Welcome back, Razzball friends!
After a brief break during the All Star pause, we’re back on track for the second half. Who is getting the playing time? Who has the green light on the basepaths? Who is the best team to run against? Who sells seashells by the seashore when you can just go down there by the water and pick them up yourself for free?
All good questions, and some that I will attempt to answer today.
One shortened name that shouldn’t need much of an introduction is CJ Abrams.
Mr. Paul Christopher Abrams might confuse you a bit when you attempt to decipher the short form, but ‘Christopher Junior’ has been anything but junior in the stolen base circuit the past couple of weeks.
One of the key pieces coming back to Washington in the Juan Soto trade, Abrams is finally starting to settle into his starting shortstop gig with the Nationals. The 6th overall pick of the 2019 draft is slashing .254/.301/.418 this season, but more importantly he has begun to flash that 80-grade speed tool.
Over the last 15 days, CJ Abrams led the league with 8 SB in 8 attempts. Not too bad if you’re looking for success rates. Even better, Abrams posted a two week triple slash of .410/.465/.615. If you’re looking for speed and some hot schmotato to go along with it, Abrams might be your guy. Have a look on the FA list to see if he was dumped by an impatient owner, (89% owned in Fantrax mixed leagues), or maybe see if you can piece together a trade offer if you need an MI that is primed to have a productive second half. He’s got a season total of 17/2 (SB/CS).
Nice to see Washington has someone that is running (insert Victor Robles hate here).
But…How does this affect the team totals? (as of Tuesday morning)
| TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | STOLEN BASES | CAUGHT STEALING | +/-
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rays | 97 | 114 | 30 | – |
| Reds | 95 | 113 | 25 | – |
| Athletics | 96 | 96 | 19 | – |
| Diamondbacks | 94 | 94 | 14 | +1 |
| Pirates | 94 | 82 | 30 | -1 |
| Royals | 95 | 81 | 25 | N/R |
| Brewers | 94 | 76 | 20 | N/R |
| Guardians | 94 | 75 | 19 | +3 |
| Braves | 92 | 74 | 12 | N/R |
| Mets | 93 | 74 | 7 | N/R |
| Phillies | 93 | 74 | 14 | N/R |
A quick check-in on some of the teams from our chart…
Cincinnati Reds
- Again with the Reds. I can’t leave them out while they’re moving on up, though! The new Big Red Machine has been burning along for a few weeks now. They’ve managed to pump out 113 stolen bases and will overtake the Rays next week if things keep on chugging. The biggest boost to the team? I don’t think I need to tell you, but Elly De La Cruz has 7 SB in the last 15 days. Jake Fraley had 3 SB over the same span.
New York Mets
- The Mets are a new addition to our list here this week. Special thanks to the white-hot Francisco Lindor (4 SB) and Starling Marte’s 3 SB for pumping up the Mets’ numbers the last two weeks.
Some other info from the last 15 days
- San Diego dropped to the bottom from a lofty spot (5th) two weeks ago. They’re technically tied with the bottom group at 74 SB.
- Alex Call helped the Nationals with 3 SB, but Washington still has yet to crack our top 10.
- Andres Gimenez continues to put up counting stats, (4 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB over the past 15 days), despite doing so with a not-so-desirable .212 BA.
And, finally, the teams you’ll want to stream against for the next 7 days. This is the ‘cream of the crap’, so to speak.
Should we be worried about these catchers?
| TEAM | OPP. SB% | NEXT 7 GAMES | PRIMARY CATCHER | CS% (CS/ATTEMPTS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodgers | 87.0 | @BAL/@TEX/BAL | Will Smith | .148 (9/61) |
| Pirates | 86.4 | CLE/@LAA/@SD | Austin Hedges | .154 (8/52) |
| Marlins | 85.7 | @STL/COL | Nick Fortes | .145 (8/55) |
| Rays | 85.5 | @TEX/BAL | Francisco Mejia | .100 (4/40) |
| Nationals | 85.1 | @CHC/SF/COL | Keibert Ruiz | .140 (12/86) |
Notes about our less than stellar backstops?
- There are some new teams here in the bunk pile of CS%. Tampa and Washington replace LAA and NYM.
- The real news in Pittsburgh is the call-up of Endy Rodriguez. Endy’s defense is ‘major league ready’, and his bat is catching up. Pun relatively unintended. This should at least push Austin Hedges to the bench more often, and give Endy a chance to fix up those poor team CS% stats.
- As with a lot of these teams, it’s a ‘pick your poison’ thing with the catchers. In Tampa, Christian Bethancourt, (.186 – 8/43), has been just as bad as Francisco Mejia.
We’ll finish with the profile of the week. In these, I’ll reference the Hittertron SB$ value here just so you can see what kind of roto-dollars the guy is projected to earn over the next 7 days.
Just a reminder that you can have full access to all of this, along with Streamonator and Relievonator (and more) with our 2023 Razzball Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions.
Liover Peguero – PIT – SS : SB$ – $0.3 (tied for 39th SS in SB$)
I was tempted to run a bit with Travis Jankowski here, but I settled on going with a rookie call-up instead.
The next question was should it be Zack Gelof or another new face?
Well, in a moment of sadness and pining for Oneil Cruz’s return, we’re headed to Pittsburgh for a Liover Peguero breakdown.
Peguero is not the kind of kid you want to dump your FAAB wallet for, or even drop a serviceable major leaguer to secure in redraft leagues. There’s already been questions as to where Peguero plays when Cruz returns…but that won’t be until August 10th at the very earliest.
Could Peguero hit enough to hold down the SS job until then? Could he be an asset in leagues where you need an SB boost?
Ya, I hope my Liover is ready too. Let’s check it out.
Peguero’s scouting tools grade out as average to above average.
The 50-grade contact tool was on display in 318 PA at AA this year, as Liover posted a respectable 18.2 K%. Peguero even flashed the 55-grade power with 11 HR in that same span. A brief AAA stop, (30 PA), yielded much of the same results (lower K%, 2 HR).
The speed is there. In 2021 and 2022, Peguero stole 28 bases in each minor league season. He was at 21 SB in the minors this year before his recall.
At a projected 0.3 SB$, Peguero is tied with names like Zach Neto, Joey Wendle, and Luis Rengifo for the week.
As I said before, I wouldn’t sell the farm for Liover, but if you have a need for speed or an empty MI spot that needs to be filled while you wait for the return of someone with more experience, (eg. Oneil Cruz, Jazz Chisholm, Trevor Story), there are worse darts to throw than the one at Liover Peguero.
That’s all, Razzfolks! If you have any ideas of players that you want a deeper look at, drop them in the comments. As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, you can always catch me here or @MarmosDad on Twitter. Good luck with your SAGNOF plays this week!
