Author Archive

The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 1281 – Strikeout Rate Improvers

4/11/24

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PATREON

INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

K% IMPROVERS

(K% stabilizes around 70 BF which some guys are hitting)

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Starting Pitcher Chart – April 11th, 2024

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

I updated the wOBA rank to this year’s versus the pitcher’s handedness. Once the pitchers start to get 4-5 starts for everyone, I’ll add in their numbers. Even those are small samples, of course, but one absolute gem or dud isn’t carrying quite as much weight. Plus, I’m usually citing core skill changes in the blurbs.

Don’t panic over ugly ERAs. Yeah, they’re ugly to look at and frustrating, but I’m not going to panic if the core skills are in order. Luis Castillo has a 19% K-BB, right in line with his 20% the last two years. George Kirby’s is a bit further off the pace, down 4 ticks from last year at 16%, but his calling card control remains in order with just a 0.5 points higher walk rate at 3% flat. Hell, I don’t even worry about decimals on those rates so it was 3% to me last year, too. The difference between 2.5% and 3.0% is about 4 walks in the span of a full year, but I digress. I’m literally 0% worried about either Castillo or Kirby. But even if I was, it wouldn’t be actionable because there’s no world where we cut them. This was all just a slightly different way of telling y’all not to panic, which is the same thing I did yesterday, but after my chat today I figured it was worth reiterating… so don’t panic, it’s dangerous!

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Paul Sporer’s Baseball Chat – April 10th, 2024

Chat time!

1:03

Paul Sporer: Welcome, everyone!

1:03

Matt: Jackson Holliday goes straight into my team, right? Do I bench Bogaerts or Andres Giminez for him?

1:03

Paul Sporer: Gimenez

1:03

Frank: I’m in a 12 team mixed that uses OPS instead of BA. It’s a 1 catcher league. I have Realmuto as my C and I have Garver stashed on my bench as “insurance”. Would I be better off dropping Garver and using that roster spot for something else?

1:03

Paul Sporer: Yes, in a 1 C league with a premium C like JTR, you gotta use that spot elsewhere

1:04

Yeah Well Hiura Towel: Who’s got the better offensive profile rest of season, Turner Ward or JD Martinez?

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Starting Pitcher Chart – April 10th, 2024

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

 

Daily SP Chart archive

The internet has done a lot to foster the fantasy baseball community, but those innovations came at the expanse of a scourge: the up-to-the-second standings. They really don’t do us a ton of good at any point in the season, but they can actively hurt fantasy managers early on. Well at least how we react to them can. Your team doesn’t really have clear needs yet, at least not ones that weren’t there coming out of the draft. The exception of course would be a major injury that undercuts you in a stat.

The first two guys just eclipsed 60 PA on April 8th meaning no one is really off to a legitimately slow start just yet. That doesn’t mean you can’t monitor their skills, but there hasn’t really been much that is actionable thus far, outside of injuries. You can obviously churn 2-3 of your late rounders, but if you’re getting rid of any of your foundation (~top 2/3rds of your roster), then you’re probably doing too much. Trust the guys you drafted for some real time before declaring them cuttable. Just be careful out there.

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Starting Pitcher Chart – April 9th, 2024

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their last season performance until we get some actual data for this year, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness from last year (and then I’ll add the last 30 days outlook next month), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them (notes will be more statistical-based once we get some sample to work with). Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 1280 – Assessing the Weekend’s Injury Carnage

4/8/24

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

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PATREON

INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

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Starting Pitcher Chart – April 8th, 2024

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their last season performance until we get some actual data for this year, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness from last year (and then I’ll add the last 30 days outlook next month), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them (notes will be more statistical-based once we get some sample to work with). Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 1279 – 2-Start Pitchers for Week 2

4/5/24

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

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PATREON

2-START PITCHERS: WEEK 2

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

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Approximately 60 minutes of joyous analysis.


Starting Pitcher Chart – April 5th, 2024

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their last season performance until we get some actual data for this year, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness from last year (and then I’ll add the last 30 days outlook next month), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them (notes will be more statistical-based once we get some sample to work with). Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 1278 – Fast Start Hitters

4/4/24

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

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PATREON

INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

FAST START HITTERS: IN-OR-OUT

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