Tag: The Foundation

Trade: The Foundation | Marshall Law

The Foundation trades away
2021 1st Round Pick

Marshall Law trades away
LF/CF/RF Jesse Winker ($5, cost controlled)

BAILEY’S THOUGHTS

I’d definitely rather have Jesse Winker (26 years old, .362 career wOBA) than a draft pick a year from now. But I also feel like you can probably trade the pick four months from now and get more for it than you could trading Winker four months from now, since the buying team in that scenario will probably think a 26 year old doesn’t fit their contention window several years into the future. The only obstacle for Winker is playing time but he’s so cheap that it almost doesn’t matter. I would’ve probably paid more than just one future 1st, so good deal for Jordan I guess.

I assume Marshall got pumped the White Sox signed Luis Robert and will have him on the opening day roster, making Winker expendable. That seems fine to me. Steamer projects Robert to score a whopping 12.9 more points than Winker in 2020, although both projections currently assume those guys aren’t getting full time playing time. Robert’s projection should go up, although Winker still projects better on a Pt/PA basis. But shut up nerd, none of that matters because the goal is to play fantasy baseball and not Spread Sheet Supervisor™.

HUSTLE’S TOXIC $0.02

Jesse Winker has eligibility at each OF spot and currently I see only Nimmo, Betts, and Peralta as decent OFers on Marshall’s team with not the most exciting UT options. I guess Robert signing the contract is a good 4th OF to have, but the position situation for Marshall Law isn’t so deep to give away Winker for a pick. The Foundation seems poised to regress from last year, which will make the pick more valuable than it would be this year, but having the 6-9th pick vs having a good cheap OF now seems questionable. It’s a risky move, and I think I agree with Bailey that I would just rather have the sure thing now. In a daily league like DG, the sporadic playing time isn’t that much of an issue, and good hitters generally find a spot eventually. I do like draft picks and prospects, but on Marshall’s team under it’s current construction, Winker helps his team significantly more this year than a pick, unless the pick is packaged for a player better than Winker, which surely in the outcomes. For Jordan, getting Winker greatly increases his OF depth at each spot, so it seems like a no brainer. Jordan outsourcing his picks is also a no brainer. You don’t even need a brain to make a good trade.

Happy New Year

Trade: TBD | Marshall Law

Marshall Law trades away
Marsh, Brandon($0 Prospect)
2021 Draft Pick, Round 3 (We Talk Fantasy Sports)
2020 Draft Pick, Round 1 (Marshall Law)
Lynch, Daniel ($0 Prospect)

TBD trades away
Altuve, Jose ($67)
2021 Draft Pick, Round 4 (The Foundation)

 

Hustle’s Toxic $.02

Trade actually seems pretty good for Marshall I think.  Jose Altuve is expensive, but not THAT expensive like some guys are, and he’s the top 2bman in the game, and somehow still in his 20s. He should be elite for a couple years and at currently one of the more scarce positions. TBD has certainly rebuilt their farm in a few trades. Brandon Marsh, former HLR legend, is someone I like but probably not anything too special. He gets Jayson Werth comps, so that would be his upside.  Lynch is certainly one of the better SP prospects and they get the 5th overall pick too, which probably nets them someone pretty decent.   I kinda think I would have punted someone besides Altuve for prospects, but I’m not intimately familiar with TBD’s roster salary-wise and how much they needed to cut. That’s someone else’s job.

Marshall got a lot of prospects and then traded a bunch away (still having many good ones) to compete for 2020 and has lapped many teams who have yet to make playoffs.  I rank Marshall’s team close to 6 in my  Power Ranking (full rankings available to Hustle Media subscribers), which is a good spot to be in heading into 2020.

BAILEY’S THOUGHTS

Congrats to Marshall on the acquisition of 2019 World Series Runner-Up Jose Altuve and another future shitpick. From the perspective of acquiring fantasy baseball points for your fantasy baseball team, I think this is a great deal for you. All adding 2019 World Series Runner-Up Jose Altuve cost here was two fringe prospects, a meaningless 2021 draft pick, and most of all… the fifth overall pick this year and your choice of CJ Abrams or Riley Greene. Oh man. I know who I’d choose.

