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:
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.
Chat transcript is below!!
| 2:13 |
: It’s Friday!!!! Let’s talk some baseball. |
| 2:13 |
: Should I start Jon Gray in Arizona, or is it too risky in Arizona for his first start back? |
| 2:13 |
: It’s pretty risky, but I think I’d give it a go personally |
| 2:13 |
: Pollock soon!? |
| 2:13 |
: Not this weekend, but soon |
| 2:13 |
: OMG literally just finished listening to your 3 hour SP rankings pod, amazing. Thank you for all your hard work. |
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:
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!
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Strategy Section: Discussing My SP Update (link to list)
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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.
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!
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Leading Off: Question of the Day
Strategy Section: Tentative 2-Starts
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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.
Chat transcript is below!
| 2:27 |
: Good afternoon!! Let’s talk some baseball. Gotta keep it to a tight hour so I can release my SP ranking update. |
| 2:27 |
: Is my Pollock for his Strasburg defensible? 12 team mix keeper, roughly equal salaries (low 20s), I’m stocked with OF and crushing it in SB but short on SP, most of the other aces are on other contenders. This makes sense, right? |
| 2:27 |
: Definitely. Get any ace-level arm you can at a fair cost in this environment |
| 2:27 |
: Castellanos or Avila ROS (position eligibility not important)? 12-team H2H 5×5 OPS league. Thanks. |
| 2:27 |
: Castellanos, but it’s v close |
| 2:28 |
: Which sides wins this trade–Paxton for Bradley Jr/Tanaka? Thanks. |
6/22/17
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
Leading Off: Question of the Day
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
