There’s a saying in Arizona, “Just when you get really good at your job, your career hits a wall and a Mexican comes along and takes the job from you.” The only difference in Krispie Young‘s case is that Gerardo Parra is Venezuelan. Krispie was literally the only one hitting on one of my teams and now… I’m crying into my soup, because the soup was bland and my tears are salty. I’m resourceful. But that’s one sonavawrench thrown into my team’s plans! As of press (post? blog? this shizz?) time, details were scant and info was un-nigh and far between. The D-Backs are saying it’s a shoulder bruise, but he’s going for an MRI. Hopefully, the MRI doesn’t reveal any structural damage or structurel demega on a typewriter with keys transposed. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday for fantasy baseball:
SIKE! Before we get into today’s roundup, we have a double SIKE! First, “SIKE” is for a huge announcement we have coming later today. The second “SIKE!” is the podcast is up for download. The announcement is actually talked about a bit on the podcast. So you get a sneak peek (a sneak listen?) if you so choose to… It’s something I’m proud of that isn’t mustache related. I think you guys (4 girls) are gonna love it too. Anyway II, here’s the roundup and podcast:
Download from iTunes
Download directly the Razzball Podcast.
Justin Upton – Has no home runs and no RBIs and is batting .212. Don’t worry though, it’s only a jammed thumb he’s been nursing. Nursing a thumb? Thumb sucker! The injury to his thumb was rumored to happen when Kirk Gibson missed a meeting and a substitute coach let Justin lead a rousing game of 7-up. Little did he realize the strength of Paul Goldschmidt would injure his thumb. Upton sat yesterday and he’s going for an MRI today, too. Hey, if Diamondbacks send a pitcher for an MRI, they can get a pickup game in the waiting room! I’m sure one day of rest will fix something that’s been bothering Upton for a week. For those without the sarcasm gene — or sanscasm — I’m concerned about Upton. Too soon to panic. Sit tight. Simon didn’t say sit tight. Gotcha.
Santiago Casilla – Got the save yesterday and backing up what Bochy had said earlier about Casilla being first in line, which backs up what I said last week when I grabbed Casilla only to drop him the next day and watch Rudy pick him up. FMFBBL.
Gio Gonzalez – 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 8 Ks. Yum-yum.
Brad Lidge – Got the save yesterday as Johnson keeps Eeny Meeny Miney and Moe’ing his closers. So friggin’ stupid. HanK-Rod has a zero ERA and strikes out everyone; Lidge puts runners on every game and it gets harrowing! (Gets harrowing? It sounds like I’m writing crappy Buffy fan-fiction.)
Colby Lewis – Mr. Popular on Razzball’s 2012 expert leagues overcame a Sparky Anklebiter 2-run HR in the 1st inning to deliver a very solid win in Boston (7 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks). The jeers in Boston started with “Hey Colby — you stink like cheese” and “Hey Colby — go back to your college in Maine with your frigin’ liberal ahtsy fahtsies” to “Hold me, Colby” by the fat drunk girl in the Nomah jersey.
Josh Hamilton – 3-for-5 with a HR and 5 RBIs. Now at 5 HRs and 11 RBIs with a .413 AVG. Someone’s got his eye on the MVNK award (Most Valuable Non-Kemp).
Mike Napoli – 3 for 5, 4 RBIs, 3 runs, 2 homers and a 1B with catcher eligibility.
Giancarlo Stanton – 1-for-3 as he was moved to 6th in the order. This is what Ozzie was thinking about for the last 5 games during his exile. So that means Stanton’s gonna have to hit, like, 40 homers in a game to convince Ozzie he was wrong. You gotta better chance of Ozzie being named Little Havana’s Man of the Year. Andy Garcia’s got that shizz on lock for a decade anyway.
Heath Bell – Throws a scoreless 9th for his first save. Now down to a 9.00 ERA. It says something when that’s actually pretty good considering all the drafted closers this year.
Hanley Ramirez – Game winning 3-run HR at Crayola Canyon. No es mal contente!
Starlin Castro – 2-for-4 with his 7th steal. You know who loves Castro (the non-killing people one)? This guy with two thumbs, a mustache, two eyes, a terrible Jersey accent and a cougar girlfriend. That’s who! (But doesn’t own him anywhere. Sad trombone.)
Ryan Dempster – 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks. Whenever I see his name I can’t help singing, “Demps and a bump, Demps and a bump, we like the starters that go Demps and a bump!” Maybe it’s just me.
Asdrubal Cabrera – Could miss a few days with a death in his family. It wasn’t Miggy or Melky. Anyone hear from Everth Cabrera recently?
Kyle Lohse – 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks. Mr. April throws another beaut. His ERA is sub-1.00. Maybe he can give some pointers to Lincecum.
Austin Jackson – Just when you want to believe he’s turned a corner, he goes 0-for-4 with 3 Ks…..against the Royals….with Bruce Chen pitching (for the first 2 Ks).
Adam Lind – 3-for-3, 3 RBIs with his 1st homer. I’m not going to mention how you wanted to drop him so bad because he had 9 bad games in a 162 game season, but I’m warning you now. If he goes on a tear, I’m gonna take off the gloves and not only mention it by saying I’m not mentioning it, but I’m going to actually mention it.
Jose Bautista – 1-for-2, 2 RBIs and his 2nd homer. Maybe he doesn’t want to spite me by having his first bad season after it took two years for me to like him.
Brett Lawrie – 1-for-4 with his 2nd homer. #outofthe7hole
Javy Guerra – Blew yesterday’s save. Over/under that Jansen is the closer by July moves to June.
Jason Heyward – 1-for-4 with his 4th steal. Did someone buy him for Christmas a ticket to the Davey Lopes SAGNOF seminar?
Drew Smyly – 6 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks vs. the Royals. Obviously a solid start, but I haven’t changed my opinion on him from last time. Outside of deep leagues, it’s tough to own him.
Yovani Gallardo – Nice home start against Dodgers (7 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks). Even better — just one BB after 7 BBs in his first two starts. Then K-Rod comes in and lets Ethier go-yardo to blow the lead. At least he got the quality start, right QSers!
Mat Gamel – 2-for-3, 3 runs, 1 RBI and a slam & legs. 1st homer of the year, but his 3rd steal. Guess if you’re trying to replace Prince, it’s best to start at steals and work your way up from there.
Brett Gardner – 2-for-2, 3 runs, 1 RBI and a steal. Here’s an idea for those that lost Ellsbury. After Gardner is sitting out a game and his owners are frustrated, try to trade a small piece for him. I think he gets 50 steals.
Mark Teixeira – Out a few days with influenza. A-Rod said, “Don’t look at me. I only have herpes. No flu.”
Johan Santana – 1 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 5 baserunners. Left after having throwing 55 pitches. He should have to donate this game’s salary to the victims of Bernie Madoff.
Wei-Yin Chen – 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks. First game: 5 2/3 IP; 2nd game: 5 1/3 IP, and by the 6th inning the Orioles are hungry again for another pitcher.
Wandy Rodriguez – 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 3 Ks. You’d take that start from Wandy every day and twice on Muesday.
Johnny Damon – Should be ready in a week. Those with a “Good Hair” category in their league should be pumped.
Gordon Beckham – 0-for-3. Now hitting .103. It’s getting so bad that they pinch hit Fukudome for him. Or maybe Fukudome thought he heard his name when Ventura realized that Beckham was coming up for a critical 9th inning AB.
Jesus Montero – 1-for-4 as the Mariners gave him the start at catcher (3rd of year!) and DH’d John Jaso. That’s how much they didn’t want to start Miguel Olivo.
Jamie Moyer – 7 IP with no ER at Coors. Granted, only 1 K and against the Padres but still. Hope they have tapioca pudding at the post-game buffet.
Jon Lester – 2 IP, 7 ER, 12 baserunners. Fickin’ ay. Give ‘em some chicken and beer if it’ll stop him from throwing a crappy start like this again.
Cincinnati Reds – Their 4th through 8th hitters last night (Rolen, Bruce, Ludwick, Stubbs, and Hanigan) are all hitting .200 or less. At least they’re not clogging up the bases right, Dusty?
