Todd's Takes: Willing to Learn

Points Well Taken

Most of you know I also do freelance for ESPN, with one of my main responsibilities writing a "Need to Know" section, which precedes the pitcher rankings for that day's slate. The focus in on daily leagues, with head-to-head points being the most popular format (as it is on Yahoo and CBS).

Heading into the season, ESPN tweaked the roster composition and scoring. To help those involved with producing content get accustomed to the new strategies resulting from the changes, an internal head-to-head points league was set up, which we're playing out.

I was the leading points scorer over the first two weeks, beginning 2-0. I lost Week 3 and am getting waxed by Derek Carty this week. 

While I'm not a fan of daily leagues, I am rather partial to giving out advice first-hand, and not anecdotally, so I'm taking the league seriously. The hardest part, so far, is churning players I would otherwise keep in a 12-or 15-team league with larger rosters and more reserves. It helps that I can construct a team which could compete in a 15-team league using only the free agent list in the 10-team points leagues, but it's still against my DNA to drop some of the players, especially pitchers, required to compete.

While I'm not recommending everyone to join a league of this nature, I have noticed a change in my approach to managing my rosters in the 12-team NFBC Rotowire Online Championship. 

Box Score Blitz: Wednesday, April 26

• CIN 5, TEX 3: Calm down, it's only two games. That said, those waiting for the Nick Senzel breakthrough (raises hand) have to be encouraged. Senzel followed up his 3-for-4 effort on Tuesday by going 2-for-4 on Wednesday, including his first homer, which was of the walk-off variety. Furthermore, the game-winning blast was the first Reds long ball in 79 innings, spanning eight games. Senzel also swiped his second base of the season... Graham Ashcraft started, just two days after his 82-year-old grandmother passed away. He walked four and only fanned three, but he was credited with a quality start with only two earned runs allowed in six innings... Jon Gray also posted a quality start with three runs yielded in six stanzas, but he only whiffed a pair... Josh Jung had to leave the game before the start of the third inning after being hit by a pitch on his left hand. X-rays were negative; he's listed as day-to-day.
• BAL 6, BOS 2: Tyler Wells earned his first win of the season (he's pitched well enough to have multiple) as the Orioles took the rubber game of a three-game set with the Red Sox. Wells fanned seven in 5.2 frames, walking only one. He's now firmly entrenched in the streaming bucket... Yennier Cano recorded four outs, running his streak to 8.1 perfect innings to begin his career, but then he hit Justin Turner before inducing Masataka Yoshida to ground out, keeping the no-hit streak intact... Cedric Mullins stole his 10th base, tying Nico Hoerner, Ji Hwan Bae and Corbin Carroll for second in MLB behind Ronald Acuna's 13... Ramon Urias went 4-for-4 with three runs. He has limited power and speed, but Urias plays nearly every day, can be used at middle or corner and will generate some runs and RBI in a lineup that's getting more potent every game... Austin Hays missed the first of what will likely be multiple games with a bruised right hand, but the club is optimistic Hays won't require an IL visit... Yoshida extended his hitting streak to eight games with his fourth homer. He's slashing .464/.484/.821 during this stretch.
• TOR 8, CHW 0: On Tuesday, it was Jose Berrios turning back the clock. On Wednesday, Yusei Kikuchi teased us with 5.2 scoreless frames, fanning eight with just one walk... The White Sox fanned 17 times for the game, with the Toronto bullpen recording nine strikeouts in 3.1 stanzas... Over their last games, the White Sox are averaging 2.2 runs per game, with a .216 wOBA and 31% strikeout rate...Bo Bichette collected three more hits, raising his OPS to .909. With that start, it feels wrong to point out that he's yet to steal a base, but he's been caught on both his attempts.
