old righty. Webb cleaned up Monday’s 3-1 victory over San Diego, with a ground out and strikeout over seven tidy pitches. Webb probably hasn’t pushed ahead of Jackson, who already has some resume built up, but there’s at least something to consider for the deeper leagues.
Webb was a closer in the minors last year, posting 18 saves over two stops (3.15 ERA, 1.09 WHIP). The 23 walks are a little bloated for 54.1 innings, though five of them were intentional. The big thing is keeping the ball in the park — Webb also allowed seven home runs.
His 3.2 innings in Atlanta this year pass the eye test, for whatever a tiny sample means — fastball in the mid-90s, swinging-strike rate of 17.5 percent. Hang Fire. If you’re not a Jackson or Minter believer — or you just need a bullpen lottery ticket — Webb is free for work in 99 percent of Yahoo leagues.
Follow Scott Pianowski on Twitter