Chase Utley – Phils’ GM said Utley’s knee “seems to be improving.” Last week the GM said Utley’s knee “seems to be improving.” So Utley isn’t the only thing that’s broken.
why don’t you hold a huge Razzball event in vegas every year at a hotel in one of those convention centers. Just a huge ass fantasy baseball discussion. It’d be bad ass, a reason to go to vegas, and overall awesome. #doit
@and1mcgee, Agreed, wanted to do this last year, but never got around to it. This year…
@Grey, That would be awesome!!!
@Grey, We need (way) more than 4 female readers before this event.
Hm, Lincecum for Yovani + Papelbon?
My pitching has been so sad
Lester, Latos, Scherzer, Lincecum, Marmol, Jansen…
@ChCh, Well, Lincecum’s K% has fallen three straight years, and is below Gallardo’s rate from last season. If Lincecum ends up with more K than Gallardo this season, it’ll be because of a worse WHIP.
I still think you could probably pull a better deal with Lincecum’s name recognition, though. I’ll defer to Grey on that one for sure
@Feeding the Abscess, I’d even deal Lincecum for Gallardo straight up. Lincecum looks dunzo.
@ChCh, There is a reason why the Giants gave the big contracts to Cain and Bumgarner. Just a sense that something is really wrong with the Freak and that this is just not a temporary bump in the road. Hope I am wrong.
@Paulie Allnuts,
While I agree there’s something up with Lincecum, he did not get a big contract because HE didn’t want it. The Giants would have loved to sign him to one.
IMO, he’s the most recent poster boy for how little guys just don’t hold up with the same stuff for a long time. There are exceptions, sure, but that’s a general rule for a reason.
@ChCh, He looks totally off for me…I’d do that deal in a heartbeat.
Heck YoGa could be better than him this year straight up.
@ChCh, while Lincecum for Papelbon and Gallardo is not bad at all, i still want you to read some stats of Tim: 13.2 IP, K/9 – 10.54, BABIP .426, BB/9 – 2.63 down from 3.57(2011) and 3.22(2010).
Come on, BABIP of .426???? This guy is right, he is just being extremely unlucky. Balls wont continue to fall in that rate and he is still missing alot of bats. If i owned him, i would just stay put and not overreact, there is still alot of baseball left to be played and if i didnt own him, i would try to buy low from a panicing owner. Just my 2 cents.
@Moscowitz, Right on. I’d hold on him too unless the pot was very very sweet.
Lince’s FIP/xFIP is 3.34/2.67 and ZIPS has him at 3.05 (and 2.89 FIP) for the rest of the year.
His peripherals look great. BUT – he HAS been hit very hard in those few bad innings so far….
I’m officially concerned about MadBum. He hasn’t rebounded from the velocity drop he experienced late last season. It didn’t affect his swings and misses or k-rate last year, but those have really fallen off this year. So has his control
Then again, as his velocity dropped last season, he turned into Cliff Lee. Maybe he just hates April or something. And he did have close to the best K/BB ratio for any 21 year old pitcher ever:
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=160&type=1&season=2011&month=0&season1=1900&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=21,21&players=0&sort=4,d
@Feeding the Abscess, thinking too much…
@beardcrabs, he just had a no-no going for 6+ innings last gm out… patience
@Tony, From what I’ve seen he seems to be concentrating more on location than velocity so far. Leading to a ton of ground balls and weak contact but fewer K’s…think he’ll be good this year no matter what, we might have to tone down our K projections for him a little though.
@Feeding the Abscess, so three starts in, where he’s been probably one of the better SPs (and as said above, he had a no-no going for 6+ in Coors) I think this is what many people would call “over-thinking it.”
@Wilsonian, He was giving an interview after he signed the exention on the Giants flagship station. He mentioned working on location and not pure power. Makes me think he’s maturing as a pitcher. He can still reach back, but why when what he’s doing is obviously working?
@Probable Party Starter, Yep. He’s PITCHING now, rather than just throwing…. and doing it quite well.
@Wilsonian, Check his swinging strike rate and his K%. Not elite, not even mediocre. It’s in Mike Pelfrey territory. His FIP was fourth in all of baseball last season, behind only Halladay, Kershaw, and Lee. That’s it. That’s the list. Only three starts this season, but his FIP is over 5. If his BABIP weren’t .259 his WHIP and ERA would look much worse.
If we want to tout no-hitters as proof of someone pitching well, Francisco Effing Liriano threw a complete game no-hitter last season.
I’m not asking Grey to drop him or trade him for Danny Duffy or anything, just saying we should keep an eye on our favorite Bum. After J-Lo, of course.
@Feeding the Abscess, I watched the game last night and he was getting hit hard. Not great. But, a little early to be too concerned.
1. Trade my McCann for his Jesus Montero + Cespedes? My outfield is weak – Choo, Ichiro, Bourjos…
2. You like Cespedes over Kendrys this year?
3.
4. Someone dropped Stubbs. Waiver claim is no-brainer, right?
5. I drafted Jupton #5 overall in a keeper league and am now freaking right out.
@Random Collmenter, My 2 cents, as an someone who is not Grey:
1. If it’s the same keeper league mentioned in #5, yes. Cespedes gives you power, albeit potential power.
2. I would say yes, Kendrys is one of many looking for PT in the Angels line up.
3.
4. If it’s the same league mentioned in #1, of course. Then you don’t need Cespedes.
5. Upton is 24 years old. In a keeper league, you should be okay.
Aybar has been dreadful thus far…
1. How much time should I give him to turn it around?
2. Is Drew worth a DL stash as a backup plan for later this year?
@letsgobravos, I’m in the same boat. I give him until the end of April, b/c he’s my back up SS, but if he’s my main guy, I think I’d pick up another hot SS. I don’t think he would be snapped up given that almost every other starting SS is hitting better than he is.
Rank these guys in the order you like them. Rodney, J. Johnson, Casilla? Thanks
@MrHappyTime, Casilla, Johnson, Rodney.
@MrHappyTime,
Johnson, Rodney, Casilla
@MrHappyTime, Johnson, Casilla, Rodney
@MrHappyTime, Johnson, Casilla, Rodney
C’mon! I can’t believe this! B.J. Upton,Justin Upton & now Chris Young?All I have left is Desmond Jennings.Consolation prize?Just picked up Matt Moore from the waiver wire{dropped by delusional owner}
@LuigiBall, Nice consolation prize…
@LuigiBall, where can i sign up this league?? What a drop!
Yeonis and Jennings were dropped after 5 games this year by the same manager in one of my leagues to pick up some hot bums. (and just now, dropped JP) I made a comment about raising our entry fee significantly next year to try to get smarter owners.
His reply (yes, in caps) – CRY ME A RIVER. I’M IN SECOND, WHERE ARE YOU? (now he’s in 11th. lil early for the standings argument, isn’t it?)
@Niq Castro, to many owners freak out during April
OK. Current 12-team H2H starting rotation looks like this:
Bum
Hudson
Zimm
The Peav
H Alvarez
McCarthy
Cahill
Chacin
Sanchez
Would you consider the bottom two droppable for matchup guys, Holds guys, hot hitters etc?
@Steve, Yes, Chacin and Sanchez are droppable. I’d argue Alvarez might be too.
@Steve, which Sanchez is it? If its Johnathan Sanchez, yes, droppable. If you own Anibal Sanchez: Dont!
OK, guys, it’s “psych” not “sike.” As in “psych-out.” Really, it’s in the dictionary.
Also, Chen is Taiwanese, not Chinese, so it’s not totally right, but I guess it’s close enough because most people wouldn’t know or care about the difference except those of us in Taiwan. Yo, Chen’s my hometown boy! Give me a high five, or “Gao Wu” as we say here.
Other than that, this was a perfect post, except for all the bad news in it.
@kangaroo hops, Kangaroos don’t hop, they bound….”Kangaroos bound for Chinese menus”
@Wake Up, I took the term for my razzball team. Hop is the noun here, not the verb. A kangaroo hop is another name for a “bad bounce.”
@kangaroo hops, I was just making a bad joke…I guess…
@Wake Up, my bad, sometimes I’m just too literal. I’ve gotta relax…
@kangaroo hops, I knew both and went with the misspelling of psych… But probably no reason to… You’re right…
What a crappy night. My team had Lester, Santana, and Masterson. First to 6th. Glad its a games of averages. My guys made it seem personal.
