Archive for Featured

In past seasons I’ve done this Daily SP Chart down the stretch and invariably there are comments asking why I don’t do it all season. I’ve never really had a great answer for that so now I’m doing it!

Once the season gets going, the chart will include their performance over the last five starts (for the first few weeks, it’ll be their 2023 stats), their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, my start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. The opponent wOBA will remain blank for a while until we get some data and because there is so much lineup turnover year-to-year, I’m not going to include last year’s mark. I’ll start including wOBA data on April 17th.

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.

New Feature Alert: I’ve added a chart of the previous night’s starters with a quick hit take on their performance. That way I don’t have to wait 5 days to give insight on how it went. Let me know what you think about it!
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The Changes episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Joe Sheehan

MLB Rule Changes

• Which rule has had the most effect thus far?
• Which new rule are we least happy about?
• How has the ball changed this year?

Strategy Section

• Which is more important – knowing the players, or knowing how to value the players?
  • Pre-season vs. in-season
• FAAB
  • Should the prices you pay in FAAB be driven by obtaning a good return on investment, or is it more market driven?
  • Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
  • Rob Silver’s comments on FAAB
    • Will Tanner Bibee be worth his FAAB bids?
    • How much should one pay for a projected SP60 in FAAB?
    • How much should one pay for a projected top 50 player n FAAB?
    • How much should one pay for a projected top 100 player n FAAB?

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MLB

• Pitchers with sweepers might have problems getting out opposite handed hitters.

That’s the big flaw with the sweeper. It had the second-biggest platoon split among all the pitch types — the difference in production between same- and opposite-handed hitters is the second-largest in baseball over the last two years.
…
So what do you do with a pitcher that has a great weapon against same-handed hitters and needs something for opposite-handed hitters? Scan down to the bottom of that list. The oldest answer in baseball: Get a changeup. The changeup is still the best way for a righty to get lefties out.

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

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

In past seasons I’ve done this Daily SP Chart down the stretch and invariably there are comments asking why I don’t do it all season. I’ve never really had a great answer for that so now I’m doing it!

Once the season gets going, the chart will include their performance over the last five starts (for the first few weeks, it’ll be their 2023 stats), their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, my start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. The opponent wOBA will remain blank for a while until we get some data and because there is so much lineup turnover year-to-year, I’m not going to include last year’s mark. I’ll start including wOBA data on April 17th.

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.

New Feature Alert: I’ve added a chart of the previous night’s starters with a quick hit take on their performance. That way I don’t have to wait 5 days to give insight on how it went. Let me know what you think about it!

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Acuna getting ready for the 2024 Summer Olympics:

Ronald Acuña Jr. stolen bases: 14
Ronald Acuña Jr. somersaults: 1 pic.twitter.com/g0ErI92Wkv

— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 3, 2023

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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 »

It’s the beginning of May, so you know what that means – It’s time to make wild declarations based on the barest amount of evidence. Let me hear ya now; AY-PRIL! AY-PRIL! AY-PRIL!

I kid, I kid. Drawing definite conclusions after 25 games might be a fool’s errand but that doesn’t mean there aren’t tea leaves to be read in regards to what we’ve seen so far, as a plethora of minute data is available to try and parse what’s been real and what’s more fake. Take power, for example. There are all sorts of small-sample shenanigans driving the current home run totals but that doesn’t mean we can’t sort out some of the chaff and see what kind of home run bread might be getting baked during the rest of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Corbin Carroll is the best at tag:

Corbin Carroll almost chased down Geraldo Perdomo. 😂 pic.twitter.com/htGp7NJqUM

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 29, 2023

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