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Live Chat With Fantasy Baseball Expert Nicklaus Gaut
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Nicklaus Gaut
11:00
Morning, y'all!
Let's get going
Bob
11:01
Daily H2H points league with pretty standard scoring. Just lost Strider for the year and trying to scramble a rotation together. Currently have Kirby, Ragans, Rodon, Jones, Ober, Reynaldo Lopez and using my last 2 spots (currently Pfaadt and Tyler Anderson) as daily streamers trying to find good matchups. Does this seem like the right strategy?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:01
Ugg, sorry for your loss. You have the right idea - there’s obviously no way to actually replace the safety of Strider’s presence over the course of a season but in any given week you’ll have a chance to replace a chunk of his production via aggressive streaming from the backend of your staff.
11:02
Don’t get too attached to any of your lower-tier guys when power streaming, particularly as we get deeper into the season and the really bad offenses start separating themselves. But don’t just focus on bad teams overall, look at their split performances. I do plenty of content every season that focuses on finding these discrepancies between teams that are good (or average) on offense overall but are really bad vs a particular hand. It seriously happens every year - a top-10 offense will be top-5 vs RHP and bottom-10 vs LHP, etc. But also the reverse, with bad offenses being pretty good against a particular hand.
wvpirate
11:02
How do you see the Pirates catching core to be like once Grandol and Delay are healthy?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:02
It’ll depend on if Henry Davis has picked things up at the plate. If he’s still really struggling (.186/.302/.256, .265 wOBA, 30% K%) then I could see a demotion once Grandal and Delay are both back. Delay’s defense makes him more than a capable backup and they’re paying Grandal $2.5 mil - not a ton but we’re also talking about the Pirates here. If Davis is still scuffling, they’d probably rather have him figure it out by playing every day at Triple-A (where he only as 14 games at). But those are some big if’s because I believe in Davis long-term and definitely don’t believe in continued health from Grandal.
gbs42
11:02
I started Snell this week, and he got pummeled twice. He also started slowly last year, so should I bench him until he shows he's on track or roll with him again this week?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:03
I’ll try to remove my bias lol - I’ve taken a lot of shots at Snell over the years. NOT for his real-life value only for the Roto problems that come with his particular profile. We’ve only seen the best version of Snell twice, and last year was only for about half the year. His problems remain the same for typical 5x5 leagues - he doesn’t go deep, limiting his Wins potential but also devaluing his ratios due to the lower IP in every year but 2018 and 2024. And even in the best times, a 1.20 WHIP is about the ceiling, and go much worse. That puts a lot of his overall value weight on the elite K’s and (hopefully) a good ERA.
Sometimes it goes really good (see: latter half of last year), and sometimes it goes really bad (see: most every other time besides 2018). But also, “bad” is very relative - a top-40 SP is really good, just not when you’re paying Snell’s prices. It’s hard to do but I might sit him vs ARI if you have a reasonable replacement - Arizona has the 2nd-most PA vs LHP and have been smashing them: top-5 in wOBA, top-10 in wRC+, with the lowest K% (14.5%). And it doesn’t get much better after that. The Mets are 2nd in wOBA vs LHP, with a top-5 K%. Boston, though, has been middle of the pack vs LHP, with a 30% K%.
Dano
11:04
12 team H2H points league, weekly lineup settings.  I have to drop a pitcher now to get a 3B and will have to drop another when Gavin Williams is activated from IL.  I have Gilbert and Kirby that won't be dropped, but of the rest of these, who needs to go?  Bibbe, Montas, Crawford, Bello, H Greene, Lodolo, Pepiot.
Nicklaus Gaut
11:04
Pepiot then Montas
Rick
11:04
Painful to even ask this question, but for this year how would you rank these 1B?  Rizzo, Nate Lowe (who should be off IL soon), France, Busch and your favorite (LOL) Vaughn?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:04
France > Lowe > Busch >>>>> Rizzo>Vaughn
11:06
Those first three are pretty close in overall value. I loved France going into this season and he's paying off. Lowe is a very high floor/low ceiling type who's benefited by his surrounding cast - like a better Andrew Vaughn. Busch might end up outperforming Lowe but left-handed rookies tend to be a lot streakier.