@BSA, Ouch…
Man those Rangers can mash, im gonna be cautious with throwing any of my starters out against that pack of wolves from now on after Lester’s shellacking. Loving Hamilton right now, though crazy fact for us in on-base leagues…dude’s AVG is higher than his OBP right now (think about that).
Grey am facing a guy punting saves in my H2H and im already ahead in saves now due to Lidge. Is it worth benching my whipper crapper closers now (Santos, Aceves, Santiago, Lidge) to help protect my ERA/WHIP or keep them active for K’s?
@TheNewGuy, That’s crazy on Hamilton…also not great, he’s not gonna see any strikes unless he takes a couple BBs.
One thing you didn’t see yesterday for fantasy baseball (or any other day so far this year) is a save by any member of the LAA Angels. I almost wish I had drafted one of those injured closers because then I could have replaced him with someone who might actually have a save after eleven games. Walden has been boffo in his 2.0 innings, though.
@Squanto Esperanto, True
I have Guerra and dropped Jansen the other day to stream a pitcher. Do I pick Jansen back up or Thornton?
@2qbn, Jansen for sure, especially since you own Guerra. Thornton probably isn’t even next in line.
Im spooked by what happened yesterday in Boston and thinking about sitting Beckett today. Am I crazy?
@Hunter,
I wouldn’t sit Beckett after his last start. Not too often teams have back to back explosions. It happens but its rare and Beckett was very good last time out. I’d roll those dice.
@Hunter, As a Red Sox fan, I have zero faith in Beckett.
@Hunter, im sitting beckett today
@AL KOHOLIC, I’ve got Beckett, Latos, and Peavy going today. It could get ugly.
@Hunter, I’m starting him. My team is already last in ERA so how much can I lose?
Rate these first base options: Adam LaRoche, Morneau, Lind, and Gamel.
@Yoshi, Lind, Gamel…
I dont know why guerra is gonna lose the job? one blown save… it happens, now if this turns into a habit, OK, but right now the guy leads mlb in saves and had been great up until last night….
@Tony, just because all of us fantasy baseballers drool over the middle reliever next in line that K’s alot of guys doesn’t mean crap. When it comes down to it I’d ALWAYS go with the guy who has closing experience or the guy the manager says will be the closer. Not the Guy who “should be the closer”.
Just like in KC, i went broxton, he was defly gonna get the opp before holland, this is how major league managers operate, they’re always going to give the more experienced guy the chance. Then they’re going to back him until they almost can’t anymore, then they replace.
@Tony,
For that same reason Casilla is more likely to get Giants saves than Romo. He’s done it before.
@Hawk, What about Aceves in Boston over Melancon? Obviously it’s worked out for the better, but Melancon had experience closing games last year and Aceves was practically in the rotation.
Gray/Rudy – You forgot to comment on what was surely the most Razzterful outing of the season. Mike Melancon faced 6 batters yesterday, 4 hits, 2 walks, 3 of the hits long bombs, no outs, for an infinite WHIP/ERA. Totally ruined a nice performance by Gallardo and decent outing by Danks. I swear that Valentine must hate the guy, as it was obvious from the first pitch that he would truly be awful. Now that his confidence is completely shattered, he will probably be sent to the minors or two a shrink. He carrys with him these figures for 2012: 2.0 IN 10 HITS 11 ER 2WLK 1K 0W 0W and best of all, a 49.50 ERA 6.00 WHIP. My condolences to anyone besides myself who had the misfortune of owning and playing him.
Question – Wilson Ramos dropped – Pick him up for Geovany Soto?
@Paulie Allnuts, Maybe you can get A.J. instead of Ramos? He’s hot and batting fifth.
@Paulie Allnuts, I think we mentioned that one on the podcast. With the 3 HRs, I compared it to Vin Mazzaro’s razzterful inning from last year – http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/29358072
Imagine the Yanks traded K-Rob instead of Melancon in the Berkman deal. I think K-Rob would be a top 10 closer.
in a 13 team league with the usual 5 cats + obp, which two of the guys below would you rather have on the bench for depth:
sweeney, chris davis, schierholtz, harper
currently, i own harper and sweeney…but wondering if you would swap either or both for davis and/or schierholtz…not sure if i should be holding harper anyway…
thanks.
@paulzone,
If it’s a keeper, Harper. If not, Davis.
It’s hard to own Wandy and last night is why. I’d rather use up those innings on high-K relievers if he is not gonna get a win.
Punted him for Duffy… will see how it works out. HOU offense is so bad that Wandy should be easily replaceable through the FA pool even in a 16 team league.
Reimold 4 straight gms with a jack. Last night broke his 9th inning homer streak though. Dong vs. Danks in the middle innings.
@papasmurf, True and true… Wandy’s much safer than Duffy though for ratios…
Want to hear a good one?!
“What do you call Mark Reynolds with no Home Runs?”
…….
…….
…….
…….
“A bad fantasy player!!!”
@Eddie, Ha!
guys, do you know who will be the man in “Under the Greydar” by ONC?
it’s Chad Billingsley.
he’s had 3 good starts in a row, and Grey still had no response.
what we should know is his terrific BB rate. (only 1 in 20.1 IP)
according to Fangraphs.com, cutter has been his third pitch. (over 20% last 3 yrs.) but now, he’s throwing it only 7%. it’s fifth most in his arsenal. fifth means almost nothing.
on the other hand, Slider and changeup have been increased. (SL%: 0 to 10.8/ CH%: 6.4 to 9.7) i don’t know how this changes affected his outings exactly. but it seems to be related to his different repertory.
anyway, he made another quality start against Brewers. they aren’t a soft hitting team as you know. i still believe he’s this year’s James Shields. isn’t he?
@Piranhaman, good analysis
@Piranhaman, CORRECTION: cutter had been his second pitch. not third.
@Piranhaman, No. He’s not. Sell high now while you still can.
@Wake Up, why do you hate him? haha. i also had not loved him ever before. but now, he looks very good. it could be a breakout or not. the certain things are he’s still young and once a famous prospect.
@Piranhaman, I don’t hate him. Well, I guess I do, but that’s beside the point.
I just think you could probably get more than what he’s worth for him right now. That’s usually a good time to sell. Do you think none of his baserunners are ever gonna score?
I love surprises! I really hope a WNBA page is added to the Razzball family of fantasy weblogs.
@Charles, You’re in luck!
Dump Greg holland for David Hernandez in a holds league?
@Schlitzy, Sure
@Grey – I’m in Arizona and here I thought that if your career hits a wall you greet at Wal-Mart. Let’s see if I get these four in the correct order; Lind, LoMo, Duda, JDMart- correctamundo? (got to use Mart twice in the same pregunta). Thanks!
@AnotherFalstaff, HA! Order looks pretty close… JD over Duda…
drop h-rodriguez for casilla?
@cole, Okay
Would you trade Latos and Rodney for Lincecum?
@Frank Kim,
I’m not sure what to think about Lincecum. On one hand it looks like somethings wrong with him. FB velocity is down, command problems etc…but his peripherals (BABIP, especially) also say he’s due for a rebound.
I don’t think I’d trade for him at this point. Too many unknowns.
@Hawk, yeah he’s a real gamble at this point.
@Hawk, Another idea is Pence and Latos for Lincecum and Heyward. Gamble even more.
Grey/Rudy, two questions: 1) I know it’s only three games, but Colby Lewis looks for realz … so is he realz enough to start at Detroit on Sunday? (12 team 6×6 H2H); 2) Holy hell, Arencibia is killing me … in a one catcher league, is he droppable for someone like Pierzynski, Kottaras, Doumit, or Ianetta? (and is that the best order to rank ‘em?)
@Graveyard Duck, I’d start Colby in every format vs. every opponent at this point except maybe @NYY (hate that matchup). Especially in H2H. Yes, JP is droppable in that format. I’d avoid Doumit and Kottaras b/c of playing time concerns so JP or Iannetta.
@Rudy Gamble, Who would have thought you’d use “playing time concerns” and an Angels catcher in the same sentence without one being related to the other. When’s the last time that happened?
Very nervous Upton owner. Didn’t Utley have a similar “jammed thumb” injury from sliding into 2nd a couple years ago? If I remember correctly, he needed surgery and was on the DL quite a while.
