Dynasty League Review: Weeks 15-16

Here at Pitcher List, we thought it would be fun to give the readers a look into the dynasty leagues of Pitcher List staff members. I will be providing reviews throughout the season of my dynasty team in my home league, which originated in 2009.

The league is a 10-team, weekly, head-to-head points league and I am playing the 2019 season under the team name of Angels in the TROUTfield.

 

Week 16

As I mentioned before, my league’s Week 16 was a long contest due to the All-Star break, so I will be recapping it here.

I made the following roster decision in preparation of Week 17:

1.) Added Nate Lowe and dropped Matt Carpenter. I know…I lied to you. And for that, I am sorry. But I couldn’t hold onto Carpenter any longer. It has been an abysmal season for Carpenter and that’s about all there is to it. His batting average is sitting at an awful .215 and he has just barely cracked double digits in terms of power production with 10 home runs. He isn’t hitting the ball as hard as he did in 2019 (42.8% Hard% compared to 49.0%), but last year was an outlier compared to his career output. His rehab assignment isn’t giving owners much hope either, as he has remained without a hit through his first 5 games. I added Lowe after he became hot in hopes that I could plug him into my UTIL and play the match ups. I don’t have a whole lot to say on Lowe.  I wasn’t completely sold on adding him, but I figured it was worth a shot.

This was a very high scoring competition, one that did not have the outcome I was anticipating. Below is the lineup that I rolled out:

C – Mitch Garver
1B – Edwin Encarnacion
2B – Ozzie Albies
3B – Anthony Rendon
SS – Dansby Swanson
OF – Yordan Alvarez
OF – Andrew Benintendi
OF – Mike Trout
OF – Tommy Pham
U – Didi Gregorius
U – Aaron Judge
B – Michael Conforto
B – Matt Carpenter
B – Khris Davis

SP – Gerrit Cole
SP – Luis Castillo
SP – Andrew Heaney
SP – German Marquez
SP – Eduardo Rodriguez
SP – Mike Soroka
RP – Edwin Diaz
B – Zac Gallen
B – Felipe Vazquez
IL – Tyler Glasnow

mL – Nick Senzel
mL – Carter Kieboom
mL – Alex Reyes
mL – Andrew Vaughn
mL – Luis Urias

Top performers: Edwin Encarnacion (9-34, 2 2B, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 6 R, 3 BB), Anthony Rendon (15-36, 5 2B, 5 RBI, 5 R, 5 BB), Yordan Alvarez (13-41, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R, 4 BB), Mike Trout (7-25, 3 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 6 R, 3 BB), Aaron Judge (13-33, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 10 BB), Luis Castillo (12 IP, 12 HA, 4 BBI, 14 K, 4 ER, W, 2 QS), Gerrit Cole (13 IP, 12 HA, 3 BBI, 24 K, 5 ER, W, QS), Eduardo Rodriguez (13.1 IP, 8 HA, 5 BBI, 14 K, 3 ER, 2 W, 2 QS), Mike Soroka (13 IP, 15 HA, 3 BBI, 13 K, 4 ER, W, L, QS), Edwin Diaz (4 IP, 3 HA, 2 BBI, 5 K, 2 S)

Worst performers: Andrew Benintendi (5-34, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 4 R, 7 BB, 12 KO), Andrew Heaney (4.1 IP, 9 HA, 2 BBI, 5 K, 2 ER), German Marquez (9.2 IP, 14 HA, 2 BBI, 8 K, 13 ER, W, L, QS)

Outcome: Loss (963.5 – 1022.5)

Record: 8-8

 

Week 17

 

I made the following roster moves in Week 17:

1.) Added Jose Urquidy and dropped Nate Lowe. Well, I guess you could say he was low on the totem pole. He sits against too many lefties and I wanted to clear room on my squad for more pitching. Urquidy is an intriguing arm. After two very sub-par starts, he bounced back with two very good showings, striking out 15 batters and allowing just 6 H and 2 ER in 13 IP. I wanted to give him a shot in his start against Cleveland. I hope I am catching lightning in a bottle down the stretch.

