SAGNOF info is the best way to get a leg up on the SAGNOF trade. (I challenged myself to use that anagram twice in the same sentence.) Challenge accomplished, and in the first line too! Wish I had longer arms than those baby T-Rex arms because the pats on the back wouldn’t stop. As I continue the back lauding, the week upcoming is a bear market in steals. The year is mimicking the previous year’s steals downward trend, as it is down almost 8% of the pace from last years total to date. So if you have a valuable piece of steals bait that isn’t doing so great, let’s say his name is “Billy Hamilton” and you are having trouble getting ample trade value for him… read this post so it can be explained that despite his sub-200 average and lower than expected 5 steals to date, he still has stolen base value. Yes, you are going to have to trade for 75 cents on the dollar, but explain this to someone looking for steals and are down on Billy that he is still top-20 in steals and with that 5 steals total, he would be at 20% of most teams total steals on the year in fantasy. That number obviously changes by league type and such, and I took an average of all the leagues I myself compete in (median is 31). So while I sit here and let you either figure out how to sell high or buy low on Billy Hamilton, continue the read and learn about the steals that will come, have happened, and the week’s thievery to be. Cheers!
Charts galore! As if we weren’t a full service info system of quadratic formulas already, now the SAGNOF pertinent steals info is all right in front of you. Catchers, Pitchers and teams that are either stealing, being stolen on and who will steal against them in the next week.
| Name | SB | CS |
|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Lucroy | 18 | 8 |
| Jorge Alfaro | 16 | 4 |
| Robinson Chirinos | 16 | 2 |
| Russell Martin | 16 | 6 |
| Tucker Barnhart | 15 | 7 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 14 | 4 |
| Austin Hedges | 13 | 4 |
| Omar Narvaez | 13 | 9 |
| Nick Hundley | 12 | 1 |
| James McCann | 12 | 5 |
| Willson Contreras | 11 | 4 |
| A.J. Ellis | 11 | 2 |
| Chris Iannetta | 11 | 2 |
| Brian McCann | 11 | 2 |
| Kurt Suzuki | 11 | 0 |
- Oakland facing the go-go Stros, and Yanks this week are a great buy-low on anyone who is available for SB’s. Maxwell or Lucroy behind the plate… it doesn’t even matter.
- Amazingly enough, the Mets don’t have a catcher in the top-15 because well no one has enough appearances to have a huge counting number. Give it time, the Mets are the best team to steal against.
- With Yadi on the DL for St. Louis now may be the time to take advantage of the usually tight stolen bases given up Cardinals. Only 7 steals against them as teams don’t run normally. Now is a different story.
| Name | SB’s | SB Opps | OBPa |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bryan Mitchell | 10 | 64 | .422 |
| Steven Matz | 8 | 37 | .304 |
| Danny Barnes | 7 | 29 | .375 |
| Kenley Jansen | 7 | 26 | .322 |
| Trevor Cahill | 6 | 25 | .256 |
| Brandon Finnegan | 6 | 38 | .412 |
| Aaron Nola | 6 | 51 | .251 |
| Noah Syndergaard | 6 | 51 | .301 |
| Dellin Betances | 5 | 20 | .355 |
| Dylan Bundy | 5 | 71 | .324 |
| Jaime Garcia | 5 | 43 | .376 |
| Lucas Giolito | 5 | 56 | .374 |
| Matthew Boyd | 5 | 50 | .290 |
- Three relievers with 1/3 of the innings pitched are getting abused on the basepaths. All three of Betances, Barnes, and Jansen are spending way too much time in the wind-up, and for that, teams are taking the extra effort to take the bag.
- Matthew Boyd just got destroyed by the Royals for 4 bags on Sunday. Not completely his fault as I think the actor from Entourage was the catcher… no not turtle.
- Pick on Giolito and Bundy this week as they draw two-starts against middle of the pack teams in steals.
| Team | SB’s Against | Week’s opponents (Team Steals) |
|---|---|---|
| Mets | 31 | @Cin (15), @Phi (16) |
| A’s | 26 | vs. Hou (11), @NYY (13) |
| Padres | 26 | vs. Was (34), vs. STL (17) |
| Phillies | 24 | vs SF (16), vs. NYM (14) |
| Reds | 22 | vs. NYM (14), @LAD (11) |
| Giants | 22 | @Phi(16), @Pit (14) |
| White Sox | 21 | vs. Pit (14), @CHC (6) |
| Blue Jays | 21 | vs. Sea (22), vs. Bos (17) |
| Dodgers | 20 | vs. Ari (22), vs. Cin (15 ) |
| Braves | 18 | @TB (21), @Mia (8) |
Whit Merrifield – Three yesterday and 6-in-his-last-13. I said this two weeks ago when he wasn’t batting lead-off, than started hitting lead-off that he would be a boon to your fantasy roster, hopefully you all listened.
Yolmer Sanchez – Everyday at bats are the SAGNOF kitten’s mittens. Getting on base at a .375 clip over his last 10 games won’t hurt either. Stream him against the Cubs later in the week.
Alen Hanson – Getting a ton of reps at second and stealing bases like he was projected to do when he was a nice speed prospect with the Pirates. Struggles against lefties which is bad as the NL West boasts the most. If you are struggling at MI and need a streamer, it is either him or Daniel Robertson.
Teoscar Hernandez – If he hit for a higher average, he would be in the same conversation as Blackmon or Pollack. But he doesn’t so he is more of a SAGNOF flyer. Anthony Alford getting promoted hurts Granderson more than him.
Bud Norris – Fell down and broke his crown and Jordan Hicks came tumbling after. Tyler Lyons is also in the water cooler talk as is what’s his face that makes 14 million doll hairs a year.
Ryan Dull – Everyone likes a cuff side piece for the week. Dull is it for me. Six straight scoreless appearances and K’ing at a great rate to boot. Treinen has looked just okay, and Santiago Casilla is still Santiago freaking Casilla.
