The Phillies called up Tommy Joseph exactly a week ago, which means I am technically a week late in getting this to fantasy owners looking for some depth at first base. I blame the timing of the Phillies who need to be more cognizant of this writer’s publishing and writing schedule. I intend to touch on Joseph’s past, as well as looking forward to what lies ahead in his future as well, which is a bit difficult with his lack of past experience.
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I have made a lot of trades in my fantasy baseball “career”.  It’s one of the parts of the game I enjoy most, but I’ve learned over the years that there is a wide range of comfort among owners when it comes to shaking up their rosters via trade.  For some fantasy owners, the process and preparation required to put together a good trade is a burden, and for others the uncertainty of the resulting impact (“will this really help my team?”) and/or the feedback from their league (“did I win or lose this trade?”) is enough to cause anxiety.

Part of the reason I enjoy fantasy trades is because I’ve had the benefit of corporate negotiation training throughout my professional career.  While it’s certainly true that my fantasy baseball experience has had a positive impact on my professional bargaining skills, there is no doubt my vocational training has made me more confident (and successful) in the fantasy “trade room”, too.  Today I’ll share a little of what I’ve learned throughout my own trade history in hopes of offering something you can use as well.

How to Talk Trade

All too often it’s not necessarily what you say but how you say it that makes the difference.  What follows are some alternative ways to phrase common trade responses that might make the difference between closing a deal or stopping one early in it’s tracks.

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Power at catcher is always in demand, and the position should be getting an influx soon as a the result of a former catcher once again donning the tools of ignorance after leaving the position last year. The former top prospect in all of baseball was Wally Pipped over the last couple of seasons, but he’ll get an opportunity to strut his stuff in the majors over the next couple of weeks. Also, a pitcher whose play and velocity has been up and down this year is coming off of a strong start in which he regained the velo bump he showcased in his first few starts. Read the rest of this entry »

Episode 161 – Live With Justin Mason

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Brad Johnson are joined by Justin Mason in a live recording to discuss not having strong opinions on Tyler Duffey, betting on Clay Buchholz imploding, breakfast, Colby on Colby crime, differing takes on Matt Wisler, confusing A. Sanchez with A. Sanchez, Tyler Goeddel’s current viability, looking up Matt McBride, feeling good about Marcus Semien, what to do with Sonny Gray, and The Daily Grind Invitational.

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Agenda

1. Tweeters
2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard
3. Daily DFS
4. SaberSim Observations
5. Tomorrow’s Targets
6. Factor Grid

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When it comes to fantasy baseball, not all prospects are created equally. In keeper leagues and dynasty leagues it’s important to have strategies around your prospects; you don’t want to just randomly grab a Top 10 or 20 prospect and hope for the best.

Along with skill, knowing a player’s ETA is key. Is the player advanced enough to help in 2016… or is he headed for a 2019 debut? Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a talented dude but he’s not likely to visit the Great White North until 2020. Chicago (AL) drafted Carson Fulmer in 2015 with the eighth overall pick but he’s considered advanced enough to perhaps help the club in ’17. And then there’s Colorado’s Trevor Story, who has turned the Jose Reyes soap opera and strong spring into a ’16 starting gig.

As a result, your strategy around acquiring prospects should vary. If you’re grabbing a guy earmarked to help in 2017 or later, you should look at them like a stock — an investment that you hope to see increase in value before you cash out (either by adding to your active roster or by trading for an opportunity to win sooner). You also have to consider if you’re truly committed to a long-range prospect and willing to commit a roster spot to someone who may not help for three or four years — if at all. Prospects with a ’16 or ’17 should be viewed as players that can be valuable (albeit potentially inconsistent) contributors to the current makeup of your roster at a reasonable cost.

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Today’s Roto Riteup changes up the schedule up, in order to test you and keep you on your toes.

On the agenda:
1. Various News and Notes
2. Streaming Pitcher Options

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Unlike most Thursdays, tonight has been a relatively slow night around the league’s bullpens. So we’ll touch on just a couple of items that come to mind at the time of this writing.

As Colin noted in last night’s edition of the Bullpen Report, Jeremy Jeffress blew his first save of the season after he surrendered an earned run on a walk and a hit. But that’s not why Tyler Thornburg earned the call in tonight’s save situation for Milwaukee. Skip signaled for Thornburg because Jeffress took the bump five of the previous six days — the guy just needed some rest. Thornburg fanned two but also allowed two free passes in a 30-pitch effort to notch his first save of the ‘16 season (and in his career!). Jeffress’ is still green, but that shouldn’t take away from Thornburg’s early season success. Entering tonight’s outing, we saw a nice spike in velocity across each of his offerings, a huge spike in K-BB% (30.9%) and a healthy 11.5% SwStr%. SIERA (1.91) and xFIP (2.20) also think Thornburg has pitched better than his 4.32 ERA indicates. For those in holds leagues — he does have eight on the season — Thornburg should be considered, but is likely owned in most of those formats despite just 1% ownership in the Y! Game.
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So, Jackie Bradley Jr. hit another home run last night. It’s his seventh of the season and his sixth since May 5. That’s six home runs in 13 games to go with a .404/.474/.762 line. All the while, he extended his hitting streak to 24 games. It’s pretty crazy. He’s on a tear, for sure.

But I’ve seen some overenthusiastic Tweets about his breakout being legitimate. That, I don’t fully understand. He doesn’t seem like a fundamentally different hitter than the JBJ we saw in 2013. Or 2014. Or 2015.

Obviously, the .271 ISO (isolated power) is impressive for a relatively tiny dude. It’s not far off his .249 ISO from last year, so it looks like it might be something sustainable. His strikeout rate (K%) is way down, too, which is undoubtedly a boon to his triple-slash line. But red flags abound with JBJ, all (or most) of which I will detail here.

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• Carlos Gomez is on the DL to work out some mechanical issues with bruised ribs.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said prior to the series opener at U.S. Cellular Field that Gomez was kneed in the ribs diving back into second base during a play in Sunday’s loss in Boston and informed the team on the flight to Chicago that he didn’t feel well.

“We talked to our doctors and had him evaluated, and it’s in the best interest to everybody to get him healthy and not play short,” Hinch said. “He wasn’t going to play in this series based on the injury, so we felt no need to keep him here as a bench player that wasn’t available.”

I bet he either had this injury for a while or it is totally made up.

• Geovany Soto will be out a few months after tearing the meniscus in his knee.

Soto’s right knee bothered him a bit during Tuesday’s Freeway Series game at Dodger Stadium, but he showed up to the ballpark planning to play Wednesday. His knee then locked up while he rode the elliptical early in the afternoon, then again as he walked to the trainer’s room, prompting an MRI that showed surgery was necessary.

I am estimating he will miss a couple of months, it might even be a bit longer since he is a catcher and his knees get suck a workout.

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