Baseball Prospectus - Chat with Mark Barry

Chat: Mark Barry

Welcome to Baseball Prospectus' Friday June 28, 2019 1:00 PM ET chat session with Mark Barry.

Mark Barry is an author on Baseball Prospectus' fantasy team.

Mark Barry: Hello everybody. Fired up for a chat today. Let's do this.

Len (Sunshine): Starting to worry about German Marquez? Your article last week sold me on him, but now I'm concerned. Dealt Brendan McKay for him and now I regret it.

Mark Barry: Not really, although there's always legit concern about anybody that makes home starts in Coors.

Just for fun: Marquez 2018 through 6/30 - 17 starts, 5.14 ERA, 93 k/35 bb in 91 innings; Marquez 2019 through 6/28 - 18 starts, 4.29 ERA, 113 k/26 bb in 115 1/3 innings

Dave Nilsson (Australia): Finding it laborious to trawl through MILB pages to track how a minor league player is performing (especially hard for pitchers when probable starts are fluid). Is there a tool/website where you can flag select minor league players and it will email you their boxscore results after each appearance?

Mark Barry: I haven't heard of anything like this, but it sure sounds efficient.

Chansen8895 (Santa Clara ): What should we make or Victor Robles’ performance to date? I guess I might have expected much more speed.

Mark Barry: He's striking out more than I would like, but I think the speed component is really being stunted by his spot in the lineup. There's still room to grow, for sure though, so I'm not panicking.

Dan (Chicago): Can Marco Luciano be this season’s Wander Franco - jump up in the rankings?

Mark Barry: What, you think .324/.465/.706 in Rookie League is good or something? Oh boy.

I don't know if I'd go as far as Franco, who is arguably the best prospect in baseball right now, but he'll shoot up boards, for sure.

Colin (NY): Marco Luciano/Kristian Robinson - Biggest Upside of guys in low minors?

Mark Barry: Doubling up on Luciano, he's exciting, for sure. With Robinson, he's such a freaky athlete, if he starts making a little more contact, he's another one that has star potential.

Elton (Pacific NorthWest): I'm no longer competing for this year despite having a .500 record. The only player I have that is interesting is Mike Moustakas. What should I get for him?

Mark Barry: Moose has been low-key awesome this year, so you're going to want to be patient cashing in on him, especially with that 2nd base eligibility. I'd target a top-30ish prospect or two top 100 SPs (I like trying to spread out the SP prospect risk). But for sure, aim high.

sportsguy21792 (madison): Happy Friday Mark...how will the Marlins break the starting pitching logjam once Caleb Smith comes back? Who heads back to New Orleans?

Mark Barry: Happy Friday!

For a bad team, there aren't many rotations that I find more enjoyable than the Marlins. In addition to Smith coming back, I also really like Pablo Lopez, who should be back soon as well. If I had to guess, I'd think Elieser Hernandez and Zac Gallen probably go back down, even though they've been pretty good. I wouldn't expect Alcantara to be back in New Orleans unless he goes in the tank or they want to limit his innings.

Rickey H. (Vegas): NL only with deep rosters. I need one more good SP and have been offered Thor and Dom Smith for Harper. Would be a no brainier if Smith were going to be close to a full time player but I probably have to accept once Thor is activated, right? Thanks.

Mark Barry: You're probably asking the wrong guy, because I'm Team Bryce all the way. You hit the nail on the head about Smith's playing time and it isn't like this is the first time Thor's flirted with injuries. I'm keeping Harper, or at least holding out for a better offer/2nd piece.

Mark (Denver): In a keep forever dynasty, 18 teams with 7x7 scoring (5x5 + XBH & OBP), who would you rather have: Marcell Ozuna or Giancarlo Stanton?

Mark Barry: It's still Stanton, for me, but I did stop to think about it for a second, which is annoying commentary on all of Stanton's injuries.

sportsguy21792 (madison): How do you evaluate the Brewer moves yesterday? Kneejerk reaction to a bad stretch or long past due?

Mark Barry: Long past due. Gimme ALL of the Hiura, ALL of the time.

Bailey (Maryland): I'm having trouble in my dynasty league. I don't really know what I'm doing. Which side are you taking Ozuna/Thor/Hunter Dozier or Trevor Story? 16 team points league where steals don't count.

Mark Barry: If steals don't count, that drastically lower's Story's value. He's a capital S Stud, but without the stolen base aspect, I'm taking the trio.

psmdbp (Midwest): Which 2 of these would be the best 2nd half SP to add? Stripling, Lopez, Canning, Heaney, Gallen, Luzardo

Mark Barry: Man, I kinda like all of those guys. In the short term, I'm scooping up Stripling and Gallen, but I think Gallen may not be long for the rotation when the Marlins other guys get back, and I'm awfully interested in Luzardo in about a month.

sportsguy21792 (madison): Was looking into trading for Blake Snell in my scoresheet league before he hit the skids. Is he broken?

Mark Barry: Nope, he's probably fine. Something was floating around on Twitter today, forgive me for not crediting - almost every one of his peripherals is better or at least comparable to last season, save for a .357 BABIP and below average strand rate.

He's got a 3.48 DRA and is striking out basically everyone still. I'm buying, if anything. But at least if you're selling, don't do it at a discount.

Jordan (South Dakota): I'm 11th in points in my league but currently in the playoffs and went on vacation. My life in two words? Seems Fine How's your day going Mark?

Mark Barry: That's called "Living Right".

I'm wonderful. Chatting with you lovely folks, rocking my Rapinoe jersey and waiting to watch this Women's World Cup game that should be bonkers. Life is good.

Enjoy the vacation!

Paul (Des Moines): I fell in love with LeClerc last year. Is it time to cut him loose? His manager hinted that he'd get the job back but I haven't heard anything about that for a month or so.

Mark Barry: Ugh. LeClerc is pretty infuriating. You watch him pitch and can't believe anyone can get a hit off of him, then you watch a little longer and he walks like three dudes in a row and you can't believe you got suckered in.

Seems like he's pretty clearly the best guy in that pen, so it's almost as if they're willing him to take the role back. He's still getting plenty of K's, even if it's with fewer whiffs. It's just those pesky homers. I'd expect those HR/FB numbers to come back to earth and will set the O/U date on him returning to the 9th inning at, let's say, July 19th.

Tynan (Tacoma, WA): In an NL-only league that scores OBP and SLG instead of AVG, is it time to cut bait on Yadier Molina and Buster Posey in favor of waiver guys like Kurt Suzuki, Tyler Flowers, or Brian McCann?

Mark Barry: I'm facing a similar Posey question in a couple of leagues. I know injuries are involved, neither have really hit for *any* power. In the OBP/SLG format, especially in redraft, I'm cool with moving on, as crazy as that feels to say.

Stringer (Baltimore): Dynasty Q: Votto, Eaton, Kahnle, Vargas (plus Bo Naylor, Erik swanson, and Will Banfield) for LeMahieu (and Andrew Vaughn). I need a 2B and the larger collection of players are riding my bench. Fair or massive overpay?

Mark Barry: If the man comin', make ready for the man.

I would've said it was a *slight* overpay if Vaughn weren't involved. He's the best prospect in the deal by a significant margin, so if you're in the market for 2B I think this is a pretty solid move.

Mark Barry: Gonna wrap up for today. Enjoy the weekend! Enjoy the 4th! Enjoy baseball, you know, and other stuff!