The Self-Evaluation Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Nicklaus Gaut

Field of Dreams

Strategy Section

Self-Evaluation

• For teams in contention
  • Looking at categories to make gains
• For teams not in contention
  • Evaluating what went wrong
  • Following player hot streaks in August/September
  • Trying different strategies

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

• Most innings pitched in 2021

Starting Pitchers who could be limited

• Chris Bassitt
• Julio Urias
• Casey Mize
• Alek Manoah
• Trevor Rogers
  • FIP vs. xFIP

Final Month Fades

• Hitters to Fade
  • Is Nelson Cruz a Hall of Famer?
  • Francisco Lindor vs. Jose Iglesias vs. Amed Rosario
• Pitchers to Fade

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The Engagement Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Patrick Davitt

Strategy Section

FAAB / Waiver Wire / Roster Churn

• Distribution of FAAB dollars throughout the season
  • Does current standing matter?
• Does player aquisition strategy alter in the month of August?
• Injury rates 2021 vs. 2020 vs. 2019
• Sholud we churn our rosters more or less in the final two months of the season?
• How to decide when to cut a player in the final two months
  • Jacob deGrom case study
  • Other specific player examples

Category Movement

• Categories that are more volatile late in the season (more movement) & categories that are less volatile
  • Why ratio categories are highly volatile

Engagement

• Can you win a league if you are towards the bottom in August?
• Do you have a moral / ethical obligation to play hard until the very end in fatnasy baseball?
  • What if you play in many leagues?
• Is it right to divert time spent away from leagues that you cannot win?
• Is there an ethical difference between neglecting to set a valid lineup vs. foregoing waiver wire pickups?
• Is there an obligation to ensure that your fantasy team reaches the minimum inning requirements?
  • How should a league commissioner interviene if teams are not on pace to reach the IP threshold?
• Creating incentives to increase league engagement down the stretch

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The Sabermetrics Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Bill James

Personal History

Sabermetrics Section

• How has sabermetrics changed over the years?
• What metric is Bill James most proud of creating?
  • Bring your dog to the park day
• Ariel’s suggestion for Bill James’ Runs Created formula
• Undervalued statistics in today’s game
• The best defensive metrics to use
• Closer by Committee in baseball today
• Beating the Shift
• Similarity Scores

Injury Guru Trivia of the Week

• Career batting averages – Ariel vs. Bill

Baseball Across the Decades

• Greatest Players of all time
  • Hitter – Babe Ruth
  • Pitcher – Roger Clemens
• How would Babe Ruth & past baseball players stack up against 2021’s major leaguers?
• Expansion in Baseball

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The Trading Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Fred Zinkie

Strategy Section

Trading

• General Trading Philosophy
• When to look for a trade vs. playing the waiver wire
• Identifying what to trade for, and who to trade on your roster
  • High gradient categories
• How to negotiate trades
  • Should you make offers close to final, or low-ball with room to negotiate?
  • Sending out bad trade offers
  • Taking the time to explain trade offers to others
  • Negotiating with one team alone vs. pitting one team against the other
    • Never divulge trade negotiations directly
• Does standings position matter for trade needs?
  • Decreasing risk / diversifying when you have a lead
  • Increasing risk when far behind
• Fairness of Trades
  • Top teams trading with bottom teams
  • Instituting pay scales throughout the entire standings
  • Reinsurance’s take on fairness in fantasy sports
  • Moving up the league’s trade deadline

Fernando Tatis Jr.

