Author Archive

Jameson Taillon Has a New Pitch

Brad received a PSA in his chat yesterday that he then shared with us on our Slack channel regarding Jameson Taillon and his new slider:

Joey Boom Bats wasn’t lying! I mean, of course he wouldn’t lie about that. Who would lie about something that is so easily verifiable? Anyway, Taillon does in fact have a new slider and after dabbling with it a few times here and there in previous starts, he had it on full display this past Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

WARNING: We’re about to go GIF-wild!

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Seven Viable Firemen

The emergence of the fireman reliever hit the fantasy landscape a couple years back when Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller proved themselves to be entirely too good not to roster despite not occupying a traditional saves role. From there we’ve seen Chris Devenski, Chad Green, and the new king of the role, Josh Hader, emerge as lockdown fantasy options across just about every format.

Here are seven more relievers putting up big numbers that might be worthy of your roster as strikeout and ratio stabilizers. Plus, there’s always a chance that they ascend into the closer’s role as Betances, Miller, and Hader have at times over the last couple years.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 555 – MustacheCast Fireside Chat w/Nick Pollack

5/27/18

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!

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The Main Course

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 554 – HanRam DFA’d

5/25/18

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!

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Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles

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Sporer Report #7 – Zack’s UNGodley Start

Zack Godley enjoyed a surprise breakout season last year that the market bought into, making him a consistent top 35 starter in draft season. Once news of the humidor was finalized, he became even more appealing as we figured he’d be pitching half his games in an even better environment. After a thrashing at the hands of the Brewers on Wednesday (3.3 IP/6 ER), he’s up to 4.53 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 55.7 innings. Let’s take a look at the 28-year old righty through 10 starts and see what’s going on.

Usually we look immediately at velocity when a pitcher is struggling so let’s start there. It can be indicative of an injury, but even if it’s not signaling a health issue, it’s obviously better to have higher velocity in most cases. Godley’s is down across the board. His fastball velocity has dipped from 91.9 mph to 90.2 this year. There are also dips on all of his secondary pitches: -1.7 mph to 81.7 with the curveball, -1.1 to 88.8 with the cutter, and -2.6 to 81.4 with the change (though he barely used it last year and is using it even less this year at 5%).

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Leaderboarding: Third Time Through

Getting through a lineup three times is a bit of a lost art these days with both the rise of the bullpens and starters going 100% every at-bat from the jump which often drains the tank right around the time that batters are getting a third look. We often hear about the guys who struggle the third time through and we don’t always see those who are good at it highlighted for the success. Of course, the studs of the game do it well and that’s what makes them the studs, but there are definitely some surprises having TTT success. Let’s look at both ends of the spectrum today, starting with the duds.

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Paul Sporer Impromptu Chat!

Transcript is below!

3:03

Paul Sporer: Hello everyone! Chatting on a Tuesday to fill in for Brad. Miiiight still do a second later this week, but stay tuned on that. Let’s talk some baseball!

3:03

THE Average Sports Fan: Is there any hope for Ian Desmond?

3:04

Paul Sporer: Maybe a little, but that batted ball profile is awful. I’ve lost a lot of the faith I had in Desmond

3:04

Greg: Thoughts on Jesus Augilar?

3:05

Paul Sporer: Interesting power bat who should probably be on a roster in all leagues at least why Braun is out

3:05

Andy: 12 team league.  You starting Caleb Smith at the Mets tonight?

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 553 – RankCast Fireyside Chat w/Nick Pollack

5/21/18

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!

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Biggest Ranking Disputes

Nick Higher:

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 552 – Two-Starts & Twitter

5/20/18

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!

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Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 551 – The SP Ranking Update

5/18/18

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!

Follow us on Twitter

GET THE SLEEPER & THE BUST T-SHIRT FROM ROTOWEAR!

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