@frank rizzo, Yeah, it’s not great… Wait for more word…
Update for all you JUP lovers:
“An MRI on the jammed left thumb of D-backs outfielder Justin Upton on Tuesday afternoon showed a bone bruise, and the All-Star is unsure if the injury will land him on the 15-day disabled list.
Upton, who was evaluated by hand specialist Dr. Don Sheridan and had fluid drained from his thumb, is listed as day to day.”
“It’s been nagging me for a little bit. You have to take it day by day,” Upton said. “We really wanted to know what was going on in there, so we had the MRI. Everything came out pretty positive.”
Doesn’t sound that bad…
@quimmy, Oh, here’s more news… Not bad…
Is the player rater up?
@Peking Duck, The player rater URL will be in our next post.
Oh Billingsley, you’re so awesome (for a $1 pitcher).
Keep up the good work Bilbo “Rosin” Baggins.
@uncdrew, Ha
Hi Grey and Rudy: What’s your take on Shelley Duncan? He’s been really hot lately … is he a better UTIL pickup than Luke Scott?
The other similar options (in terms of 1B/OF eligibility) are Robot Jones and Juan Rivera.
Am I better off holding onto Scott for now? Or would you rather have Shelley, Jones, or Rivera?
@Enrique, Concerend about Duncan’s playing time when Damon is ready to play. Prefer Luke Scott – especially while he’s hot. Rivera has playing time concerns and Robot Jones is nothing to look at,
@Rudy Gamble, Grazie, Rudy.
weird thing about austin jackson, his BVP against Chen was attrocious. I was cosidering sitting him yesterday, but thought, he’s so hot right now, he’ll push through against Chen…
history repeats itself.
@attgig, Gotcha…
Two trade offers needing some guidance:
I am trading Adam Jones for Daniel Hudson? (I have J.Upton, B.J.Upton, Bourjos, and would be trading for Gardner)
The other trade is Darvish and Casilla (SF) for Jimenez and Gardner.
Thoughts?
@pdubs, Don’t trade Adam Jones. He’s young, with potential up the yin-yang, and is off to a hot start. Why unload him? Could go 25-25 this year, which is plenty valuable. This Krispie, but hitting .285.
Other trade seems fair. Darvish and Ubaldo seem like a wash, more or less, which means Casilla for Gardner, which is fair.
@Baron Von Vulturewins, Not “This Krispie.” Think Krispie. Think Krispie.
I hate you, morning.
5×5 H2H
His McCutchen for my Cruz & Casilla….who wins?
I have Marmol, Marshall, & J Johnson…..and Kemp, Berkman & Cain in the OF
@Jon, McCutchen…
Every time I see Gio pitch, that Tenacious D line runs through my head: “Gio has rocked for a long, long time.”
Gonzalez is now officially the favorite Gio in my life, replacing my 1997 Geo Prizm.
P.S. My two cents on Lincecum: ARE YOU PEOPLE CRAZY? The only reason to worry about him right now is if there’s a hidden injury. Otherwise, chill + relax, which I believe is the equation for chillax.
People freaking out over bad starts by superstars are the people Razzballers are supposed to be exploiting in lopsided trades, not the people making the trades. Let’s grow some razzballs, people.
It’s three starts. That’s one more start than Cy Young Awards he’s won.
@Baron Von Vulturewins, slow dramatic clap in 3…2…1…
@Baron Von Vulturewins, Well said.
Hi Grey, you’re the best.
I drafted based on your rankings and my offense has been fantastic so far, but my pitching has been terrible so far. My staff:
Daniel Hudson
Dan Haren
MadBum
Josh Johnson
Yu Darvish
and RP pickups: Aceves, Rodney, Marshall, J Johnson, H Rodriguez, Romo, Capps
This staff has an ERA of 4.90, WHIP of 1.63, 4 wins, 13 saves, and only 63 Ks.
I’ll drop Romo today. Someone has offered Scherzer for Capps. FAs available are:
Cahill
Volquez
Sale
Minor
Dickey
Niese
Lynn
Peavy
Capuano
Nicasio
Samardzija
Zito
Drabek
Duffy
What moves would you make?
@Oxford Comma, Good lord, how are those pitchers available? Cahill, Volquez, Minor and Lynn should ALL be owned….
Not sure if you need any of them though based on your starters…. is there a reason you have 7 closers?
@KeeblerMN, I have a K problem with my staff and was thinking I could make some moves. I have all these RPs because I didn’t draft many and I’m waiting to see what their roles will be. Romo seems droppable after last night. Lidge closed ahead of Rodriguez last night too.
Thoughts on Juan Cruz? Hanrahan is DTD with hamstring tightness.
@Peking Duck, For a save or two… He sounds fine…
Thinking about making a play for lincecum cuz I think he turns it around this yr. his owner wants an SP in return. Ive got minor, gio, Cahill, and Hanson. Keeper league and I’m pretty high on all these guys. Of those four, who do you think has the lowest ceiling, but fits into the deal?. Am thinking ethier, lincecum for des jennings and pitcher x. Thoughts?
@Abell, Cahill
I’m getting concerned about Desmond Jennings, and his slump is hurting my team. Should I drop Goldy for Reimold, Folwer, Maybin, Jon Jay, Frenchy, or Boesch? I have plenty of other 1B depth, but I hate to drop a player I think will get picked up by somebody else. This is a 12 team, h2h, yahoo league. Thanks!
@Jack,
eliminate reimold as an option
@Jack, Boesch
Hey! Looking for some advice, in regard to a trade I’m considering offering in a 12 team Points league, where Wins are worth 10 points. I hope either Grey, or Rudy, or both, can give me their opinion, but anybody else wanted to weigh in, feel free to!
I would be trading Verlander, Alexei Ramirez, Alex Rios, and David Murphy; and I would be receiving Jeter, Heyward, Edwin Jackson, and Tim Hudson.
I hate to give up an elite SP, which is a major points-maker in that league, but my hitters could stand some upgrading, and based on the first couple of weeks, Jeter and Heyward would offer that. Should I buy their hot starts though? Thanks in advance for the advice!
@DILinator, I would not make that trade. Verlander is way greater than E-Jax. A-Ram is slightly better than Jeter. Hudson and Murphy are just eh. While Heyward > Rios, not as huge a gap as Verlander and E-Jax. I’d consider but probably would reject Verlander for Heyward and E-Jax as well. I can see Verlander for Heyward + a solid 3rd SP.
@Rudy Gamble, Thanks Rudy! That was pretty much my feeling about it, but Heyward, Jeter, and E-Jax have all started so well points-wise, I was giving it some consideration. However, I agree about the expected output of my players, and I think in the long run, I’ll be better off not doing this deal. Thanks again!
Just dropped Beckham for Aviles….. I think this was exactly what you had in mind yesterday when my MI was photobombing my big picture
Sadly, Beckham was just meant to be a place filler until Utley gets back… but the way it seems, Utley may only be valuable in Fantasy Murderball leagues going forward.
@KeeblerMN, Ha, yup…
*** Just giving you an FYI on an unrelated fantasy baseball note – and I don’t know if that has happened to anyone else other than me.
There’s some kind of malware/adware or some shizz like that coming from your site. It has now happened on both my work computer and home computer. It takes over the page and says “Viruses have been found on your computer – please clean now” or something along those lines. And attempts to force you to run some kind of scan. Luckily I’m not a complete retard and click “OK”. You have to click off the page and either try to close Internet Explorer, or this time I just refreshed the page and that worked (although a box comes up asking you if you really want to navigate away from this awesome virus scan that has magically popped up on your screen).
Just wanted to let you know in case this has happened to anyone else and so you can maybe let whoever hosts the site to take a gander.
Keep up the kick ass work around these parts…
@Wilsonian, same happen to me this AM and pretty sure it’s happened before. I task mangered IE to end task cuz I was paranoid to click anything and reopened and it didn’t happen again. Good call with the heads up!
@MattTruss223, no problem. Just thought I needed to put it out there so others don’t get screwed and so maybe Grey and/or Rudy can get the call in to get it taken care of. I don’t want anything to happen to my most visited site.
@Wilsonian, Thanks for the heads-up. I haven’t seen this on my PC or Mac – and I thought my PC was pretty hopped up on security software. Why else would that Asian porn have the genital shots grayed out?