• CLE 4, COL 1: Tanner Bibee came as advertised, limiting Colorado to just one tally in 5.2 frames, striking out eight without issuing a free pass. Bibee's effort followed a solid debut from Logan Allen. Early indications are both will stay with the Guardians, at least through their impending road trip... On the other side, German Marquez pitched for the first time since April 10 as he's been out with forearm inflammation. Marquez was hit hard before leaving the game with the trainer with two outs in the fourth... Josh Naylor provided Bibee and the Guardians all the runs they'd need with a two-run shot in the first inning... Emmanuel Clase collected his eighth save. He and the rest of the Cleveland bullpen get a much needed off day on Thursday.
• NYY 12, MIN 6: The Yankees avoided being swept by the Twins, though Minnesota won the season series for the first time since 2001. Anthony Volpe triggered things with a 2-for-3 afternoon, walking twice while scoring three runs and collecting three RBI. The rookie is settling in with a .310/.429/.448 line over his last eight games... Aaron Judge celebrated his 31st birthday with a 3-for-4 effort with a run and three RBI. He appeared to hurt his wrist during a caught stealing at third base, but he shook it off... Domingo German evened his record at 2-2 despite yielding six runs in six frames, including three long balls... Two of the blasts were Jose Miranda's first two homers this season with the other courtesy of Joey Gallo... Kenta Maeda was hit in the ankle by a line drive in his previous start. This time, he left the game with the trainer with soreness in his arm.
• MIL 6, DET 2: After struggling in his prior two efforts (nine runs allowed in 10.2 innings), Freddy Peralta registered a quality start with six innings of two-run ball, fanning eight with no bases on balls. The effort also snapped a two-game slide for Milwaukee... Victor Caratini hit his first homer of the season while rookie Joey Wiemer clocked his second... With a 2-for-4 effort, Brian Anderson increased his home OPS to 1.176. Clearly, this is a sample-size anomaly, but looking at Anderson numbers with Miami, it wasn't a stretch to suggest he'd thrive in American Family Field... Javier Baez's 10-game hitting streak was snapped in a painful manner as he was hit in the hand by a pitch in the second inning. Fortunately, it was diagnosed as just a bruise and if there is limited swelling, Baez could look to embark on a new hitting streak in Thursday's series opener at home against the Orioles.
• ARI 2, KC 0: Zac Gallen is really good at pitching. 'Nuff said... OK, here's a little more. Gallen fanned a dozen with no walks in 6.1 frames... Scott McGough helped Gallen extend his scoreless streak to 28 innings by stranding a runner at first base to end the seventh. Since blowing the save on April 15, McGough has yielded just one run and two hits over seven stanzas, fanning six with no walks... Andrew Chafin took over as closer after McGough's struggles, and has secured four wins, including Wednesday... In the spirit of "if you've got nothing good to say," this blurb will be devoid of any Royals references.
• PIT 8, LAD 1: You can't stop the Pirates, you can only hope to contain them. On Wednesday, the Dodgers failed to do so, with Roansy Contreras tossing his third consecutive quality start. He shut out the Dodgers over six innings, whiffing five with only two hits and a pair of walks... The bottom third of the Pirates order went 8-for-11 as Rodolfo Castro, Ji Hwan Bae and Jason Delay all collected multiple knocks. Bae also swiped three bases, with Castro swiping his first of the campaign... As a team, the Pirates stole six bases as Austin Wynns continues to do the catching for the Dodgers while Will Smith remains out with a concussion... Tony Gonsolin made his 2023 debut for the Dodgers. He was sidelined with a sprained ankle suffered in the spring. Gonsolin worked 3.1 innings. He didn't yield any earned runs, but he walked three with just one strikeout, throwing only 39 of 65 pitches for a strike.
• HOU 1, TB: In two of Brown's first four games, he surrendered four earned runs in 4.2 innings. In the other two, he threw seven innings without allowing an earned run. Make it three as Brown stifled the Rays on Wednesday, fanning eight with just two walks and a pair of hits... Alex Bregman's first-inning groundout scoring Jeremy Pena accounted for the only run of the game... Jose Abreu continues to struggle. Not only is he maintaining last season's elevated groundball rate, but his average exit velocity is down five mph... Josh Fleming logged six scoreless innings as the primary pitcher, but the Rays could do nothing against Brown, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly, who notched his second save.