Help please
11:06
Hey Nicklaus. What to do with Alex Lange. Will he ever get another save opportunity and if he does will he blow it?  Time to cut bait?  Thanks for your help.
Nicklaus Gaut
11:07
I don’t think so and probably yes lol. He’s third (at least) in the pecking order and don’t see him reclaiming the role without injuries/major blowups in front of him
Rick
11:08
I know the Cardinals were not planning on having Victor Scott II open the season as their starting CF and they will be sending him down once they get healthy, but do you see him as their future CF or is he a 4th outfielder type like Ruiz of Oakland?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:09
I think he’s better than a 4th-OF type and his defense is certainly good enough to start in the bigs. As far as the offense, I say give it time. Consistently hitting as a leftie is already super hard with youngsters and skipping Triple-A has clearly done him no favors.
outfield dregs
11:09
Who's the best of these bad choices to fill an outfield vacancy? Gavin Sheets, Lawrence Butler, Matt Vierling. Is Butler the new Joey Gallo?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:09
Easy Sheets for me
And new Gallo??? How dare you! That’s like saying there is a “new” Gandhi. There are no replacements, only pale imitations. Butler’s doing a decent imitation but he’ll need to really pick up on the whiffs if he wants to start approaching my guy Pico
Rizzo
11:09
Do I give 90 million to James Wood and bring him up?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:10
I don’t know about the 90 milly but there are few good reasons to keep Wood down. He's not only smashing at Triple-A but has really sliced his whiffs down, while upping his walk rate. Still a +25% K% kind of guy but keeping it under 30% will be a big factor in his ceiling.
DL
11:10
What's your take on Ty France? He bats 3rd or 4th in the order but doesn't seem to produce RBIs.
Nicklaus Gaut
11:11
Wrote about France some in my latest wavier wire piece over at RotoBaller - love him, don’t know why he’s still so available. Don’t sweat the lack of RBI - you keep hitting in the middle of a good order and the ribs will eventually start racking.
Word play!
LookingForSaves
11:11
Will Mason Miller be an elite closer this season?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:12
Elite by stuff, strikeouts, and ratios but probably not by Save totals - IE 20ish is still more likely than 30ish, even with Oakland’s hot start. Eventually, the magic will dip out and Miller’s SV opportunities won’t be so consistent.
Buff
11:12
NL only keeper. See anything to like in Stephen Kolek, Robert Garcia, or Reed Garrett?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:14
There's a lot to like about Garcia - generates a lot of bad contact and has elite K's in a bullpen where nothing is settled long term
Buff
11:14
11 team NL ONLY 5x5 Roto keeper. All priced at about $5.00, assume position needs roughly equal. Would you trade Jung Hoo Lee for Spencer Turnbull and Miguel Amaya?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:15
No, I'd hold Lee.
11:16
Ugg, so annoying. I don't think Hoffman (or anyone) has a definite leg up as the everyday guy. I see a lot of mixing-and-matching in their future but ultimately think Alvarado will end up with the most Saves
But that'll probably be < 15
Guest
11:17
Hoffman or Alvarado going forward? It appears Philadelphia is turning to Hoffman as their 9th inning guy.
Nicklaus Gaut
11:17
whoops, answer above
Baseball Pickers
11:17
What can I hang my hopes on that this start from Nolan Jones is a fluke?
Nicklaus Gaut
11:18
His 40% K% is backed by a puny 10.8% SwStr% that's actually down from 2024? Oh, and he'll play half of his games on the moon.
11:19
but seriously, I don't think we give enough credit (blame) to how hard it is for young hitters to go back and forth between Coors and everywhere else.
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