11/23/21

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

INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

• Justin Verlander back to HOU (2:25)
• Anthony DeSclafani back to SF (6:54)
  • Alex Wood, Alex Cobb to follow?
• Sandy Alcantara nearing an extension (11:20)
• Brent Honeywell Jr. to OAK (15:17)
• Clint Frazier, Rougned Odor, Tyler Wade DFA’d (20:35)

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the shortstop position for 2022, my second of the offseason. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the second base position for 2022, my second of the offseason. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

88-71 (1st in Division; 12th in MLB)

[PREVIOUS REVIEWS]

SP Wins: 57 (7th)

RP Wins: 31 (2nd)

Saves: 40 (15th)

1+ Save: 4 (Will Smith 37, Chris Martin, Jacob Webb, Sean Newcomb 1)

100+ Ks: 5 (Charlie Morton 216, Max Fried 156, Ian Anderson 124, Drew Smyly 117, Huascar Ynoa 100)

.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 3 (Austin Riley .303, Freddie Freeman .300, Ronald Acuña Jr. .283)

65+ Runs: 5 (Freeman 120, Ozzie Albies 103, Riley 91, Dansby Swanson 78, Acuña Jr. 72)

65+ RBI: 4 (Riley 107, Albies 106, Swanson 88, Freeman 83)

10+ HRs: 7 (Riley 33, Freeman 31, Albies 30, Swanson 27, Acuña Jr. 24, Adam Duvall 16, Jorge Soler 14)

5+ SBs: 4 (Albies 20, Acuña Jr. 17, Swanson 9, Freeman 8)

BEST BUY: Max Fried

Fried is a budding ace at #2 prices. After a slow start and injury (11.45 ERA in 3 starts then a 3-week hamstring IL stint), he reeled off 154.7 innings of a 2.44 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. He was pretty sharp in the playoffs, too, with a couple of rough 2nd innings being the only blips on his record. He had a 4.23 ERA across five starts, allowing 7 of his 13 ER in the 2nd innings of Game 5 in the NLCS and Game 2 in the World Series. If healthy, his first 200-inning season should be on the horizon and if he is at or near the 2.84 ERA/1.09 WHIP we have seen since 2020, then a top 10 finish will come with it.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m just going to keep grinding my way through the starting pitchers hoping to find a couple of gems.

For reference, here are the pitchers I’ve already profiled:

Starting and Relievers, Part 1 & 2($$):

• Alzolay, Quantrill, J. Suarez, Thompson, R. Suarez, Thompson, C Hernandez
• Javier, Lamet, Rasmussen, Steele, M. Perez, Cortes, Espino, Stripling, Long, Houck

Deep League Starting Pitchers

• Kaprielian, Taillon, Carrasco, and Ober

Trevor Bauer (308)

Even before the recent criminal charges, Bauer was a divisive player with the recent incident leaving him with no support. He’s such a hot topic, I about skipped him over. Read the rest of this entry »

2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the first base position for 2022, my second of the offseason. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the catcher position for 2022, my second of the offseason. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

With the projection analysis out of the way, it’s time to start finding some starting pitcher gems for those arms being drafted at pick 300 or later according to NFBC’s ADP.

For reference, here are the pitchers I’ve already profiled:

• Starting and Relievers, Part 1($$): Alzolay, Quantrill, J. Suarez, Thompson, R. Suarez, Thompson, C Hernandez
• Starting and Relievers, Part 2($$): Javier, Lamet, Rasmussen, Steele, M. Perez, Cortes, Espino, Stripling, Long, Houck

James Kaprielian (300 ADP):

Kaprielian didn’t start the season in the majors but was recalled in mid-May to join the A’s rotation. He was likely kept from throwing too many innings since he’s returning from Tommy John surgery, but he showed signs of life.

To start out, his velocity dropped 2 mph from 2020 but that 2020 value was from just 3.2 IP of bullpen work. In 2021, he was sitting 93 mph with a steady climb from averaging 92 mph up to 94 mph. This value is in line with his 2016 Baseball America report of “… sits in the low 90’s and topped out at 96.” Read the rest of this entry »

86-76 (3rd in Division; 13th in MLB)

[PREVIOUS REVIEWS]

SP Wins: 57 (6th)

RP Wins: 29 (25th)

Saves: 39 (18th)

1+ Save: 5 (Lou Trivino 22, Jake Diekman 7, Andrew Chafin 5, Sergio Romo 3, Yusmeiro Petit 2)

100+ Ks: 5 (Frankie Montas 207, Sean Manaea 194, Chris Bassitt 159, Cole Irvin 125, James Kaprielian 123)

.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 2 (Tony Kemp .279, Matt Olson .271)

65+ Runs: 3 (Olson 101, Mark Canha 93, Matt Chapman 75)

65+ RBI: 3 (Olson 111, Chapman 72, Jed Lowrie 69)

10+ HRs: 8 (Olson 39, Chapman 27, Seth Brown 20, Canha, Sean Murphy 17, Lowrie, Ramón Laureano 14, Mitch Moreland 10)

5+ SBs: 5 (Starling Marte 25 [total: 47, led MLB], Canha, Laureano, Elvis Andrus 12, Kemp 8)

BEST BUY: Mark Canha

He is a free agent, but unless he signs before I finish these (and with a remaining team), then I won’t get to write him up.

Canha’s hip injury seemed to linger and really undercut his season as he posted just a .659 OPS with 6 HR and 5 SB in 300 PA after returning. Prior to that, he had an .826 OPS with 11 HR and 7 SB in 325 PA which was in line with the guy he had been in 2019-20 (.876 OPS in 740 PA). The sneaky speed has sustained his value and made him a very valuable player. He ranked 126th this past year even with the weak second half and yet he is being drafted at pick 276 so far. He will likely jump a bit when he signs, but that would be a round at most so there is room for the 33-year-old to regress some and still be a plus buy in the draft.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Guest: Trevor May, New York Mets

Interview

• Highlight of Career
• Game planning
  • Is about pitching to your strengths, or exploiting your opponents weaknesses?
  • Game planning team by team
  • Helping other teammates with game planning
  • Having a “default” game plan
  • Using MLB the Show
  • Learning from other teammates
• Health
  • Recovering from TJS
  • Switching from starter to reliever
  • Keeping healthy all season long
  • Extended rest between outings – good or bad?
• Injury Guru Trivia of the Week
• Analytics
  • Trevor’s own stat – Command Quality Ratio (CQR)
  • Trevor’s CQR and Ariel’s wPDI
  • Horizontal movement vs. vertical movement on pitches
  • Pitch velocity, spin rate, spin efficiency
  • Hanging out with the analytics staff
• Mailbag
  • Who do you NOT want to face with the bases loaded?
  • Why #65?
  • Day games vs. night games
  • Favorite inning to pitch in
  • Love of cats
  • Favorite podcast

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast (beat-the-shift): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS