Episode 54
Today’s episode of The Sleeper and the Bust stars yours truly and features RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris. We discuss a hit machine, injuries and a pair of bullpens.

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 46 min of joyous analysis.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The home stretch is here. For some owners looking to gain some ground in their roto leagues, it may be time to take on some risk for the potential reward. In head-to-head leagues the case may not be the same, unless of course, your primary holds guys have been lost in a bullpen shuffle somewhere.

At any rate, here are a few arms to consider adding if they’re available in your leagues.
Read the rest of this entry »

One of best players of all time is available in nearly 40% of fantasy leagues. Alright, that’s not entirely fair. Alex Rodriguez has performed well in his brief stint this season, but his skills are greatly diminished. Still, based on what he’s done in the past, there’s no reason the 37-year-old should be available in so many leagues. On the opposite end, one youngster is getting his chance to make his mark in the majors. Avisail Garcia has only played 12 games with his new club, but he’s shown signs of life. Both players deserve to be owned more.

Read the rest of this entry »

Royals pitching prospect Miguel Almonte entered the year as the #10 prospect in the Kansas City system according to Baseball America, and it’s hard to argue that he deserves to fall from that perch in the coming ranking season. As a 20-year-old in his first full-season campaign, the Dominican righthander has posted a 3.16 ERA and 2.97 FIP with a 117/36 K/BB in 119 2/3 innings. As with any young arm in the low minors, there’s still a significant amount of mystery and uncertainty surrounding Almonte. He held up quite well in my viewing earlier this season, though, showing a good combination of potential and polish.

Read the rest of this entry »

Adam Dunn’s batting average has never been considered great, but it has taken a nose dive over the past few seasons. More and more teams have been using a extreme shift on the left-handed hitter. Dunn has now decided to implement his own shift beating swing adjustment. The change has his batting average up, but at the cost of some home run power.

The 33-year-old has hit at or below the league average AVG over his career.

Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Mauer just hit the 7-day concussion DL, joining the likes of Alex Avila, John Jaso, Miguel Montero, and even Carlos Corporan as the list of injured catchers grows in seemingly exponential fashion. With a little more than a month to go in roto league and the playoffs coming in head to head play, you’re going to need to start filling in the blanks on your roster in order to press ahead and try to win your league. There’s probably not a whole heck of a lot left sitting on your waiver wire and what’s there probably doesn’t conjure up images of champagne corks popping and ticker-tape parades. But you need to make a move. You can’t go without a catcher even though the improvement you get might not be all that much. But at this point in time, something is better than nothing, so here are a few names to consider… Read the rest of this entry »

Last night at Miller Park, five home runs jumped off bats with the retractable roof open. Miller Park generally has a reputation as a hitter’s ballpark, but the five-homer output made me curious as to the difference in how the park plays with the roof open and closed and with different wind conditions.

So, let’s head to the ol’ Baseball Reference Play Index and pull all games from Miller Park since 2010.

The first thing of note is that it appears the Brewers don’t close the roof strictly for temperature reasons – there have been 11 instances of games being played with 90-degree temperature or warmer. We also know that temperatures have ranged from 60- to 71-degrees with the dome closed, so we would expect the park to play more hitter-friendly with the roof open versus closed.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not intending to hurt the feelings of three quarters of you all, but this post is mainly for those of you fortunate to be in serious contention for money and/or bragging rights and/or special unnamed prize. Or whatever else you might be playing for that I probably don’t want to hear about. Chances are, if you’re still coming to Rotographs in late August, you’re at least sniffing the top third of your league or perhaps your day job lacks any level of mental stimulation.

I tend to use innings pitched as a gauge as to whether a team has an inflated win or strikeout total (ahead of pace) or if there’s a team lurking, behind pace in innings. It can put standings into context. This applies in leagues with an innings limit, of course. The rest of you can just move on. But if you’re up there still shaking a menacing fist at the leader of your league, or if perhaps you are the leader, I encourage you to just blow up your innings now.

Read the rest of this entry »

During last night’s Fantasy Baseball Roundtable radio show that I participate in every Wednesday night, I was asked in one of our regular segments whether Felix Hernandez would remain an effective pitcher after the age of 30. On the surface, this seemed like a pretty absurd question. Of course he would! What would make anyone think he wouldn’t? This article won’t actually answer that question. However, when quickly scanning the King’s statistical record in order to determine my response, there appeared to be some crazy things going on. I would like to share those with you.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s Roto Riteup was written just hours after its author viewed The Raven, which is a surprisingly watchable movie.

Read the rest of this entry »