Paul Sauberer is one of the original Fantistics Analysts. Paul is a diehard fantasy baseball fan with political aspirations. Paul's earliest baseball memories are of the expansion Senators in the 1960s and his father buying him an entire box of 1969 Topps baseball cards. The Senators are no longer and the cards are definitely no longer in mint condition, but Paul's love of baseball continues. He transferred allegiance to the Orioles after the Senators left town and enjoyed the glorious times of the Birds in the 1970s. During that time, he also discovered table top baseball games (before "Rotisserie" meant anything outside of something to do with food) and that has led to decades of crunching numbers and following major league performances. Paul reacquainted himself with the Senators, now the Texas Rangers, while going to college in Texas and remains a Rangers' fan today, even after living on Long Island for 14 years with his wife and two children. Paul knows his baseball!
Justin Turner- 3B- LAN- Idea- Turner has a chance to exploit some reverse splits in today's game. His slash line against RH pitching is .316/.384/.532. Jake Peavy's slash line against RH hitting is .268/.310/.414. This puts Turner in a dominant...
Avisail Garcia- OF- CHA- Idea- Garcia has a .284/.338/.379 slash line against LH pitching. C. C. Sabathia has had his problems with RH hitting this year, borne out in his .302/.360/.499 slash line against them. Garcia has an edge in...
Daniel Castro- SS- ATL- Idea- Castro has had success against LH pitching in his limited major league experience. He has a slash line of .346/.370/.538 against them in 26 ABs and hit his only homer off a southpaw. Adam Morgan...
Tucker Barnhart- C- CIN- Idea- Barnhart has a .285/.352/.392 against RH pitching. He doesn't have much power (3 homers in 158 ABs against them) but his strengths match favorably with the weaknesses of Tim Hudson. His slash line of .317/.378/.429...
Shin-Soo Choo- OF- TEX- Idea- Choo has had a solid performance against RH pitching this season, with a slash line of .285/.384/.503 against them. He has slugged 14 homers in 302 ABs against them. That's the same number that Jesse...
Logan Forsythe- 2B- TB- Idea- Forsythe has a slash line of .311/.386/.636 with 9 homers in 132 ABs against LH pitching. He will be facing 39-year-old Randy Wolf who in his brief major league experience this season has posted a...
Adonis Garcia- OF- ATL- Idea- Garcia has hit 4 homers in 28 ABs against LH pitching. Chris Narveson has allowed 4 homers to RH hitters in 10 IP. In this collision of extreme but small sample sizes Garcia has a...
Franklin Gutierrez- OF- SEA- Idea- John Danks was tagged for 7 runs in 5 IP Sunday against Seattle. He faces them again today. Gutierrez has a slash line of .333/.372/.625 with 5 homers in 72 ABs against LH pitching. This...
Jean Segura- SS- MIL- Idea- Segura has hit .303 against LH pitching this season, going against a career trend of having reverse splits. He also has not suffered on a pro rata basis in the steal department when facing southpaws,...
Preston Tucker- OF- HOU- Idea- Although Alfredo Simon has performed well against RH hitting; lefthanders have smacked him around to the tune of a .303/.366/.540 slash line. Tucker has posted a slash line of .280/.342/.544 against RH pitching. This makes...
Odubel Herrera- OF- PHI- Idea- Herrera has performed well as a Rule V pick, particularly against RH pitching. He has a slash line of .291/.323/.435 against them. Veteran James Shields has had some struggles against LH hitting, with a slash...
Logan Forsythe- 2B- TB- Idea- Forsythe has broken out this season. Although his AVG and OBP have been slightly better against RH pitching his power numbers are significantly better against southpaws, as evidenced by a slash line of .273/.360/.586. Wade...
Ah, trading deadline time. Jake Diekman- RP- PHI- Trade- The Rangers' bullpen ranks 29th in the Rangers in OPS allowed. Diekman will probably become a key part of the attempt to correct those shortcomings. Although he has an ERA of...
Jorge Soler- OF- CHN- Idea- Soler doesn't have a great slash line against RH pitching at .257/.298/.411. However, he has hit all 5 of his homers against them and the Cubs will be facing Jerome Williams. Williams has a slash...
Jonathan Schoop- 2B- BAL- Idea- Schoop has been hot since coming back from the DL. Before last night's 2-for-4 performance he had a slash line against RH pitching of .324/.361/.735 and had hit 4 homers in 34 ABs against them....
Adeiny Hechavarria- SS- MIA- Idea- Hechavarria gets to face a LH pitcher in Fenway Park today. He has posted a slash line of .350/.409/.533 against them with 6 extra base hits in 66 PAs. Wade Miley has a slash line...
