Investing & Maybe Fantasy Baseball

This is an extremely specific blog post as it’s geared towards NFBC players who want to stream hitters. A little background about how NFBC handles starting lineups. Basically, they allow each owner to set their hitting lineup twice a week: on Monday and Friday. So if you start a player on Monday you will receive his stats from Monday through Thursday.

Streaming hitters can be a very viable option in deep mixed leagues. NFBCs rules on starting lineups allow players a great opportunity to stream hitters with favorable matchups because an owner can start a hitter for three or four games and bench him for the other portion of the week. Below are hitters I recommend picking up.

First Half of the Week Starts

Brandon Barnes: Before the season began I thought Drew Stubbs would be platooned against all lefties, but it appears that role went to Barnes. The Rockies will face three Texas Rangers lefties; two games in Colorado and two in Texas. Barnes has a career .571 OPS against righties and .739 OPS against lefties.

Mike Olt: If you’re cool with a high risk, high reward player Olt is someone who could provide one or two home runs because he’ll be in two hitter’s parks and already has three home runs against lefties this year.

Delmon Young: Say what you want about Young the person, but against lefties he can simply mash. Since 2008 he has a .819 OPS against lefties and only a .706 OPS against righties. One of the matchups is against David Price, but he’s still a solid pick up in deep formats.

Justin Maxwell: He has almost identical numbers against lefties and righties, which is weird that he’s regarded as a better platoon option than every day player. Maxwell will get the opportunity to play against Eric Stults and Robbie Erlin, both soft tossers who throw a lot of strikes. If you have been streaming Jarrod Dyson it is time to let him go because he’ll likely only have two starts in first half of the week and Lorenzo Cain will be back by the middle of this upcoming week.

Other names to mention are Tyler Moore and Kevin Frandsen for the Nationals.

Second Half of the Week Starts

Jonny Gomes: I’ve mentioned him multiple times already. For 2014 he has a .829 OPS against lefties and since 2008 a .857 OPS.

Other names to mention are Grant Green and Brandon Hicks if you’re looking for middle infield help. Hicks has quietly hit five home runs in only 79 PAs, which means he’ll get a longer look at second base in the short term. However, I do not believe his power surge will last. Of the two I want Hicks because I know he’s going to play. I mentioned Green because he only has one AB in the last 10-14 days and my best guess is he gets an opportunity to play against the lefties.

This is an extremely specific blog post as it’s geared towards NFBC players who want to stream hitters. A little background about how NFBC handles starting lineups. Basically, they allow each owner to set their hitting lineup twice a week: on Monday and Friday. So if you start a player on Monday you will receive his stats from Monday through Thursday.

Streaming hitters can be a very viable option in deep mixed leagues. NFBCs rules on starting lineups allow players a great opportunity to stream hitters with favorable matchups because an owner can start a hitter for three or four games and bench him for the other portion of the week. Below are hitters I recommend picking up.

First Half of the Week Starts

Alberto Callaspo: I’ve mentioned him the past two weeks so I’m not going to tout his abilities again against lefties.

Derek Norris: I don’t know why I omitted him the past two weeks, but for his career he has a .843 OPS and 11 home runs in only 255 at-bats against lefties.

Second Half of the Week Starts

Michael Choice: He made a terrible error in Friday’s game that heavily contributed to the Rangers losing. Specifically, what he did was he did not catch a fly ball in foul territory, which could cause him to lose playing time, but that’s highly unlikely.

Chris Young: Since 2008 he has a .843 OPS against lefties compared to a .700 OPS against righties. He batted cleanup the last time the Mets faced a lefty so he should have a great opportunity to drive in runs too.

Josh Satin: In 117 PAs against lefties he has a slash line of .304/.393/.461; Lucas Duda cannot hit lefties so Satin is going to play. Even though he only has one home run, he has 13 doubles, which is a lot considering he only has 31 career hits.

One Week Start

Ryan Raburn: since 2008 he has an .833 OPS against lefties (compared to .701 against righties) with 36 home runs in 711 at-bats. The Indians will face four lefties this week. He should be owned in all league formats for this week.

Mike Aviles: Similar to Raburn, I’ve mentioned him in the past. He’s going to play against lefties and has the ability to provide production in all five categories.

This is an extremely specific blog post as it’s geared towards NFBC players who want to stream hitters. A little background about how NFBC handles starting lineups. Basically, they allow each owner to set their hitting lineup twice a week: on Monday and Friday. So if you start a player on Monday you will receive his stats from Monday through Thursday.

Streaming hitters can be a very viable option in deep mixed leagues. NFBCs rules on starting lineups allow players a great opportunity to stream hitters with favorable matchups because an owner can start a hitter for three or four games and bench him for the other portion of the week. Below are hitters I recommend picking up.

First Half of the Week Starts

Ryan Raburn: since 2008 he has an .833 OPS against lefties (compared to .701 against righties) with 36 home runs in 711 at-bats. Wednesday and Thursday the Indians face two soft tossing lefties: Bruce Chen and Jason Vargas.

Mike Aviles: his platoon splits are not as dramatic as Raburn’s, but he does hit better against lefties and when he plays he is a five-category threat.

Second Half of the Week Starts

Logan Forsythe: he plays second base and bats third against lefties the past three outings. In his brief major league career he has a .774 OPS against lefties (in 270 plate appearances). The Rays will face John Danks and Chris Sale; the Sale matchup will be tough, but the games are in Chicago.

Alberto Callaspo: if you took my advice and picked him up last week you’re extremely happy with his production. He’s playing every day and during the second half of the week he gets to face a bad Astros rotation and more importantly, two lefties.

Craig Gentry: if an A’s outfielder goes on the DL he’ll play every day and could steal 40-plus bases if he played a full season. I wrote him up last week too.

Scott Sizemore: it looks as though Sizemore may be the every day third baseman for the Yankees. Even if he’s only in a  platoon his matchups against Jon Lester and Felix Doubrount are too good to pass up especially in Boston. In 206 plate appearances he has a .799 OPS compared to .666 against righties.

One Week Start

Lorenzo Cain was put on the DL, which means Jarrod Dyson will be the every day center fielder for the Royals. Other than Billy Hamilton or Dee Gordon, Dyson could be the fastest player in the majors.