Trade: The Process | The Foundation

The Foundation trades away

The Process trades away

  • 2B/LF Shed Long ($0)

BAILEY’s Thoughts

The Foundation lost Andrew McCutchen fairly early last season to injury and still, against all odds and logic, made the playoffs. So up against budget constraints this year, he seems like an okay guy to just chalk up as unnecessary and punt. And that’s what this is. A punt trade. Cutch got dumped off for a cheap, fringe prospect that should get lots of PAs next year as the Mariners continue their sink to the bottom. Shed Long is likely a bench hitter in this league without the hassle of throwing a dart at Neil Walker or Freddy Galvis at auction. McCutchen is undervalued because of age and salary, so as we often see, this isn’t a fair fantasy baseball trade (McCutchen was pacing for his third consecutive 900+ point season and fetched a fringe top-200 fantasy prospect, yay) so much as the shuffling around of fictitious units of “salary.”

For The Process, this has to be the blueprint for 2020+, right? If you tank for years to amass cheap assets and don’t eventually supplement those guys with reliable points-scorers like Cutch (bankable veteran on a high salary), then it’s not much of a process, is it? It’s just… trying to have a cheap team to no real end. So I like this for The Process. If you’ve got $200-$250 of budget room open and aren’t scouring teams for hand-outs like this, you’re basically waving the white flag already. If Cutch is healthy, he’ll be good and make this team better. He’ll also probably be $60 or so after greed but, again, who cares? You’re paying these player salaries in pretend currency and they’re all one-year deals (or not even that; if The Process struggles, he can pretty easily flip Cutch in-season for something comparable or probably better than Shed Long, right?). Ultimately the name of the game is scoring the most fantasy points (🤯) and Cutch, if fully healthy, is fairly assured of getting you 900 or more of them. To put that in perspective, with the juiciest of juiced balls in 2019, there were still only 53 hitters with 900+ points.

Good trade for both teams, especially The Process for trying to win now.

HUSTLE’S TOXIC $0.02

Bailey wrote a novel about this before I could get a chance to get my bearings, but trade ultimately Seems Fine (TM).  I guess I like Shed Long a bit more than Bailey, and if he continues to lead off, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had a better season than McCutchen.  I like McCutchen to score more and easily consider him a better player, but at a $54 price difference, one of these two pieces is obviously a better value. That being said, both teams did what they needed to do, Jordan cut budget for a lesser player with value upside and Ferns added some stability to his team.  I think it’s a buyer’s market right now, and a lot of teams haven’t been capitalizing on it yet.  Welcome to the offseason Ferns and Jordan!

FAAB Pick Up of the Month: July 2019

Congratulations are in order!

The Commissioners Office of Dynasty Grinders is pleased to announce the FAAB Pick Up of the Month for July 2019: Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants!

Crawford, who went for $4 of otherwise worthless FAAB, amassed an astounding 56.3 points in a single day. It was a thin schedule day, making this streaming effort all the more amazing. Wow. Stunning. Congratulations to Mr. Crawford!

When pressed for the details behind this FAAB addition, Capital City Ironmen general manager Andrew Bailey said, “I can’t take all the credit. I couldn’t have done it without my spreadsheet. I have a complicated algorithm that really favors players in doubleheaders at Coors Field, especially when they have the platoon advantage against terrible pitchers.”

Travis d’Arnaud, who put up 49 points in a single game, was named the runner-up for this award. Better luck next month, Mr. d’Arnaud, and congratulations to Josh Leavitt and Long Ball to LF for having the month’s second best FAAB pick-up. 🤷‍♂️

Prospects Lucius Fox, who was picked up for $1 on July 13 by The Foundation, and Parker Meadows, scooped up by Trust the Process for $0 on July 12, failed to receive any votes for this coveted award. Both players are turds.

Trade: TBD | The Foundation

TBD trades away

  • Chirinos, Robinson

The Foundation trades away

  • 2020 Draft Pick, Round 2 (Hustle Loyalty Respect)
  • 2021 Draft Pick, Round 4 (The Foundation)

Haddy’s Thoughts

The Foundation needed catching help badly, and gets a guy who will produce at or about replacement level rates but plays quite a bit for a catcher.  Chirinos is currently 8th in PAs this year.  His production is mediocre, but he’ll pop a big game from time to time.  His redeeming value is that he plays, and in a lineup that turns over.

