The Dodgers system has it all: Impact talent, depth, excellent scouts and a proven player development system that just might be the best in the game.

The Graduate: Cody Bellinger, OF/1B: I had no doubt that Bellinger was going to be an impact player at the big league level but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. I also — most certainly — did not expect him to slug 38 home runs as a rookie in 2017. The freshman has struck out too much this season but the power and the on-base percentage makes the swing-and-miss entirely palatable. Known as an excellent defender at first base who can also play a solid outfield, Bellinger’s work out in the pastures left something to be desired while his work in the infield was as expected. That’s kind of bad news, though, since injured, veteran first baseman Adrian Gonzalez still has $21.5 million owed to him in 2018. As a result, Bellinger may have to spend a full season in the outfield until the contract expires. Once he settles in at first base for good, he should be there for a decade or more.

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Can you believe the season will be over in two weeks? I can.

AGENDA

1. Near No-No
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. TDG Invitational Returns!

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Episode 298 – How Is He My Boy

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

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss surviving two scary streaming picks last Friday, the current Twins lineup, remembering Jaime Garcia being with Minnesota for all of one start, picking against Matt Harvey, young pitchers that will be more intriguing in 2018, picking against Jon Lester more, Jharel Cotton and Tyler Anderson having strange home/road splits, playing with arbitrary endpoints, the possibly “hungover” Astros, Matt’s fantasy baseball team updates, and Matt preparing to check out the food menu at SunTrust Park.

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Sort the last 30 day HR/FB rate leaderboard in descending order and ranking fifth out of 174 qualified hitters is Matt Olson. I first brought Olson to your attention back on August 9th when I highlighted him as one of my deep league wire selections after the Athletics traded Yonder Alonso, opening up at least a strong side platoon job for the rookie. After a power breakout at Triple-A this season, he was a good gamble to make in deeper leagues on the chance he had found a new level. And new level he indeed found.

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As the fantasy season comes to a close, this is how you deal with the trash talkers:

When the group chat’s way too lit for a #SaturdayMorning. pic.twitter.com/unGYQpfzRE

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) September 16, 2017

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9/17/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER18!

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Leading Off: Question of the Day

• What are your thoughts on Matt Olson in 2018? (3:25)

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On Friday, with the Royals leading by one over the Indians, Ryan Buchter pitched a scoreless sixth (with one strikeout), Trevor Cahill pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth (walking three), and it was Mike Minor who pitched a scoreless ninth with three strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.

The first two batters due up in the ninth for the Indians were right handed, and the next two were switch hitters, so the lefty Minor’s appearance in the ninth didn’t appear to be a matchup-based save opportunity. With Kelvin Herrera‘s struggles and Brandon Maurer’s difficulties with runners on base, there’s opportunity for fresh blood in the ninth, and it could very well be Minor who gets the most save chances down the stretch. He’s probably worth an add for those desperate for last-minute relief help. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Zimmerman has been doing a fantastic job of looking at potential streaming pitchers down the stretch so I figured I’d take a look at some hitters who may be available for the last couple of weeks in your league. I’ll start with a group of speedsters and then look at some guys hitting for power and/or batting average of late.

Jose Reyes (46% at Yahoo!)

Reyes has a .299/.366/.505 line since July 1st with 7 HR and 11 SB and he’s been surging of late with 4 HR and 5 SB in September. He only has three hitless games in his last 20 dating back to August 13th (only 20 games because of a mid-August DL stint). He’s going to play every day and can move around your lineup with SS/3B eligibility and 2B at many outlets.

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This article isn’t going to blow your mind. It’s actually going to reinforce what you probably already know: Amir Garrett’s command is all over the place and he will continue to labor through outings until it gets addressed. What I will try to do is show you are the two sides of Garrett – the ceiling and the floor – while attempting to illuminate how believable his ceiling is.

So let’s address the elephant in the room right away. Garrett faced the Cardinals yesterday and put up a ghastly line of 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 3 Hits, 5 BBs, 7 Ks. His strikezone plot looked more like a Jackson Pollock than a Giovanni Bellini: Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your daily dose of lowly owned starters. When Ubaldo Jimenez is the top choice, owners should know today’s pickings are slim.

Max Fried (1% owned) vs Mets (Jacob deGrom)

I can’t come up with a reason to start Fried. Also, I can’t come up with a good pun. His strikeout rate (6.5 K/9 with upside) is acceptable for these lowly owned starters but that’s where the positive traits end. He’s always had walk issues and his walk rate (5.9 BB/9) is almost higher than his strikeouts. His near five ERA (4.70) is near his ERA estimators. Also, he hasn’t gone far into his games to even get a Win averaging just 4.1 IP per start. The low strikeout and low win chances mean a pass for me.

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