Does it happen every time you come to the homepage? A different page? It’s most likely one of the ad units but knowing if it happens every time vs some of the time will help us narrow it down to a rotating ad unit vs. some of the sponsorships.
Thanks and apologies!
@Rudy Gamble, it’s only happened to me twice, and probably in the last 12-15 hours. It’s only on this site, and only on the homepage. But beyond that, I can’t give you anymore info. It’s definitely not constantly, however. I would also assume that it’s coming from some rotating ad.
No problem, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that there was an infiltrator among us.
@Wilsonian, Thanks. I think that limits it to a few ad instances seen if you scroll down on the page. If possible, we’d totally appreciate it (since we can’t replicate) if you can e-mail the names of the advertisers you see in the left/right margins after you’ve scrolled past the Archives (left side) and Blog Links (on right side). Also would help if you identify it as a skyscraper (long skinny ones) or square? If not, no worries – you’ve already been of great help.
@Rudy Gamble, I can let you know what ads are there, but I think refreshing the page will change them. Not sure though. I also don’t know where exactly to email that info. Otherwise I could just post it here.
@Wilsonian, we need to know the ads prior to refresh. E-mail to info@razzball.com,
@Wilsonian, Thanks! I forwarded it to the web guy…
@Wilsonian,
Same thing happened to me. It’s a “virus scanner” that takes control of your computer and tries to force you to buy it. You can download Malwarebytes free from CNet and scan your computer to get rid of it.
@Hawk, thanks! I think I may have that on my computer already, so I’ll have to run a scan to see if I can kill it off.
@Wilsonian, You can email me… grey [at] razzball.com — I’ve contacted our web guy to look into this. Sorry about that, not sure but we’ll figure it out…
@Grey, went ahead and emailed you. I have refreshed since this happened (had to to get back to the page). So I don’t know if it will help at all. Thanks for looking into it, and hopefully no one clicks on that shizz and gets some computer herpes.
@Wilsonian, Thank you!
@Grey, No problem. Just doing my civic Razzball duty.
I don’t know about you guys, but I find it all too easy to focus on the negatives that Luck and the Injury Bug (which is the title of a forthcoming Pixar movie) have inflicted on my team (i.e. Morse injury much worse than it looked when I drafted him, Ellsbury (my top keeper) out for a long time with his shoulder, etc.), so it is important to step back and enjoy when things cut just right–otherwise this fantasy baseballin’ is all frustration and no enjoyment, and where’s the fun in that? So in the spirit of appreciating the good things in (fantasy baseball) life, I give thanks to the fantasy baseball gods for giving me the opportunity to trade Javy Guerra the day before he blew his first save, in return for Adrian Beltre, who smacked a dinger his first day on my roster.
To paraphrase the philosopher Coolio, “Ain’t no Freude like the Schadenfreude, cause the Schadenfreude don’t stop.”
@Rabbit, That’s some tasty Freude.
@Rabbit, Wow that’s a sweet trade.
drop rex brothers for santiago casilla in a long term keeper league?
@The Talented Mr. Dope Man,
Are either of them potential keepers? If not, I’d make that switch. If so, I probably still make the switch but it’s closer.
@The Talented Mr. Dope Man, If you’re aiming to win this year, yes. If this is a rebuilding year, no.
trade adam laroche for neil walker?
12 team h2h 5×5 league
roster below
c-rmart
1b-pujols
2b-uggla
3b-pablo
ss-andrus
ci-berkman
mi-alcides
of-giancarlo
of-pence
of-jennings
of-lomo
util-laroche
DL-utley
best available util – tabata, alonso, lahair,presley,cody ross
best available mi (if i dont make trade) – pastornicky, jed lowrie, allen craig, pennington, raburn,getz
if i make the trade, who do you like at util. if not, stick with alcides or grab who off waivers for im? thanks
@jaw, Hold… Hard to believe these are your best MI options in a 12 team league… Pastornicky for now…
@Grey, its pretty ridiculous. kipnis, cozart, altuve all drafted. other available guys are seagler, mark ellis, barney, alex gonzalez, srod, ruben tejada. its really week
I knew that you were biding your time to make an “I told you so” Lind comment. I never said to drop him for a bag of hot fries (though they are good) but it’s looking like he’ll mostly be valuable in daily lineup leagues where you have the bench space to platoon him. Let’s not overreact to him feasting on a mediocre righty like Niemann.
Great run down as always guys. Will get to the Podcast soon. Quick question though.
With Krispie down a few days at least I am looking for a back up, have Mayberry, but last night Chucky Man took a dump on him, OK to drop him to look for someone else like say a Veron Wells, Alex Presley, Jay Bay or someother yokel?
Guess I am wondering if Mayberry will get it together as I had high hopes for him.
@Shea Sera Sera, Thanks! Presley… But would probably just ride Mayberry…
@Grey, Ended up getting itchy and grabbed Chris Davis. We shall see.
Probably should have held on, but will probably grab him later when Davis goes Ice Age on me.
We shall see…
Streamer’s Delight on a Tuesday night. Streaming Millwood for the double start. When one activates Kevin Millwood, one gets what one deserves. One being me in this case.
Nevertheless, you pitch four quiet innings, enter the fifth inning with a cozy 8-1 lead and give up six runs, failing to record a single out? Ima retype that in all caps:
YOU GIVE UP SIX RUNS, FAILING TO RECORD A SINGLE OUT
I mentioned the six run lead right?
@OaktownSteve, I hear you – we have Millwood on two AL-only teams…..along with Lester. F***!
@Rudy Gamble, seven run lead is what I meant to say. I’m so spluttering angry I can’t do first grade math. Nice to see you Rudy.
Too many SP in a low IP limit keeper league & need to activate Ted Lilly. Am I crazy to consider dropping Danks to make space?
Also wasting bench space on Chapman & Bauer but hesitant to drop them.
@bob, Lose Danks…
Aviles or Desmond? Or doesn’t matter?
@anon, Desmond
Would you trade Cruz and Jurrjens for Jennings and Ervin Santana? 12 Team OBP league – head to head – if you need steals?
@Giacomo, Sure, if you need steals…
Lincecum and Desmond Jennings for Aroldis Chapman and Andrew McCutchen.
Who wins?
@Derrick, Desmond
12 team h2h pts league
Got offered Pedroia and Latos for Tulowitzki.
I have been starting crap at 2b all year, currently it’s Kipnis. The league also has pitching heavy scoring. I also have Derek Jeter as one of my utility players who I could slot in as my SS.
Do i buy low on Latos and go through with the deal?
@joe from point pleasant, Pedroia side…
anyone starting Morrow, Latos, Garcia today?
@shibboleth, I’m starting Latos
@shibboleth, I’m all over Latos today. I’m not buying STLs hot start, but I might be on an island on that one.
@shibboleth, Definitely starting Latos. Then again I thought Masterson was a great play last night…
@3FingersBrown, Latos career 10.80 ERA in 3 starts vs STL including 0-2 and 15 ER in 5.1 innings @ Busch (that’s a solid 25.31 ERA)…I’m sitting him
@B.o.B, I hear that. It’s only three starts though and STL is Pujols-less now, so there’s that. Anyway, after the beating Masterson got last night, my ratios are shot this week in H2H. I may as well start Latos and hope for the best…
@3FingersBrown, yeah that’s a “glass half full” way to look at it…at least you don’t have to stress about who to start and who to bench
@B.o.B, Yeah it’s 6×6 with QS, so even if my ratios blow I can still win the counting stats.
Would be great to see the Reds bats heat up and give a brother some run support tonight…
Nieuwenhuis batting leadoff today! And hes been playing everyday…. interesting.
@Ronkonkoma, Nice!
@Grey, So long Torres or do they find a spot for him when he returns? He got one shot in SF and gets Wally Pipped after the first day.
Parra looking like a must have with the broken AZ outfield?
@bean, Torres will go back into the lineup… Parra’s a pretty low ceiling guy…
I have Casilla and Romo
Do I keep Romo or drop him for one of the following?
- Juan Cruz (is something wrong with Hanrahan since Cruz got the save?)
- Thornton or Reed
- Jansen
@wctip, Cruz for right now…
10-team points league, long term: Iannetta or Pierzynski?