TBD has Gary Sanchez and James McCann, making Chirinos expendable.  At 35, Chirinos likely doesn’t have a long future left and TBD nailed down a couple future assets that they will flip for something else down the road, either as a pick or a prospect they draft and cultivate.  With the 2020 #2 pick likely being somewhere in the 24-25 range, TBD should be able to find a nice player the rest of missed.

I like this trade for both sides as a need for future value play.

Trade Block Review: The Foundation

The Foundation is offering:

BAILEY’s Thoughts

The Foundation, pushing for a playoff spot, has realized the value of addition by subtraction and has listed Steven Matz on the trade block accordingly. I imagine the goal here is to trick someone into trading for this human home run machine, perhaps using shady and underhanded tactics.

What can Matz add to your fantasy team: well, salary, for one. He’s also still just 28, so you can fool yourself into believing he still has upside. And let’s be honest: if he’s cut this offseason, he’s going to go for $45 at auction anyway because there won’t be any starting pitchers available at auction while there will be nine teams who need five pitchers each. Someone will definitely gamble $45 that Matz has been converted back to a starter by then. I mean, Matt Harvey was kept at $34. The league-wide desire for pitching has gone well beyond just desperation. So by trading for Matz now, you can meet your awful pitcher quota early instead of bothering with the auction. Trade an asset, free up a future Saturday!

As for Jordan specifically, well, if he’d simply read the trade block post directly above him, he’d know precisely who to offer Matz to:

That’s right. HLR is desperate to acquire a streaming reliever. While Matz is considerably worse than any free agent relief pitcher out there, still, there could be a match here. Would HLR take on Matz in exchange for a coveted 5th round pick? There’s no telling.

Overall, this trade block sucks and The Foundation should be embarrassed to have posted it.

FINAL TRADE BLOCK GRADE: D-

Trade: The Foundation | Who’s Your Haddy?

The Foundation trades away

  • 2020 Draft Pick, Round 4 (Who’s Your Haddy?)
  • Montas, Frankie $5
  • Waters, Drew (prospect)

Who’s Your Haddy? trades away

  • Sale, Chris $94

Jordan’s Thoughts

I mean its Chris Sale. He used April for Spring Training, and now he’s a top 5 pitcher again. Frankie Montas got caught doping, he won’t pitch again this year, at least in a Dynasty Grinders season window. For $5, based on his performance gain, Montas is a huge piece of this trade. He’s hard to lose. But, anytime with PEDs, there’s just a ton of questions that cloud the value.

Perhaps he comes back next season and he’s a top 10 pitcher at essentially no cost. Perhaps he comes back and he’s average. Who knows. He had value, but no longer had value to me for this year where I’m trying to win. Easy for me to move away from.

Being in the 6th spot in a 6 team playoff format, this kind of trade helps me hang on. Once you’re in the playoffs, in our head to head format, pitchers like Chris Sale can swing a playoff week for you. Who knows? He could help me make a run.

For Haddy’s, selling Sale makes enough sense. I’m guessing when he shopped Sale around he was hoping for a stronger market. Getting back Montas is fine. Drew Waters is a FV55 center fielder who in double-A is crushing the ball. His 152 wRC+ over 80 games trends well for the 20-year-old. Waters has been climbing prospect charts for a while now and shows no real signs of slowing down.

Overall, I love this trade for myself. Losing Montas and Waters is easily worth the gamble to hold on and solidify myself for a playoff run. Even if I miss the playoffs, Sale is keepable at whatever price tag. He’s just that consistently good.

BAILEY’s Thoughts

A lot of what I wrote about the Verlander trade applies here and I don’t want to go heavy negative again twice.

So having said that, predictably, yes, I like this for Jordan. When this deal first went down, I sort of assumed it’d be tough for Jordan to keep Chris Sale at $99 — but he’s probably gonna cost around $110 when all is said and done — but that’s not true. Andrew McCutchen coming off injury at $54 is an easy cut. Jose Quintana, who went for an inflated auction lack-of-pitching price and will be $60, is an easy cut. That right there is $114, which is Sale’s max value. Anyone in their right mind is trading McCutchen/Quintana for Sale, so sure. Obviously that doesn’t include raises, greed, or cost control arbitration, but it’s close enough to where Jordan can move around lesser, meaningless pieces and make it work. Like, you don’t keep a $28 Yasiel Puig if it means losing Sale. Ditto a $68 Corey Seager. So yeah, great deal for 2019 Jordan and beyond.

