Prospect Podcast: Scouting Talk With John Eshleman Of 2080

We don’t welcome many guests onto the Prospect Podcast, but for John Eshleman of 2080 we make the rare exception. If you don’t know John, he’s a professional scouting analyst for 2080 Baseball. That entails writing scouting reports, capturing video, and sharing jewels of scouting info on all levels of the minors. Today’s show was an excellent conversation about a dozen or so players, in addition to a lot of picking John’s brain about scouting. It’s one of my favorite shows to date. Enjoy! As always make sure you stop by Rotowear.com, and support our sponsor by picking up some of the freshest T-shirts out there.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 8/5
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| OAK

McNeil deGrasse Buy Son

September 14, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 243 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”292022″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Week 25″]

Jeff McNeil sounds Irish, but, to me, he’s Polish’d. He’s old, for sure — or fer sure, if you’re a millennial — and seems to have received a bad rep because he’s older. As a Cougar Hunter, I can attest that, like wine and women who attend bingo competitions at churches, prospects aren’t done at the age of 26. Sure, we’d prefer players hitting 20 homers at the age of 19 like Sexy Dr. Pepper or doing the breakdancing worm on top of their N’s like Acuña, but all prospects are not the same. You have to subtract at least two years from McNeil’s age just because he’s on the Mets and they spent that time trying to figure out how to sell tickets to a Jose Reyes/David Wright reunion on the left side of the diamond. The Reyes/Wright reunion is like if ABC reunited a sitcom and everyone loved the super sweet dad, who they thought was dead, let’s call him David Goodman, but reunited him with a piece of garbage, let’s call him Jose Roseanne. The Wright part is fine, there’s fond memories, but the Reyes’ part they can leave in the dumpster. So, McNeil took longer to tap his power, so what? He can still have four to six years of productivity, because he looks ready to go now. I’m pumped for him in 2019, but this is about this year, and I’d absolutely grab him. Dude’s got so much Polish about to call him Jeff McNeilski. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

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Bullpen Report: Venters Avenue

September 14, 2018 | Closers | 13 Comments

by: Roto-Wan

Teams with playoff aspirations are setting their bullpen roles for October. Guys like Johnny Venters have gained a ton of value in holds leagues. Who can you trust for high leverage roles? Let’s jump in and see.

With the veteran arms Oakland brought in struggling, Lou Trivino has reemerged as a daily threat to get a hold. The A’s gained faith in him through the first half. He’s back in the circle of trust with nice Ks and ratios. It helps that he pitches for a competitive team.
A rogue save went to Ryan Pressly when Roberto Osuna and Hector Rondon were unavailable. That illustrates the faith A.J. Hinch has in him. Pressly has as many holds (7) as anyone the last 30.
As a 28-year-old journeyman reliever, there were not many expectations for Richard Rodriguez coming into the season. He didn’t make the big league roster. Ray Searage saw something and turned Rodriguez into his latest reclamation project. To quote Searage on Rodriguez even demeanor, “Maybe because he’s been punched in the face so many times that he says, ‘What the hell, what do I have to lose?’” He certainly hasn’t lost the strike zone with a double-digit K/9 this season, 18 K/9 the last 14 days. When in doubt, bet on a Searage project.
Brad Ziegler has thrown his name into the HAGNOF circle. With the Diamondbacks having ninth-inning issues, he could be a SAGNOF candidate soon, too.
Apparently, the Braves also acquired a time machine in addition to Johnny Venters. He’s slotted right back into his old role in the Atlanta pen and chalking up holds at a stellar rate. You won’t get many Ks from him these days, but the ratios don’t hurt.
Your weekly update on the Cleveland closer see-saw is that Allen got a couple saves this week. I still think he’s more likely to see a hold than save, but it’s a coin flip.

