The White Sox invited some gray clouds when they fired Rick Renteria to bring in Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, who was treated by the media as Drunken Old School Baseball Man, for reasons almost entirely of La Russa’s own design.
But as a young Cubs fan during La Russa’s spirited (heh) reign in St. Louis, I think some of the dismissal is shortsighted. This guy put power bats in the two-hole back when it was called the two-hole because everyone thought the only logical baseball move was to put your best bunter slash worst hitter there. The second spot in the batting order was referred to as a hole when La Russa was taking criticism for using good hitters there. I know I’m being redundant, but it’s been weird to see the Twitterverse speculate the guy who oversaw the bash brothers would throw a hissy fit about bat flips. Maybe he won’t love it. Maybe he’ll say something stupid. Maybe he’ll debilitate an up-and-coming clubhouse. And maybe he hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt. But to characterize him as some groupthink fossil who’s never done a single smart thing in the game is the sort of internet sunshine of the spotless mind that gets my neurons firing. He inherits a system with immediate help at the top and not much to dream on beyond that.
Mornin'. Reckon I don't need much of intro this time around. If you're late to the game on the happenings of the MLB offseason, check out last week's
Saturday Morning Post.
Not the craziest of weeks, I'm afraid - here's what I've deemed the most fantasy-relevant of the past week or so of the baseball offseason.
Okay, okay, OKAY! Stop your giggling. So, I might've been here before, writing a similar post for the last 12 years. Well, listen, wise guy, Austin Riley is only 23 years old, so it couldn't have been 12 years unless he was a sleeper in an Esports league. By the by, is Spanish-language Esports called DEsportes? Or dEsportes? Or Esportes? Or something else? My brain hurts thinking about this. You know what else makes my brain hurt? Eating ice cream too fast and not drafting Austin Riley and I'm all out of ice cream! What? You know exactly what I'm saying! I believe it was around August 15th, about fifteen days and/or halfway through the previous season, when I said something like, "Austin Riley can't stop striking out, huh? Man and five ladies, he is bad," then I looked away and went back in October to look at some guys. Grey Looks At Some Guys coming up next, a new special brought to you by the Hallmark Channel and For Eyes. Austin Riley's strikeout rate was 30.8% in July, 29.3% in August and I wrote him off. Then, after the season, I went back and saw he had a 17.3% strikeout rate in September and I slowly looked both ways to see if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing. They weren't! Yes, it's a little goofy to break down what a hitter is doing with strikeout rates in such small samples, but last year was goofy, and we don't have a ton to go on. Plus, this is a narrative we've been waiting for with Riley. He had plate discipline in the minors after he settled into a level, and now he's finally had one full season in the majors (462 career at-bats) and the strikeouts are coming down. If that happens, well...So, what can we expect from Austin Riley for 2021 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
As I've said numerous times, one of the most important aspects of
fantasy baseball sleepers is their playing time. Sexy eh-eff stats will only get you so far if you're drafting a hitter who is in a platoon or worse, no path to at-bats. I'm making an exception for
Rowdy Tellez. His numbers are impossible to ignore. Legit hate that he's a lefty and Major League managers have a blind spot with splits. No matter what the numbers say a lefty is vs. lefties, somehow managers always use that as a reason to get a hitter a 'mental' break. This year: Rowdy Tellez hit .333 in 27 ABs vs. lefties, better than he hit vs. righties. ACKSUALLY, hitting .267 vs. righties. In 2019, it was more of the same, hitting .270 vs. lefties in 115 ABs, and .208 vs. righties in 255 ABs. Some would be concerned that Charlie Montoyo would platoon him out when facing righties, and, who knows, but that would be some Galaxy Brain shizz and doubt it happens. Speaking of Galaxy Brain shizz, why do I want to call Charlie Montoyo "Tony Montana?" It's close but not quite, so I will call him the same I call everyone I see without a mask, but making due with their clothes, Scarf-face. Any hoo! A platoon is a slight concern, but about those Rowdy Tellez numbers that are impossible to ignore, or rather: So, what can we expect from Rowdy Tellez for 2021 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Toronto signified their intent to contend by signing Hyun-Jin Ryu during the winter of 2019, and he repaid their confidence with an excellent season in 2020. The rest of their pitching decisions didn’t pan out quite so beautifully, but the offensive core of a yearly contender is growing together north of the border (well, assuming they can play north of the border sometime soon), and it’s just a matter of time before they amass enough pitching to scare the bullies that beat up the AL East year over year.
