Dynasty League Review: Weeks 22-23

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 22

I made the following roster decisions:

1.) Dropped Christian Walker and Steven Matz. These roster moves were required to make room on my roster for the acquisitions I made via trade. After I acquired Whit Merrifield, Walker was expendable and I replaced Matz with Dallas Keuchel. Dropping Matz was actually a fairly difficult decision for me as he has been quite solid recently. Since his 7/21 start against the Giants, Matz has pitched to a 2.65 ERA in 54.1 IP with a 8.61 K/9, and that includes a 3.2 inning blow up against Pittsburgh in which he allowed 5 ER. Nevertheless, his upcoming schedule wasn’t very intriguing especially during a hopeful playoff run for my squad so I pulled the trigger.

2.) Added Sean Manaea and dropped Dustin May. Manaea was very impressive in his rehab stint so I decided to give him a chance and it has paid off. I have always been a Manaea guy so this was an easy decision for me. Manaea was thrown to the wolves in his first start of the season against the Yankees and he held his own with 0 ER and 5 Ks in 5 IP. The 3 walks were a bit concerning but we can likely chalk that up to being rusty and nervous. His most recent outing is what really caught our attention. Manaea pitched 7 electric innings against the Tigers in which he allowed only 2 hits with 1 ER and had 10 Ks. That’s right, 10 Ks. I will be rolling with Manaea down the stretch until he gives me a reason not to. May had recently been demoted to the bullpen so he was of little interest to me for the remainder of the season. He will be an intriguing guy to pay attention to headed into 2020. But, one never knows how the Dodgers will handle their pitchers.

3.) Added Carlos Correa. The Carlos Correa owner obviously didn’t feel like waiting around to see he he would make a return prior to our playoffs and I don’t blame him. I picked him up off waivers because I had an open IL spot. It’s not looking like I will get any production out of him at this point but it was worth a shot.

4.) Added Dakota Hudson and dropped Brad Keller. Keller was absolutely horrible for my team in Week 22, as you will see, and was shut down for the season by the Royals. I used his roster spot to add Hudson who has been quite solid this season. He hasn’t been striking many guys out but over his last 5 starts, he has pitched to a 1.11 ERA over 32.1 innings. Now, he is obviously due for some regression (3.49 FIP) but I was really looking ahead to my league’s championship week in which he is slated to be a two-start pitcher against the Nationals and the Cubs. These are not great match ups by any means but if anything, he will sit on my bench and off of my opponent’s team if i’m lucky enough to make it that far.

Below is the lineup that I deployed in Week 22:

C – Mitch Garver
1B – Whit Merrifield
2B – Ozzie Albies
3B – Anthony Rendon
SS – Didi Gregorius
OF – Yordan Alvarez
OF – Tommy Pham
OF – Yasiel Puig
OF – Mike Trout
U – Michael Conforto
U – Aaron Judge

SP – Gerrit Cole
SP – Luis Castillo
SP – Yu Darvish
SP – Mike Soroka
SP – Dustin May
SP – Dallas Keuchel
RP – Brad Keller
B – Mike Foltynewicz
B – Zac Gallen
B – Cal Quantrill
B – Eduardo Rodriguez
B – Felipe Vazquez

mL – Nick Senzel
mL – Andrew Vaughn
mL – Carter Kieboom
mL – Gavin Lux
mL – Tarik Skubal

Top performers: Anthony Rendon (9-16, 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 8 R, 4 BB), Aaron Judge (9-24, 2 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 4 R, SB, 2 BB), Whit Merrifield (9-28, HR, 4 RBI, 5 R, BB, 5 KO), Ozzie Albies (58-22, 4 2B, 2 RBI, 4 R, 6 BB), Tommy Pham (9-24, 3 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 4 R, SB, 3 BB), Yordan Alvarez (6-22, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 8 R, 5 BB), Mitch Garver (5-11, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB), Luis Castillo (12 IP, 12 HA, 5 BBI, 19 K, 8 ER, 2 W, QS), Yu Darvish (8 IP, 5 HA, BBI, 7 K, ER, W, QS), Gerrit Cole (6.2 IP, 6 HA, BBI, 14 K, 4 ER)

Worst performers: Didi Gregorius (1-13, 3 RBI, BB, 4 KO), Yasiel Puig (3-23, 2 2B, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 KO, CS), Dustin May (5.2 IP, 8 HA, BBI, 3 K, 5 ER, L), Brad Keller (1.1 IP, 3 HA, 3 BBI, K, 5 ER, L)

My team was stacked with high achievers this week and it propelled me to a much needed win. Despite May and Keller providing me with a combined -15 points, my staff was able to overcome their under-performances and barely squeak by with the victory. Starting Keller in this situation is another example of why you shouldn’t chase starting pitchers just because they are slated for two-starts. His situation was a little bit different, having been shut down for the season after his first start of the week, but this is a good cautionary tale for all fantasy players, especially during this vital part of the season.

