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Paul Sporer Rotographs Chat – September 2nd, 2016

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September 2, 2016

Chat starts around 2:45 PM central

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 385 – If Only His Name Was Jake

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August 31, 2016

384 was Sunday’s episode that didn’t record properly so now it’s the lost episode.

Recording issues addressed ~56:00

8/31/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

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Rest of Season Top 100 SPs

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August 31, 2016

Can you believe we’re entering the final full month of the regular season? That’s so sad. However, the stretch run is also one of the best times of the year, especially if your fantasy team is a contender. I’ve compiled my Top 100 for the rest of the season with a quick thought or two on each. Let me know what you think. Who is your big gamble arm for September? Anyone you think will be vastly better than his current numbers? Also, let me know if there are any glaring omissions.

Chris Tillman is unlikely to reach the September 10th return they originally set which puts him in limbo. If he can return by September 15th, that should be four starts, but I left him off due to the injury uncertainty. If you have him on your DL, obviously hang on, but I’m not necessarily targeting him on the wire.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 383 – Do Players Press w/New Teams?

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August 26, 2016

8/26/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

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Ivan Nova Pitching More Confidently?

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August 26, 2016

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Pirates picked up a former Yankee and he’s excelling with them. It’s only four starts so let’s not get too crazy, but I think a lot of us were eager to see what – if anything – Ivan Nova would do with Pittsburgh. Not only was he going to be under the tutelage of Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage, but he’d also be going from Yankee Stadium to PNC Park for his home games, a colossal shift for a pitcher with a 1.3 HR/9 rate since 2012 including a horrific 1.8 this year with the Yankees.

On the heels of a complete game against Houston, Nova has a 3.20 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with Pittsburgh in 25.3 innings. His K/9 rate is actually down half a strikeout to 6.4, but his walks have tumbled so much that his strikeout percentage is the same 18% he had with the Yankees. Nova has generally been a better-than-average walk suppressor, but with Pittsburgh he’s on a new level. He’s currently walking just 1% of the batters he’s faced as a Pirate. And that ghastly home run rate is down to 0.7 HR/9. The only time he’s ever been lower was when he had a 0.6 in 2013, unsurprisingly his best season ever.

This isn’t Nova’s first good four or five start run this year. He closed May with a 3.41 ERA in five starts and he opened July with a 2.66 through four starts. So we shouldn’t just assume he’s gone to Pittsburgh and become the next J.A. Happ or something. He could just be having a nice run, something he’s done many times before. The sharp drops in homers and walks have me intrigued, though. Let’s see if there are discernable differences early on. Obviously, league and park change alone will account for some improvement, so we’re looking beyond that to his approach against righties and lefties.

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Paul Sporer Rotographs Chat – August 25th, 2016

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August 25, 2016

We will start a few minutes after 2 PM Central.

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 382 – Time to BUY Danny Salazar?

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August 24, 2016

8/24/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 381 – Go DJ, That’s My DJ

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August 21, 2016

8/21/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

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The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 380 – A Pitcher Show

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August 20, 2016

8/19/16

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

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  • AL Cy – Duffy, Fulmer, Sanchez, Kluber… Britton?
  • Gamble SPs

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Matt Shoemaker Revisited

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August 19, 2016

Yesterday I wrote about Matt Shoemaker, highlighting how crucial it is for him to keep the ball down. One commenter on Twitter wondered if that wasn’t just the case with every pitcher, thus kind of an obvious point, but plenty of pitchers thrive up in the zone. Steven Wright throws a whopping 44% of his pitches in the upper third, far and away the highest among qualified starters this year. Others who live north of 30% include Steven Matz (37%), Justin Verlander (35%), Rick Porcello (33%), Jacob deGrom (33%), Aaron Sanchez (31%), Stephen Strasburg (31%), and Danny Duffy (30%).

Verlander, Porcello, Duffy, and deGrom are also among the top 20 in OPS (meaning they’re among the 20 lowest) in the upper third of the zone along with the likes of J.A. Happ (.375 OPS – leads the league), Jose Quintana (.414), Clayton Kershaw (.506), and Madison Bumgarner (.553) to name a few. In short, no, not every pitcher thrives by staying down in the zone.

He left a fat pitch to Robinson Cano in the first inning which he promptly took 419 feet the other way and I was wondering if this was going to be a long night for Shoemaker.

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