WEEK 6 RECAP: SIFTING AND WINNOWING
There is a sign on a building on the UW-Madison Campus. It reads:
“Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
What this means, to those of us who have never farmed or panned for gold, is that you can only tell what you’ve truly got at hand by standing around in the hot sun shifting the crap back and forth in a sieve for several hours to see if it’s actual shit or just shit covered gold. Six weeks into the fantasy season we are deeply engaged in this boring ass process. Let’s see if anyone discovered anything interesting or if it’s all shit.
shirley’s sox (w) vs oneil & o’neill attys at law (l)
7 - 5 - 0
I’m gonna get this out of the way first because it angers me and I’m tired of thinking about it. I deserved this loss in that I’ve benefitted from some good fortune in the early weeks and the pendulum was bound to swing back around. While my pitching continued to be excellent, I made a massive tactical error in starting Cole Ragans when I had ratios locked up and didn’t need the innings and it bit me hard. That and the fact my hitting continues to be middle of the pack at best without Trout (cya), and Turner, and I was due for my first loss since week 1. I’m glad it wasn’t worse but I’ll be looking for a better week offensively with my new additions otherwise Johnson could well steamroll me since he matches up well in pitching.
And now Hoskins is hurt. And Jung Hoo Lee. sigh. uncorks wine bottle
Weaver was otherwise occupied this week seeing as how Zac Gallen sat on the bench for a two start week. I’m not hating. Life is busy and this is a fun activity, and it isn’t lost on me that I failed to beat a team that was on auto-pilot. I can only wonder if Shirley’s Sox would be in a playoff position if its owner was at the wheel.
bux in six (w) vs red soto cups (l)
10 - 2 - 0
“Yeah y’all should have buried me when you had the chance”
Mulvey’s braggadocios attitude isn’t unwarranted. This was a statement win. While his hitting still hasn’t broken through to the top half of the league, his pitching is firing on all cylinders. Max Fried and Michael King in particular are dealing. I don’t know that I expect Chris Paddock to have ten strikeouts every week, but I also wouldn’t want to be the team facing off against Mulvey right now since his arms are clearly cooking. Also, Freddie Freeman had two homers and batted 1.141 OPS this week. What was Corbin Carroll’s OPS this week?
.588
Yeah I’m gonna keep bringing this up until it ceases to amuse me.
On the other side this was a devastating loss for Swindell. The old saying is in baseball you’re guaranteed to lose 50 games and win 50 games. It’s the middle 62 that determine the outcome of a season. Basically that means you need to win the games you’re supposed to. Mulvey’s team has been the soft underbelly of the league to this point, and to lose by such a wide margin is a gut punch. Swindell’s pitching just couldn’t go toe to toe with Mulvey’s. Logan Gilbert picked the wrong week to have a stinker and the ratios just never recovered. All is not lost though. As bad as this loss was, Swindell is still only 9 games back from the last playoff spot. The key is to not let these losses compound, so week 7 vs Staron is almost “must win”.
i like ian on topper (L) vs cashman’s cashouts (w)
5 - 7 - 0
If Topczewski had rostered even a single closer, he probably would have won the week.
This matchup was a clear cut case of Jonathan winning the hitting categories handily (aside from batting average), and Topper winning the pitching categories (except SV/HD, which Sitko won 1-0). I’m sorry but I just do not understand the strategy of completely punting SV/HD. If this was a league where every win was counted as “1” then maybe I would get it. But with this strategy you are saying you will always lose that category no matter what. Better to scratch and claw for every category, because those wins and losses add up. There are 20 weekly matchups in our fantasy season. Topper is throwing the towel in for 20 losses just by not playing for that category, guaranteed. If he even won a third of those 20, would it mean the difference between making the postseason and missing? Who’s to say. Oh wait, I am. I’m to say. I say yes. You dolt.
