Episode 013: Fantasy Baseball Joe Pisapia
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Episode 013: Fantasy Baseball Joe Pisapia

Fantasy Baseball, Podcast

Episode 013: Fantasy Baseball Joe Pisapia

Episode 013: The Fantasy Coach Podcast

Fantasy Baseball Edition: All Star Break Special

Featuring Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) Fantasy Black Book

About My Guest: Joe Pisapia is the author of the #1 Best Selling Fantasy Baseball book in the Kindle store three years running, and is launching his new Fantasy Football series this season called The Fantasy Football Black Book 2014 Edition. He is also the co-host, with Dan Strafford, of The Fantasy Black Book Show on SiriusXM Fantasy Channel from 10 PM to 1 AM every Saturday night.

Episode Summary: Joe and I talk about some of the most important story lines in fantasy baseball at the All Star Break. We cover everything from players we expect big second halves from to former Cy-Young winners we may want to stay away from. This episode is loaded with excellent fantasy takes as well as examining why some players may be struggling this year because of things that happened last year.

Episode Breakdown:

Intro
We get to know Joe and talk about his show on Sirius XM as well get into some of the ways RPV can help fantasy sports players.
Players Discussed: Cliff Lee, Shelby Miller, Andrew McCutchen, Andrew Cashner, and many, many more.
The Coach’s Office: Will Eric Hosmer be a top 10 first baseman in the second half? Will Tim Lincecum keep up his recent form? Can I drop Shelby Miller for Jake Odorizzi or Kevin Gausman? Who should I trade away: Jared Weaver or Jake Shields?
Waiver Wire Adds for the second half of the fantasy baseball season
Outro

You can Download this episode as well as the previous three on Itunes and Stitcher Radio.

Thank Yous For Episode 013: I want to thank my buddy, Joe Pisapia, for coming on the podcast and sharing his fantasy baseball knowledge with me, and especially with my audience. I would also like to thank C-Quel for providing the intro music as well as the outro beat. You can Find all of C-Quel’s current music available here.

Evan Longoria Injured

Well another season and another nagging injury for Evan Longoria. This time it’s plantar factitious that has felled the power hitting third baseman of the Tampa Bay Rays. If you drafted Longoria you probably had a back up plan in mind all along, but if you didn’t don’t go looking for any rusty knives just yet, I promise we can get through this.

Where do we start?

First let’s look at our own bench.

Do we have any guys that picked up 3B eligibility while we weren’t looking?

Edwin Encarnacion recently became 3B eligible in Yahoo leagues and you may have never noticed. If so lucky you, plug him in over there and quickly go grab Adam Lind or Eric Hosmer and you’re set for a few weeks.

How about Matt Carpenter? Has he been scoring you runs at 2B and keeping guys that are starting to heat up on the bench? Well slide him over to 3B and plug in the rejuvenated Rickie Weeks and roll with it for a while.

If you’re like me and traded away your insurance policy already, then we are going to need to look at the waiver wire.

1) Anthony Rendon- The kid has played like top draft pick he is after his second call up to the bigs and is still only owned in 37% of Yahoo Leagues. His 2B eligibility may pay dividends down the line as you can move him around your infield.

2) Jose Iglesias- For a player that was supposed to be all glove and no bat he sure as hell looks to be the real deal. His hits aren’t exactly laser show quality, but you can get a nice batting average bump while he’s hot. It won’t last forever, but it may help for a few weeks.

3) Chris Johnson- Another guy that will really only help with one category as he is still hitting over .320. His power numbers won’t help much, but if the Braves lineup starts hitting a little more he could get a nice bump.

4-5) Trevor Plouffe and Mike Moustakas- Plouffe and Moustakas were late round guys that were looking to take the next step towards big time major leaguer this year. Plouffe has been injured and has been in and out of the line-up, but when he has been available he looks to have a lot of fantasy upside. His swing has a lot of power potential and if the middle of the Twins lineup continues to hit he could pick up nice RBI numbers. Moustakas has been a head ache most of the year and has only recently looked to be making strides. His average has creeped up above the .210 mark and he has been driving the ball better. He finally homered yesterday after not doing so in forever. His runs and RBI’s have been missing though because of the struggles of everyone else in the Royals line-up. He could have a huge second half and be a nice utility player for you when Longoria recovers.

6) Some names coming off the DL soon that could be nice backups to Longoria the rest of the year are Jedd Gyorko and Brett Lawrie. Gyorko has shown he is major league ready before injuring his groin and is valuable with his 2B-3B eligibility. Lawrie has been injury plagued as well as ineffective to start the year, and some confidence in the minors may be just what the doctor ordered.

For deeper leagues I would look to Alberto Callaspo and Matt Dominguez to fill in for a short time. Maybe even Lonnie Chisenhall if he gets the AB’s.