@Deadwoods, Iannetta
I give casilla (or jim johnson)+jeter for andrus
@fowler, Sounds good…
Love that this squad:
C Chris Iannetta (LAA – C)
1B Mat Gamel (Mil – 1B)
2B Brandon Phillips (Cin – 2B)
3B Mark Reynolds (Bal – 1B,3B)
SS Ian Desmond (Was – SS)
OF Ryan Braun (Mil – OF)
OF Andrew McCutchen (Pit – OF)
OF Peter Bourjos (LAA – OF)
Util Jay Bruce (Cin – OF)
Util Giancarlo Stanton (Mia – OF)
Is dead freaking last in Runs, HRs, and RBIs in my Yahoo! public league. COME ON GUYS!
On the bright side, Gio, MadBum and my early grab of Casilla paid off nicely last night!
@MattTruss223, Still early…
Where were you podcasting from? New Dehli? Put up some egg crates bra. 20 Homers from Castro? What are you managing the Marlins? I like listening to Rudy try to pronounce names. You can tell he does a lot of reading.
@Wake Up, Ha! Mumbai…
Which streaming option do you like better for tomorrow?
Joe Wieland v Phi
Josh Tomlin @ Sea
Two pitchers parks, two horrible offenses…
Thanks a ton!
@joe from point pleasant, Tomlin
De Aza or Reimold as a 5th OF?
@Nameless and not so Silent, Reimold
@Grey, Thanks Grey. Filthy Sanchez is available, would you drop Drabek or hold?
I’d hold for now…
Question: Ubaldo is on waivers, and I have a decent shot at a waiver claim for him. Should I pull the trigger or wait for someone to drop a higher caliber player (maybe an OF)? My pitchers are primarily good just slow out of the gate and I may drop Peavy depending on his performance tonight. Thanks
Miguel Montero
(Ari – C)
Adam Lind
(Tor – 1B)
Ian Kinsler
(Tex – 2B)
Miguel Cabrera
(Det – 1B,3B)
Dee Gordon
(LAD – SS)
Howie Kendrick
(LAA – 1B,2B,OF)
Curtis Granderson
(NYY – OF)
Brett Gardner
(NYY – OF)
Omar Infante
(Mia – 2B)
Ryan Zimmerman
(Was – 3B)
Justin Morneau
(Min – 1B)
Ryan Howard
(Phi – 1B)DL
Pitchers
IP
W
SV
K
ERA
WHIP
Brandon Morrow
(Tor – SP)
Jake Peavy
(CWS – SP)
Carlos Marmol
(ChC – RP)
Frank Francisco
(NYM – RP)
Fernando Rodney
(TB – RP)
Jim Johnson
(Bal – RP)
Hector Santiago
(CWS – RP)
Anibal Sanchez
(Mia – SP)
Madison Bumgarner
(SF – SP)
Vance Worley
(Phi – SP)
Bud Norris
(Hou – SP)
Jeff Samardzija
(ChC – RP)
@Matt, I’d lose Samardzija
@Grey, Thanks will do. Do you think Ubaldo will recover enough to be worth using my waiver claim on or just hope he clears?
Pls rank:
Gordon
Gardner
Willingham
Gardner, Gordon…
Hi – 5th OF type or utility – T. Hunter or Rios?
Thanks
Rios
The idea of picking up Juan Cruz is interesting before any news comes out about Hanrahan but at what price. I had Brian Wilson but now he is his polishing the machine.
Should I drop one of the following to grab Cruz?
Cishek, Cashner or Westbrook?
12 Team NL Only Roto League
Current Staff:
Cain, Gio, Lohse, Buehrle, Vogelsong, and Santiago (dont call me Jairo) Casilla
Can lose Cishek… But Resop could also see saves…
H2H points league, I’m trying to seal the deal on a trade. Would you rather send away Rios or Fowler? He asked for Fowler.
Fowler
Yunel Escobar or Zack Cozart?
Cozart
@Leave my McClouth alone, Forgot to mention…for the rest of the season. Not as a Hotschmotato.
I haven’t listened to the latest podcast yet, but please tell Nick that if he’s going to host, he needs to be better at directing traffic. When he asks a question, he should ask it to either you or Rudy. That way you don’t have those couple of seconds of awkward silence as you two try to figure out who’s going to answer, and then you both start saying something, and it’s more awkwardness and dear god, why won’t this stop.
@skinny malinky, That’s a good note, thanks!
Closers are getting dropped in my 16 team H2H all over – which I appreciate since I have Andrew Baley after the draft. I can carry two closers and already have League and Santos (Picked him up during his baby layoff). Marmol and Casilla are on the wire as well as the Nats tandem. Should I stand pat with League and Santos or make a switch.
Thanks!
@My My My MY Kuroda, I’d just hold for now…
@Grey/Rudy: With Youk struggling, and Paul Goldschmidt not playing “everyday”, should I drop Goldy for Ike Davis so I can get something out of 1B?
@William, Grab Ike…
Holland, Cruz or Reed?
@Adam, Cruz
Grey think you missed me above, ill repost:
Grey am facing a guy punting saves in my H2H and im already ahead in saves now due to Lidge. Is it worth benching my whipper crapper closers now (Santos, Aceves, Santiago, Lidge) to help protect my ERA/WHIP or keep them active for K’s?
Bench them…
@Grey, Thought so. Do you only keep elite/reliable closers active in this kinda situation then?
@TheNewGuy, No reason to risk it if your opponent is punting… It’s why you don’t punt…
Reimold or Delmon Young?
Reimold
Am I wrong for using a UTIL slot (standard Yahoo league) on Montero while I wait for catcher eligibility?
My worst categories are runs and steals (Andrus isn’t helping..).
I also have Iannetta as my catcher right now, should I just try to trade the Jesus or is he worth the wait at C?
I’d wait on Montero… Don’t think it’s a problem having him at UTIL…
Thanks for the Juan Francisco love…….HR and 2 RBI so far today in place of Larry.
@bean, Nice!
@Grey: any concern about Hanrahammy? juan cruz worth the grab? sagnof?
@herschel, He likes Cruz over Holland and Reed, so there’s that.
Sounds like he’s coming back soon, not even sure if Cruz is the pickup, could be Resop…
Would you drop any of the following closers for Broxton:
Perez, Balfour, or Casilla
Hold
Would you start Morrow against TB today?
Yup…
In a CBS points league, I got offered Cain and Berkman for my Stanton and Max Scherzer. I’m leaning toward accepting it, thinking stanton may be bothered by this injury all season… but if stanton gets healthy, the trade could kill me. What do you think?
@Cheeeeeeze, I wouldn’t trade him there…
Speaking of Smyly, does anyone remember John (not Guy) Smiley of the Pirates? Google that baseball card — he wasn’t smiley.
@RK, HA! Yeah, I remember him…
Looks like Krispie to the DL…gweat!
@Wake Up, Damn…
@Grey, Tell January Grey that I’ll see him soon…
@Wake Up, He’s in the Caribbean…
@Grey, Oh good then you haven’t told him yet. I was ready to pack it in until next Jan. but I got a great pep talk from my go-to bartender. She was all… “It’s 1:30pm on a Wed and you’re at a bar and you’re worried about fantasy? You should try focusing on reality for a bit!” So, now I feel a lot better about myself? And less bad about the whole Krispie thing?
@Wake Up, The bartender was me… I’m Keyser Soze…
@Wake Up, Source?
@2 Cups 1 Braun, Kirk Gibson and the wall
@2 Cups 1 Braun, FedEx
Pretty sure you’re a fan of random southernisms. I’m listening to the Braves game and Uggla just crushed a 2-R HR off Dickey (his first hit off him in 24 Abs btw). Afterwards the radio guy described Uggla in the dugout as, “Smiling like a jackass eating corn on the cob through a barbed wire fence”. Made me LOL, enjoy.
@MattTruss223, That’s awesome…
oh my god the wait for the player rater is killing me!!
@anon, 11 AM PST…
Grey,
Keeper 14 Team 5×5
Looking to punt saves with Bailey down…
Would you deal my Phillips, Heath Bell & Andrew Bailey for Castro (would become keeper) & Mike Adams..
Fair? Aim Higher?
@HotRod, Sounds fair…
Parra worth a pickup in 12 or 16 team H2H over the likes of David Murphy?
@nick m., I’d hold…
if the other guy in my al-only will go for it (he’s been approaching for an OF) would you do liriano and ibanez for peavy?