On the other side, Sitko has to feel pretty good about scraping out a win when his pitching was so abysmal. How abysmal was it? He came in the bottom third in every pitching category and was last in half of them. That’s the sort of performance that usually means you’re cruising for a bruising, but fortunately Sitko was lucky enough to be playing against the worst team in the league. Win the games you’re supposed to, right?
mendoza liners (l) vs harper’s ferry (w)
4 - 7 - 1
Things just keep getting worse for Staron, who has fallen to 8th place after this loss. His hitting was a prototypical “Ian Week” in that he hit tons of homers with no batting average. His pitching though, which typically rides the coattails of Tarik Skubal and Aaron Nola, couldn’t match up without ace performances from the two studs. This is a team that is still sorely underperforming, but I can’t help but point again to the self-inflicted wound of trading away Freddie Freeman. If Freeman was still on this team then Staron would have won home runs and narrowed the margins to a near-tie. In a season where the playing field is decidedly leveled, that little advantage could mean everything.
McDermott had a strong overall week bolstered by Jazz Chisholm and a resurgent Bryce Harper. It’s a wonder that Cristian Javier’s disastrous outing (1.1 IP 47.25 ERA) didn’t ruin everything, but the fact that he weathered that particular storm is the kind of good luck that any championship team needs. McDermott ended the week with the most rotisserie points of any team, so perhaps I wasn’t kind enough to him in last week’s write-up. ahem Joey is a handsome, beast of a man with a genius intellect and balls the size and consistency of ostrich eggs.
pickle the beast (t) vs elly enchanted (t)
6 - 6 - 0
Oh if Richard could have just eked out five more innings and four more strikeouts. So close. What, pray tell, was the thing that held him back? Ah, of course. Richard, at least at time of this writing, has two hitters on the bench, whereas Heller carries only one. It’s impossible for me to tell here, but based on the makeup of Martindell’s team it looks like he was reluctant to stream against Heller. The younger Dick has often bemoaned the tactics of his enemy, however the facts are the facts. One more start anywhere along the way and he would have won the week 8-4. He could have done the same against me several weeks before. These little wins and losses add up over time. Claw for every stat or be buried by them.
On the other side, Heller somehow managed to not lose when his offense only produced five homers. I can’t overstate how valuable that is. I highly doubt a lineup with Austin Riley, Kyle Schwarber, and Matt Olson is going to put up such limited power numbers again. Such a Houdini act keeps him in the hunt and avoids the catastrophic “big losses” which can sink a season.
Speaking of which…
you don’t know jax (l) vs jurickson store called … (w)
3 - 9 - 0
It wasn’t long ago that it looked like Weaver was turning a corner. Who would have known that behind that corner was a caged honey badger out for blood. This loss likely stings a lot for Weaver, who was within striking distance in 5 of the categories he would ultimately lose. The scoreboard isn’t an accurate representation of how this matchup went (OPS was decided by .001). However, the numbers are also not favorable for Weaver on the offensive front. Placing 11th in roto points for the week, the long awaited offensive explosion has not arrived. Weaver joins the cluster of 6 “middle teams” which are separated by a measly 3 games in the standings. Shoutout for the Colt Keith and Loperfido adds, but a big thumbs down once again for drafting Goldschmidt. Goldy is so bad this year he ranks in the bottom third in every Statcast expected stat. Yes I included that since I know Patrick hates expected stats. Lemme translate that into luddite neanderthal:
Paul no hit ball good. Paul no expected to hit ball good anytime soon. Paul go home and be disappointment to his family.
As for Johnson it’s clearly a strategy of stream ‘em to death and let the offense do the work. The ratio stats on the offensive side weren’t impressive but the dingers, including three from Josh Naylor, were. His strategy this year is the exact antithesis of his plan from 2023, and it’s being executed beautifully. I’m very worried about our matchup this week. He’s a lion who has an eye for my butt, and it is vulnerable and tasty.
notables:
This is the time of year where some favorites are given up on. In the past several days the following players have been turned back into the shelter for Martindell to euthanize: Lane Thomas, Vaughn Grissom, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Max Scherzer, Pete Crow-Armstrong, John Means, and Jack Leiter (lots of James here)
In a true case of boom/bust, Cashman’s Cashouts currently leads the league in Hitting Roto Points but is last in the league in Pitching Roto Points
Just look at how fucking wild this is. This is redder than the God Damn Chinese National Flag:
matchup to watch:
oneil & O’Neill attys at law vs jurickson store called …
It’s a battle for first place, so yes I’ll self-promote. Come watch me get my ass kicked. It’s a legitimate kink, just ask Mulvey… Don’t look at his hard drive.
