American League

Angels

• Ben Joyce could end up being the closer this season.

Carlos Estévez looks to be the likely closer for the Angels, but what odds would you give Ben Joyce to take over the role this year? Is there someone we aren’t paying attention to who could steal saves?

Estévez has had a brutal spring training. Normally, that wouldn’t matter much. But the numbers are truly gaudy. Still, the job is likely his at this point. Joyce is a wild card. He has just about 50 competitive innings above the high school level. That includes college and pro ball. He throws 104 miles per hour. He seems to have solid command. The question is how often the Angels could use him, and how durable he’d be over a full season. The odds are good that he’s pitching for the team this year. And he has closer-type stuff.

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3/21/23

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

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• @sporer – Host
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INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

• Jose Altuve broken thumb
• Carson Kelly fractured forearm
• Gabriel Moreno’s ascent
• Eloy Jiménez nicked calf
• Vaughn Grissom optioned
• Michael Brantley expected to start on IL
• Jorge Polanco could start on IL

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Every year, fantasy analysts from around the country gather for a collection of leagues called Tout Wars. This year was the 26th season of Tout Wars and the first time we have been able to do these auction leagues live since COVID-19 shut things down prior to the auctions in 2020. This year, I was in the 15-team mixed auction league.

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American League

Athletics

• Aledmys Díaz should get plenty of playing time, especially at shortstop.

“You could see Díaz at shortstop. That’s kind of been a trend this Spring Training. That’s not set in stone,” Kotsay said. “Aledmys can play in left, we have the opportunity to DH as well. So there’s a ton of combinations that we can put together that we feel good about. We’re still evaluating and nothing is set in stone. And even when we open the season with the Opening Day lineup, things can change.”

With a late ADP (423 in Main Events), 15 HR power, and several qualified positions, he’s a nice bench bat. When he has started this Spring Training, he has hit in the top third of the lineup. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is today’s chat transcript:
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As I did in the 1B piece, I’ll ask that we not get too hung up on the actual phrasing of “breakout” as at least one of these selections has undoubtedly broken out before so it’s almost a re-breakout that I have them doing in 2023. These are guys I like above their market price and have them easily outperforming their draft cost. I understand that a “breakout” is more a first time thing, but they aren’t necessarily “sleepers” (although there is usually at least one guy in each of these pieces that is more deep league-friendly), either, so I chose the better of the two words.

• Catchers
• First Basemen
• Second Basemen
• Third Basemen

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Last week on League Losers we covered the hitters who might be destined to ruin your teams, as well as covering why they don’t actually exist. At least, as singularities. Collect a whole set, however, and your roster will eventually collapse under the gravity of defeat.

Pitchers are a different bird, though, when it comes to ruination potential. You can, after all, just stop starting them when things go really wrong. But all sorts of variables will be pushing on when you’ll finally pull the pine trigger on someone you thought you could trust. And often by the time you do, the damage will have already been done.

Now then, we simply have no more time for preamble. In just a few hours I’ll be going under for foot surgery – and about 12 hours after that is something far more important: Read the rest of this entry »

Third base is rightly critiqued for its sharp drop of star talent around Alex Bregman or maybe Gunnar Henderson if you are in on him. I see Max Muncy as a bridge to Questionsville around pick 135. Some of my breakouts live in Questionsville, but are cheap enough to take on those potential red flags. These are guys I like above their market price and have them easily outperforming their draft cost.

• Catchers
• First Basemen
• Second Basemen
• Shortstops

Josh Jung | TEX

My Projection: .250/.321/.443, 22 HR, 72 R, 78 RBI, 4 SB in 571 PA

It was a weird debut sample for Jung that featured some impressive pop (.214 ISO), but at the cost of way too many strikeouts (38%) in 102 PA. In the end, it’s a tiny sample coming off injury and Jung showed solid plate skills during his minor league ascent (21% K, 8% BB), capable of a much better AVG while not exactly giving back all the power (.311 AVG, .227 ISO in 675 MiLB PA). He is the 20th 3B off the board in Rotowire Online Championship leagues (236th) and I have him 14th with upside to hit low-.270s with a mid-20s HR total.

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For the next few days, I’m going to have limited time to write each morning so here are my thoughts.

The Braves option Bryce Elder and Ian Anderson to the minor league camp.

I didn’t see this one coming as I have several shares of both in draft-and-holds. The two pitchers still in the major league camp are Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd who were completely off my radar. Here is the information I have on them from the Baseball America Handbook and the BaseballHQ Minor League Analyst. Read the rest of this entry »

As of Tuesday, all TGFBI leagues have completed drafting! We can now see the complete ADP from the largest industry fantasy baseball contest ever with 435 participants in 29 leagues! For a look at the complete ADP from all the leagues as well as individual draft boards, click here. 

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