American League

Astros

• The team needs to determine which starter will leave the rotation when Justin Verlander returns from the IL. Just a week ago, it was assumed to Ronel Blanco.

When Verlander does return, Houston could have a compelling rotation crunch to address. Ronel Blanco profiled as the odd man out, but after throwing a no-hitter on Monday, he may be given a longer look. The Astros have four off days from April 18-30, so a six-man rotation isn’t feasible.

Nearly two no-hitters later for Blanco, the narrative has changed to Blanco, J.P. France, and Hunter Brown.

Justin Verlander’s impending return could move Blanco, J.P. France or Brown into the bullpen as long relievers, too, but Houston has more immediate needs.

Blanco is probably safe but France and Brown have both been struggling.

Name: IP, ERA, xFIP
Brown: 7.0, 6.43, 4.94
France: 11.1, 4.76, 4.96
Blanco: 15.0, 0.00, 4.58 Read the rest of this entry »

Daily SP Chart archive

The internet has done a lot to foster the fantasy baseball community, but those innovations came at the expanse of a scourge: the up-to-the-second standings. They really don’t do us a ton of good at any point in the season, but they can actively hurt fantasy managers early on. Well at least how we react to them can. Your team doesn’t really have clear needs yet, at least not ones that weren’t there coming out of the draft. The exception of course would be a major injury that undercuts you in a stat.

The first two guys just eclipsed 60 PA on April 8th meaning no one is really off to a legitimately slow start just yet. That doesn’t mean you can’t monitor their skills, but there hasn’t really been much that is actionable thus far, outside of injuries. You can obviously churn 2-3 of your late rounders, but if you’re getting rid of any of your foundation (~top 2/3rds of your roster), then you’re probably doing too much. Trust the guys you drafted for some real time before declaring them cuttable. Just be careful out there.

Read the rest of this entry »

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 got 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 »

Still the funnest play in baseball

🚨ELLY DE LA CRUZ INSIDE-THE-PARK HOMER🚨 pic.twitter.com/PGKKnfmvaQ

— MLB (@MLB) April 9, 2024

Read the rest of this entry »

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their last season performance until we get some actual data for this year, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness from last year (and then I’ll add the last 30 days outlook next month), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them (notes will be more statistical-based once we get some sample to work with). 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 riskier 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 »

4/8/24

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

Follow us on Twitter

• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

PATREON

• Join our Patreon for live video feeds of each show
• Watch the video feed replay on YouTube

INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

• Shane Bieber out for the year
• Spencer Strider likely to follow
• Shallow: Tanner Houck, Logan Allen, Luis Gil, Seth Lugo, Max Meyer
• Deep: Spencer Turnbull, Cody Bradford (short-term), Graham Ashcraft, Alec Marsh
• Trevor Story out a while w/shoulder injury

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is today’s chat transcript:
Read the rest of this entry »

This article ranks the game’s top projected hitting prospects by peak wRC+ heading into 2024 (it does not incorporate any 2024 data). It is a counterpart to this February piece on baseball’s top projected pitching prospects. I only just got done with my offseason methodological updates for hitters–please forgive me for publishing this one week into the season!

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking forward to my Major League tryout.

40
(•_•)
<) )╯MILES
/
(•_•)
( (> PER
/
(•_•)
<) )> HOUR
/ pic.twitter.com/vqfI4gWvv0

— MLB (@MLB) April 7, 2024

Read the rest of this entry »

Daily SP Chart archive

The chart includes their last season performance until we get some actual data for this year, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness from last year (and then I’ll add the last 30 days outlook next month), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them (notes will be more statistical-based once we get some sample to work with). 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 riskier 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 »