American League

Astros

• Yainer Diaz is getting some reps at first base.

Since Abreu’s departure, Singleton is hitting .301/.374/.411 in 83 plate appearances. Whether the Astros believe this is sustainable may dictate their deadline approach at first base. That the team hasn’t ruled out catcher Yainer Diaz as a possibility at first base is intriguing, too.

Diaz took groundballs at first base during the team’s last homestand before the All-Star break, though that itself isn’t newsworthy. Backup catcher Victor Caratini’s imminent return from a hip flexor strain could free Espada to experiment with Diaz at first base, perhaps putting him in a platoon with Singleton on days he does not catch.

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7/18/24

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!

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• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host/Producer

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1H POSITION REVIEWS (Player Rater)

Outfield

• Brenton Doyle
• Brent Rooker
• Jurickson Profar
• Alec Burleson
• Ian Happ
• Jackson Merrill
• Julio Rodríguez

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Over the break, I’m going to run a few quick studies. If you want to request, add it to this Twitter thread.

I am running a few quick fantasy baseball studies over the next few days. I'll take suggestions. The two I have planned:

1. If a hitter's AVG is below his projection, how much rebound is expected?

2. How much does a month's ERA/FIP/xFIP matter when looking forward?

— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) July 16, 2024

Someone I know said they drafted for batting average (AVG) this spring, but their team is struggling in the category. They wondered how much upward regression should be expected. This is a simple study with a reasonable answer, some but not all. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past few weeks, guests on the Baseball Tonight Podcast with Buster Olney have gone through the exercise of creating their all-time home run derby list. Obvious finalists such as Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Mark McGwire have filled the theoretical brackets. As another season’s All-Star break is upon us, we’ll be graced with a few hours of this year’s big boppers attempting to hit baseballs as far as humanly possible. Though it may be a new format, the goal is the same; hit home runs!

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7/17/24

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

1H POSITION REVIEWS (Player Rater)

Third Base

• Jose Miranda
• Matt Chapman
• Maikel Garcia
• Josh Smith
• Ryan McMahon
• Austin Riley
• Isaac Paredes
• Christopher Morel
• Matt Vierling
• Royce Lewis

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7/15/24

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

1H POSITION REVIEWS (Player Rater)

Catcher

• Yainer Diaz
• Connor Wong
• David Fry
• Tyler Stephenson
• Luis Campusano
• Gabriel Moreno

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Here is today’s chat transcript:
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In the article, I cover the players using CBS’s (about 40% or less initial roster rate) and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both hosting sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference grouped by starters, relievers, and hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

For a few seasons, I’ve only been involved with Roto leagues after starting with points leagues and doing both for a while. I wanted to see how close Roto values translate to point league values. When I evaluate starting pitchers, I focus on just their Roto value and want to see how much of it translates to point values.

I removed Wins, Losses, and Quality Starts from the equation. Those W/L/QS values can be huge factors in some scoring systems but I wanted to see if there were any major differences with the rest of the formulas. While a manager may cut a deserving start short, thereby limiting a pitcher’s strikeout or the weight of their ratios, most of the time Wins, Losses, and Quality starts are out of the pitcher’s control. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Guest: Fred Zinkie

Strategy Section

• Trading
  • General trading philosophy
  • When should you look for a trade vs. getting help off of the waiver wire?
  • How to trade in this high information environment?
  • How does your current league standing matter in trading?
  • Don’t stay complacent in 1st place!
    • Stay active in the trading market!
  • Keeper league trading
    • Picking a lane – buy vs. sell
  • Approach individual owners for trades, or make a trading interest public?
  • Lowball offers?
  • Ian Kahn and trading
  • Should you trade with players close to you in the standings?

Waiver Wire

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

Pitcher Preview

Injury Update

Closers who may lose their roles at the trading deadline

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