When that Miller Park ice cream is just too tempting:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWBRzFWhM8P/

Orlando Arcia helped himself in a move reminiscent of Prince Fielder and Don Mattingly:

Prince Fielder finesses a nacho after a foul ball 👀💯 pic.twitter.com/h6IthHtCmn

— Athlete Action™ (@AthleteAction) August 20, 2016

Arcia is feeling great at the dish, too, with a .369/.407/.560 line, 3 HR, and 4 SB over his last 28 days.

On the Agenda:

• Frazier Goes Yard in Debut
• Taylor Grand Again
• LoMo with Two Mo
• Greinke Dominant at Home
• Cutch to stay in CF
• Other News

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7/1/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, 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 SLEEPER18!

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• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette
• @iankahn

Watch Ian on AMC’s Turn, the first three seasons are on Netflix, too!

Notable Transactions/Rumors/Articles/Game Play

• Masahiro Tanaka (4:20)
• Gary Sanchez (10:13)
• Clint Frazier (15:30)

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Justin Smoak’s first inning oppo taco broke the record for most homers in a month!

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/880939832821895169

On the Agenda:

• Gray Shines in Return
• Cole Left Out
• Folty’s No-Ht Bid
• JBJ Caps Off Brilliant June
• Turner’s Multi-Hit Excellence
• Other News

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There wasn’t a lot of activity in bullpens on Friday night with seven of the 14 games (CLE-DET ppd because of rain) having a differential of at least five runs, but some of the more volatile bullpens were further shaken this past evening.

Matt Bush was pummeled for three runs on four hits in just a third of an inning, his third blown save in his last five outings and fifth overall. Bush allowed 10 runs in 9.3 innings (9.67 ERA) during June, boosting his ERA from 1.37 to 4.03 and putting his job at risk as Keone Kela continues to excel. Bush and Kela might’ve had an open competition this spring had Kela not wound up in the doghouse due to an attitude issue during Spring Training. Kela allowed just two runs in 10.7 IP (1.69 ERA) with 16 strikeouts in June.

Saturday morning edit: The Rangers are going to a committee and it could be at least in part because Kela’s shoulder is an issue. Jose LeClerc is an interesting add for sure.

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Chat transcript is below!!

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OK, we finally found the one way to stop Aaron Judge:

Señoras y señores, Melky Cabrera!!! #WhiteSox #MLB https://t.co/6m4hMU97Bg

— Marino Pepén (@Marino_Pepen) June 30, 2017

Well, actually two ways as David Robertson fanned Judge to end the game:

1:01 AM: David Robertson fans Aaron Judge to give the @whitesox a 4-3 win. Kudos to the fans who stayed up to watch the late start. @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/7Buh2oA0vk

— Larry Hawley (@HawleySports) June 30, 2017

On the Agenda:

• Turner Down with Broken Wrist
• Klubot Gets Software Upgrade
• Gettin’ Grichy with It
• Cutch Stays Hot
• Other News

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6/28/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, 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 SLEEPER18!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette

Strategy Section: Discussing My SP Update (link to list)

• Must Start (3:00)
• Usually Start (1:17:00)
• Spot Start (2:07:30)

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Kevin Gausman is a total mess right now. His strikeout, walk, swinging strike, hit, groundball, and home run rates are all at career-worst levels. Just four of his 16 starts have been quality starts and he’s only gone 6+ innings in six starts. It’s been a nightmare. His splitter is still solid (though a bit worse than last year), but his fastball and breaking ball (it kinda morphs between a slider and curve, but generally sucks regardless) are both just getting smacked around.

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6/24/17

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 18, 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 SLEEPER18!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer
• @enosarris
• @jasoncollette

Leading Off: Question of the Day

• Why is it completely acceptable for pitchers to load up before pitching these days?

Strategy Section: Tentative 2-Starts

• Nick Pivetta at ARI, at NYM
• Zack Godley STL, COL
• Jeff Hoffman at SF, at ARI
• Junior Guerra at CIN, MIA
• Hyun-Jin Ryu LAA, at SD
• Alex Cobb at PIT, at BAL
• Mike Fiers OAK, NYY
• Joe Biagini BAL, BOS
• Tyson Ross at CLE, at CWS

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Here is my latest starting pitcher rankings update! Please review the May 18th update for information on the tiers. Keep in mind that this is a narrower focus than just “rest of season” as I’ll be updating these again at the All-Star break. Pitching is just too volatile to have confidence in a single ranking set for more than 4-6 weeks at a time.

Hell, things will probably change this weekend that will make me reconsider some slots, but we can deal with those on a one-off situation. The tiers are what’s important. I’ll reiterate again that the Must-Starts aren’t automatically the best pitchers, but rather the guys that you can’t sit with any confidence (they don’t have a platoon split or home-road split and their track record speaks more than the first three months of this season.

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