For Haddy, I’ll stay positive: I love Drew Waters. I picked him up last year and think he’s going to be really good. The Braves future outfield looks stacked. The 4th round pick is… literally nothing. I can’t be positive there.

The best part of this trade is Frankie Montas, who will be $7 pre-greed and while he’s risky, at least we’ve seen flashes of excellence at the major league level. Montas is the type of piece missing from so many of these rebuild deals, where teams seem hell bent on picks and prospects and blind to actual major league talent.

This year Montas pitched to a brilliant 2.90 FIP and 3.38 xFIP over 90 innings. And contrary to what Jordan wrote, I don’t feel like the PEDs are a big red flag over his performance. He added a splitter to his repertoire this year, giving him a fourth pitch, and it worked out great for him. PEDs won’t change that. In fact, for Haddy, the suspension is pretty great. He just gets to sit and rest his arm for three months. Yay.

To me, at 202 career IP and now that he’s got this new pitch, Montas is essentially still a prospect. He’s only 26 and pitchers take time. But unlike any other pitching prospect on a Top 100 list, he’s done stuff at the majors. There’s a track record here. He’s not a total dart throw. So for Haddy, I like the main piece coming back being one of immediate, somewhat proven fantasy relevance.

Trade: The Foundation | Marshall Law

The Foundation trades away

  • Cashner, Andrew $1

Marshall Law trades away

  • 2020 Draft Pick, Round 3 (Beach Bum🏝😎)
  • 2021 Draft Pick, Round 5 (Marshall Law)

Jordan’s Thoughts

I’m not above reviewing my own trades. Andrew Cashner has been ridiculously good over the last 60 days to the tune of being a 30 point per start starter for the Baltimore Orioles. Any starting pitcher under $10 to keep is worth keeping.

So why do this trade? Well at the time I needed roster spots, Had 12 other starting pitchers and its Andrew Cashner. He’s over performing his outcomes and has a history of getting hot before cooling off. I held onto him for two months and almost cut him a few times, but never really needed or wanted to start him in a fantasy week, even though I should have.

For Ryan this trade makes sense. Two low draft picks aren’t a ton of value for a starting pitcher. Cashner has value as your 6-7th guy even beyond this year. You don’t want a staff full of Cashners, but having one makes sense when the cost is nominal.

BAILEY’s Thoughts

I’m not surprised that Jordan was able to find a trade partner for Andrew Cashner quicker than he was for Steven Matz. Relievers just aren’t that valuable in this league.

Trade: The Foundation | Hustle Loyalty Respect

The Foundation trades away

  • Anderson, Ian (prospect)
  • 2020 Draft Pick, Round 1 (The Foundation)

Hustle Loyalty Respect🏃🤝✊trades away

  • 2020 Draft Pick, Round 2 (Hustle Loyalty Respect🏃🤝✊)
  • Syndergaard, Noah $86
  • Ward, Thad (prospect)

Jordan’s Thoughts

Currently The Foundation is sitting in 6th place after losing back to back weeks. At 8-5, the time is now to start spending pieces to move all in. Syndergaard helps a rotation that is currently being led by Ryu and Quintana.  He pairs well with Chris Sale who was acquired at the same time.

Noah Syndergaard has been less great this year than in the past. His strikeouts are down, and he’s generating more fly balls which are leaving ball parks at an all time rate. However, despite the downward trend, he’s still been a 32 point per start pitcher who gets deep into games and still has the stuff and projections that can push him into a keepable $86 pitcher. It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow, but a decision that can be worried about later. Acquiring Thor was about winning right now.

Thad Ward was thrown into the deal, and he’s worth ignoring.

Ian Anderson is currently in double-A for the Atlanta Braves and he’s striking everyone out. He’s walking a lot of dudes too though and that will hold back his potential debut for some time. He’s really good, former number 3 overall MLB draft pick, and currently the 33rd best prospect on the board. There’s real potential that Ian Anderson is pitching this year, but likely he’s on track for 2020. He’s a useful, available soon pitching prospect, assuming he doesn’t blow out his arm.

