American League

Angels

Astros

• The GM expects outfielder Jacob Melton to contribute next season.

Melton split last season between Double-A Corpus Christi (58 games) and Triple-A Sugar Land (47 games) and slashed .253/.310/.426 with 15 homers and 30 stolen bases. His numbers were a tad better at Double-A, which is to be expected, posting a .748 OPS with Corpus Christi and .719 with Sugar Land. He spent time at all three outfield spots last season but played most in center field.

“Melton’s another guy that could be a big piece for us,” Brown said last month. “He’s a really good defensive outfielder with power. He has a chance to make an impact.”

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I am lucky enough to once again rank players at third base this season. The prep work begins now. First question; who is new to the list? Who will I rank this year that I didn’t rank last year? To answer that question, I loaded up the auction calculator, prioritized the “3B” position, and edited the “Starts to Qualify at Position” way down to five. That means all players who played five or more games at 3B in 2024, get placed in the same pool, on the same scale, and valued based on their Steamer projection. Who did I find that wasn’t around last season? To explain it, a poem:

New to 3B

On these keys I will pound,

on this list Jazz Chisholm Jr. can be found.

And if you please, Joey Ortiz.

While Junior Caminero may drive a Camero,

Vladimir, Jr. Guerrero is instantly a top numero.

Connor Norby likely won’t hit forty,

but with twenty he may be sporty.

–

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Previous deep starting pitcher profiles:

Luzardo, Keller, Myers, & Ortiz
Taillon, Harrison, Martinez, & Singer
Herz, Bassitt, Civale, & Bradford
Birdsong, Littell, Boyd, & Peterson

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11/25/24

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

• Yusei Kikuchi signs w/LAA for some reason
• Brady Singer to CIN; Jonathan India, Joey Wiemer to KCR
• Jordan Romano non-tendered
• Nolan Arenado being dangled in trade talks

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Previous deep starting pitcher profiles:

Luzardo, Keller, Myers, & Ortiz
Taillon, Harrison, Martinez, & Singer
Herz, Bassitt, Civale, & Bradford

Skipped
Roki Sasaki Read the rest of this entry »

11/21/24

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

• Roki Saski coming over
• Baltimore moves LF fence back in so Cole Irvin peaced out to KBO
• Outlook for: Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Ryan Mountcastle, Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman
• Nick Martinez to accept QO

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Reader beware:

A human wrote this article. Some humans’ caffeine levels can fluctuate in predictable patterns and correlate strongly with “time of day” data points. Yet, there’s no telling how many milligrams were present in the author’s typing fingers at the various stages of writing this article. It was an iterative process that took the author much longer than he had originally expected. While a human wrote this article, a machine wrote and generated many sections, namely ChatGPT’s “gpt-4o” model. From here on out, anything written or output by the very friendly and human-helping artificial intelligence (be careful…they’re listening…) will be italicized.

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American League

Angels

• Kyle Hendricks will start the season in the rotation.

Minasian said Hendricks will start and be part of a rotation that’s also expected to include veteran left-hander Tyler Anderson and right-handers José Soriano and Jack Kochanowicz. They have other internal options, such as lefties Reid Detmers and Sam Aldegheri and right-handers Chase Silseth, Caden Dana, Sam Bachman and George Klassen. The Angels are still looking to add one more starter to that mix, and Minasian wouldn’t rule out bolstering the bullpen as well.

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In the 30 plate appearances leading up to the playoffs, Harrison Bader had gone three for 25 with four walks. His 13-game slash line was .120/.233/.120 heading into the Wild Card Series against the Brewers. Bader was slumping. Though he was brought in as a defensive replacement in that series against the Brewers, Bader did not record a plate appearance. His next at-bat came against Tanner Banks in game one of the NLDS against the Phillies when he was brought in as a pinch hitter in the top of the ninth.

Bader swung on the first pitch:

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Free Agents

• Some teams are considering using Jeff Hoffman as a starter.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reported within his ranking of the offseason’s top free agents that some clubs have considered pursuing Hoffman as a starting pitcher. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb backs that up in his own report, further pointing out that Hoffman is represented the same agency (CAA) that represented Reynaldo Lopez during his own switch from the bullpen to the rotation last winter.

Notably, McDaniel opines that Hoffman is still likelier to sign as a reliever. It’s the role in which he’s dominated over the past two seasons, and while he’s not the No. 1 reliever in this offseason’s free agent class — most publications, including MLBTR, assigned that honor to lefty Tanner Scott — Hoffman has a case to be considered the No. 2 or No. 3 bullpen arm on the open market this winter.

As a reliever, Hoffman has three pitches that have great grades and results.

Pitch: SwStr%, BotOverall, Pitching+
Four-seamer: 15%, 67, 103
Slider: 21%, 49, 104
Splitter: 18%, 49, 107 Read the rest of this entry »