@rafi, Yup
I’m really starting to hate these run downs as someone from my team is making a weekly or bi-weekly appearance. Krispie hurts as he was on fire. I’m sure Hamilton will show up in the headline by the weekend.
@2 Cups 1 Braun, Hopefully not…
I have Fielder/Linds at 1b and util, ike davis is on waivers and I have rasmus on bench. Should i just keep hold of rasmus due to OF eligibility for off days?
my of is cargo/cruz/gardner
@fowler, Sure… But Davis over Rasmus usually…
Is Greg Holland worth holding in an RCL? I have Motte, Marshall, Mike Adams and Farnsworth (DL’d).
@Griff, Nope
Received an offer of Lester for BJ Upton in a 4×4 AL-only league. I’m first in all offensive categories and struggling on pitching, so I pretty much have to accept, right?
@GTG, Yup
Dbacks beat reporter says Gibson expects Young will be placed on the DL tonight. He’s having an MRI now, but I guess the prognosis changed over night because after the game Gibson said he didn’t expect him to need time on the DL. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
@letsgobravos, Damn…
I need a corner….Loney, C.Johnson or Andino???……..Need one to fill in for Morse.
@Curt, Johnson
Finally Freddies coming around….oppo shot off the knuckler.
Arrieta or Duffy in a 16 teamer?
@TheNewGuy, Duffy
Rank these 1B in order please: Ike Davis, Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Lind, Kendrys Morales, Mark Reynolds
@Brian, See my rankings
worth adding grilli,would have to drop thornton,lahair or ross
@bob, Ross
I just accepted a Stubbs for Rodney trade (I get Stubbs)
thumbs up?
@mauledbypandas, Very nice…
@Grey, it’s ok average wise too, since my team is hitting about .230 overall. Good times.
@Grey Player rating?! Say what?! Awesome keep the good shizz coming.
Looks like DL for Krispie. Best player right there from my team. Options to replace OF on wire:
(1) Tabata (I dropped), (2) C. Ross. Pretty much it. Who you rolling with?
Tabata
@Grey, But now I look foolish. If you have time to respond again..which if you don’t is cool…do you love Tabata? Trapper keeper wise?
@paddytwotimes, Nope, compared to Ross… Yes…
@Grey, Thanks. Guess anyone is loveable against Ross. But dizzamn does Tabata suck right now.
in a vacuum pick a side
Latos OR Stubbs
Coin flip… Stubbs…
Just got offered Bautista for Stanton and Lincecum.
I have to do this, right?
@Derrick, In certain leagues, yeah…
@Derrick, Sounds like the other guys trying to buy low on Stanton AND Lincecum. I’d hold.
This is a standard 5X5 H2H league.
@Derrick, Number of teams is most important…
@Grey, It’s a 10 man league.
@Derrick, Then I’d do it…
How am I replacing Young and Ellsbury? OF/U – Headley, Brantley, Duncan, Span…?
Headley, Span…
12 team head to head, 7×7 with ops, ks
Who should I drop when BJ Upton comes back from the dl, Boesch or Encarnacion?
@The Burghler, Boesch
Ugh…where am I? And why does it hurt when I walk?
The last thing I remember before I blacked out was setting Dickey in my starting lineup…
@xopchipili, You shouldn’t own him…
@Grey, yeah, 14 team QS league and he’s been solid in that format in the past so I took a flyer on him.
Best replacements out there are Milone, or a handful of Hodgepadres/Marginers (Richard, Vargas, Beavan, Bass)
@xopchipili, Milone
Per the Dbacks beat reporter, Krispie was just placed on the DL. Son of a bitch…
@letsgobravos,
nickpiecoro: Young to DL. Dbacks still say “shoulder contusion” in release. Imagine we won’t have more specific info (i.e., MRI results) until postgame.
@letsgobravos, Ugh… Thanks for the heads up!
@Grey,
No prob. Would it be too much to ask for big Albert to start hitting now that Young won’t picking up his slack anymore on my team?
Pujols averaged one homer every 14 ABs as a Cardinal. He’s had 45 now as a halo and still no homers.
@letsgobravos, and I guess they’re waiting with JUp.
Best Replacement for Krispie- Tori Hunter, Maybin, Reimold or Duda?
@KarlJ., Reimold…Or Maybin for steals…
Grey : Lind, Encarnacion or Infante to replace Krispie for 15 days?
@2 Cups 1 Braun, JD Martinez is also an option
@2 Cups 1 Braun, Lind
Morning Grey – well, it is here anyway. Would you mind scrolling up to comment 10 or so and giving me your humble opinion on my rotation question?
@Steve, OK. Current 12-team H2H starting rotation looks like this:
Bum
Hudson
Zimm
The Peav
H Alvarez
McCarthy
Cahill
Chacin
Sanchez
Would you consider the bottom two droppable for matchup guys, Holds guys, hot hitters etc?
They’re droppable.
@Grey, Many thanks. Thus, do you prefer Weiland at home v PHI tomorrow ahead of Chacin at MIL on Friday?
@Steve, Weiland
Yo Grey, I’ve got Zimmerman against the ‘Stros, but what do you think about sherzer at the sneaky royals? He had 11 k’s last time out, but the white sox are terrible and he still didn’t have a great era or whip. Sherzer is my number 5 guy, 1450 ip limit, are you sending him out there?
@Alcesto, Pitch him…
I like your podcast! As we say in television, you have a great face for radio!
@Deadwoods, Thanks!
I have Crawford, Krispie, Fister (BTW did you see that the As have a catcher named Recker? Fister-Recker: THAT would be a good battery) and only 2 DL spots. I say Fister goes, right?
@Long Bawls, Ha! Fister goes…
Stupid Mets, running Frank^2 out there down 6 runs…what did the expect other than kazaam?
@Danger Zone, So dumb…
great job boss,any news on harahan
Last I heard he’s due back Friday-ish…
[reposting as you may have missed this]
Hi Grey, you’re the best.
I drafted based on your rankings and my offense has been fantastic so far, but my pitching has been terrible so far. My staff:
Daniel Hudson
Dan Haren
MadBum
Josh Johnson
Yu Darvish
and RP pickups: Aceves, Rodney, Marshall, J Johnson, H Rodriguez, Romo, Capps
This staff has an ERA of 4.90, WHIP of 1.63, 4 wins, 13 saves, and only 63 Ks.
I’ll drop Romo today. Someone has offered Scherzer for Capps. FAs available are:
Cahill
Volquez
Sale
Minor
Dickey
Niese
Lynn
Peavy
Capuano
Nicasio
Samardzija
Zito
Drabek
Duffy
What moves would you make?
@Oxford Comma, Thanks for the kind words, but don’t think you drafted Johnson and Darvish per my recommendations… Lose Romo, trade Aceves and Johnson for one piece and pick up… Niese, Cahill…
12 team H2H (5×5 cats) – drop Dunn (plenty of depth at 1B for Reimold? – I don’t have any backups at OF and am watching Stanton struggle thus far.
@nick m., Yup
For an extra starter to hold down the fort, Lynn, Lohse, or Westbrook?
@Chris, Lynn
Did they sign him just to get Johnny Damon’s handsome scalp for the Indians Hall of Fame? It’s quality, not quantity, Dan Snyder.
The Sportcenter call on Napoli’s HR was, “and Napoli is definitely invested emotionally and physically with this season.”
Thank you for not mentioning Masterson’s start at the Mariners (!). Carp, I just did.
@Dick Schofield, Ha… Yeah, that Masterson start hurt us in one league…
BTW, nice game you link to… He was a hot schmotato that week…
10 team h2h 5×5 keeper league, no restrictions on keepers
reyes/werth for pujols/cozart
which side?
@jaw, Pujols
Goldschmidt or Gamel.. been noticing that Lyle Overbay is getting a decent amount of starts and eating into Goldy’s playing time.
@bpro, Gamel
Too late for a big trade question?
Longo / Reimold
Ot
J-Up / Uggla
@jimbo, I’d rather have Upton/Uggla
Tabata or Rasmus?
I dont have a real need for power or speed. This would be for my sole OF bench spot in a 5 OF RCL league.
@BobbyVCard, Rasmus
As an aside to my forum question. What if it looked like this:
I give: JUp/Youk or Boneface
I get: Lawrie/Anibal
Thanks for the insight, I appreciate it.