Fantasy Baseball Retreads

Garbage Picking

When I was growing up all the kids in the neighborhood couldn’t wait until bulk garbage day. We would jump on our bikes and circle the streets looking for a find. There were streets that didn’t even get a first look either because of the enormous effort it took to pedal up the hill or because of trash that even the dump was embarrassed to have. Other streets were treasure troves that you literally had to be the first to scope out. Weight sets, Bicycles, crossbows, (that’s right I know someone that got a cross-bow from the trash) and even entire baseball card collections would be put to the curb.

I was a big collector even at an early age and would search for old pennants, baseball cards, and any and all sports memorabilia. I once got an entire Ebbets field collection from a neighbor who’s wife decided to clean out the garage while he went fishing. She tossed score books from both the 47 and 55 world series and even a Duke Snider signed Brooklyn Dodgers hat. I couldn’t wait to of course ruin it by playing actual baseball in it. I can still remember wondering how these people could throw out such useful stuff. Some of these things like the exercise equipment still had the price-tags on them.

My mind still works the same way when I stare at the waiver wire in my leagues. Owners hate to be reminded of their bad decisions and having one burn a hole in your bench is tough thing to deal with. Its the same as seeing your clean laundry hanging off of that Body By Jake workout contraption. I look at Rickie Weeks and think of how proud the owner was on draft day thinking he had a 20/20 second-baseman who he could pencil in week in and week out. Mike Moustakas catches the corner of my eye as I scan over the names on the waiver wire and I think of how that GM took the strategy of waiting on a third-baseman and thinking he got 25-30 homers with nice RBI potential way late int he draft. Then there is the young duo of Eric Hosmer and Brandon Belt. Owners thought they were going to get some sneaky steals along with power that eventually had to break out. It had to be this year didn’t it. I mean Hosmer was a top draft pick with big time power prospects and Belt tore up Spring training pitching this year.

Well it’s June 26th and most if not all of these guys are on the waiver wire. I can still see the price-tags, just like on the exercise equipment I used to see on bulk day. Their price tags may read mid round draft pick, but now they are sitting there for free. If you are in a league that starts a middle-infield position or corner-infield position I would really look to pick up all these guys. Just because they were someone else’s trash doesn’t mean they cant be your treasure.

Weeks has put in a ton of time just working on his hitting mechanics and it is paying off. Rickie Weeks over the last 30 days is hitting .393 with a .1228 OPS and 5 homers. That’s in only 56 AB’s as he is in a short term platoon with Scooter Gennett at the moment. Do you really think Scooter and his .220 BA is going to keep Weeks on the bench going forward? I thought not. I would even play Weeks in my utility slot while this hot streak is going. He may not be stealing bases like he has in the past, but with Hart out indefinitely, A-Ram possibly on the move, and Braun’s status very much unclear, Weeks could be a huge part of the middle of this line-up.

All I heard the first month is” Moustakas is going to hit.” It sounded like Herman Edwards giving his support to a shaky kicker. I was still buying in on Moustakas in my deeper leagues until it felt like I was buying a stock of a company that was being looted. The 0 fors piled up and the homers all but disappeared. Well here we are in late June and Moustakas has begun to show signs he may come out of it. Over the last two weeks he is hitting .343 and even starting to get his doubles. The doubles always come first, and then the homers should start to flow.(at least I hope) I noticed this early in the year when Kyle Seager was battling to get out of his early season slump. He had some multi-hit games with a bunch of doubles and before you knew it he was back at respectability. Moustakas is a guy I would jump on if I was hurting at a corner infield spot.

Brandon Belt obviously has a love/hate relationship with Bruce Bochy. One night he looks to be back to being a big part of the line-up batting sixth and the next he is batting eighth behind Andres Torres. Belt has hit .340 over the last two weeks and even contributed a stolen base. The only problem is he is being jerked around constantly and that can be a huge headache for any owner. I like Belt a lot, but until Bochy actually recommits to him. Prop 8 has been shot down as I write this so maybe Bochy can finally step up to the plate. I am steering clear for the time being unless its an NL only league and in those he is already owned.

Eric Hosmer is really turning a corner. I wasn’t a believer when his batting average started to tick up because the power was just not there. Well his stroke is now producing extra base hits and his legs are stealing bases. Over the last two weeks Hosmer is hitting .294 with a .927 OPS and 3 HR’s and 3 SB’s. The power and speed combo is what attracted everyone to Hosmer in the first place, so with it finally showing up its time to think about him again. I’m buying Hosmer in almost all deeper formats. I don’t think he deserves a roster spot yet in 10 team leagues that don’t start a corner infielder or utility, but another week of this and I’m buying there as well.

Grab your bikes (or smart phones) and go scour your neighborhood (waiver-wire) for your trash treasure.

Waiver Wire Pick Ups: Trade Pieces or Trash?