• PHI 6, SEA 5: The Phillies rallied from an early 5-2 deficit to defeat the Mariners behind Nick Castellanos' 3-for-4 effort, including his third homer... The news wasn't all good as the already depleted Phillies staff could incur another setback with Taijuan Walker leaving after four frames with right forearm tightness... The news was even worse in the opposing dugout with the report that Robbie Ray will miss the season with surgery on his left flexor tendon... J.P. Crawford's grand slam gave the Mariners the early lead while Eugenio Suarez extended his on-base streak to 21 games (the longest of his career) with a 2-for-4 effort. Spoiler alert: It was snapped in Thursday's matinee.
• WSH 4, NYM 1: MacKenzie Gore has been quietly effective, with three quality starts in his five outings, including Wednesday's effort in Citi Field where he limited the Mets to one earned run, scattering four hits among 10 strikeouts and two walks. It's time to take Gore from "ignore" status and promote him to the streaming bucket... Jeimer Candelario clubbed his fourth dinger for Washington while Victor Robles stole a pair of bases, bringing him to six on the season. Candelario was a personal favorite in the spring, in hopes that the change to a more favorable venue would put him in play at home, so it's nice to see a homer on the road. Robles is back in play for cheap speed, but it's still not a fantasy-friendly profile.
• ATL 6, MIA 4: Sandy Alcantara threw five shutout innings but ran out of gas in the sixth. He allowed a leadoff homer to Ronald Acuna before leaving with the bases loaded and two outs. A Vaughn Grissom single off Huascar Brazoban added another run to Alcantara's ledger... Bryce Elder started for the Braves, allowing all four runs, including homers to Avisail Garcia, Jesus Sanchez and Jazz Chisholm... Dylan Floro was charged with a blown save and loss for Miami as he gave up four runs (three earned) while retiring just one batter in the eighth inning... A.J. Minter rebounded from a couple of rough outings with a clean ninth and two punchouts to register his fifth save. Raisel Iglesias started a rehab stint on Thursday, so Minter's tenure as closer is coming to an end soon.
• SD 5, CHC 3: Despite blanking the Braves for seven innings in his last start, Nick Martinez was moved to the bullpen to accommodate Joe Musgrove's return to the Padres rotation. Martinez continued to put up zeroes with three scoreless innings on Wednesday as he picked up the win after Michael Wacha started and yielded three runs in five stanzas... Drew Smyly followed up his near perfect effort with a solid five innings with two runs allowed, but his bullpen struggled, letting San Diego come from behind for the win... Fernando Tatis led the Padres offense with a 2-for-5 effort, plating three teammates.
• LAA 11, OAK 3: It should have been Tone Loc night in Anaheim as the Angels blasted Funky Cold Medina all night. Luis Medina started for Oakland and surrendered seven earned runs in five frames, earning him a trip to Triple-A Las Vegas... Brandon Drury and Hunter Renfroe each rapped homers off Medina, with Shohei Ohtani taking Chad Smith deep as well... Patrick Sandoval was the beneficiary of the Angels' offense, throwing a season-high seven frames with five punchouts and no free passes... Esteury Ruiz swiped four bases for the Athletics, bringing him to nine for the season.
• SF 7, STL 3: The Giants broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh with a pair of runs, then they added two more insurance tallies in the eighth. Anthony DeSclafani worked the first six frames to collect his second win... Giants manager Gabe Kapler hoped to give Camilo Doval the night off after he had pitched on three of the last four days. However, with Sean Hjelle letting the tying get to the on-deck circle, Doval was summoned. After walking Lars Nootbaar, Doval induced Paul Goldschmidt, who had already homered twice, into a game-ending twin killing. Doval will almost assuredly be unavailable on Thursday, then the Giants and Padres head across the border on Friday, getting ready for their weekend set in Mexico City... Even though Cardinals starter is a lefty, the Giants must have known something as they victimized Matz and Willson Contreras for three steals, one each by Austin Slater, Thairo Estrada and Blake Sabol.