The scorching hot stove put the ACL series on the backburner a bit, but we’re diving back in this week and starting with the Angels, who have been very busy in the month-plus since our last piece in this series.

OTHER TEAMS:

• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Seattle Mariners
• Houston Astros
• Baltimore Orioles
• Cincinnati Reds

3 QUESTIONS

Can Tommy La Stella pick up where ’19 left off?

Few players personified the bouncy ball of 2019 better than La Stella. He entered his age-30 season with a career .711 OPS and 10 HR in 947 PA only to nearly double his career total in April alone when he smacked 7 HR. He stayed hot through May and June with a .324/.358/.485 line and another 9 HR before disaster struck. On July 2nd, he fouled a ball off his leg that was originally diagnosed as a contusion, but eventually turned out to be a broken leg and effectively ended his season (he returned for two games in September).

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1/2/20

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NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

The White Sox

• Dallas Keuchel to CWS (1:30)
• Edwin Encarnación to CWS (8:10)
• Luis Robert signed to extension by CWS (14:25)

Hitters

• Corey Dickerson to MIA (23:44)
• Shogo Akiyama to CIN (31:33)
• Kole Calhoun to ARI (45:50)
• César Hernández to CLE (52:44)

Pitchers

• Homer Bailey & Rich Hill to MIN (58:12)
• Dellin Betances to NYM (1:11:30)
• Domingo Germán suspended 81 games (1:12:33)
• Julio Teheran to LAA (1:17:07)

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Approximately  minutes of joyous analysis.

Tigers sign Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron to 1-year, $6.1 million dollar deals

In the span of about a half hour, the Detroit Tigers had a whole new right side of their infield by signing both Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron to identical $6.1 million dollar deals. Schoop rebounded from a rough 2018, jumping from 79 to 100 wRC+. His ISO reached a career high of .217, but his strikeout rate was back up to 25%, matching his previous career high.

Despite solid production, Schoop started losing playing time to rookie upstart Luis Arraez in the final two months of the season. Schoop won’t have the same issue in Detroit. He should be free and clear for full-time run at second base and get back to 600+ PA for the first time since 2017. The projections feel dead on, putting him at .262/.306/.476 with 27 HR, 81 RBI, and 70 R in 571 PA.

Schoop’s 398 ADP might rise a bit now that he’s landed, but it won’t surge given the team he’s on. If you need some late pop at your MI slot, Schoop is your guy.

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12/19/19

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

• Players from Asia omnibus by Eric Longenhagen
• Madison Bumgarner to ARI (3:00)
• Avisail Garcia/Ryon Healy/Justin Smoak to MIL (11:40)

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12/18/19

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

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• A.J. Puk (3:25)
• Taijuan Walker (8:00)
• Jordan Montgomery (9:55)
• Cole Hamels (12:25)

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Corey Kluber traded to TEX for Emmanuel Clase and Delino DeShields Jr.

It was a busy Sunday with a pair of pitchers finding new homes and sending another shockwave through this ever-moving market. Just as the morning was giving way to afternoon, the Kluber trade came through with him being sent to the Texas Rangers for Clase and DDS. To give you an idea of how obsessed I am with baseball, this was right around lineup lock for my fantasy football playoffs and let’s just say that if there had been a late scratch on my team, I’d have missed it.

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Using the current NFBC average draft data for their 50-round Draft & Hold leagues, I’m going to put together most of an offense going at 200 or later (2 catchers because I hate myself, an infield, and 2 OF). I guess it’s just a different way to identify some sleeper/later values that I like, but hey, let’s do it!

C1 – Omar Narváez, MIL | Pick 237

Among the 21 catchers with at least 650 PA the last two years, Narváez’s 120 wRC+ in 804 PA is 3rd behind only Mitch Garver (130 in 694 PA) and the guy he replaced, Yasmani Grandal (123 in 1150). He’s a brutal framer which could cut into his playing time a bit unless they have some plans to improve him, but I’d take 400 PA with 15 HR and a .277 AVG.

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12/12/19

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.

Follow us on Twitter

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

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS

• Gerrit Cole to NYY (2:30)
• Stephen Strasburg stays with WAS (7:00)
• Anthony Rendon to LAA (15:10)
• Tommy Pham & Jake Cronenworth/Hunter Renfroe & Xavier Edwards trade (21:50)
• Didi Gregorius to PHI (36:50)
• Nomar Mazara to CWS (41:14)

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Gerrit Cole signed by NYY (9 years/$324 million dollars)

I’ll be honest, I was really hoping Cole would sign with the Angels but that’s only because I really want Mike Trout in the playoffs and that would’ve really helped. Brian Cashman has landed his white whale and the Evil Empire has returned with this incredible deal. This is unfathomable money and congratulations to Cole for securing the bag. Here’s the thing, he’s coming off a truly masterful season in 2019 meaning he can’t really go anywhere but down from this insane peak.

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Didi Gregorius signed by PHI (1 year/$14 million dollars)

Just like last offseason, the Phillies aren’t playing around. They’ve already addressed their pitching issues with a big five-year deal for Zack Wheeler and now they’ve got the last piece for their offense in place with the signing of Didi Gregorius. After César Hernández was non-tendered, we started to see rumors ramp up that they were interested in Gregorius. The one-year, $14 million dollar deal will install Gregorius at shortstop while moving Jean Segura to spot that Hernández’s departure opened up at 2B.

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