When going through a long season of fantasy baseball you inevitably will receive bad trade offers. Some trade offers are more offensive than others. None more so than when someone offers you a recent waiver wire pickup as a key piece in a trade. There are exceptions to this rule (big time prospects like Yasiel Puig and Wil Myers, or guys who were prematurely dropped such as Jason Heyward or Josh Hamilton), but most of the time you will be offered names like Jedd Lowrie and James Loney. (Sigh!)

I feel like sites should have built-in controls where GMs can’t offer waiver pick ups with out a two week waiting period. Maybe a little disclaimer next to the players name that says he was picked up on this date. Like a freshness label on a bottle of beer. It would be like a little scarlet letter that would eventually wear off after certain amount of time. This would relieve a lot of aggravation as well as help inexperienced GMs save a little face.

While two weeks might be a nice start, the real waiting period for seeing if a waiver pick up is truly a trade asset is right around six weeks. The six week sample size is enough to weed out the occasional hot stretch for a veteran hitter and soft schedule for a pitcher. For example Vernon Wells started out on fire (.300 6 HR and .910 OPS in April) and was widely picked up in 12 and 14 team leagues after week 2. He has since gone back to his late career ways (hitting around .230 and popping out constantly) and can be seen on your local waiver wires. While experienced fantasy baseball players knew this was just a streaking player other GMs actually tried to capitalize on his hot start and offer him in trades around their leagues.

The subsequent message board and social media ridicule after a bad trade is offered should be enough to discourage naive GMs, but some seem to be immune to these tactics. They plug away week after week picking up the Jhoulys Chacins and Ricky Nolascos of the fantasy baseball world and think they can turn them into Cole Hamels and Doug Fisters through trades. God bless their tiny little brains and their efforts, but something has to be done.

I try to chalk it up to naivete or ignorance, but stupidity shouldn’t be ruled out. The topper of these bad offers was recently brought up during a Twitter conversation with @fantasytrade411, when he was venting about a GM actually offering him someone he had just dropped! I can’t say this has ever happened to me, but if I did receive an offer for one of my cast offs a day after dropping him my eyebrows may jump clear off my forehead.

Even with prized prospects I don’t generally offer them in trades until they have played at least a few weeks in the bigs. I don’t want to burn any bridges with other GMs if the prospect doesn’t at least stay in the bigs for an extended showing. Plus I would rather know if I am in possession of a stud before I sell a player. With rookies the six week waiting period would be ideal. You need four to six weeks to see if the league makes adjustments to the player or if the player is able to make adjustments to the league. (Didi Gregorius a perfect example) Jackie Bradley Jr. had many GMs jumping the gun when he got off to a fast start with the Red Sox in April after he surprisingly made the big club out of spring training. If you were unlucky enough to trade for him, chalk it up to a lesson learned.

You can never sell too high for a recent call up, and Puig is a perfect example. His value couldn’t be higher right now and selling is a must. I recently made a trade that netted me Chris Davis, Desmond Jennings, Cole Hamels, and Chris Sale. My side of the trade was centered around Puig, and included Kyle Seager, Patrick Corbin, the versatile Todd Frazier, and Justin Masterson. While my haul may seem a little one sided, it is not the most I have seen traded for the Cuban phenom. I have seen dinged up stars such as Bryce Harper, Matt Kemp, and even Roto golden boy Ryan Braun sent packing for Puig. While all of these scenarios are slightly ludicrous and reactionary, you can see the value people see in Puig’s unique talents.

Veterans picked up off the waiver wire are a completely different story. Most GMs like myself will pick up and ride a streaking player, but never think about trading him because the value just wouldn’t be there. It takes a few months of a veteran playing well above his career numbers before he attains any trade value. James Loney, Jedd Lowrie, and Michael Young have all had some hot stretches, but you wouldn’t see me trying to trade for any of them. I might lose my mind completely if I get offered Matt Joyce for Jason Heyward again in my deep league.

(I need at least another month of Heyward struggles before I entertain that one.)

If I offered another GM the hot hitting Adam Lind in a trade right now, what would he be worth? He’s 29 and has hit 35 homers in a season before, but he has always been unable to consistently hit lefties. He most likely won’t be able to touch his 2009 numbers again in his career. Even though he is hitting .350 and will hit over 25 homers he would barely fetch me a light hitting Eric Hosmer in a trade right now.

The real swings in trade value come when former top prospects seem to turn a corner. They can go from waiver wire riders to trade untouchables in less than half a season. Carlos Gomez and Chris Davis flipped the switch last year, and Dominic Brown seems to have unleashed his full potential this year. Just a few weeks into the season Brown could be seen on the waiver wire, but with his unbelievable May you would be lucky to get him in a trade for Jay Bruce. Could you imagine those words being said on draft day? “I’ll trade you Jay Bruce for Dominic Brown.”

I can’t wait to see what Wil Myers will command in a trade if he goes deep in his first game with the Rays. Without even taking a swing I can already see GMs trading Rios or Cruz for him. If he gets off to a fast start it could be Beltran or Holiday. And if he even comes close to Puig’s start the sky is the limit.