Author Archive

The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 824 – Reviewing Justin’s ME Qualifier Draft

07/02/20

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3.

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Paul Sporer Baseball Chat – July 1st, 2020

Transcript is below!

1:15

Paul Sporer: Hello everyone!! Let’s talk some baseball. My new SP rankings went live last week so I’m definitely open to questions on them: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/top-100-sp-for-a-60-game-season/ (notes column on the rankings: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/top-100-sp-notes/)

1:16

Babyfarts: What do you think of Thor in a dynasty league? Good buy low with hopes of half a season from him next year or do you think he is overhyped? Top 30ish still in this format?

1:17

Paul Sporer: I’ve always been a huge fan so I’m down to take the gamble on the cheap. As long as there’s a reasonable discount, I say go for it

1:19

Jon: Keep 8 roto 12 team league. Judge/Torres for Soto fair? Which side do you prefer?

1:19

Paul Sporer: That’s heavy. I love Soto, but I’m not sure he and Torres are THAT different so Judge to cover the difference is too much

1:23

Sam: Thoughts on Kyle Gibson’s chance of a breakout?

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 823 – Starting Pitcher Disputes

06/30/20 

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3 

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Top 100 SP Notes

We’re just going to freeform this and make it essentially a notes column. I’ll start by saying that not every move is influenced by the 60-game season. In fact, few are. A lot of them are influenced by a change in health or just more studying that led me to make a move.

RISERS

Biggest moves up the rankings since my February 28th list.

Rich Hill +65 to 64 – He was slated to be out until June with an elbow injury so now his full IL stint happened in quarantine and he’ll now be ready from the jump. He’s been great on a per inning basis the last four seasons, but will he stay upright throughout this mini-season?

Michael Kopech +30 to 82 – Returning from TJ, Kopech was expected to miss some time at the outset of the season with a late-May/early-June target. Like Hill, that time has passed and now he’s made the 60-man roster, though his role is unknown. For fantasy purposes, it’d be perfect if Kopech was paired with an opener so if he’s limited to 3-4 innings, it comes in the middle innings and puts him in line for wins.

James Paxton +27 to 21 – 100% injury-related.

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Top 100 SP for a 60-Game Season

Here they are!

I’ll have a whole column of notes on different guys on Monday. I just wanted to get the ranks out and we can start discussing them in the comments. This 60-game season is going to be so wild!

 

Previous list for comparison, though comparing a full season list to a 60-game one is tough.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 821 – Short Season Strategy

06/26/20

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3.

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Paul Sporer Baseball Chat – June 24th, 2020

Transcript is below!!

1:03

Paul Sporer: Baseball has a start time, let’s talk about it!!

1:03

Fleece Johnson: Any chance you can help get the new TheBATX in auction calculator?

1:03

Paul Sporer: I will mention it today!

1:04

Fleece Johnson: What strategy changes are you making in casual home leagues based on 60 games? Do any player types/positions move up your board compared to normal?

1:05

Paul Sporer: I haven’t made any changes to that effect, but my overall strategy in-season is going to change as I’m going to be moving a lot quicker. Obviously, I’m not cutting my #1 pick if he goes 0-fer in the first 6 games, but the last few rounds of players are getting a week or 2, the couple rounds before that are getting 2-3 wks, and so on

1:07

99: seems like a lot of people are selling for next year even with the season planned because it won’t feel as legitimate.  thoughts?

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 820 – Baseball Finally Coming Back?!

06/23/20

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3.

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NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

  • Latest Proposal
    • Owners using March agreement
    • Target of 60 gms, starting 7/24
    • MLBPA likely to agree today by 5 pm CT
    • Universal DH likely for ‘20, uncertain for ‘21
    • No expanded playoffs
    • Dumbass runner on 2nd rule in extras
    • No jersey ads

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SP Handedness Breakdown by Division

If we do in fact get some sort of 50-ish game season, finding any small edge could be the difference between winning and losing your league. One potential edge is platoons. Let’s take a look at the starting pitching handedness breakdown on the assumed rotations for each division. This assumes they stick to this mega-division plan by combining the East, Central, and West division from both leagues.

We’re also going to grade the pitchers using the FIP from their BAT projection. My arbitrary scale is as such: sub-4.00 is good, 4.01-4.70 is solid, and 4.71+ is bad.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 819 – 2020 Buyback Players

06/18/20

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3.

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NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

  • Latest Proposal

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