Author Archive: Paul Sporer

Did you know home runs are up on the year? No one’s talking about it! It’s crazy.

…

OK, so everyone’s talking about it always and I’m going to do the same today. While seemingly everyone is hitting homers left and right, some guys have been left in the cold and they’ve taken up residence on all of my teams. Hilarious, Paul… absolutely hilarious. Anyway, there are some guys with batted ball profiles worthy of more home runs than they are currently hitting, creating some buying opportunities for those of you lagging a bit in power.

Here are four guys to consider going after:

Read the rest of this entry »

6/26/19

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/Producer

SCRAP HEAP STARTERS

• SP1 (6:25)
• SP2 (14:10)
• SP3 (24:34)
• SP4 (28:32)

Read the rest of this entry »

In one of the earlier editions of “The 10”, I wrote about some of the early season breakouts and assessed their viability. It’s time to check in on them and more. I’ll be covering 20 hitters here so it’s essentially a double edition, which is good since I haven’t written a single iteration of “The 10” in the month of June.

Let’s cut to the chase, only two of the 20 have improved their wRC+ since April and truthfully, it’s only one since the other guy has added just two points. However, these guys didn’t need to improve or even maintain their gaudy April numbers to remain viable fantasy contributors.

I’ll break them up into groups according to their performance from May 1st through June 24th and give some thoughts about how they might perform going forward. I’d also like to acknowledge that wRC+ alone doesn’t determine fantasy viability and I’ll be sure to point out those who are still contributing in other fantasy-useful ways despite sharp drops in their wRC+.

Read the rest of this entry »

6/24/19

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

CLOSER NEWS

• Jordan Hicks torn UCL (2:15)
  • John Gant
• Blake Treinen to the IL (6:30)
  • Liam Hendriks
  • Closer Strategy yr-to-yr
• TB Closer Role (14:30)
  • Jose Alvarado still on leave
  • Diego Castillo to IL
  • Emilio Pagan to swipe some saves?
  • Colin Poche
• Other closer news: (19:13)
  • Roenis Elias in SEA
  • Michael Lorenzen in CIN

Read the rest of this entry »

6/21/19

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
• @pitcherlist – Co-Host/Producer

FIRESIDE CHAT

• Jordan Yamamoto
• Elieser Hernandez
• Zac Gallen
• The Marlins staff at large
• A LATE-EPISODE BOMBSHELL: Frankie Montas suspended

Read the rest of this entry »

6/21/19

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
• @atcny – Guest

PITCHERS

• Zac Gallen debut & ROS outlook
• How good is Jordan Yamamoto?
• Who takes Rich Hill’s spot: Julio Urias or Ross Stripling?
• Steven Brault has a 1.65 ERA/1.28 WHIP in his last 27 IP – anything here?
• Anyone falling for Michael Pineda again?
• Is Jason Vargas un-awful?

Read the rest of this entry »

Transcript is live!

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at team batting performance by handedness to identify some potential pitching pickups to exploit the matchups. This is using a probable starter schedule from June 24th – July 7th. It is subject to change (obviously!) so stay tuned, especially with the later ones.

Worst offenses against righties all season through June 19th by wRC+:

• Tigers – 74 wRC+
• Marlins – 75
• Giants – 77
• Blue Jays – 78
• Orioles – 81

Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan Yamamoto was ranked 23rd on the site’s 2019 Marlins prospect list, given a 40-grade future value as a potential backend starter. The right-hander, who came over in the Christian Yelich deal, was credited for his pitchability and depth of arsenal that would allow him to carve out a role in the backend of a rotation or as a multi-inning reliever. A 12th-round pick back in 2014, Yamamoto has put up a 26% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate, 3.75 ERA, and 1.24 WHIP in 463 innings. He put up a 3.58 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and 14% K-BB in 12 starts at Double-A which earned him the call.

His prospect profile highlighted his four-pitch arsenal (FB, CB, SL, and CH), but may have sold him short as he’s also shown a cutter in his two MLB starts (though the CH has been relegated to a show-me pitch). The scouting report was AFL-focused as he threw 26 solid innings back in October/November so it was the freshest look at Yamamoto. His fastball was high-80s, with dips down to 86 mph, though there was a high end of 94 (not sure if that was done at AFL or during the 2018 season). This capped some of his upside per Eric and Kiley:

Read the rest of this entry »

6/1/19

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 – Producer/Co-Host

SURGING BATS: LEGIT OR QUIT?

• Max Kepler (4:40)
• Bryan Reynolds (12:17)
• Hunter Renfroe (15:55)
• David Bote (22:18)
• Scott Kingery (26:30)
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (37:37)
• JaCoby Jones (42:55)
• Garrett Cooper (48:00)
• Carson Kelly (52:40)

—

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via the feed. Please rate & review the show in iTunes letting us know what you think!

Approximately 60 minutes of joyous analysis.