2. Added Danny Duffy and dropped Andrew Heaney. I was really excited about Heaney this season, but he has just not been a consistent force this year.  After he was shelved with shoulder inflammation, I decided to pull the plug. If he returns in a timely fashion and shows promise during his rehab assignment, I will likely add him back to my team. As for Duffy, I added him following his 11 K game against the Braves. I’m not expecting the world from Duffy.  He will inevitably drop some dud starts, but following his next start at Minnesota, his scheduled rest of season opponents are: @ Det, STL, @ Bal, Oak, Bal, @ Mia, @ CWS, @ Oak, @ Min, Min. Tell me that the majority of those don’t look enticing. I dare you. While I definitely won’t be comfortable starting him every week, there will be times that I will slot him in, especially against the likes of Detroit, Baltimore, Miami, and Chicago. That said, if I’m forced to trim the fat due to an injury, he will be the first that has to go.

This was a big match up for my squad, going head to head with the team with the best record so far this year. Here is the lineup I took into Week 17:

C – Mitch Garver
1B – Edwin Encarnacion
2B – Ozzie Albies
3B – Anthony Rendon
SS – Dansby Swanson
OF – Yordan Alvarez
OF – Andrew Benintendi
OF – Tommy Pham
OF – Mike Trout
U – Michael Conforto
U – Aaron Judge
B – Didi Gregorius
B – Nate Lowe
B – Khris Davis

SP – Gerrit Cole
SP – Luis Castillo
SP – Eduardo Rodriguez
SP – Mike Soroka
SP – German Marquez
RP – Edwin Diaz
RP – Felipe Vazquez
B – Andrew Heaney
B – Zac Gallen
IL – Tyler Glasnow

mL – Nick Senzel
mL – Andrew Vaughn
mL – Carter Kieboom
mL – Luis Urias
mL – Alex Reyes

Top performers: Edwin Encarnacion (11-32, 5 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 6 R, 3 BB), Anthony Rendon (8-25, 3 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 4 R, 6 BB), Andrew Benintendi (15-31, 4 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 9 R, BB), Tommy Pham (8-24, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 4 R, 2 SB, 4 BB), Mike Trout (7-26, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB), Gerrit Cole (14 IP, 6 HA, 4 BBI, 18 K, 2 ER, 2 W, 2 QS), German Marquez (7 IP, 5 HA, 7 K, 2 ER, W, QS), Eduardo Rodriguez (12.2 IP, 9 HA, 7 BBI, 11 K, 3 ER, 2 W, QS)

Worst performers: Dansby Swanson (2-5, 2 R, KO), Aaron Judge (7-32, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R, 3 BB, 10 KO), Luis Castillo (5 INN, 8 HA, 2 BBI, 6 K, 6 ER, L), Mike Soroka (4.2 INN, 8 HA, BBI, 5 K, ER)

This big win brought me within 1 GB of 1st place in my division. I was the highest scoring team overall this week, which is a big deal because my opponent would have beaten every other team but me. This showing was no different than it has been all season, a season where all the teams seem to know they are playing me and decide to run up the scores. In the Points Against category, I am way above the rest of the league, with the next highest total being 323 points behind me. Luckily I have scored the second most points in the league, proving that I have deserved every win I have gotten.

Outcome: Win (745.25 – 710.25)

Record: 9-8

 

Andrew Benintendi

 

Beni must have heard me talking smack about benching him because he has turned the corner recently. Since the all-star break, Benintendi has hit .333 with 4 home runs, 16 RBIs and 14 R, with 11 of his 23 hits being XBH. I’m hoping that this is a turning point for Benintendi and that we will see a big second-half from him. He is actually hitting the ball much harder than he did in 2019, with a 34.9% Hard% compared to 28.0% Hard% so it’s not out of the question to expect a little power surge, as he has only hit a lowly 11 homers on the season. He should be able to top his 16 homers from last season but he doesn’t look like he will match his runs or stolen base total from 2019. My largest concern with Benintendi is his uptick in K% (23.2% in 2019 compared to 16.0% in 2019), but with his recent showing at the plate, hopefully his plate discipline will return to his normal level. Here is to hoping for a big remainder of the season for Beni!

 

(Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)