• Were we wrong earlier in the season advocating to trade him?
  • Recap of Tatis trade advice from earlier this season
  • Trust the process, not the results
• Risk comparison to Luis Castillo (underperformance)
• Risk comparison to Adalberto Mondesi (health risk)
• League depth matters

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The latest episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Jerry Blevins, Former Major League Pitcher

Interview

• All-Star Game Uniforms
• Life after baseball
• Jerry Blevins Trivia
• Game planning
  • Pitching to power versus contact batters
• Thoughts on new MLB rule changes
  • 3 Batter Minimum
  • Extra Innings Rule
  • 7 Inning Doubleheaders
• Sticky Substances Ban
• Cheating in Baseball
• Injury counts on the rise
• Progression of baseball analytics throughout Jerry’s career
• Balance of scouting & analytics in baseball
• Pitching against childhood hero, Ken Griffey Jr.
• The Love of Baseball
• Philly Cheasestakes in the visiting clubhouse
• Autograph story – Jeremy Blevins

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The latest episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Howard Johnson (HoJo), Former Major League All-Star & 2x World Series Champion

Interview

• Life after baseball
• Breakthrough moment of career
• Being on-deck during the infamous Mookie Wilson at-bat of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series
• Ariel’s father asks HoJo a question – Playing different positions
• Analytics in the 1980s
• Analytics during the coaching days
• Davey Johnson / Sparky Anderson as coaches
• HoJo’s closest teamate friends today
• Comeback at age 50 with the Rockland Boulders
• Grandson Tanner Johnson’s accident
  • Please support Tanner by donating to his Go Fund Me account. More details below.
• The 30/30 club
• The Dave Bergman HR game in 1984
• HoJo is 20 in Hebrew!
• Switching uniform number briefly to 44
• Pete Alonso HR Derby winner
• Participating in 2 homerun derbys
• Beating out Barry Bonds & Will Clark for the HR & RBI title in 1991

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The Blue Jays Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Rob Silver

LABR Mixed Auction League Update

Ariel’s Softball League Update

Rob’s Personal History in Fantasy Baseball

All-Star Trivia

Strategy Section

• Waiver Wire
  • Was bidding for Alek Manoah too high?
  • Does standing position matter when making bids?
  • Bidding on a dropped top-50 player.
  • Dropping closers late in-season to burn others’ FAAB.
• Middle Relievers
  • Using middle relievers over 6th/7th starting pitchers in fantasy lineups.
  • Streaming middle relievers
• Richard Rodriguez
  • Is there any action that fatnasy owners should take in the next week?
  • What is the probability that he will accumulate meaningful saves for the rest of the season?
• Bench Slots
  • How to balance your roster with injuries vs. potential closer gambles vs. player streaming.

Toronto Blue Jays

• Closer Situation
  • Julian Merryweather update
• Deadline Trades – Team Needs
  • 3B/OF
• Randal Grichuk
  • Rankings Game – versus:
    • Bryan Reynolds
    • Hunter Renfroe
    • Andrew McCutchen
    • Max Kepler
    • Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
• Catcher Situation

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The latest episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Devin Mesoraco, Former Major League Catcher

Interview

• Life after baseball
• Breakthrough moment of career
• Game planning
• The best pitchers Devin ever caught
• Analytics rise over the past few seasons
• Analytics at the college level
• Innings per start trends in the MLB
• Sticky Substances
  • How long has this gone on in baseball?
  • Should MLB have cracked down mid-season?
  • Is it about the grip or about the spin rates?
  • Aroldis Chapman
  • Do catchers use sticky substances?
• Coaches
  • The impact of pitching coaches
  • Dusty Baker
• Idolizing Derek Jeter
• Devin’s closest friends from the MLB
• The impact of fans on players

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The Fantasy All-Stars Roundtable Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guests: Paul Sporer & Justin Mason (The Sleeper & The Bust)

Injury Guru Trivia of the Week

1st Half Fantasy MVP – Hitters

• Shohei Ohtani
• Cedric Mullins
• Kyle Schwarber
• Jared Walsh

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The Lone Star State Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Kevin Goldstein

Personal history in the business

Texas Rangers

• Potential Trade Candidates
  • Ian Kennedy
• Closer Situation should Kennedy be traded
  • Joely Rodriguez
  • Taylor Hearn
  • Josh Sborz
• Adolis Garcia
  • Where does he rank amongst outfielders in 5×5 roto?
  • Rankings Game
• Dane Dunning
  • Possible innings limit in 2021?
• Rangers Prospects
  • Josh Jung
  • Cole Winn
  • Davis Wendzel

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