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Please see our player page for Graham Pauley to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.

Happy Opening Week! I couldn’t be happier to finally be writing about actual games that are happening after a long offseason of drafting. Well, I could be happier if Jared Jones and Shane McClanahan weren’t injured, but gotta keep moving forward, no? As we settle into the beginning of the season, this week we’ll check […]

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It’s the halfway mark to Memorial Day! Yay! I’m trying to figure out my grill situation this year. On the one hand, I feel the primal desire to burn meat, smash it in my fists, and shove it in my face. On the other hand…I dunno, that first reason was really compelling. ENYWHEY. Baseball. The perfect companion to grilling and shoving meat in your face. Let’s see if I’ve got some helpers for your team below. 

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It’s tricky business reacting to spring training outcomes. Veterans are working on their game, treating reps like practice, while youngsters and journeymen are striving to make a good impression. That doesn’t negate all the outcomes, of course, but I feel a little silly reading sentences about how a player looks based on a week of half-games, and I feel even sillier writing them. Nonetheless, playing time is up for grabs, and small samples or not, guys are proving themselves worthy (or unworthy) of season-opening opportunities, so we can’t just play ostrich and ignore the new realities revealing themselves. 

If you’ve been around a while, you know I’m not crazy about Brayan Rocchio. SS Angel Martinez is my preferred pick among Cleveland’s options at shortstop, and he’s in a heavenly rhythm right now, batting .529 with two homers and a triple. Rocchio is hitting .118. Both players have 19 plate appearances. Would be a pretty big upset in the echo chamber if Martinez claims the gig, but I doubt the Guardians see it that way. Here’s a link to a story by Jesus Cano on mlb.com that details the changes Martinez made heading into 2024. 

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76. Reds RHP Chase Petty | 20 | AA | 2024

The 26th overall pick in 2021, Petty enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, recording a 1.73 ERA in 68 innings across two levels where he was younger than his competitors by 3.1 years and 4.3 years on average. At 6 ‘1” 190 lbs, Petty features a wipeout slider and demonstrates an aptitude for spin that portends well for his year-over-year development.

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1. SS Jackson Merrill | 20 | AA | 2024 

Supreme contact skills from the left side give Merrill a fantastic base from which to develop his game over the next decade. He struck out just 62 times in 114 games across two levels last year, posting a 111 wRC+ in High-A and a 104 in Double-A despite being 4.3 years younger than the league average age. He’ll open in Triple-A and could look ready for the majors in April. There’s a chance the club trades Ha-Seong Kim and/or Jake Cronenworth this winter and opens an early avenue for Merrill.

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I finally saw the Mario movie last night, which my family could do because I subscribed to Peacock to watch seven innings of the Futures Game, so . . . good work on that one, MLB. 

In other good-move news: Rays 1B Curtis Mead is in the majors today. We’d be short-sighted to assume he’s going to play regularly going forward, but the team needs a spark, and Mead’s all-fields approach and excellent plate skills (12.8-to-14.7 percent walk-to-strikeout rate) give the club another tough out in a solid lineup. 

Mead went for $6 in the CBS AL-Only Analysts League. I have zero dollars and could’ve really used him but feel pretty good about landing a $0 Davis Schneider. I’m in first place and trying to win a second-straight championship there but have been dealt a series of body blows these past few weeks. Josh Bell and Jake Burger got traded out from under me. I also have Tyler Wells and Taj Bradley on that team. Not a recipe for success in an Only: losing four key pieces in the same week. With the two free roster spots, I added Red Sox 3B Luis Urias and Royals LHP Cole Ragans for zero dollars. I was a bit surprised they were free, but it’s late, and there were a ton of guys to bid on in that run. I really like Ragans, though. Great get for the Royals in the Aroldis Chapman trade. 

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