Paul Sporer’s Baseball Chat – April 1st, 2026

Paul Sporer: Hello everyone! Thanks for coming out

Guest: With the kind of hot starts to the MLB season that many of the elite prospects are having, why shouldn’t more teams bring up their top-ranked minor leaguers?

Paul Sporer: Well this doesn’t prove anything. But also, teams are. Prospects coming up younger and younger with more and more readiness. It’s definitely happening and it will probably continue to accelerate

Dave in slc: Have an al only auction this sat. Has anyone pitcher or hotter moved significantly up or down your board?

Paul Sporer: Not that I can really think of. DeLauter’s hype is tempered by his foot, but I would be open to paying more than we did a couple weeks ago assuming no bad news on the foot. I’m not necessarily MORE confident in Kevin McG and Wetherholt based off a week but you will have to pay more now and I’m OK w/that. They were undervalued all draft season (again, I thought this even before a week of raking) and now w/the fast start, any late drafters are going to pay full freight on them

Jane: Hi Paul! Prefer Brooks Lee or Willi Castro? Can you please rank these guys for saves: Stanek, B. Baker, Leiter Jr, B. King, Alexander, and Strahm? Thank you!

Paul Sporer: Castro. Just not sure Lee has any fantasy juice. He could Gavin Lux us (6 HR+SB in 503 PA with some really empty PT. Hard to really differentiate between those 6, so I’ll just say I favor Stanek and Leiter. It’s a mixed bag on the rest

Paul Sporer: To put in context that Gavin Lux stat of 6 HR+SB, it hadn’t been done in 500+ PA since 2018 when Joe Mauer did it. And then there were 2 in each of 2014-16:
Yunel Escobar
Adeiny Hechavarría
Johnny Giavotella
Nick Markakis
Jed Lowrie
Kurt Suzuki

Day Games: blind reserve OF toss up: Friedl or Caissie

Paul Sporer: Not out on Friedl bc of his start or anything, but I’m inclined to ride the Caissie wave to see if these strikeout gains are real

Matt: I’m still waiting a week or two to make sure it makes sense to call up Painter and/or Chandler. In the meantime, you taking Will Warren vs ATH or McGreevy vs WSH this week? QS 12 team roto

Paul Sporer: I’d run Warren with better support so you might the Win net to catch you if the ratios are just meh

GettinMiggyWithIt: Jose Caballero do anything for you? If he’s hitting and stealing when Volpe comes back, can he carve out enough PT?

Paul Sporer: Definitely. SB specialists really don’t have to play daily to deliver. But you do have to get comfortable just leaving them in the lineup instead of trying to time everything.

GettinMiggyWithIt: Marlins gonna surprise this year?

Paul Sporer: If the hitting keeps up, I think so. I like their rotation a lot. Bridge to Fairbanks has been insane so far, is it real?

Fant’sy Feast: This early in the season, is it too early to be tinkering with my lineup? e.g. subbing in Vargas at CI over Contreras, or would you start the guy you invested more in? Weekly 5×5 roto here, but also asking generally

Paul Sporer: I’m stick with the studs player. Willson Contreras maybe not quite stud status, but he’s done a helluva lot more than Vargas (who I also like a lot to be clear) and I’m gonna roll with WC for a good sample before making any move. If you go too hard on that, you end chasing your tail and always putting in the hot streak on the tail end and missing the benched guy’s regression back to the mean

Lord Thunder: How did Noelvi Marte go from a promising young hitter to cut bait?

Paul Sporer: That’s the nature of prospecting. Nothing’s guaranteed. They’re still not perfect (nor will they ever be bc that’s not how this works) and sometimes things just don’t come together in the minors like we thought they could in the minors for any number of reasons. As for Noelvi, I don’t quite agree with the assessment that he’s a cut bait guy already, he’s still just 24 with fewer than 800 PA in the majors so I wouldn’t rule out a full ascent still. His bad spring and first 4 gms this yr is still just 66 PA.

Fant’sy Feast: Hey Paul, who do you like better of the wire in a league that uses QS and K/9: Roupp, Liberatore, or dark horse Mlod?

