There are just two weeks left in August and then, come September, rosters expand and your league’s waiver wire gets flooded with names filled with potential. But until then, you’re stuck sifting through the same old names, desperately hoping someone catches fire and can help boost your fantasy totals, even if for just a short time. Adding help at the corner infield spot can be a difficult task at this time of year, but it’s certainly not impossible. Read the rest of this entry »

While strikeouts from a hitter’s perspective may not mean a whole lot to the sabermetric community (OK, that’s amazingly oversimplified, but they generally have near-zero linear weights), getting docked 0.75 points for them in Draftstreet (or your non-Ottoneu points leagues) is kind of a big deal. So if we’re trying to decide between a few hitters, one thing we may want to take a look at is opposing pitcher strikeout rates.

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I have a share in Dan Uggla – one I acquired earlier this year in an attempt to boost my power numbers in the ottoneu FanGraphs Experts League. The results have been mixed, and missing Uggla for at least a couple weeks now won’t help. But Uggla is not overly expensive in that league ($14) and a boost from Lasik could make him a keeper in the off-season.

Yesterday, Eno Sarris made me very sad when he tweeted out some bad news. A study from 2005 with evidence that Lasik was not helping MLB players. But I had some questions upon reading the study.

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Injuries afford opportunities for increased playing time and suddenly make waiver wire fodder fantasy relevant. That’s the theme of today’s free agent pool recommendations as both hitters are getting a chance to play due to injuries to players ahead of them on the depth chart.

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The present author was without power for 24 hours, which really made him think about his priorities in life. Mainly, it left the author with the realization that watching the return of Breaking Bad was of the utmost importance.

That being said, today’s Roto Riteup is largely injury related, because that’s what the news of the day required.

On today’s agenda:
1. Josh Johnson to DL
2. Aramis Ramirez activated from DL
3. Dustin Ackley to play a little more
4. Matt Harrison won’t be back this year
5. Dan Uggla to DL

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• Danny Farquhar’s solid run at closer for the Mariners continued tonight as he earned his fifth save of the year. Although his ERA remains less than ideal at , his 2.07 SIERA is the ninth best mark in the league and the only guys  who can best him are the four relievers mentioned above along with Jason Grilli, Mark Melancon and Koji Uehara. That’s some impressive company and speaks well to Farquhar’s ability. I don’t need to say you should pick him up if he’s available in your league but if you’re in need of saves, strikeouts or ERA, Farquhar is a guy that could give you top tier production without the cost. Also, if you’re looking for a pre-season closer sleeper for next year’s drafts, Farquhar is your man.

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Episode 50
Today’s episode of The Sleeper and the Bust stars yours truly and features RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris. We discuss a potential new power source and the latest Cuban defector.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @mikepodhorzer or @enosarris on Twitter and tweet us any fantasy questions you have that we may answer on our next episode.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via the feed.

Intro by DJ Sinton (no, contrary to popular belief, I do not moonlight as a rap star)

Approximately 43 min of joyous analysis.

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The Tigers won’t allow their Class-A pitchers to go more than an inning or two, maybe three, and short-season Connecticut starter Jonathon Crawford is no exception.

Crawford has done well in eight starts (0-2, 1.89), with three of them extended to three innings. He began August with an outing against the Brooklyn Cyclones, going 2.2 innings and didn’t allow a run on three hits. He struck out three and walked two.

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As the season heads into the last six weeks, things get funky. It happened earlier in Miami, where September roster expansion seems to happen in May these days. But in San Diego, it’s about that time. Coolstandings has the squad with a less than one percent chance for the postseason, and the team’s Vaunted Slugger has a busted wheel. The team doesn’t really have a top prospect ready to take over out there, either — this is the recipe for full-time plate appearances for a readily-available player. AKA fantasy gold.

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Happy Ace Day, everyone! Today’s slate of games features many of the best and most exciting young pitchers in baseball, and in honor of that, I’m going to talk a little bit about how terrific pitching performances could affect your daily fantasy team … and what we need to be looking for when we pick starters in formats like DraftStreet.

Points given for a win are much more valuable than points taken away for a loss

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