I love the deal for myself. Anytime you can turn future tickets into a win now move to win actual real money. You just have to do it. Jonny had been shopping Thor for months and for whatever reason, the market depressed itself to the point where the swap for the younger shiny toy at a cheaper cost just made sense. Hopefully, Thor is the swing man that helps The Foundation topple over the Hustlers.

Hustle’s TOXIC $.02

I got bored so I decided to rebuild. I think Thor is good, but would be impossible for me to keep.  I kinda thought I have the pitching depth to make this move, but maybe I don’t. Time will tell. If Thor gets injured, I don’t get half this return, probably in the offseason as well.  Jordan scoring the lowest points in the league the week before triggered him into making some trades, so I felt like this was a now or never time to trade Thor. Never was certainly a viable option, just ride him out and cut him in the offseason or trade him very little.  It was a risk, so be it.

I hope that the trade relationship I built with Jordan by giving him a top level pitcher will benefit me in the future like it has for Elton. Do I put a “/s”?  Is it implied?  Who knows?

I’m probably keeping close to $500 worth of players this offseason even without Thor, so locking in some upside pitchers who are close to the majors has been a plan of mine. Hoping 1 of Pearson, Manning, Anderson, or Deivi become a very valuable pitcher that I can build around.  If 2 or more hit, even better.

Hopefully Jordan loses some games to make that first round pick more valuable, but with his schedule altering, seems doubtful.

A Bundle of Braves.

THE FOUNDATION trades:                                     

2B- Ozzie Albies                                      

RP- Justus Sheffield (AAA)                                           

2020 2nd round pick 

ORGANIZED CHAOS trades:

SP- Frankie Montas

LF- Kyle Schwarber

2020 4th round pick

Yesterday I commented on how diffiult it was to review my own trade. Today, I again tried to ask, “why would he do that,” and see both sides of the deal, but it was easier to form a solid opinion on this  deal. 

The Foundation – Jordan does this deal to get  Frankie Montas, who has been very productive this year averaging 33.2 points per game. He will step in as The Foundation’s best pitcher when Hyun-Jin Ryu finds his way back to the injured list.  I personally don’t think Montas has the talent to maintain this level of play, but Im wrong about players all the time. His numbers suggest there may be some regression coming, but nothing that Jordan will lose sleep over. Even with some regression, Montas should be an above average starting pitcher and a good acquistion to the  Foundation. 

The Foundation also adds Kyle Schwarber. The numbers on the back of Schwarber’s baseball card are kind of ugly. He also has a history of sitting against lefthanders. With all that said, a decent eye and the power he is known for has carried him to a 5.15ppg average making him a decent LF option for the Foundation, who just lost LF Andrew McCutchen for the year. His $36 price tag puts him on the cut bubble, but Jordan can worry about that later.  

ORGANZIED CHAOS- Why would he do this? It’s either Ozzie Albies, or the desire to own the enitre Braves infield. Im not sure which Ozzie Albies Coach Swinson is actually getting here. Is it the man-child from the first half of last year, or the kid who is hitting .259/.318/.403 for the year?  Grinders member Keith Lott of We Talk Fantasy Sports has a pretty strong opinion of Albies  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” data-wplink-url-error=”true”>here. Im not that quick to write off  a 22 year old with a once rated 70 hit tool but Im not sure he does enough other things to be the true fantasy star some people believe he still could be. 

Chaos gets Justus Sheffield in the deal. I truely ask “why did he do that?” Sheffield has a devestating slider, but not much after that.  He’s a top 100 prospect, in mulitlpe locations, but without significant improvement I cant see him having alot of  success unless it’s in relief. Im afraid this might be a case of Coach Swinson trusting the lists, without additional homework. 

Chaos got a 2nd rounder for a 4th rounder in this deal. It helps balance things a little. 

SO WHO WON THE DEAL? 

Jordan preaches winning now, and traded Albies’ potential (whatever it may be), for an above average starting pitcher and a useful LF. Coach gets a young 2B, and almost a monopoly of the Atlanta infield.  Anyway I fernslice it, I prefer The Foundation’s side by a good bit.