This week we look at two hitters available in deep leagues whose uncharacteristically good contact thus far warrants a closer examination. Obviously, as should be stated with almost any analysis at this point in the season, small sample caveats apply. And now that we are disclaimed, let’s irresponsibly dig for upside!

Preston Tucker (2% Yahoo, 2.8% ESPN, 8% CBS) – Tucker burst onto the scene last year in Houston posting a .243/.297/.439 slash line. Wait, that’s not very good. Why did I say burst? Oh right, because Tucker actually posted a 120 wRC+ through July before tanking in just 83 plate appearances the rest of the way. Tucker’s decrease in playing time obviously coincided with the arrival of Carlos Gomez.

But even beyond the trade deadline’s roster crunch ramifications, Tucker just stopped making good contact. His soft% increased to an alarming 32% from August onwards. He also stopped taking walks, reaching base via the free pass just 3.6% of the time.

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Yesterday was busy with baseball news including a rush to the wire for Matt Harv…I mean Cody Anderson. Speaking of players who look like other players, remember when Charlie Morton started aping Roy Halladay? That sure was fun.

I’ve been telling people all spring that the entire point of acquiring Drew Storen is so that Roberto Osuna doesn’t get used to closing. He reportedly already likes life in relief more than starting. The Jays have named Osuna as the closer which may permanently shut the door on starting. See Jonathan Papelbon, Aroldis Chapman, etc.

Other things happened too – Jose Reyes is no longer riding a runaway train to deportation. Fear not Trevor Story owners. I hear the Rockies will trade or cut Reyes. The Roto Riteup has more details on everything. It’s time for me to switch gears back to stolen bases. Yesterday was for the AL sleepers so guess what’s up today (oh, you read the headline).

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Sleeper week continues. Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to deep sleepers. Today and tomorrow we’ll look into stolen base threats. Most of these guys are waiver wire fodder in standard leagues. You should be able to stream them. Certain notably steals threats like Jose Altuve and Billy Burns were excluded because they aren’t sleepers in any sense of the word.

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As you may recall, the Annapurna that we have been preparing to scale this season is the NFBC Auction Championship: mixed league, 15 teams, 5×5, standard-issue 23-man roster with a 7-round snake draft for reserves. Well, we had our auction last week, and it was…humdrum. Somewhat to our surprise—about which more below–bidding was restrained and prices were temperate. Once we caught on to this—Bryce Harper for $41 and Mike Trout for $44 did the trick—we accomplished most of what we set out to do, and don’t think we overpaid or underpaid by more than a dollar for anyone. Possible exceptions are noted below. Our roster is barely worth reporting, and certainly not worth analyzing in detail. Nonetheless, for the record, here it is, with our picks listed in order of acquisition by way of giving you an idea of where we went with our endgame. As always, we invite your comments: Read the rest of this entry »

The NL version came yesterday. Today we’ll shift over to the AL. The point of this exercise is to identify a handful of little known players who could become fantasy relevant this season. In most cases, it will be better to track these guys than rush out to pick them up.

While the NL has teams like the Phillies, Braves, Brewers, and Reds poised to deliver substantial time to unknown players, the AL is a much more competitive league. A few teams have an unsolved position or two, but nobody has thrown in the towel with a full rebuild.

Edit: I somehow overlooked Tyler White, but he’s easily the top name for this list. He’ll be a sleeper for another 30 minutes.

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As you may have guessed, the following is a list of five players who deserve to be monitored. In most cases, you probably won’t want to draft or rush to the wire for these guys. Just keep an eye on their stock.

Juan Nicasio – SP/RP

Chances are, you’ve heard some buzz about Nicasio this spring. What he’s done is pretty buzz worthy – 15 innings, 10 hits, five walks, and 24 strikeouts. Nicasio returned to major league relevance last summer. He pitched out of the Dodgers bullpen, averaging 95 mph with his fastball and also using an average slider. Over his career, he’s mostly been a fastball-slider guy with a few changeups and sinkers mixed in for variety.

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When your leaguemates start paying too much for closers, there’s only one thing to do – queue up your closer sleepers. The following is quick analysis of my favorite closers-in-waiting. You can use these guys as elite sources for holds or handcuffs to unstable closers. Yesterday’s post covered the NL, today we move to the AL.

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Each week until the start of the season, we’re looking at deep league options currently going late in drafts or not at all. Last week we covered catchers and this week we’re onto first basemen. In addition to the two titular-featured players, I’ve thrown in a third as a bonus who’s being drafted in the middle rounds of standard leagues but going well outside the top 12 at the position.

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When your leaguemates start paying too much for closers, there’s only one thing to do – queue up your closer sleepers. The following is quick analysis of my favorite closers-in-waiting. You can use these guys as elite sources for holds or handcuffs to unstable closers. We’ll do the NL today and the AL tomorrow.

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I am a huge San Francisco Giants fan. However, if you have followed my work prior to joining Rotographs, you know I hate Gregor Blanco. I will explain further. Read the rest of this entry »