Guest: Rank the sleeper and the bust hosts by who would would last the longest in the hunger games

Paul Sporer:

1. Eno – he’s a hippie at heart, they’re resourceful outdoors
2. Justin – this is contingent on him MacGyver’ing some cigs in the wild, otherwise he drops below me day 1
3. Jason – 10 yrs ago, he’s prob #1, but the injuries have piled up
4. Joe – one person shows him in the new NFBC site in the wild and it’s over
5. me – i’m a waif, i’m so cooked

Day Games: Should you sit hitters when Denzel Clark is playing CF?

Paul Sporer: Maybe if you’re in a HR pool, he’s lookin to rob!!

Dave in slc: Al only keeper how do you rank rutchman, teel and dingler?

Paul Sporer: Rutsch-Ding-Teel

Pecorino Romano: Can I get odds on Romano as main halos closer ros? I know he’s mediocre, but so are pom and yates, and Joyce, when back, is someone they’ve held out of saves before…

Paul Sporer: 35-40% if he can stay healthy? I get adding him if you need SVs, but the confidence meter is low. At least he’s missing bats early on

Colton: I’m not hitting the panic button yet but WOOF the A’s are having a rough start at the plate… need positive thoughts for people like me who stacked their hitters on my fantasy team lol

Paul Sporer: Just wait until they get home at least!!

Insert Witty Name Here: 10 team OBP league, need a 3rd OF, Cags, Soderstrom, Renyolds or Carpenter?

Paul Sporer: Soderstrom for me.

Kevin: what kind of year are you expecting from Bryce Miller when he returns? Is there Top 30 SP upside, or has that ship sailed?

Paul Sporer: I don’t think it’s sailed, he’s still a really good pitcher IMO, but he’s not easy to trust with the persistent health issues. And they can impact his performance, too of course, bc even when he’s pitching doesn’t mean he’s 100% without a doubt

Straw: Sal Stewart or Jonathan Aranda?

Paul Sporer: Stew’s the more dynamic fantasy option

Jake: Is Kyle Manzardo any good? or no?

Paul Sporer: What kinda league?

Paul Sporer: Manzo’s a hang with ’em type in places where you’d draft him (15s and deeper). I don’t love him in H2H bc of his extreme volatility, but in roto, I only really care about the final season line. Obv I’m not gonna eat a 7 wRC+ for 5-6 wks, but I also don’t think he’ll stay down here, so nothing in these 6 games has me moving off him in spots where I deemed him worth drafting

GettinMiggyWithIt: Loved the FOMO draft! very entertaining, thanks for that. Fun to get a glimpse into your approaches and “real-life” banter. On several late picks, I heard Joe (and you and Justin) say “I hate this guy but I have to take him” … no you don’t, right?

Paul Sporer: No you’re definitely right, we do not HAAAVE to. Sometimes it feels like the value proposition becomes too good that you can’t ignore him anymore, but I really try to not take guys I truly don’t think are good even if they fall beyond ADP

Matt: I almost dropped Cam Smith after 4 days of being a bum, but after 2 days of being a king, I have changed my mind!

Paul Sporer: This is the nature of those early drops. I’m not saying don’t cut anyone, but it’s so hard to be making any decisions BECAUSE of the numbers in front of us. They’re just so flimsy. We still have WEEKS of a single game or single series being to completely flip a player’s line. It’s so annoying to hear announcers say anyone with a bad batting avg is “scuffling”. Half the time they have a 60% Hard Hit rate and a .100 BABIP and even when they have bad metrics, I just don’t think 5-6 bad games puts you in scuffling territory already

Justin Mason: I pulled a calf muscle running a victory lap on all these fools. Who has a better chance at playing again this season, me or Zach Eflin? (Is it too soon?)

Paul Sporer: Poor Zachhhhh Justin goes on the IL yearly due to 1st week victory laps, the most nauseating of victory laps bc they’re all basically DeSean Jackson dropping the ball before the end zone or Nick Young’s pre-celebrated 3 pointer that is a famous GIF now. I get the desire to be right, as someone who always is, I will admit, it is fun, but no one’s right or wrong about any players yet!! (unless you made specific 1-week predictions)

Not Joe Orrico: Who are worse: the people taking victory laps after a week or the people panicking on stars after a week?

