A look around the league for the games of April 1st, 2021

DET 3 v. CLE 2

• Matthew Boyd went 5.7 scoreless, but did have 4 BB and just 2 Ks
• Shane Bieber salvaged his start with 12 Ks (6 IP/3 ER, 3 BB in 95 pit)
• Miguel Cabrera’s snowmer was pretty cool and puts him just 12 away from 500.
• Robbie Grossman was 0-1 w/3 BB and a SB – if they turn him loose, he has the OBP to steal 15+
• Gregory Soto got the first save attempt and converted, but only after a Roberto Perez 2-R HR

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4/1/21

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

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• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• Trevor Rosenthal to IL
• Adalberto Mondesi to IL

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It’s Bold Prediction season! The goal here isn’t to nail 100% of these, they just don’t have a high enough probability to expect such a success rate, but rather to come up with predictions that could happen to highlight some potential breakouts and statistical surges. I know some people do downside bold predictions, but I’m especially bad at those. Let me know your Bold Predictions in the comments. Again, make sure they are actually bold – something a player has never done or a fall off that no one is seeing coming, except you.

Opening Day is so close now!

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Goes .300-35-100

He only has three small samples in his three MLB seasons (263, 343, and 224 PA), but he has improved his wRC+ each year – 103, 124, and 135 – and I see him poised for a full season breakout. Maybe this isn’t bold enough given that he has averaged .287-33-93 per 650 PA. He still needs to overperform that mark and put up over 600 PA so I think it still qualifies as bold, especially since his high in games played is 84.

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3/30/21

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

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• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• George Springer (oblique) likely to start on IL (2:13)
  • Cavan Biggio’s outlook
• Stephen Strasburg unimpressive in return (11:00)
  • Carter Kieboom’s spring
• Shohei Ohtani has a blister (24:10)

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Earlier this year, we began looking for new writers and the interest was truly remarkable. I want to thank everyone who took the time to apply. This was my first time going through a hiring process here at FanGraphs and it was incredible to see so many talented people get involved. Of course, this abundance of talented folks meant the decisions would be difficult and, in the end, they absolutely were.

I want to reiterate a note Meg had in the front page welcome. If you weren’t part of this hiring run, continue writing. There will be other opportunities, whether here or elsewhere, and not only that, but it strengthens the outlets you currently write for as they grow their footprint in the baseball world. The expansion of the baseball writing community since I started 412 years ago has been amazing to watch and helped cultivate an amazing pool of candidates.

Let’s get to know our new class of Rotographs writers officially joining the team on April 1st:

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Most drafts are in the books and the NFBC even ran their first waiver period last night. It’s time to start focusing on the future a bit. Not too far out, April is our focus. Here are a couple guys to put on your watchlist and monitor in the early part of the season. Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist.

It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you will likely be sorting by certain stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Trevor Rogers | P, MIA

I got to write the profile blurb for Rogers in this year’s Baseball HQ Forecaster and I pointed out how he allowed 13 of his 19 ER across two hideous outings while showing off above average swing-and-miss stuff in the other successful five starts (2.57 ERA, 32% K rate). The 23-year-old lefty has good velocity and three reliable pitches.

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This weekend is the last big push of drafts so it’s time for one final update of my SP ranks. Lots of movement as it’s time to lock in and put together our rotations.

The blue bar represents the START of a new tier. Yes, deGrom is his own tier.

You can also get up to the minute rankings of every position on our Patreon.

UPDATE(S):

• I didn’t adjust Carrasco for his groin issue, so I put him at 102.5 right now because I’m not able to update the table right now and he’s going to slot in after Thor, but I wanted to note Carrasco’s drop. Thanks to Mike from Twitter for catching that.

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3/25/21

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• Kirby Yates update: getting TJS (5:25)
• Eloy Jiménez may “miss significant time” w/shoulder issue (10:40; 39:52)
  • Adam Engel/Leury Garcia (41:30)
• Andrew Vaughn trending toward breaking camp (15:10)
  • Joey Votto ranking (17:10)

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Transcript is now live!

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3/23/21

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon and getting our most updated positional rankings!!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• Zac Gallen scratched w/forearm soreness (2:50)
• Kirby Yates out multiple wks w/a flexor strain (7:31)
  • Montoyo mum on replacement: Jordan Romano/Rafael Dolis
• José Leclerc out “an extended period of time” (11:26)
• Tout Wars (14:17)
• Justin Main Event (23:03)

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