German’s Home Run Troubles Continue

Domingo Germán came out of the break with six scoreless against Toronto, but has struggled mightily to keep the ball in the yard in his other seven starts. He’s allowed 14 HR in 39.3 innings (3.2 HR/9), including four straight multi-homer outings. The schedule hasn’t been friendly with starts against TB, MIN, BOSx2, and TOR (the baby Jays are 7th in HRs v. righties since the break) not to mention a trip to face the Dodgers on the docket later this week. German could be hitting a wall coming down the stretch of his first full MLB season as a starter. If you need the strikeouts, keep him in the lineup, but if you’re protecting ratios, consider sitting him in these more difficult matchups.

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As we slog through the dog days and try to ignore the siren call of fantasy baseball, you might be locked in the bubble of your fantasy team(s) and missing some interesting performances going on lately. Have you noticed that…

• Kyle Seager is on fire, hitting 357/.419/.786 with 10 HR, 21 RBI, and 18 R since July 22nd.

Seager’s down 2018 carried over into 2019 when he started the season on the IL and then hit just .186/.260/.331 through 46 games before this recent run. His bottom line (108 wRC+) now looks a lot like the steady Eddie he was before last year and while he likely won’t remain this hot, he should continue to be a useful 3B or CI option.

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Transcript is below!

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I recently did a solo pod covering my top 30 and I made some mistakes. I didn’t include Madison Bumgarner in the honorable mentions and I forgot to transfer Jose Berrios from the scrap list to the main one I used on the pod (that’s what I get for using two different files). I decided to do a write up and get a bit deeper on the ranking. There are a lot of changes! If you listened to the pod, have fun finding all the differences.

Obviously, they are going to change even more as the season finishes and we get into the offseason, but I was somewhat surprised at how much I changed things over the course of two days just by doing some deeper research. Maybe that’s not surprising at all… of course more research should influence my thoughts on these guys. Anyway, let’s get into it!

Let me know what you think in the comments. There are 52 names listed with the Honorable Mentions (and yes, the HMs are ranked, unlike on the pod), did I miss anyone that has to be within the top 52? As for ranking disagreements, I’m particularly interested in the sharper disagreements (like 7-10 spots). Flipping #22 and #25 is more a personal preference but thinking #30 should be at #19 or something like that is worth some discussion.

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8/14/19

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

• Jameson Taillon has TJ
• Jake Arrieta (elbow) hits the IL; toast for ‘19
• Robbie Ray (back) removed from start 
• Sean Manaea back after one more AAA start
• Alex Dickerson (oblique) activated
• Jeff McNeil (hamstring) hits the IL
• Avisail Garcia (oblique) hits the IL
• Yoan Moncada on rehab
• Gerrit Cole (groin) scratched, feeling better
• Max Scherzer (back) ready to return
• Fernando Tatis Jr. (back) aiming for Fri. return
• Carlos Carrasco (cancer) facing live batters

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8/13/19

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 30 SPs

I didn’t do individual player timestamps because I didn’t want to spoil the list!

• Just Missed (1:00-24:39)
• 30-21 (24:40-40:40)
• 20-11 (40:41-53:43)
• Top 10 (53:44-1:09:35)

Please let me know if there was someone I didn’t mention that you consider worthy or if just your general thoughts on where someone is slotted, particularly if you have him markedly higher or lower than I do.

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A group of guys who’ve shown some improvement lately and could have more success on the horizon. Note to my deep league managers, this group is mostly available in shallower formats (all are sub-50% on FantasyPros, which blends Yahoo! and ESPN).

Jeff Samardzija | San Francisco Giants

The Shark has rediscovered his teeth this year. After an injury-riddled 10-start lost season in 2018, Samardzija was an afterthought in 2019 drafts going in the 20th round or later. He got off to a fast start in April (2.53 ERA), but then saw his HR issues return in May and June (1.9 HR/9), posting a 5.75 ERA and winding up on waiver wires across the fantasy community.

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Pardon the brief intro, but I’m coming to you live from Disney World! I wanted to give you a few guys to look for on your waiver wires this weekend!

Mike Tauchman OF – NYY | 141 wRC+

With the absurd number of injuries that have struck the Yankees, it’s kind of surprising that Tauchman is just now breaking through. He got some playing time in April, but couldn’t make it happen, posting just a .177/.282/.387 line as a .211 BABIP held him back. He has become a lineup staple since the All-Star break and he’s absolutely raking. He has a .413/.471/.825 line with 6 HR and 4 SB in 70 PA and I’m sure Alex Chamberlain’s wife is tired of hearing about his crush’s numbers every night! With Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks on the IL, Tauchman’s playing time should be solidified for the foreseeable future. Buy!

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8/8/19

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

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• Mitch Keller recalled (1:25)

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8/7/19

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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• @sporer – Host

Paul looks at the remaining August schedules and highlights some potential streamers so you can get a leg up before they are front and center on the waiver wire.

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As usual, don’t hesitate to tweet us or comment with fantasy questions.

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Approximately 36 minutes of joyous analysis.

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