11/17/23

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

PATREON

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INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS

• Our Gladiator draft
• Cal Quantrill trade
• Aaron Bummer trade
  • Jared Shuster/Michael Soroka

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We’ve had appetizers at catcher, first base, second base, and shortstop, but now it’s time to look upward for some protein (powder).

Looking for someone who ascends to heights normally only dreamt of by those who grew up wearing Husky brand jeans. Arching high into the sky, going even further beyond the Chili’s down on Maple where many of his lookalike peers will go to celebrate if they beat Mitch’s Hardware on Wednesday night.

A player whose ability to hit bombs is matched only by his resemblance to someone who looks like they play in a league where there’s a keg at each base.

The People’s Hero. Every year he rises up (hopefully, to see if that waitress is ever going to bring out more ranch for our Texas cheese fries), and every year we recognize him.

Ladies & Gentlemen: The Thirdies Read the rest of this entry »

Last spring, I wrote up a group of first basemen who I saw as valuable picks in the draft. Let’s review the initial projection, see what happened, and grade these suckers!

• 2023 Breakout 1B

1B

Wil Myers | CIN

• My Projection: .265/.343/.493, 24 HR, 66 R, 71 RBI, 7 SB in 505 PA
• Final Result: .189/.257/.283, 3 HR, 11 R, 12 RBI, 2 SB in 141 PA

What Happened: OK, we’re starting off hot!! Well, hot vomit. Let’s not beat around the bush, this is a massive F-. Myers completely flamed out and was eventually run out of Cincinnati altogether as they called up a bevy of premium prospects, most of whom clicked upon arrival. He managed a meager 43 wRC+ in his tiny sample and was let go in late-June.

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11/13/23

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

PATREON

• Join our Patreon for live video feeds of each show
• Watch the video feed replay on YouTube

YOUNG YANKEE BATS

• Gleyber Torres is only 27 next season
• Anthony Volpe up and down year
• Still buy back on Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza?
• Sneaky value for Estevan Florial?
• Any interest in Everson Pereira?
• Any chance you draft Jasson Domínguez?
• Is Austin Wells a thing?

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American League

Athletics

• The team isn’t sure what position Miguel Andujar will play next season.

A’s general manager David Forst, who met with Andujar’s agent at the annual GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., this week, spoke highly of the 28-year-old.

“He had a fantastic year at Triple-A for the Pirates,” Forst said. “This is still a young man. He obviously was highly regarded when he came up with the Yankees. It’s a hard place to come up in New York and a lot of attention was paid to his defense at the time and whether he could play third base. I think we believe he’s still a Major League hitter.

“He’s done a nice job transitioning to the outfield. He played both left and right field in Triple-A last year. He’s played some at first base as well, which is a nice option to have because we’re very left-handed at first base between [Ryan] Noda, [Seth] Brown and [Tyler] Soderstrom. I think the bat is a really good fit for us. It’ll remain to be seen where he fits overall on the roster. But there’s a lot of people here who believe he is a Major League hitter.”

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pVals are a topic of debate among pitch-level data masterminds. One side may consider them useless. Good pitches get hit and bad pitches get taken for strikes and pVals don’t explain any of that. On the other side, people like to know what actually happened. If a splitter left in the middle of the zone gets a called third strike when it probably should have been mashed for a home run, then pVals still credit the pitcher. The strikeout is what actually happened.

Keep in mind as you peruse this season’s best fastballs just that; pVals aren’t perfect. You’ll read about Chris Bassitt’s sinker and think, Chris Bassitt is a clear candidate for being drafted, but read on and you may back away from that stance. pVals help us understand what occurred, but take caution when using them to predict what will happen. Confused? Let’s just watch some GIFs.

Part one of this installment looked at four-seam fastballs and cutters. Part two will focus on sinkers and splitters.

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The LIVE from First Pitch Arizona episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guests: Tristan Cockcroft & Derek Carty

Strategy Section

• Which is more important – the draft or in-season moves?
• Is it more important than ever to bank low-risk players in the early rounds of drafts?
• What makes a risky / consistent player?
  • Is Shohei Ohtani risky for 2024 as a hitter?
  • Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
  • How should we determine what constitutes a consistent player, and how should we value consistency?
• Young players
  • Should we be cautious to roster young players with limited experience?
  • How should we value the playoff experience of young players?
• Stolen base landscape
  • How should we value SBs in 2024 drafts?
• Closers
  • Optimal strategy in retrospect for 2023
  • Prospective strategy heading into 2024
  • Should we be drafting middle relievers?

2024 First Round

• Who is a player that will be drafted in the first round of 2024 that is undervalued?
• Who is a player that will be drafted in the first round of 2024 that is overvalued?
• Who is a player that will not be drafted in the first round of 2024 that should be?

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11/7/23

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: Paul Sporer
• @justinmasonfwfb – Co-Host: Justin Mason
• @jasoncollette – Co-Host: Jason Collette
• @PitcherList – Surprise Guest: Nick Pollack
• @enosarris – Surprise Guest: Eno Sarris
• @mdthompFWFB – Surprise Guest: Matt Thompson
• @derekvanriper – Surprise Guest: Derek Van Riper

PATREON

• Join our Patreon for live video feeds of each show
• Watch the video feed replay (now on my Google Drive, not sure what happened on the BHQ YouTube page)!

BIGGEST MIN/MAX SPREADS IN THE EARLY TOP 100

Hitters

• Mike Trout 83 ADP | 92 spots – 57 min to 149 max
• Triston Casas 98 | 89 – 48 to 137
• Spencer Steer 92 | 81 – 72 to 153
• Manny Machado 74 | 72 – 56 to 128
• Will Smith 97 | 58 – 68 to 126
• Nolan Jones 49 | 56 – 33 to 89
• Nolan Arenado 87 | 54 – 65 to 119

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Welcome back to what was recently named the #2 fantasy award show in the nation according to people and pets who live in my house. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

We’ve already handed out our prestigious awards at catcher, first base, and second base, so let’s keep it moving around the horn. But first, since children need to be taken to the library, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to come up with your own dated Fifty Cent references – I simply have no time.

Ja-Ja-Ja G-Unit – It’s the Shorties!

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With Jacob deGrom and Walker Buehler coming back from their second Tommy John surgery (TJS), I wanted to go back and look at how pitchers performed after going under the knife a second time. While I had high hopes this study would find some useful adjustments, the results were mixed and probably point to the pitcher being more of the same. Read the rest of this entry »