Ben Paulsen- 1B- COL- Idea- The Rockies will face Tim Hudson today. He turns 40 on July 14th. He carries a slash line this year of .279/.359/.406 against LH hitting. Paulsen's slash line against RH pitching is .293/.363/.565 and all...
Chris Colabello- OF- TOR- Idea- Colabello has a fantastic slash line against LH pitching (.406/.457/.750.) So why are we talking about him when RH Chris Tillman is starting against the Jays? First, it's Tillman's reverse splits, with a .279/.370/.544 slash...
Ezequiel Carrera- OF- TOR- Idea- Carrera has put up decent but far from spectacular numbers against RH pitching with a slash line of .275/.338/.348 and 2 steals in 81 PAs (after topping 40 steals in each of the last 2...
Delmon Young- OF- BAL- Idea- Young has been tough on LH pitching this season, although he hasn't hit a homer against them. His slash line of .356/.370/378 gives a solid chance at some hits against C. C. Sabathia, who has...
Neil Walker- 2B- PIT- Idea- Walker has a .277/.330/.424 slash line against RH pitching, with all of his homers coming against them. With Kevin Correia making his 2015 major league debut against Pittsburgh this is a favorable matchup for Walker....
Kole Calhoun- OF- LAA- Idea- Calhoun has hit RH pitching better than lefties, with a slash line of .265/.304/.401. Nathan Eovaldi has had a lot of trouble against LH hitting this season, with a slash line of .375/.435/.510. He has...
Nick Hundley- C- COL- Idea- Colorado will be facing Jerome Williams, who has allowed a higher SLG against RH hitters over the course of his career. This year he has had trouble against them across the board, with a slash...
Daniel Murphy- 2B- NYN- Idea- Murphy took a slash line of .283/.336/.433 against RHP. The Mets are facing Jerome Williams, who has a slash line of .307/.366/.43 against LH hitting. Murphy is a good bet to extend his 5-game hitting...
Brett Gardner- OF- NYA- Idea- Gardner has had success against RH pitching this season, with a slash line of .304/.379/.424. The Yankees will be facing Colby Lewis, who has a slash line of .282/.356/.470 against LH hitters over his career....
Adam Lind- 1B- MIL- Idea- Julio Teheran has had difficulties against LH hitters this season, with a slash line of .400/.500/.646. Lind has made himself prime trade bait in Milwaukee with a revival. He is particularly tough on RHP, with...
Tim Lincecum- P- SF- Cold- Lincecum exhibited wildness yesterday, walking 5 in 4.2 IP. Only 53 of his 99 pitches were strikes. Lincecum allowed 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 4. He looked more like the pitcher he...
Chris Heston- P- SF- FYI- Coming from a team that rode Tim Lincecum's arm very hard for too long, seeing Chris Heston toss a complete game made me take a look at his pitch count. Heston did throw 111 pitches...
Jimmy Paredes- OF- BAL- Idea- Paredes carried a slash line .327/.339/.600 against righthanded pitching into last night's game. In 3 PAs against righthanders he hit a homer and walked twice. Today the Yankees will send Adam Warren and his slash...
Joc Pederson- OF- LAN- Idea- Pederson's rookie season has started off with a bang. At home against right-handers he has hit (in an admittedly small sample size) .300 with 3 homers and 10 walks in 40 PAs. At a price...
Devon Travis- 2B- TOR- Idea- Travis has been very hot in his rookie season. Against southpaws he has posted a .364/.417/1.000 slash line. This is despite a .250 BABIP. Last season Drew Smyly had a slash line of .262/.322/.441 and...
Dexter Fowler- OF- CHN- Idea- Fowler has yet to get a hit off a southpaw in 2015, but he added two more against righthanded pitching yesterday. The Cubs are facing A. J. Burnett, who had a slash line of .244/.368/.417...
Stephen Vogt- C- OAK- Idea- Vogt has a good chance to keep his hot start going against Roberto Hernandez (the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona.) Hernandez had a slash line of .246/.358/.387 and FIP of 5.65 against lefthanders last...
Mike Fiers- P- MIL- FYI- Watching Fiers Friday night prompted some thoughts. His velocity ranged from 91 mph down to 71. He also had very strong control, with 59 of his 89 pitches strikes and only allowing one walk in...
Steve Pearce- 1B- BAL- Stats- In his breakout season of 2014, Pearce feasted on lefthanders, putting up a slash line of .327/.405/.704 against them. In addition he went .329/.416/.600 in Camden Yards. Today the Orioles have their home opener against...
Notes from the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues... Down the homestretch With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, some positional battles are becoming clearer. For the Rangers the main unsettled spots are left field, left handed reliever, and...