Author Archive: Paul Sporer

7/30/19

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 ()

• Marcus Stroman to NYM
• Jordan Lyles to MIL
• Jason Vargas to PHI
• Corey Kluber throwing sim gm on Saturday
• Danny Salazar to debut Thursday
• Catcher Will Smith ROS value

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Every year we struggle with what to do in April as fantasy baseball players. We all try not to overreact while also making sure we don’t bypass potential breakouts who are out front with small samples. A big issue with April numbers is that there can be an anchoring effect that impacts how we view players several months later. April matters, it obviously counts, but it’s often given too much credence as a sort of “foundation” for player’s season. Not every big breakout starts in April and a good April doesn’t prevent a player from having poor season.

Let’s look at a group of the biggest risers since April and see what’s going on with them:

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After the Andrew Cashner and Homer Bailey moves, I thought the floodgates would open for deals and prepared to write several trade write-ups. Things are starting to heat up with a big move on Sunday and already a pair of starters getting moved by Monday afternoon.

Marcus Stroman to the Mets

This was a shocker! Not that Stroman was traded, but rather where he was traded. The Mets weren’t expected to be buying anyone, but I guess they felt that Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson was too good of a price to pass up. Stroman does get out of the AL East, but the Mets aren’t exactly the defense that can maximize Stroman’s major groundball lean. There’s still a benefit of switching from the AL-to-NL, but overall this feels like a neutral move.

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Transcript is below!

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7/25/19

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 – Producer/Co-Host

FIRST PITCH ARIZONA (link)

• What is FPAZ and why should people attend?

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Houston and Los Angeles.

Thanks for reading!!

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7/23/19

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

ROOKIE REVIEW

Hitters

• Yordan Alvarez or Fernando Tatis Jr.
• Pete Alonso or Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
• Keston Hiura or Oscar Mercado
• Victor Robles or Nick Senzel
• Austin Riley or Michael Chavis
• Christian Walker or Daniel Vogelbach
• Bryan Reynolds or Garrett Cooper
• Brandon Lowe or Alex Verdugo
• Kevin Newman or Cavan Biggio

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It feels like the season is winding down, but there are still two-plus months left so we will still see plenty of minor leaguers come up and get a shot. Today I want to look at a group of K-BB% leaders who haven’t appeared in the majors yet (min. 70 IP at Double- and Triple-A).

Nabil Crismatt, SEA – 24% K-BB

The 24-year old started his big season in Double-A and has definitely slowed down in Triple-A, despite still striking out 34% of the batters he’s faced in 22 innings there. I’ll defer to Alex Chamberlain for more info on him as he recently featured Crismatt in a Peripheral Prospects piece.

Alex Faedo, DET – 23%

Faedo has improved in a repeat of Double-A, jumping in K-BB% from 15% to 23%. He was ranked 15th in the Detroit prospect list this spring, but these 99 innings have helped his outlook. While he hasn’t hit Triple-A, he might not need much time there before getting a look in the majors. He and the next guy on the list both appeared in Peripheral Prospect 1.13.

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7/22/19

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
• @pitcherlist – Co-Host/Producer

FIRESIDE CHAT

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There are four more homestands in Coors Field this year. Players heading to Coors are always sought after, but the park is somehow playing even crazier than normal making those guys even more appealing. This past weekend saw several San Francisco Giants garner some attention with a four-game set in Coors including Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford (who paid off handsomely with 3 HR in the doubleheader on Monday), Kevin Pillar, Alex Dickerson, and Mike Yastrzemski.

Let’s look ahead at the next two Coors homestands and see if we can plan for potential pickups and avoid paying full price the weekend for those series.

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