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 18
I made the following roster decision in preparation of Week 19:
1.) Added Danny Salazar and dropped Jose Urquidy. Salazar was purely a speculative add. He has always had electric stuff and I figured he was worth an add leading up to his first and unfortunately only start this year. A healthy Salazar was always so intriguing but unfortunately a healthy Salazar doesn’t stick around too long. Urquidy was an interesting arm to own (insert any Houston pitcher) but with the number of moves that the Astros made at the deadline, I had no reason to hold onto him.
2.) Dropped Luis Urias and Alex Reyes. Added Isan Diaz, Gavin Lux, and Tarik Skubal. I lumped all these together because they were due to some shuffling I needed to make with my mL spots. Urias was promoted again and I didn’t have any room on my active roster for him. Reyes is unlikely to help any fantasy owners in 2019. He might be a September call-up if he can stay healthy but it will likely be out of the bullpen for the Cardinals. I had a few open spots so I added Diaz, Lux, and Skubal. Diaz had the clearest path to the Majors and that was made evident when the Marlins called him up shortly thereafter. I added him in case of injury with the intent of dropping him if he got the call. The one I am most excited for, along with the rest of the fantasy baseball world, is Lux. Lux is making a mockery of AAA after tearing up AA as well. The Dodgers seem intent on taking it slow with Lux but all it would take is an injury to propel him into the starting lineup in Los Angeles. Skubal was added because I had an open space to use and wanted to use it on a speculative piece. He has been absolutely brilliant in 2019 but I must admit that it is highly unlikely that the 22 year old makes it to the Majors this season since he has only made it to AA this season. Nevertheless, it was a fun addition to make since I had space and he is definitely an arm to keep an eye on in dynasty leagues.
3.) Added Vince Velasquez and dropped Danny Salazar. I added and dropped Salazar in the same week after he went down with injury in his start. I used the spot to add Velasquez who was coming up on a two-start week with road starts against the Diamondbacks and Giants. Velasquez is strictly a streamer at this point but I liked the match-ups and he more or less ended up delivering for me in those outings.
4.) Added Cavan Biggio and dropped Danny Duffy. After Edwin Encarnacion went down with a very inopportune injury, I needed to make a 1B addition. Biggio had been playing well so I gave him a shot. My plan is to play the hot hand at first base and luckily it is a pretty deep position this year. I really wanted to keep Duffy stashed on my bench and start him in his good match-ups but I needed the space and figured I could add him back after lineups locked. Duffy ended up hitting the IL with a hamstring injury so I will wait to see how that plays out before considering picking him back up.
Below is the lineup that I rolled out for week 18 that helped propel me to back-to-back wins:
C – Mitch Garver
1B – Edwin Encarnacion
2B – Ozzie Albies
3B – Anthony Rendon
SS – Didi Gregorius
OF – Yordan Alvarez
OF – Andrew Benintendi
OF – Khris Davis
OF – Mike Trout
U – Michael Conforto
U – Aaron Judge
B – Dansby Swanson
B – Tommy Pham
SP – Gerrit Cole
SP – Luis Castillo
SP – Zac Gallen
SP – Mike Soroka
SP – Eduardo Rodriguez
SP – Jose Urquidy
RP – Edwin Diaz
B – German Marquez
B – Felipe Vazquez
B – Danny Duffy
IL – Tyler Glasnow
mL – Nick Senzel
mL – Carter Kieboom
mL – Alex Reyes
mL – Andrew Vaughn
mL – Luis Urias
Top performers: Ozzie Albies (9-30, 3 2B, 3B, RBI, 5 R, 2 SB, 2 BB), Anthony Rendon (7-23, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB), Yordan Alvarez (8-21, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, 4 BB), Andrew Benintendi (10-30, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 R, BB), Michael Conforto (7-24, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 6 R, 4 BB), Luis Castillo (7 IP, 6 HA, 7 K, ER, W, QS), Gerrit Cole (7 IP, 4 HA, 2 BBI, 4 K, ER, W, QS)
Worst performers: Didi Gregorius (1-10, RBI, 2 BB), Eduardo Rodriguez (6.2 IP, 5 HA, 6 BBI, 8 K, 4 ER, L), Jose Urquidy (4 IP, 8 HA, BBI, K, 6 ER, L)
Outcome: Win (565.5 – 367.5)
Record: 10-8
Week 19
I made the following roster moves in Week 19:
1.) Added Mike Foltynewicz and dropped Vince Velasquez. Folty looked good in AAA this year so I wanted to roll the dice on him. He has a high ERA since his return but both starts have been 7 strikeout games so that has been good to see. I’ll keep him until he gives me a reason not to. Velasquez, like I mentioned before, was strictly a streamer for me so this was an easy drop.
