Author Archive

Player Caps are Live!!

Our annual Player Caps went live on the site yesterday for your viewing pleasure! The bulk of players profiled have both a Profile and Quick Opinion. The former dives into their skills and outlook for about 200-250 words while the latter is more of a fantasy baseball focused summation of the player, often including direct fantasy advice about investing in them (or not). Some players didn’t really need a full on Profile so they only got the Quick Opinion and in many of those cases, there is no particular advice because they aren’t fantasy viable regardless of league type.

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The All-Sleeper Lineup

Yes, I know that “sleepers” don’t exist in fantasy baseball as they used to with the Information Age uncovering every potential gem so that no one is truly hidden, but it’s still a term we use to connote an undervalued asset. For this exercise, I’m putting together a lineup with someone at every infield position and three outfielders going after pick 200 in the NFBC average draft position. ADP is coming from our projections page, by the way.

LINEUP

C: Yasmani Grandal | Dodgers, Pick 228 – Grandal is penciled in as the primary starter and yet he’s going a good bit later than his backup, Austin Barnes. I’m a big Barnes fan, but he’s now dealing with an elbow issue and sits on the short end of the platoon. Grandal is a batting average liability, but he’s clubbed 49 homers over the last two seasons and at this cost, there’s a chance he’s your second catcher.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 527 – Joe Pisapia of The Fantasy Black Book

2/26/18

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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Straight Outta Options

Jason mentioned this idea on Sunday’s pod so I went ahead and put it together. It’s a list of all the players on 40-man rosters who are out of options and thus could have the inside track on roster spots if they’re directly competing with someone who does have an option left. He mentioned that he uses this info to identify some options for AL/NL Only leagues where playing time is king. Hat tip to Justin for the title of this piece!

I didn’t pick and choose who to mention so you’ll see some guys who are obviously not in grave danger of even being sent down at any point. Instead, I’m just listing all the 40-man players with a “0” in the options column on Roster Resource. These guys could be dealt to or picked up by teams where their playing time gets a boost.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 526 – The Ohtani Debut!

2/25/18

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/Game Play

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Paul Sporer Baseball Chat – February 23rd, 2018

Transcript is below!

2:38

Paul Sporer: Baseball is finally back!!!

2:39

Tom: I have 5 picks between 7th and 19th in a redraft league with a small keeper feature (no one drafted top 70 can be kept). any strategic suggestions on how to tackle my first 5 picks?

2:39

Paul Sporer: Need a lot more context for any real answer, but just get the best players you can!

2:42

Jay: Can I win a 12 team H2H league with Carlos Martinez as my ace? Would like one of the big 4 but with all but Sale having some injury history (and heavy workloads) was thinking of spending more on hitters and trying to go for one really good arm and some steady/upside plays. Thoughts?

2:44

Paul Sporer: Not sure I’d say Sale has any substantial injury history. And Jeff Zimmerman has found that age, not workloads is the bigger concern. That said, you can win with C Mart as ace. It’d be great to get one of the big 4, but it’s not like only 4 teams have a chance to win bc of those pitchers… this isn’t the NBA!

2:44

M: Should I be worried if my top 3 pitchers are Morton, Keuchel, and Paxton in a 6×6 H2H league?  It seems like a pretty volatile group.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 525 – Scorching Hot Stove!

2/22/18

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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Hot Stove Update – February 21st

It has been quite a while since we did one of these because the Hot Stove has been so ice cold. We’re finally starting to see big moves as the stove thaws and I expect a steady stream of moves for the duration of the offseason until the bulk of available players find homes.

Yu Darvish to CHC

Darvish stays in the NL and heads to Chicago to join the Cubs. I had him ranked 13th in my most recent SP ranking update back in late-January and I can’t imagine moving him much, if at all, on my next update. He remains well supported by a deep bullpen and strong offense. Don’t get too hung up on the World Series starts. A week before that he was dismantling his new team (6.3 IP/1 ER/7 K in NLCS) and the Diamondbacks (5 IP/1 ER/7 K in NLDS). Your Mike Montgomery shares just went the way of Bitconnect for now, but in leagues deep enough to take him in the first place, he’ll still hold some value as a super reliever (just 7 appearances of an inning or less last year).

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Early 2B Rankings with Commentary

Continuing to make my way around the diamond, I’ve got the second base rankings today. You can find my SP and 1B rankings by clicking on those links in case you missed them the first time around.  These Average Draft Positions come from NFBC data as of 2/1. Each colored bar represents the start of a new tier.

Let me know how you’re attacking 2B in the comments below. Ideally I’d like to get in that 2nd tier for my primary 2B, but I’m OK if I have to dip into the 3rd or 4th tiers should I miss out on a Dozier or Odor and then I wait on MI and leverage the later tiers for that (Panik, Walker, Miller, etc…).

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 524 – LABR In-Draft Discussion

The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 524– LABR Pre-Draft Discussion

2/14/18

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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Paul and Jason talk through Tuesday night’s LABR Mixed Draft and Justin joins them this time! Check out the pre-draft discussion here and the full draft results here.

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