The Fangraphs staff (minus some notable exceptions) headed out to Spring Training this weekend. During the weekend, there were a series of skills challenges. So, it is time to play:
Which was more embarrassing?!?
If two outfielders are projected for identical stats but one is also qualified at first base, the one with multi-positional eligibility will have additional value. The player gives an owner more flexibility during the draft or auction, allows the owner to maximize at-bats or games played during the season, increasing roster flexibility by having more bench spots to use for pitching, and owners can focus on talent versus position with waiver wire acquisitions. The question being posed today, how much is this extra flexibility worth?
It’s not a simple answer. Over the next few days, various RotoGraph authors, including myself, will provide our takes. Will we come to a solid answer? Probably not or an analyst would have figured it out and the adjustment would already be universally incorporated. We just want to put our best foot forward.
We all have our guys. Those players where you circle a round in your notes and make sure you’re adding them to your squad. You chuckle, smile, and type your love for them into the league chat.
Today, I’m going to highlight three pitchers that I’ve found myself owning in the heavy majority of my leagues.
I’ve written a fair amount about my love of Wheeler and I’m going to add on a bit here. Wheeler sports a hard fastball that he favors not only on both sides of the plate within the same at-bat, but also elevated for strikeouts often. It’s an elite pitch, returning a 20+ pVal last season, including a rugged opening 14 starts to the year.
Welcome back to my annual off-season series that has a quick-and-dirty review of all 30 minor league systems around baseball. This feature began way back in 2008.
If you were perusing this series back in 2015 you would have read:
The Riser: Dan Altavilla, RHP: Altavilla, 23, doesn’t have a huge ceiling but he had a very promising year and the organization didn’t see that much in terms of huge prospect value spikes in 2015. The under-sized righty can touch 96-97 mph with a promising slider and showed a propensity for the strikeout while playing in a tough league for pitchers (The California League). The consensus seems to be that Altavilla is bound for the bullpen but Toronto’s Marcus Stroman has shown that size really doesn’t matter — but the Mariners prospect will need to create better plane on his offerings to mimic the Blue Jays’ breakout star.
Now on to the new stuff:
First Taste of The Show: Matthew Festa, RHP: The Mariners didn’t rely heavily on the minor league system in 2018 so the rookie contributions were pretty thin. The most intriguing player for future value is Festa. He has a nice fastball-slider combo with a couple of other offerings he can sprinkle in for fun. His ceiling is probably seventh-inning guy but he could be a solid-but-unspectacular contributor to the ‘pen if continues to throw strikes and keep the ball down.
Josh Hader is unquestionably awesome. He was probably baseball’s best reliever in 2018. In addition to his insane 47% K rate, he posted a 2.43 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in 81.3 IP. For fantasy purposes, his 12 SV and 6 W were instrumental in sustaining his value. However, he’s now going just outside the Top 100 (ADP of 105 in Rotowire Online Championship leagues since 2/1/19) and that’s just too high.
The performance will almost certainly be great again, but the saves and wins will be unpredictable and hard to rely on. Pitching in high leverage will ensure some of each, but that’s a hefty price to pay. Plus, relievers are insanely volatile so there’s always a chance he isn’t quite the superstar on the ratios. At any rate, this is less about being a Hader Hater and more about bypassing him at his cost and picking up another middle relief superstar much later.
This is for non-holds 12-15 team mixers. The ADP is from the Rotowire Online Championship which is a 5×5 12-teamer.
Here are four to consider:
I just wrote about some of the players I did not know about from my LABR AL-only league. It’s time for the NL players I didn’t recognize. I figured there would be more on the list because I didn’t do the pre-auction prep work needed to roster full teams. I was wrong. I knew quite a few but a few names didn’t initially
Here are the full AL and NL-only lists.
Most fantasy owners may not agree with the recent #LABR auction values. They may not be even close to rostering as many players. BUT they should look over the players taken and find out why an "expert" wanted them.
NL: https://t.co/pMafCbEK4O pic.twitter.com/4cCa0yTlU9
— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) March 4, 2019
3/6/19
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 20, the best baseball strategy game ever made – PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms for the March 22nd release! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER20!
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Strategy: Nick discusses how he builds and manages a pitching staff in shallow and deep roto leagues as well as H2H leagues.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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3/6/19
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!
Follow us on Twitter
GET THE SLEEPER & THE BUST T-SHIRT FROM ROTOWEAR!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Last week, Brad Johnson talked about being a “tryhard.” Brad described one way of being a “tryhard” as hoarding assets in the draft.
Sheryl decided to roster not one, not two, but FIVE catchers. As a reminder, ottoneu is a two catcher league with a 162 game cap for the position. So you need about 1.5 catchers. A total of $34 was spent on these backstops. She openly shopped her depth during the draft. While it sounds like fun to corner a market, have you ever seen it work? I haven’t.
I don’t doubt that Brad hasn’t seen it work. But just because he hasn’t seen it doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Here’s proof: after the draft, I had spent $34 on 5 catchers.
Welcome back to my annual off-season series that has a quick-and-dirty review of all 30 minor league systems around baseball. This feature began way back in 2008.
If you were perusing this series last year you would have read:
The Riser: Garrett Hampson, MIF: As outlined above, the Rockies organization is flush with infield prospects and Hampson deserves to be included in that group even if you probably haven’t heard of him. A third round pick out of Long Beach State in 2016 (the same place the Rockies found Troy Tulowitzki), this young infielder has shown a wide range of skills as a pro. After a strong debut in 2016, he’s had nearly identical success in ’17 at high-A ball. He’s hitting .323 with an .838 OPS and 51 steals in 65 attempts. Hampson, 22, doesn’t display a ton of pop but he sprays the ball all over the field and understands his strengths and weaknesses. He should develop into an impact baserunner and table-setter for the Rockies’ young power hitters.
Now on to the new stuff:
The Draft Pick: Grant Lavigne, 1B: Advanced for a cold-weather prep prospect, Lavigne dominated in his first taste of pro debut. But that strong debut comes with some caveats. He benefited from a .410 BABIP and a ground-ball heavy output. As a hulking first base prospect, he’s not going to sustain that kind of average on balls in play, nor should he be hitting the ball on the ground. The good news is that he has a great eye (45-40 BB-K rate) and doesn’t strike out much for a power hitter. I’m curious to see how Lavigne handles his first taste of full-season ball but I’m cautiously optimistic.