2. Added Steven Matz and dropped Dansby Swanson. Matz has been actually pretty solid recently. He will inevitably have a blow up from time to time but you have come to expect that from him and are inherently taking on that risk every time out. I’m not sure how long he will last on my team but wanted to roll the dice on him. Dropping Swanson wasn’t a move I wanted to make at all. He has been excellent this season but the heel injury he is nursing is looking like it will keep him out for quite awhile.
3.) Dropped Isan Diaz. He got the call from the Marlins and I just didn’t have any room on my active roster for him. He is striking out a ton and looks to be over-matched in his first taste of big league pitching.
C – Mitch Garver
1B – Cavan Biggio
2B – Ozzie Albies
3B – Anthony Rendon
SS – Didi Gregorius
OF – Yordan Alvarez
OF – Andrew Benintendi
OF – Tommy Pham
OF – Mike Trout
U – Michael Conforto
U – Aaron Judge
B – Edwin Encarnacion
B – Dansby Swanson
B – Khris Davis
SP – Gerrit Cole
SP – Luis Castillo
SP – Eduardo Rodriguez
SP – Mike Soroka
SP – German Marquez
RP – Vince Velasquez
RP – Felipe Vazquez
B – Edwin Diaz
B – Zac Gallen
IL – Tyler Glasnow
mL – Nick Senzel
mL – Andrew Vaughn
mL – Carter Kieboom
mL – Gavin Lux
mL – Tarik Skubal
mL – Isan Diaz
Top performers: Ozzie Albies (16-32, 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 10 R, SB, 2 BB), Anthony Rendon (9-23, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 6 R, SB, BB), Yordan Alvarez (10-22, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 7 R, 2 BB), Mike Trout (6-19, 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R, SB, 5 BB), Michael Conforto (7-20, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, SB, 3 BB), Luis Castillo (13.2 IP, 10 HA, 2 BBI, 21 K, 5 ER, W, 2 QS), Gerrit Cole (6 IP, 3 HA, 10 K, 2 ER, W, QS), German Marquez (13 IP, 13 HA, 2 BBI, 13 K, 8 ER, W, QS), Mike Soroka (14 IP, 9 HA, 2 BBI, 9 K, 3 ER, 2 QS)
Worst performers: Mitch Garver (3-17, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB, 5 KO), Cavan Biggio (3-23, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, SB, 3 BB, 11 KO), Tommy Pham (1-18, RBI, R, BB, 7 KO), Eduardo Rodriguez (5 IP, 7 HA, 3 BBI, K, 2 ER)
Outcome: Win (756.75 – 630.25)
I won this match up pretty easily and it brought me into a tie for first place in my division. My 756.75 points would have beaten every team this week and if I can continue this type of output week after week, I will be a force to be reckoned with if I am fortunate enough to secure a playoff spot. Things are looking well, but we all know how quickly the tables can turn in fantasy baseball.
Record: 11-8
2019 was the first year that I targeted and successfully executed on my plan of paying up for a big-time closer. 2019 will be the last year that I go into the draft with that plan. I wanted Edwin Diaz to be my closer this season so badly that I paid up big for him in the draft, only to be slapped in the face. He has an unsightly 5.60 ERA, is walking way too many batters, and is allowing 2.2 home runs per nine innings. Luckily the strikeouts are still there, evidenced by his 14.6 K/9 but 2019 has been an awful year for him. He will likely be losing save opportunities down the stretch for the Mets and owners should not be comfortable at all slotting him into their lineups. Luckily I also drafted Felipe Vazquez but he plays for a bad team and will not rack up the save like most top tier closers. I hate to say it but owners with playoff aspirations may want to consider dropping Diaz. I am not there yet personally, but I have a tendency to hold on too long to guys like this. Maybe he turns it around and carries you into the playoffs, maybe he blows more saves and destroys a couple weeks for you, but personally I don’t want to sit back and watch the saga unfold. He will be occupying a spot on my bench until I am forced to make a decision to either give him another shot or send him packing. It’s a shame to see what has happened to him in 2019 after such a marvelous season last year but hey, that’s baseball, right?
I will look to keep things rolling this week with hopes of 4 straight wins. Things are looking a little bleak for me at the moment with Gerrit Cole missing his start last night due to a hamstring issue but I will hold off on talking too deep into that until we hear more. Fingers crossed that it is nothing serious that we see him back on the mound very quickly.
(Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)