Archive for Featured

Starting Pitcher Chart – August 18th

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their season performance, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness over the last 30 days, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a risky stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

I wasn’t able to do notes and get the chart up in a timely manner so I just included the recommendations. I’ll answer any questions or have further discussion about anyone in the comments.

All of the 12/15 team recos are risky-but-viable throws in 10s if you’re chasing and Anderson to Thompson is the Hail Mary Zone as they’re all very risky streamers in even deep formats.

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Help Needed: 2023 Initial Closer Roles

Every season, I try to determine how much closer turnover there is from the last drafts to the season’s end. For example, here is last season’s report.

I decided to verify the beginning of the season section before every manager disappears. For most of the selections, I used our Opening Weekend Bullpen Report. Here are the values I think are right but I don’t feel good about the ones in Yellow. Could people spend a minute looking over the Yellows and verify the names on their favorite team(s)? Thanks.

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Mining the News (8/17/23)

For those in early drafts, two international names to consider are Jung-hoo Lee 이정후 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

As for international stars, the Padres might try to bring to the U.S. this coming offseason, Kim’s former teammate, Jung-hoo Lee, is an obvious candidate. San Diego sent multiple high-ranking evaluators to watch Lee this year before the Kiwoom Heroes outfielder suffered a likely season-ending ankle injury in July. Some rival clubs view the Padres, who employ both Kim and Chan Ho Park, as the current favorites to land Lee. It remains to be seen how the ankle injury affects his market. Unfortunately for Lee, who turns 25 this month, it could lower his price.

The Padres also figure to be in the mix for Japan’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but fierce competition is expected for the Orix Buffaloes ace. The 25-year-old Yamamoto is so coveted he could command a contract approaching nine figures — before factoring in the posting fee.

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The Vulture: Non-Closers Preying on the Win

A vulture, according to a quick Google search is:

a large bird of prey with the head and neck more or less bare of feathers, feeding chiefly on carrion (the decaying flesh of dead animals) and reputed to gather with others in anticipation of the death of a sick or injured animal or person.

Mike Baumann, of the Baltimore Orioles, not FanGraphs.com, has been given the nickname, “The Vulture” due to his 2023 fondness for swooping in and picking up the win once the starter leaves the game. It’s a pretty badass nickname and though by literal definition may not be flattering, it’s still pretty cool. I think Bauman and the rest of the O’s bullpen leaning into it would be fun. Just imagine the reliever taking a huge bite out of a cherry snowcone right before running out of the pen. He begins his warm-up pitches from the mound, red dripping down his chin. The vulture has entered the game.

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Starting Pitcher Chart – August 17th

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their season performance, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness over the last 30 days, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a risky stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

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Paul Sporer’s Baseball Chat – August 16th, 2023

Transcript is available below:

1:01

Paul Sporer: Welcome everyone, thanks for coming out!!

1:03

MochiBetts: So are we in the rock bottoming of Jarren Duran and he’ll regress more to the mean in time for playoffs or is this all she wrote for the Cinderella story this season?

1:05

Paul Sporer: Looks like some standard BABIP regression so far this month and it just haaad to come as he was toting a greater than .400 mark for a good bit of time. I think he’s done enough to hold a bit longer and see if he emerges out of this… and i say that as someone who was skeptical on him initially

1:05

Paul Sporer: TORKS DORKS STAND UP!!!! #20!!!

1:05

Paul Sporer: (after a Riley Greene bomb 2 batters earlier, too!)

1:05

chris: grayson rodriguez has looked great since coming back. is he getting close to auto start territory?

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Bullpen Report: August 16, 2023

The 2023 version of the Bullpen Report includes five different sections, as well as the closer chart, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

We will always include a link to the full Closer Depth Chart at the bottom of the Bullpen Report each day. It’s also accessible from the RosterResource drop-down menu and from any RosterResource page. Please let us know what you think.

  1. Notable Workloads: Primary closers or valuable members of a closer committee who have been deemed unavailable or likely unavailable for the current day due to recent workload.
  2. Injury News
  3. Outlier Saves: Explanation for a non-closer earning a save during the previous day.
  4. Committee Clarity: Notes on a closer committee that clarify a pitcher’s standing in the group.
  5. Losing A Grip: Struggling closers who could be on the hot seat.

The “RosterResource” link will take you to the corresponding team’s RosterResource depth chart, which will give you a better picture of the full bullpen and results of the previous six days (pitch count, save, hold, win, loss, blown save).

Click HERE to view the full Closer Depth Chart.

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Roto Riteup: August 16, 2023

80 Grade Baby Name

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Starting Pitcher Chart – August 16th

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their season performance, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness over the last 30 days, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a risky stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

Read the rest of this entry »


Big Kid Adds (Week 21)

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even a larger entry fee ($2.5K to $15K). They get originally named “High Stakes Leagues” and this year there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers are going to try to gain any advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in four or more of these leagues. Read the rest of this entry »