Paul Sporer: A real shit sandwich v. diarrhea drink here but probably the latter bc they’re never right. The early victory lap dweebs can still be right, they just aren’t anywhere near being right yet. Like even if a star does end having a bad year, it is still a remarkably bad process to cut them in April. (Star in this case being like a top 5 round type player)

Day Games: 10 team 6×6.  Better option for spot start SBs … Hamilton or Nunez?  Worth dropping Durbin for either?

Paul Sporer: I like Nunez as the better overall hitter and don’t have their base stealing too far apart so go with him

Biscuit: 16 team dynasty with salary escalation. Would you try to move a $2 Lawlar for an established vet on a higher salary while he still has some ST glow? Or just wait in out. On the edge of contention at the moment.

Paul Sporer: If you believe in him, I’d hold to see if he can be part of your ascent to contention. He has dynamic skills that could make an excellent piece at $2. If you’re more tepid on him, I understand exploring trades.

Guest: Is Eovaldi pitching hurt????

Concerned citizen: level of panic for Eovaldi’s start to the season 1-10?

Paul Sporer: One moment, lemme check out what he did today, been watchin other games

Paul Sporer: Oh he just got beat up? Velo wasn’t down or anything crazy. His skills were sharp is his debut, too. I’m not saying the hits aren’t earned or anything, but he’s running a .481 BABIP and 23% HR/FB. That’s some run-bad, but I don’t see cause for concern under the hood w/velos holding and skills firm in game 1 and only a bit wobbly today (5 K, 3 BB in 4 IP w/a 15% SwStr)

Mike: Add Colt Emerson now?  Is the wait worth the value?

Paul Sporer: I need league contexts on questions like these, y’all!

Mike: Is Jordan Walker fooling us again?

Paul Sporer: Maybe but I’m here for it. He changed his approach in the offseason and is still just 24 years old, it’s just too young to say a guy is locked into something. He did eclipse 1000 PA late last year which is a big marker for me and frankly, his were bad at a 91 wRC+.

If it hadn’t been for his academy work in the offseason, I likely would’ve been fully ready to move on. His price didn’t get out of pocket based on his offseason work so I didn’t mind taking one last spin. Another flop year and I’m all the way out, though. Love the start as he’s absolutely smacking the piss outta the ball and LIFTING it! Fingers crossed that he’s ready to emerge, I’m rooting for it!

SSS: I know it’s a SSS, but ꓘurtz is making me sad. I was going to change my team name to Kurtz with 3 Ks since that’s what he’s been doing, but that’s not a good idea. Just tell me something good…

Paul Sporer: Yeah def don’t do that at all, but also, if I can be just be direct and fair – you signed up for this. This is not new, this part of his game, and it didn’t hold him back last year. 5 games is obv nowhere near enough to suggest he won’t get through it again.

Fant’sy Feast: Thanks Paul! I think the answer to the Roupp/Libz/Mlod question didn’t post

Paul Sporer: OMG I went to close the Mlod tab and I was like, wait did I answer that… and frantically scrolled to look and realized that happened

Paul Sporer: So let’s try again and close out w/that Q

Paul Sporer: Fant’sy Feast Hey Paul, who do you like better of the wire in a league that uses QS and K/9: Roupp, Liberatore, or dark horse Mlod?

Paul Sporer: Mlodzinski (pronounced Muh-jin-ski) had an electric spring that James Anderson put on my radar. I know he’s been backing him big time and he could be headed toward a career-best K9. I don’t know if he’s going to be a QS machine, though, and I’d favor Liberatore there. The Ks will be a challenge for him, though. And I don’t trust Roupp to go 6 consistently.

So it’s Libby v. Mlod for me. I think I’d take my chances on Mlod’s skills improvement (if it holds) to aid to more 6 IP outings and ultimately that would lift hi move Liberatore.

Paul Sporer: OK y’all, I gotta get head out. Sandy coming out for the shut piece btw!!

GettinMiggyWithIt: Sandy looks awesome so far. Is he back back?

Paul Sporer: Perhapssssss…. don’t wanna get over my skis, but I was so excited for him this year. Let’s check back in a couple weeks and see if he’s still cookin

Paul Sporer: Talk to y’all next week!