Dylan Moore is, simply put, Whit Merrifield for people who are smarter than Albert Einstein. You can hem, and you can haw, and you can even hew, but there's no getting around it. Austin Meadows is the most overrated dumpster fire that was born from a stork pooping into a grassy field, so don't even come at me with that guy, but if you want it, here goes: Dylan Moore is, simply put, Austin Meadows for people who look after wiping. You get up without looking? You're a dirty stork-dropping turd hole and you're not smart enough to see the wonderous wonder that is Dylan Moore. Dylan Moore is a young man's Lorenzo Cain. Call him Still Able Cain. You want a better metaphor? Come up with it yourself, you two-bit noodle nose! How about we put some meat on these bones? In Dylan Moore's last 151 games in the majors, he's hit 17 homers and stole 23 bases. Wanna come at me with another guy who you want to compare him to? Fine, Tommy Pham went 24/31 and is a decade (minus six years) older than Dylan Moore. But get this, Pham's Ks were going up last year and he hit .211. Moore's Ks went down and he hit .255. Whaddup, Pham?! Who else you got to compare him to? Kevin Keirmaier?! Fine, go for it with Keirmaier, who has had one healthy season in his seven-year career when he went 10/18 back in 2015. Good luck with that! You want more? Well, I want Moore! So, what can we expect from Dylan Moore for 2021 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
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Leody Taveras could've appeared in my
fantasy baseball rookies series, but I wanted to put some extra shine on him, and, honestly, no one knows what constitutes a rookie this year. Sixto Sanchez received Rookie of the Year votes, and I think he's eligible again in 2021. I say "I think" because the whole point of the last few sentences is no one knows! Right, so Leody Taveras, Wily's son, Alex's cousin, Frank's brother, Jose's uncle, Aneurys's blood brother and Samuel Clemens Taveras, the celebrated frog of Taveras County. The Taveras family -- La familiaras. Or not, I don't know if Leody is related to anyone who's played baseball before. Getting all the stuff I don't know out of the way, so here's what I do know: Last year in 119 ABs, Leody Taveras went 20/4/6/.227/8. Mr. Prorater runs into a phone booth, tipping it over, but still makes a call, telling us, "Leody was on pace for a 100/20/30/.227/40 season, and if everyone was eating stacked pancakes at the same time, it would cause an eclipse of the sun." Okay, not sure about Mr. Prorater's math on either of those accounts, but lordy Leody that was a solid month of baseball. So, what can we expect from Leody Taveras and what makes him a sleeper?
Yesterday, at my daughter’s suggestion, we drew our butts, my daughter and me, by which I mean we outlined our forms in chalk as we sat--kind of like making a hand turkey during Thanksgiving week at preschool.
It’s raining today as I write this, so our butts will soon be gone. Washed away forever.
Good thing I took some photos.
That alone makes our day drawing butts more productive than a whole week of MLB’s winter meetings, where Lowe was the high point. Very 2020.
Let’s do the prospect thing.
Welcome back, Razzballers, to the second iteration of Saturday Stove Deals, which has since been renamed The Saturday Morning Post, cuz this is comin’ to you on a Saturday morning and it’s a super original spin on The Saturday Evening Post. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Not a sleeper post I planned on writing. Jake Cronenworth already broke out, didn't he? Why is it that some guys break out and are ignored the following season, then you have other guys who break out and are overrated? This fascinates me. Something psychological about it, and I can't put my finger on it. Let me grab another guy who seemingly broke out and Jake Cronenworth, but leave you in the dark about the other guy for now, and Stamford-up a little experiment on your mind. I call this very scientific experiment: Player A vs. Jake Cronenworth. Jake Cronenworth's Hit Tool is 60 grade, Player A is 40. Jake Cronenworth's speed grade is 50, Player A is 50. Jake Cronenworth's raw power grade is 45, Player A is 50. Jake Cronenworth had a .324 xBA last year which was in the top 2% of the league, Player A had a .263 xBA. Jake Cronenworth's xSLG was .541 and top 10% of the league, Player A had a .481 and about same as Colin Moran. At worst, you'd say Jake Cronenworth and Player A were a push. At best, you'd want Jake Cronenworth. Here's the point in our program where I shock you with who Player A is. Any guesses? Want me to just tell you? You're no fun. It's Trent Grisham. Same team, not same vibes at all, apparently. Trent Grisham is going about 100 spots sooner than Jake Cronenworth in some drafts. In fact (Grey's got more!), I like Trent Grisham more than Jake Cronenworth, but should I? So, what can we expect from Jake Cronenworth for 2021 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
