Episode 269

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

In this episode, Paul Sporer and Eno Sarris discuss some hot hitters, emerging closers, and interesting starters including, but not limited to: A.J. Pollock, Gregory Polanco, Rusney Castillo, Shawn Tolleson, Roberto Osuna, Ken Giles, Kris Medlen, and Matt Cain.

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Mike Trout hurt his wrist in late July. Since then, in the 101 plate appearances headed into his game last night, the Angels outfielder has hit .224/.347/.388 with two home runs and a caught stealing. He’s been 11% better than league average, but that’s like 50% below average on the Trout scale. Is he still hurt?

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Kyle Schwarber gets double-duty this week. Yesterday, Mike Podhorzer discussed Kyle Schwarber’s 2016 potential. He mentions he read a post in which the author allegedly considered Schwarber in the second round of a 2016 mock draft.

I found the whole thing intriguing, primarily because we’re working with a small sample — slightly more than 150 plate appearances. I tried to draw meaningful conclusions on a comparably small sample size for Carlos Gonzalez, and now I’m pretty sure hired assassins are tracking me. Alas, what follows is not a disagreement with Pod (because his analysis is excellent) but an unauthorized biography extension of his post.

In June, I compared Joc Pederson to George Springer, two blossoming young stars to each of whom I alluded as “evolving juggernauts.” In fact, I think Schwarber is not particularly dissimilar from Pederson. With another two months of baseball in the rear-view mirror, that comparison is especially illuminating, given we’ve seen just how tumultuous Pederson’s rookie campaign has been.

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Episode 98 – He’s Been A Little Slumpy Lately

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Brad Johnson discuss Russell Martin’s ailing hamstring, Jered Weaver being the right-handed Jamie Moyer, cheap options at second base, the re-arrival of Enrique Hernandez, Josh Donaldson’s legitimate MVP candidacy for the wrong reasons, and the sudden and serious issues in the Seattle bullpen.

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Agenda

1. deGromulent
2. Daily DFS – Tomlin
3. SaberSim Hi/Lo
4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Duffey, Holmberg, Kiké, Sweeney
5. Factor Grid

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• I having traveling and enjoying Massachusetts for the Saberseminar. I just have not been able to keep up on MASH and need to get out an update before more injuries mount up. Well, this morning I think I may have caught up …. maybe. Today’s MASH is pretty much just a status report with little to no analysis. On Thursday, I will run an in depth on several of these injuries.

• Hunter Pence will probably miss close to the minimum 15 days with a strained oblique

• Billy Hamilton is out with a sore shoulder.

• While the team won’t admit it, Jake McGee will not throw for the major league team this season. The team is putting a 6-8 week return time for him which will be after the regular season.

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The pickings feel slim with just one more week of August ahead of us, but fortunately, the fantasy dumpster is always crawling with something of use. Whether you’re looking to outfit your team with a couple of spare parts or just want to plug holes in the aftermath of a firesale, here are two players who can help your cause.

As usual, the players mentioned in this space are better suited for mono leagues, and the ownership percentages are by way of CBS.
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You know when you don’t own a player on any of your fantasy teams and late in the season you’re browsing through box scores and you realize “Woah, Player X has XX homers?!?!?!”. Yes, as fantasy owners, especially for those in mixed leagues, we generally follow all of baseball. But I personally don’t pay as much attention to players I don’t own and know I am unlikely to own all season. So when spending the last 20 minutes trying to figure out what to write about, I noticed that Matt Carpenter had just hit his 19th homer of the season. Bingo! Something to write about.

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Today’s Roto Riteup was written while re-watching Before Sunrise. I love the director, Richard Linklater, but even I can admit that he gets a bit spacey with his dialogue from time to time. Still, the entire Before Trilogy is pretty great.

On today’s agenda:
1. David Wright returns
2. Welington Castillo homers again
3. Quick Marcus Stroman update
4. Streaming Pitching Options
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• After Junichi Tazawa’s rough night, he was given a day off but is expected to stay as closer. Even with the words of encouragement from the interim manager, this situation is still red. I expect Tazawa to stay as closer and as Scott Lauber mentions, with Dave Dombrowski now on board the team might prefer for Tazawa to “to get the longest look” given his track record of success setting up Koji Uehara. Said another way, there’s just not many other options to choose from in Boston. Rebuilding the pen will be on Dombrowski’s agenda this offseason but for now it’s Tazawa. If he continues to falter, expect Jean Machi (who was called on tonight) to get the look.

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