I’m needlessly competitive. I’ll manufacture any kind of pathetic excuse to turn literally anything into a contest, especially if there’s a moderately easy way to tally stats for it. So, let’s review the RotoGraphs staff’s picks for the 2016 season.

We make picks every season, but as I took up curating them last season, I wanted to hold us accountable while also simply seeing how well we did. Hindsight-spoiler: we actually did pretty poorly. Having not yet evaluated the results whatsoever, I hope for better but secretly anticipate more of the same.

The rules: are dumb and contrived. You’re welcome! Anyway, I choose a winner for each category based on, yes, stats, but also the uniqueness of the pick. For example, picking Noah Syndergaard as 2016’s best sophomore pitcher wasn’t exactly groundbreaking.

Again, this is mostly for fun, but it’s also worth rewarding, with the weakest of praise, those who excelled with their picks. As a reminder, I describe the criteria for each category in the original post. With that said, let’s needlessly compete!

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Man, no one saw this coming. Didi Gregorius ended up finishing 11th in fantasy value this year, actually making him worthy of a starting shortstop slot in shallow mixed leagues! We certainly didn’t expect this. Our preseason rankings valued him as just the 22nd best shortstop, and the most bullish ranking had him at 16th. Although he only improved marginally on the offensive side from a real baseball perspective, he made enough small gains to push himself into fantasy asset territory.

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Just a quick note about re-opening the mailbag.

sleeperpod@gmail.com 

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11/20/16

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

Jason’s audio was a little sketchy, but it was just a missed setting – not a long-term issue. 

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Manager of the Year Discussion (1:00)

Leading Off: Question of the Day

• Should TB sell pieces like Logan Forsythe, Evan Longoria, and an SP or 2? (3:40)

Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles/Game Play

• Brian McCann, Josh Reddick, and Charlie Morton to HOU (10:40)
• Andrew Cashner to TEX (22:40)
• Trevor Plouffe outrighted (26:40)

Strategy Section: Betting on a Rebound (39:30)

• Alex Gordon (40:15)
• Jason Heyward (44:04)
• Derek Norris (57:10)

Stat of the Day:

• Heyward averaged 30 HR+SB in his first six seasons, but had just 18 in 2016 Read the rest of this entry »

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The Texas Rangers signed Andrew Cashner to a one-year deal for $10 million dollars on Friday. It’s tough for a one-year deal to be really bad, almost regardless of the cost because the commitment is so short, but I’m not seeing too much upside here for Cashner or the Rangers. The 30-year old righty showed promise after being installed into the Padres rotation full-time back in 2013, posting a 2.83 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 298.3 innings (45 starts) over two seasons. But it all started to come unglued in 2015.

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For those following along, Ottoneu is at it’s busiest during these winter months leading up to the start of the next baseball season.  It’s designed that way, and the year-round activity of Ottoneu is one of the features that help set it apart from other fantasy platforms.  As Joe mentioned recently, there are plenty of reasons why you should give Ottoneu a chance this year, but today I want to assume you’ve already seen the light and are ready to sign up.  So, what’s next? Here are a few practical ways to get started once you plug into this great game.

Select Your Game Type

First things first: you’ll need to decide which scoring format suits your interest. Ottoneu offers a nice range of scoring options that include:

Classic: This is rotisserie-style 5 x 5 built into the basic foundation of Ottoneu, which (like all formats) includes 40 man rosters, $400 salary caps, daily lineups, off-season arbitration, and auction-style economics.  If you’ve been playing traditional Roto for years and have interest in Ottoneu, this is a great place to start.

Old School: This is considered the original Ottoneu  (4 x 4) format, and was designed with a sabermetric bent and geared toward power hitters and power pitchers (OBP, SLG, HR, R and ERA, WHIP, HR/9, K).  You can find an example of 4 x 4 standings here.

SABR & FanGraphs Points: Based on linear weights scoring, these two sabermetrically-inclined options are very popular, and it isn’t uncommon to see owners playing in multiple points leagues. Tons of resources and tools are available if you decide to try your hand in one of these advanced scoring leagues.  Standings for a points league look like this.

New: Head to Head is coming to Ottoneu in 2018!

ICYMI, head-to-head will be an option in @ottoneuBaseball in 2018. https://t.co/UsTO21a9kE

— Ottoneu Fantasy Sports (@Ottoneu) December 18, 2017

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Last week, we reviewed the top third basemen of 2016. The best players at the position were of no surprise – Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant, and Josh Donaldson. Most third basemen produced fantasy value through their power. Eight of the top 10 hit at least 30 home runs. The other two stole 62 and 40 bases with fewer than 20 home runs.

The hot corner offers fantasy owners a distinct choice. You can have power, you can have speed, or you can have Todd Frazier’s broken batting average. If you’re targeting fewer than 30 home runs at the position, you better be getting at least 20 stolen bases. And you’ll need to make up for the lost power at another position.

We already have a theme – power and speed. The breakouts at the position either homered or stole more than expected. With a small caveat*, nobody performed like the 2015 version of Manny Machado. Not even Machado.

*Nobody expected Jonathan Villar (19), Eduardo Nunez (16), or Hernan Perez (13) to homer as much as they did, but that can mostly be chalked up to volume. They out-homered expectations by only a small amount on a rate basis. Their stolen bases were much more unexpected.

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The Astros have so far been the major mover this offseason. After signing Charlie Morton earlier this week, they picked up Brian McCann and Josh Reddick yesterday. The team has already remade themselves and the offseason has just started.

With the offseason just getting started, it is tough to get a good feeling on what the Astros will end up looking like going into spring training. When the offseason is nearly over, fantasy owners will need to sit down and figure how the playing time will get divided up among the players in Houston to help determine final values.

Astros sign Josh Reddick

Josh Reddick is one of those players in I hate drafting. If Reddick is an option on my draft sheet, I usually go another direction as Reddick offers little to no upside and downside. He is the safe play and for some people, the right move for them. The 30-year-old has had some up-and-down performances like the 32 home runs in 2012 or the single stolen base in 2014 but otherwise he is good for a dozen home runs and 10 steals with a .270 AVG.

Over the past four seasons, Reddick has traded off some power for a better contact rate. His strikeouts are down (20% to 13%) with his batting average being up (.226 to .281). While he has changed some, it is not enough to move his fantasy value.

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Welcome to the annual series that provides both a review of your favorite teams’ 2016 season, as well as a early look toward 2017. It also serves as a helpful guide for keeper and dynasty leagues.

The Graduate: Dylan Bundy (RHP): It felt like it would never come but Bundy finally enjoyed his big league rookie season in 2016. The former 2011 first-rounder suffered through a succession of bad luck and injuries that saw him virtually fall into a black hole from 2013-15. The Orioles then eased him into his big league duties in ’16 with a stint in the bullpen before loosening the reigns late in the year as a starter. He appears to still have mid-rotation potential and could be one of the Orioles more reliable arms in 2017 if he can continue to avoid the trainer’s table.

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Check out the transcript from today’s chat below:

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