Below you’ll find notable SVH performers…

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Minor League Breakout Pitchers: Low-A And Rookie-Ball

September 14, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 12 Comments

by: Geoff

It’s pretty well documented that pitching prospects are my Achilles heal. The funny thing is, I like pitching, it’s the most interesting position in all of sports in my opinion. Why? Because, there’s so much that goes into pitching development. Which is why the likelihood of development stalling, or going off the rails, is so high. Pitching is both physical and mental, and almost to an extreme. Not only does your body need to be in sync, constantly moving your momentum thru the pitch, bending and shaping your arm, torso, and lower half in ways it’s not meant to bend. You also need to think about what you’re throwing and then trying to fit that pitch into a space of about 6 square inches. The margin for error is so much smaller. Think about it, if a pitcher is successful 70% of the time, he’s not good. On the flip-side a hitter with the same success rate is a superstar. So, when we evaluate pitching we need to keep in mind that these kids are not only mastering the spin on their off-speed stuff, but also figuring out when to use it. All this to say that the learning curve is much greater with pitching prospects. This is why, when they flash poise and advanced understanding of pitching it’s something to take notice of. Below is a list of arms that broke-out in Low-A, Short-Season, and Rookie Ball.

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FanDuel: Darker The Berrios The Sweeter the W

September 14, 2018 | DFS, Fanduel | 9 Comments

by: Richardo

Friday’s back and FanDuel has us all-in with a 15-game slate. For those of you in season-long leagues, we’re in the home stretch and the grind is real! So, let’s see what FanDuel has in store for us tonight. For Jose Berrios ($8,500), its been a little up and down as of late, but sometimes in DFS, that gives us a discount in a good match-up. Berrios gets the Royals on Friday, and for me, the price is right. Nice match-up with K upside at a price that allows me to get some of the big bats in, which makes Berrios a really nice GPP play. Cash plays? We got cash plays…just keep reading.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

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I’ll Javy What Baez Is Having

September 14, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 173 Comments

by: Grey

In the biz, we call this post, In Appreciation. It’s like In Memoriam, but Jennifer Hudson isn’t singing a song and no one died. What did you just ask? Is your childhodd guinea pig alive again because I just said, ‘No one died?’ Doode, I’m saying no one died in general. No, that doesn’t mean General Tsao is alive again! Shut up! Yesterday, Javier Baez went 3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs with his 31st homer, hitting .295. That day? For this year? As the pimp told his lady of the night, ho-hum. But, five ladies and gentlemen, Javier Baez is your NL MVP if only Cubs fans vote! By the by, Baez has more 100 RBI seasons in his career than Bryce Harper. I will now drop a 140 WUT. How about we make every post the rest of the year about how much Bryce sucks? Worst 35-homer hitter in the history of baseball ever? Okay, that’s prolly Adam Dunn, but Bryce is real close for useless. When the Nats need a big hit, he Ks or walks. When the game is out of reach and no one is on? Harper’s you’re man. Okay, this is becoming about Harper instead of Baez. On the year, Baez has 31 HRs, 21 SBs, .295 and 90/100 on the runs/RBIs. On our Player Rater, he is teetering between 5th and 6th overall. For 2019, I’m having a hard time envisioning me ranking him any lower than 10th overall, and likely much closer to top five. Now, about that sucker Harper… Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Rolling In The Deep: A Little Pre-Halloween Gore And Rowdy-ness

September 13, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 9 Comments

by: Laura Holt

It’s crunch-time, readers, as we’re down to a number of 2018 major league baseball games left that we can count on our fingers and toes. If you’re still in the pennant hunt in an NL-only or AL-league, there’s probably at least one category where just a few RBI or a couple steals could affect your team’s status in terms of gaining or losing a point or two, and ultimately make a difference in your league’s final standings. This week we’ll look at hitters that could potentially help deep-leaguers with a few of those counting stats over the next two and a half weeks. Everyone on this list is less than 10% owned in CBS leagues, and while many of them are playing sporadically at best, most of them have actually been more productive than many of their shallow-league brethren lately. You never know who might hit that grand slam or steal those two bags on the second to last day of the season that put your team over the top!

