As we continue to maintain hope that there will be a baseball season this year, last week I decided to have a bit of fun and build a $9 pitching staff using NFBC average auction values calculated from March 15. While that was a joy, commenter runningfrog demanded that I share what a $251 offense would look like. If I were to save all those auction dollars by buying such cheap pitching, how incredible might my offense look?! I decided to find out.
We’d be a week into the 2020 season if things had gone as planned. A bunch of us would already be freaking out about our teams and Twitter would be littered with questions about cutting star-level players because they are 5-for-30. As much as those questions drive me insane, I do wish I was fielding them daily right now.
I don’t know when we’ll get baseball again, but here are 8 players I can’t wait to see when it does return:
Ozzie Albies | 2B, ATL
I love watching Albies play baseball. The 23-year old switch hitter has flashed an array of skills over his 1630 MLB plate appearances and his power/speed capability has made him a fantasy stud. I stilllll think there’s even more here, particularly with his speed. I could see a 25/25 or even 30/30 season from Albies at his best.
I’m continuing my quest to find the next Lucas Giolito breakout and failed with these two. They both were to be adding slider and some added velocity.
Games
Notes:
04/02/20
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HOURLONG TV SHOW* DRAFT
*I didn’t realize Sherlock was a 90-minute show and I binged Weeds so I completely forgot it was 30 minutes. Those were unintentional exceptions here.
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04/01/20
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3.
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BOARD GAME DRAFT
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I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked this offseason, “Who is this season’s Giolito?” So I’m supposed to know of a pitcher who was completely useless the previous season but is going to throw harder, find the strike zone, and rework his repertoire. Yea … I wish. But we can start diving in and I’ve found 10 arms who may pull it off.
The elusive list of 10 pitchers came taking anyone on Jason Collette’s New Pitch Tracker with anyone who saw a velocity increase in the first Spring Training. Initially, 12 pitchers made cut.
| Name | FB Velo up | New Pitch |
|---|---|---|
| Alec Mills | 0.8 | New 2 seam grip |
| Danny Duffy | 0.6 | faster slider |
| Devin Smeltzer | 0.4 | Adding a slider |
| Freddy Peralta | 1.4 | bringing back a slider |
| Garrett Richards | 0.4 | Bringing back his change |
| Jacob deGrom | 0.6 | Improve slider |
| John Means | 1.7 | Improving his curve |
| Kenley Jansen | 1.0 | New slider grip |
| Logan Webb | 0.1 | Adding a cutter & moving to a slurve. Lower arm angle |
| Nick Pivetta | 0.9 | New delivery and change |
| Sean Manaea | -0.4 to +1.7 | Refining slider and looking to add a cutter |
| Tyler Mahle | 0.7 | Adding slider |
On Thursday, I had a bit of fun and shared my dominant, future category-leading $14 offense, assembled using NFBC auction values and selecting 14 $1 hitters. Today, I flip to the pitching side and share with you the pitching staff you fear will earn top points in each category.
Note: I’d like to grade out both of their pitches more but the camera angles where sh …. not good.
LHP on the Cardinals
Games watched
Projections and comps from earlier this offseason.
| Projection | IP | G | GS | W | K | SV | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZiPS | 157.3 | 27 | 36 | 11 | 131 | 0 | 3.89 | 1.26 |
| Davenport | 150.7 | 28 | 28 | 11 | 152 | 0 | 4.04 | 1.34 |
| Average | 160.0 | 29 | 33 | 11 | 147 | 0 | 3.97 | 1.30 |
| My Playing Time Adjustment | 100.0 | 18 | 21 | 7 | 92 | 0 | 3.97 | 1.30 |
The projected talent should play with comparable projected pitchers being Jesus Luzardo (3.98 ERA, 1.26 WHIP), Sonny Gray (3.91, 1.30), and Carlos Martinez (3.97, 1.33).
One game that was not on MLB.tv had StatCast velocity readings and here are his pitch velocities.
03/26/20
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NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS
SITCOM DRAFT
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03/24/20
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to Fangraphs! With a standard $20 membership, you help maintain and improve our database of stats and graphs as well as our staff of 8 full-time employees and over 50 contributors. The premium ad-free membership at $50 year supports site growth and also includes faster load speeds and better site performance. You can also support monthly for just $3.
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NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS/INJURIES/RUMORS
SPORTS VIDEO GAME DRAFT
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