QUICK HITS
The Tout Wars Draft and Hold slow draft started yesterday. It’s 15 teams, 50-man rosters, using OBP instead of batting average. Vlad Sedler won last year. If you’d like to follow the picks click here. They’re in Round 6 as I get ready to send this.
Donovan Solano, Twins: Has signed a one-year deal with the Twins, to serve as a utility man. He's one of those guys who never costs much but hits for enough batting average to have value as a reserve fill-in type. MEH
Lance McCullers, the oft-injured curveball specialist, is going to miss the start of Houston’s season. That opens up an opportunity for Hunter Brown.
Hunter Brown, Astros: Great stuff and improving control/command make him a potential ace down the road. Right now he can't crack the Astros rotation (Ed. Note: I wrote this yesterday) so he'll be innings-limited until someone gets hurt (Ed. Note: McCullers). And cheaper (Ed. Note: Now maybe not) than he should be. PICK
I wrote this story for The Athletic’s baseball magazine in early December. They wanted a fun play on the Picks and Pans approach. Then the magazine came out and the article wasn’t in it. Seems there was a space crunch. They said they would run it on the site, but didn’t respond last week when I pointed out it needed updating. Today it appeared, or maybe it was last week, apparently unedited. They’ve fixed the outdated stuff now, and I think it’s kind of fun. The commenters disagree. PAN
Most of the comments in the article have been in the Rotoman’s Sheet for weeks. This one is particularly dumb and yet makes the point, I think:
Lars Nootbaar, Cardinals: He’s no baby ruth, but it isn’t nutty to think we’ve yet to see the best he has to offer. Go ahead and snicker, or toot his role (leadoff vs. righties?), he has mounds more potential than nougat. A PICK to chew on.
Tim McLeod’s Closer Report at Baseball 361 has been updated. Check out that committee in Phoenix!
Aaron Ashby, Brewers: An inflamed shoulder has him out until mid-May, assuming he gets better. He has an amazing curve and throws hard, making him hard to hit with plenty of strikeouts and ground balls. What he hasn't been able to do is go deep into games, which led last year to lots of games in which he was pulled in the fourth inning. Inflammation isn't going to improve that situation. He's a solid pitcher, but a frustrating one for fantasy purposes. And that's when he's healthy. PAN
Joe Ryan, Twins: There's talk that he's revamped his slider in the offseason and added a split changeup, too. He was a popular choice to breakout last year and for the most part he came through, though with limited innings he wasn't ace-like. He was very successful with his high fastball even though it doesn't have elite velocity, but his other offerings lagged. Could these new pitches be the next step? I have no idea, and he’ll be pricey. MEH
I wrote this yesterday after Luke Voit signed with the Brewers:
Luke Voit, Brewers: NRI. Seems like a precarious place for a bid here. I'm cutting him in half because it is hard to see a road to success in Milwaukee. PAN
But looking at it more closely, Voit actually is the best of the three Brew Crew DH/1B guys hitting lefties. He’s also been better than Tellez against righties, but Winker bests both of them that way. So maybe Voit and Tellez against lefties and Voit and Winker against righties. Except both Voit and Tellez were terrible against lefties last year. As was Winker. So, here’s a new edit:
Luke Voit, Brewers: NRI. He and Rowdy Tellez and Jesse Winker were all terrible against lefties last year, but Voit has the best history of success against them. So there will be playing time. His elevated strikeout rate the last two years is an extra burden, and he hasn’t shown the big power since 2020, but if he’s served up for cheap in NL only leagues he could be helpful on a deep squad that can afford the BA hit. MEH
Mike Soroka, Braves: Now he has a hamstring pull, keeping him from stretching out those cyber Achilles heels and likely delaying the start of his season. The logic is/was that he has ace-like potential for a bargain price, but there are no bargains stuck in the training room. MEH
PATTONANDCO.COM
For those of us who’ve been playing the game a long time there is a mellow wonder in conversations like this (I left the screen names off because I didn’t ask permission, but if you sign up (free) you’ll find this conversation in the Reports From the Trenches thread):
And, of course, paid annual Rotoman’s Guide subscribers get a complimentary subscription over at Pattonandco.com, too. Sign up there and let me know so I can turn it on.
Feel free to reminisce in the comments, if you like.
Sincerely,
Here’s the link to the Rotoman Sheet. After the paywall.
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