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5/25/21

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

• Alek Manoah coming up (8:05)
• Jesús Luzardo could return as RP (20:25)
• Joneshwy hurt! (25:00)
• Keston Hiura returns (28:52)
• Carson Kelly returns to play thru fracture (31:31)

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Robbie Ray is having a huge season thus far. He has a 3.42 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 47.3 innings and his 3.29 SIERA stands as a career best, even better than in 2017 when he posted a 2.89 ERA but a 3.53 SIERA. While being consistently maddening throughout his career – even in 2017 he had a 4.57 ERA through 8 starts and was likely on some waiver wires only to deliver a 2.24 ERA in his final 20 starts – he didn’t lose widespread fantasy appeal until last year’s 6.62 ERA in 51.7 innings. Let’s dive a bit deeper and see what Ray is doing to drive this success and how much of it is sustainable.

Arsenal is always the easiest place to start in a pitcher breakdown. Off the top we see a velo boost that has his fastball sitting at 95.3 mph, a career high. Looking at just four-seamers, his usage is also up 11 points to 58%. The results have been a bit neutered by the .238 ISO thanks to 7 HR in 125 PA. The .237/.280/.475 line is still much better than last year’s .292/.464/.689, but a bit worse than 2019’s .221/.322/.391 which is a little surprising given the improvements in not only the velocity, but also control.

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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 be sorting by 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.

• Previous Watchlists

Jesús Sánchez smacked another 4 HR in Triple-A (7 on the season) and is now hitting .509 in 56 PA.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Austin Nola | C, SDP

He’s only on 32% of the ESPN rosters which makes him pretty available in shallow 1-catcher leagues. He was a top 10 catcher last year, but he essentially missed April so he has sat on a lot of wires despite being back and playing regularly. He is a solid replacement for the recently injured Carson Kelly, too.

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5/20/21

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

• Corey Kluber No Hitter (0:00)
• Would we even get Ohtani in 2nd rd? – Poll (3:55)
• Dylan Moore to IL w/calf (11:49)
• Tyler O’Neill to IL w/finger (15:20)
• Mike Moustakas to IL w/heel (18:55)

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Chat transcript is below!

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5/18/21

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

• Mike Trout leaves w/calf strain (1:35)
• Huascar Ynoa fractures hand like a clown (5:12)
• José Urquidy to IL w/shoulder inflammation (9:38)
• Giancarlo Stanton to IL w/quad (14:50)

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James McCann was a prototypical backup catcher with a strong arm that earned him the nickname “McCannon” but had little else going on during his tenure with the Detroit Tigers (2014-18). He moved to the White Sox in 2019 and made the All-Star game on the back of a BABIP-fueled run that saw him hitting .319/.376/.514 through June with 9 HR and 4 SB. No one thought the .403 BABIP would hold and they were right as it sank to .314 from July 1st on yielding a .231/.285/.410 line.

His stock rose heading into 2020 just because he was an afterthought coming into 2019, but he still didn’t generate that much attention. This time he used a .425 BABIP in his first 17 games to post a .351/.424/.544 line with 3 HR in 66 PA. Regression hit hard in September with a .182 BABIP that dragged his line down to .200/.267/.525, but the power held with 4 more homers. All told, he had a .355 BABIP in 2019-20, 2nd to only Jorge Alfaro (.359) among catchers with at least 500 PA. In fact, McCann was 9th in all of baseball among the 226 hitters with at least 500 PA.

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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 could be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want who is about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Canning was solid against the Dodgers (5.7 IP/1 ER) and has now looked good in 4 of 6 starts.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Robbie Grossman | OF, DET

His walk rate kept the OPS from sinking too low as he was finding his footing in Detroit and now he’s on fire over the last three weeks with a .267/.379/.444 line in 87 PA spanning 20 games. He is 5-for-5 on the bases in that time, too, pushing his season total to 7 SBs in 7 tries. If the Tigers are planning to turn him loose, he can be an all-formats play on the steals alone as his walks will keep him on base regularly enough to perhaps eclipse 20 SBs.

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5/13/21

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
• @PitcherList – Nick Pollack [Producer]

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPICS

• Luis Castillo
• Kenta Maeda

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