Here is today’s chat transcript:
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1/22/23

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

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• @justinmasonfwfb – Host/Producer
• @jasoncollette – Co-Host
• @DanJPreciado – Guest

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American League

Tigers

• Matt Vierling and Nick Maton will play all over the field according to manager A.J. Hinch.

Hinch on Thursday said new additions Matt Vierling and Nick Maton — part of the trade involving Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens going to the Phillies — will be the Tigers’ two “most active” players in spring training. That’s because both players are capable of playing both infield and outfield. Hinch will want to see both players at a variety of positions when camp begins next month.

“We’re gonna let it play out and see where the at-bats take them,” Hinch said. “I can see Vierling fitting in at a variety of positions. Maton, I’m gonna move him around, second, short, third, maybe even a little bit of outfield in the spring.”

Perhaps related: The Tigers do not currently have any player who profiles as an everyday third baseman. Maton could be the early favorite to win the job.

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1/20/22

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
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

PATREON

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

SS RANKINGS

• Trea Turner’s return to the NL East
• Bo Bichette’s speed drop-off
• The Fernando Tatis Jr. premium
• The run-scoring potential for Francisco Lindor
• It’ll be regression not the shift for Corey Seager’s AVG
• The volatility of Oneil Cruz
• New rules and Tommy Edman’s SBs
• Dansby Swanson in Chicago
• Petco’s impact on Xander Bogaerts
• The arrival of Wander Franco

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Now that football season is over, it is time to really prep for baseball drafts! Read the rest of this entry »

In the final game of the 2021 regular season, Max Muncy injured his left elbow after a collision with Jace Peterson as Muncy tried to catch a throw while Peterson ran through first base. It cost Muncy all of the 2021 postseason and in November of 2021, we learned that Muncy’s injury was indeed the torn UCL that many feared it was when it happened. In January of 2022, we learned he wouldn’t need surgery, but there were concerns about how it might impact at least the start of his 2022 season.

While he made it through spring and was ready for Opening Day, it was clear early on that the elbow was still bothering him. He hit a brutal .136/.313/.273 in 83 April plate appearances and while it was reasonable to believe the .149 BABIP would regress back toward his career .256 mark, there was still trouble brewing. It wouldn’t get much better in the following months with a .595 OPS in May, .675 in June, and .597 in July, all with sub-.200 AVGs and just 9 HR in his 339 PA. With just a .150/.327/.263 line through May 25th, Muncy hit the IL. He didn’t want to blame his struggles on the elbow, but I mean… c’mon, it was the elbow. He did eventually acknowledge that he rushed back from the injury and should’ve taken some time.

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The third base market is going to be interesting to navigate this season. It’s top-heavy with six guys going in the top-40 picks, a couple of stragglers, and then a massive cliff. Depending on where a person drafts, there might not be a way to avoid the cliff. I’m going to dive into this market and point some possible alternative ways to navigate for an acceptable solution.

Here are the third basemen (20 games min) who are in the player pool with their NFBC and FanTrax ADP. The NFBC will be based on rostering players in 5×5 Roto leagues (AVG) while most of the leagues at FanTrax are points bases (best balls). Additionally, I included an ADP-based auction value for 12-team leagues. The last column is the dollar value from our auction calculator. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Guest: Vlad Sedler

Projections

• VDP Projections
• ATC Projections

Strategy Section

• Risk
  • How to price players with risk
  • Is there a limit to the amount of risk you can assemble on one fantay roster?
• Closers
  • The arguments for and against drafting a super elite closer in the 2nd round
• Catchers
  • General assesment of the catcher player pool
  • General strategy for drafting catchers in 2023

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

ATC Undervalued Players

• Catchers
  • Willson Contreras
  • Sean Murphy
  • Danny Jansen
  • Cal Raleigh
  • Logan O’Hoppe

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American League

Angels

• Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak are likely to start the season in the minors even though they’ve both been working hard.

“Those jobs are solidified,” Minasian said, implying that Adell and Moniak are likely to begin the season in the minors. “Those are obviously young players who are very talented that haven’t necessarily turned the corner yet that have been putting in a significant amount of work this offseason to do that,” Minasian said. “They’re both young. I think we forget about how young these two players are.”

• Griffin Canning and Chris Rodriguez should be healthy to start the season.

Minasian also provided some health updates on some other Angels, including Griffin Canning and Chris Rodriguez. Both of those pitchers missed the 2022 season entirely, with Rodriguez rehabbing from November 2021 shoulder surgery and Canning fighting lingering back issues. Both players have now begun throwing off a mound. “If both those guys are healthy entering spring training, they’ll be exciting to watch,” Minasian said. “Right now they are on schedule to be with us in spring training and we’ll see where they’re at.”

Don’t lose track of this pair. Both threw hard (maybe not now) and struck out a decent number of strikeouts (~9 K/9) while progressing through the minors. Canning will get a few more strikeouts with an elite slider (19% SwStr%) while Rodriguez will try to keep the ground balls coming (55% GB%).

Both should start in the minors but if they get promoted, prepare to roster them. Read the rest of this entry »

Wait a tick – this can’t be right. We’ve been trucking right along with our positional reviews, taking a twisted path around the horn, going from catcher, to first base, third base, shortstop, and second base, most recently. Clearly, it’s time for the outfielders, yeah?

Afraid not, mon freres. Heading into the positional review for outfielders, I already knew we’d be forced to dip into a ton of platoon talk, as swapping players in and out according to pitcher handedness continues to be a plague across the fantasy baseball landscape.

This pestilence seems most pervasive in the outfield, in regard to our fantasy teams, with the fear that this player, or that one, will suddenly be sitting versus this hand, or that one, leaving us to find another full-time option or scrambling on the wire from week to week to find someone to swap in for your boy because he’s facing a lefty in four of six games. Or, being forced to throw someone else back to the wire because they’re apparently only facing lefties now. Super annoying. Read the rest of this entry »