April Review: Russ, 21-17-2 (5th)

Paul Goldschmidt has been The Franchise's best All-Around Player 

There’s never been a season when Russ’ pitching has outshined his hitting, but that was the story in this first month. But digging into the stats will show that he has put forth a balanced attack thus far in his self-titled ‘Revenge Season’. Offensively, Paul Goldschmidt has been the #1 player in fantasy during the 2015 season. He is in the top 8 of EVERY offensive category, something that can’t be said about any other player. He’s a big part of the reason Russ leads all teams in NSB, ranks second in Runs, and third in OBP. This team has some strong offensive numbers, but only an 8-12 record on offense, so I expect that record to regress into displaying that he actually has the 4^th best offense in the league (from a roto perspective – 40.5 pts). Goldschmidt is the only certified stud performer, but this team is DEEP. Goldschmidt, Holliday, Santana, Freeman, Kemp, and Longoria all rank in the top 50 hitters, and middle infielders Jason Kipnis and Elvis Andrus are starting to heat up. Russ is remaining patient with injury returners Carlos Gonzalez and Jayson Werth, but he has gotten by with free agent pick-up Curtis Granderson as a 3^rd/4^th outfielder while they heat up. This team isn’t putting up the HR/RBI numbers expected of them, but there’s plenty of talent here for trading. I don’t think the 40% offensive win percentage will stay with this team long.

On the mound, Russ may have painted himself into a bit of a corner keeping Matt Harvey (fresh off Tommy John sugery), drafting Jose Fernandez (Tommy John last year, DL til June), Masahiro Tanaka (every knew he was going to end up on the DL, now he is, with Tommy John imminent), Alex Cobb (He only had a shoulder strain, but now he’s getting Tommy John), and Drew Smyly (Tendonitis, but now he’s back!), and that certainly looks bad to write it all out. But pitching has been a pleasant surprise for the Commish, a month into the 2015 campaign, as his 13-5 pitching record is the best in The Franchise. Matt Harvey picked up where he left off, only further solidifying Russ’ trade deadline prowess in his first year as a seller (Goldschmidt, Harvey, and a boatload of draft picks?!?! How does anyone miss playoffs two years in a row???). Drew msyly, in limited starts, has been fantastic in all 4 starter categories, and free agent pick-ups Danny Salazar and J.A. Happ have been really impressive in spot-start situations. He leads all teams in K/9, but every other category is pretty shaky, so I expect regression in the opposite direction for Russ on D, at least until Fernandez gets back. The offensive record should improve greatly, the pitching record should get a little worse, but overall this is a pretty deep team top to bottom, that could be elite if some of the offensive stars deliver and some of these arms get off the DL.