Outcome: Win (629 – 623.5)

Record: 13-9

 

Week 23

 

I made a couple of roster moves in preparation for the playoffs:

1.) Added Willson Contreras and dropped Mitch Garver. Don’t get me wrong, I love Garver. He was a huge find for me this season and I hated to part with him since he helped get me to this point in the season but with Contreras sitting out there for the taking, I couldn’t pass it up. Garver will be a guy that I heavily target in 2020, as long as his price proves to be worthy. The Contreras addition was another example of an impatient owner who needed to make a big playoff push and likely had too many injured guys on his team. I was ecstatic to be able to add him to my roster. The hamstring issue that sent him to the IL doesn’t seem to be plaguing him anymore and I look forward to having him for the stretch run while hitting in the middle of the Cubs lineup.

2.) Added Trevor Williams and dropped Didi Gregorius. I don’t have a whole lot of love for Williams but he had been good recently in 3 starts against Cincinnati, Colorado, and Miami and was slated for a two start week for week 1 of the playoffs. I wasn’t planning to start him, but again, I like to take guys from my opponents if I am able to do so. I decided to drop Gregorius and activate Gavin Lux from a Minor League spot on my roster. With the season that Lux was having in the minors, I figured I would ride the hot hand. He has played everyday since joining the Dodgers and although he hasn’t really done much since his first game, I will likely roll with him until he proves me otherwise. It’s a matter of time until he starts to produce and I think the Dodgers have the luxury of giving him a longer leash.

Here is the roster I used for the final week of the regular season:

C – Mitch Garver
1B – Whit Merrifield
2B – Ozzie Albies
3B – Anthony Rendon
SS – Gavin Lux
OF – Yordan Alvarez
OF – Tommy Pham
OF – Yasiel Puig
OF – Mike Trout
U – Michael Conforto
U – Aaron Judge
IL – Carlos Correa
B – Didi Gregorius

SP – Gerrit Cole
SP – Luis Castillo
SP – Zac Gallen
SP – Sean Manaea
SP – Mike Soroka
SP – Dakota Hudson
RP – Felipe Vazquez
B – Yu Darvish
B – Mike Foltynewicz
B – Dallas Keuchel
B – Eduardo Rodriguez

mL – Nick Senzel
mL – Andrew Vaughn
mL – Carter Kieboom
mL – Tarik Skubal

Top performers: Anthony Rendon (9-27, 4 2B, 3 RBI, 6 R, 4 BB), Ozzie Albies (6-21, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 7 R, 2 SB, 2 BB), Whit Merrifield ( 12-27, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R, SB, BB), Tommy Pham (9-23, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R, 3 SB, BB), Gerrit Cole (14 IP, 4 HA, 2 BBI, 29 K, 2 ER, W, 2 QS), Zac Gallen ( 7 IP, HA, BBI, 8 K, W, QS), Sean Manaea (7 IP, 2 HA, 2 BBI, 10 K, ER, W, QS), Mike Soroka (11 INN, 12 HA, 3 BBI, 13 K, 7 ER, W, L)

Worst performers: Gavin Lux (3-20, 2B, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 KO), Michael Conforto (5-27, 2B, HR, RBI, 5 R, 2 BB, 11 KO)

Outcome: Win (779.25 – 421)

I won this match up with plenty of room to spare. This huge win gave me 3 straight victories to end the year and a division title with a final record of 14-9.

Record: 14-9

 

Playoff Bound!

 

I have advanced to the playoffs! I was pretty optimistic that my team would pull through this year and it turns out that I was right. I’m headed into the playoffs with my head held high after being the top scoring team in 2 of the final 3 regular season weeks and being the second overall scoring team all season, only 21 points behind the leader. I’m hopeful that my postseason planning has paid off with trades and free agent pick-ups and that I have built a team that can win me back-to-back championships. Our league has a two week playoff format and I can’t wait to share with you all how it all turns out!

 

(Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)