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FanDuel: In A Pinch

September 13, 2018 | DFS, Fanduel |

by: cinthree

As we get into September with the expanded rosters, I do feel there are some pieces of advice that I can offer — stuff that may not be entirely obvious, or things that may be obvious but are worth being reminded of once again. Let’s take a look at some general strategy, along with some specific picks for your FanDuel tournament today.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

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Blake Snelltin’ The Stefani Out Of The AL

September 13, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 200 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”291060″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 24″]

In my Blake Snell sleeper post, my prescience was like the exact opposite of science applied by flat earthers around the world. Look out the plane window and it’s flat, but pull further back it’s round. In reverse, if you pull out for enough, you see I wrote a sleeper post for Blake Snell — great! — but if you zoom in closer you see everything I said in that post was far from accurate. Good from 30,000 feet, less from Altuve’s distance. I talked up Chris Archer and Jake Faria. Said Jose De Leon is ready! Only one I didn’t like was Nathan Eovaldi, who actually was solid. I went over how Snell could be great, but this good? Puh-leaze. Snell and his extended family didn’t think he’d be breathing down a sub-2 ERA in the middle of September. Most accurate thing I said, “At 25 years of age and in his third major league season while primed for his first full year of innings, is about the best time to get in on him figuring it out. After 2018, Snell is going to be a known top 20 starter and you’ll never get him cheap again.” And that’s me quoting me! Yesterday, Blake Snell went 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners (1 Hit), 9 Ks, ERA at 2.03. In the AL East! Actually, my ‘accurate’ quote might not be accurate enough, I should’ve said Blake Snell will be a top 5-10 starter in 2019 fantasy baseball. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

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Bear or Bull: The Annual Kevin Delivering the Bacon Festival

September 12, 2018 | Uncategorized | 8 Comments

by: Son

Kevin Bacon was a freaking machine from 1990 to 1994. Flatliners in 1990. JFK in 1991. A Few Good Men in 1992. Earth would not Pass Go until the next Bacon hit was delivered. So, any wonder why 1993 was filled with terror and strife? A devastating tsunami hit Japan, the World Trade got bombed, and we got Beanie Babies! Order was restored in 1994, though, when the Bacon was delivered with one of his finest, The Air Up There. We love you Kevin, but what we most appreciated was the consistency and stability he brought to the world. As fantasy baseballers, we love that. There’s no greater feeling than being able to Sharpie in Mike Trout for .300, 35 home runs, 100 RBI, and 30 stolen bases every season. But there’s only one Mike Trout and a few that could be in that realm of awesomeness. For the others, it’s about streaks and Kevin Kiermaier is on one right now. The funny thing is that I wrote a Bear or Bull on him at this time last season as well. Is this a case of the Christmas Island crabs migrating from the forest to the shore to breed? Or the San Juan Capistrano swallows migrating north?

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Points Leagues: Blackmon Lives Matter

September 12, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 10 Comments

by: malamoney

I considered titling this post “White Is Right“, but I thought that even though it was paying tribute to Tyler White’s emergence in points leagues over the last month it was still sure to stir the pot. Then I contemplated “Like White On Rice” where I’d talk about Tyler and Shohei Ohtani discussing fantasy baseball over dinner, but again I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. Wait a minute, who am I kidding, I love ruffling feathers. While I certainly want to talk about Tyler White, when looking at some of the most productive batters in the last three weeks Charlie Blackmon’s name appears near the top of the list. That enabled me to go with the chosen title. Just to be clear, I love everyone. Well, almost everyone.

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Draft: Nola Day

September 12, 2018 | DFS, Draft | 1 Comment

by: TroyKlauder

Aaron Nola is on an insane tear right now, with 47 strikeouts in his last 34 2/3 innings and a 2.34 ERA. While the Nationals are a tough lineup to face, it doesn’t look like Nola should have many problems, as he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season. Nola has a 2.29 ERA with a 2.52 Deserved Run Average, and even with the weak Phillies lineup, they’re favored -130 to beat Strasburg. Remember, on Wednesdays we start Nola!

New to Draft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care!

Please, blog, may I have some more?