@Wilsonian, Looks good…
This is more going back to last week’s podcast, but a little part of me died when Grey pronounced SAGNOF “sag-nif.”
I’m with Rudy, I’ve always said SAG-NOFF. The little fantasy voice inside my head always yells “SAGNOFF!” every time Dee Gordon swipes a bag for me.
@Drkness, Ha… Gotta remember to say where that term comes from on next week’s…
Two requests:
1. Hudson stops putting the leadoff guy on base
2. He gets some run support.
Not much to ask, is it?
Also, Grey – I can’t rememeber whether I read this or not, but do you prefer Tomlin or Weiland as a streamer tomorrow?
@Steve, Tomlin… Barely…
How about some new shirts promoting your campaign? “Vote Grey Albright, Mayor Of Stupid- He’s Not A Kardashian.”
@royce!, Ha! I’m the lame duck incumbent…
@Grey,
Players you told me to drop yesterday: 5-7, 2 HR, 4 RBI, and 1 save. Alas, I’m back again ha.
Question: How would you rank these 1B in terms of best buy low candidate in a trade: Goldschmidt, Davis, Berkman, Duda, Freeman, and Morales.
@Melvin Emanuel, Who did I tell you to drop?
@Grey, Lind, Joyce, Lidge
So which of those 1B would you target in a trade?
Grey -
Aybar or Cozart at SS?
@Arod’s Frost, Cozart
Pedro f****** Alvarez. For Christ’s sake.
Awww – let him finish. Give him a shot at a win.
Managers can’t win with me (emoticon)
@Steve, Ha!
The Diamondbacks must *surely* be expecting Cruz to blow up here.
@Steve, i haven’t read todays comments so it might have been talked about already but how hurt is hanrahanananan? i just traded for the friggin guy. now i’m watching juan cruz take a dump out there…
@anarchy burger, grey says hes expected back friday
@anarchy burger, Well, he got it done, but I have owned him a few times in the past when I’ve been chasing Saves and I can tell you, he’s melted down spectacularly on more than one occasion.
Dbacks are no doubt thinking, “sure, NOW you get the job done.”
I think Grey mentioned that Hanrahan should be back by the weekend.
@Steve, i was trying to reverse jinx cruz considering our sports book needed the dbacks to lose. thanks for the heads up on hanrahan though guys.
@anarchy burger, Ah. Nicely done. I’m kinda ashamed of myself that I didn’t recognize a reverse when it was staring me full in the face.
Reimold or JD Martinez?
@B.o.B, Reimold
Pudge just announced his retirement…
@letsgobravos, Aw…
upton pinch running
@AL KOHOLIC, Nice!
@AL KOHOLIC, I guess that means he won’t miss too much more time if they’re pinch running him.
A. Hill or K. Johnson? Figgins or Headley?
@Fletch, Toss up… Hill… Figgins…
Sorry – didn’t clarify.
Would you drop Aybar for Cozart? Very few open bench spots.
@Arod’s Frost, hmm tough one. i’d say flip a coin but i’m sure thats not the answer your looking for.
@Arod’s Frost, I’d hold for now…
@Grey,
Aybar has been dreadful thus far, but surely he’ll eventually get his shit together. I have him on a team where I was counting on his speed.
Is it worth dropping Murph Wars for a Tomlin stream or should I hold?
@Turk Wendell, I’d hold unless it was necessary…
Lawrie batting 5th tonight for the Jays. Its a travesty they’ve kept him buried at 6th or 7th so much.
@letsgobravos, True
@Grey, And Youk down to 6th…
@Steve, Yeah, saw that… Should’ve stayed away from saying anything nice about him in the preseason… Just seemed so cheap… Ugh…
@Grey, Stay with me Grey! Don’t let Rudy be right again!
Ha… Will do…
@Grey, You’ll be glad you did!!!!!
@Steve, Hey, look what he found!
Latest on Krispie…doesn’t sound good.
nickpiecoro: Dbacks OF Chris Young has a ligament tear and a deep bruise in the shoulder. No one would give any indication of how long he might be out.
I know you aren’t a doctor grey, but how bad does that sound to you? I guess if they haven’t announced that he needs surgery, that’s positive, but a fucking tear in the shoulder still sounds serious.
Sounds terrible…
@letsgobravos, I’m not a superfit athlete in my mid-20s (I’m neither of those things), but I have had shoulder issues over the last couple of years.
They can take a long time to come right – and I don’t have to swing a bat for a living.
@Steve, Yeah, my worry is that even if he’s back in a couple of weeks, he may never be “right” again this season. Kid was really breaking out so this injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. Fantasy shit aside, I really feel bad for him.
@letsgobravos, I hear ya. But even Krispie’s mom feels worse for my FBB team. Seriously…
Shit!…Checked the Yankees lineup literally 5 minutes before first pitch and Gardner was listed. Apparently Girardi scratched him with elbow soreness while they were singing the fucking national anthem.
Same here…
@Grey, Yeah, Gardner bent his glove hand back (yes his hitting hand) on a nice catch last night…not serious…
@Wake Up, I’m serious. His right arm isn’t serious. Seriously…so gross…
@Wake Up, Ha… Nice…
Boom! Morneau with a 2 run jack in the 1st inning. What a fucking steal he will be if he continues to play like this. Snagged him in the 22nd round. Really wish I had grabbed him on both money leagues now…
Hopefully… Or at least take away the pain of Krispie…
@Grey,
Unfortunately don’t have them on the same team. I lucked into Choo off the WW last week so he will have to pick up the slack for however long Young is out. I drafted Young as my OF3 (have the dread Pirate and Berkman) so hopefully Choo can continue to exceed typical OF3 production.
From Friend of Razzball Jason Collette on Twitter…
Ben Zobrist was 3 for 21 lifetime against Morrow with 9 strikeouts. Logically, he hits the 1st pitch he sees 390 feet into the bleachers
Hehe
David Price needs to start pitching like an ace. I hesitated to take an AL east guy as my SP1 and now I wish I had grabbed someone else. Anything less than their best stuff and any pitcher in that division will get slapped around.
@letsgobravos, Agreed…
More on Krispie…talking in terms of weeks instead of months so that sounds like good news
nickpiecoro: Listening again to Kevin Towers’ comments: He said “two or three weeks” a couple of times but wouldn’t give timetable when asked directly.
ZacEtheridge4: #FreeBoosie RT @BenTateRB: Was just listenin to some old Boosie & tht Abt my dawg @ZacEtheridge4 that’s all he use to listen to he put me on
@letsgobravos, I hope so…
Is a little run support for Zim so much to ask for?!
man when napoli hits them,theres no doubt
@AL KOHOLIC, True
First off, I love the player rater. Well done to you all. It’s a big deal. And more importantly, you have something you can shove in the face of ESPN… just to show you’re better at their job than they are.
Also, question. I was offered Lawrie for Hanson. Take it?
@Real Tom, Better in a lot of ways, right? I’d take Lawrie…
Ugh, my year is starting of slow in my Big money 12 team H2H. Waiting for the bats to get hot is one thing, but seeing Master Antonio get lit up yesterday and ruining the good, honest work that Nat Gio and MadBum put in is driving me to drink…more.
For some unhealthy reason I’m starting the Filthy Sanchez tonight and I’m pretty sure I know how this is going to turn out.
My SPs: MadBum, Masterson, Anibal, Ubaldo, Nat Gio, the Nose, and Egg-sucking Sanchez.
Available: Saunders, Colon, Korea, Detwiler, Milone, Hamel, Delgado
Please tell me that I’m just over reacting and need to realize that things will average out. Because I really don’t wanna pick up any of that dredge… right?…right?
@Turk Wendell, With that staff, I’d take Milone over Sanchez…
@Grey, And magically I feel better already. Thanks Grey
@Turk Wendell, Ha… No problem…
Come on Peav. Endy Chavez – really?
@Steve, Ha… Seriously…
Not a good start for Latos. Is this good if you’re thinking about acquiring him, or does he look bad?
@Steve, Not great…
Where was this last year, Hanley?
Wanker.
@Steve, Et tu, Headley? FFS.
Is this reborn Pierzynski for real?
@nick m., I don’t know but I can’t ignore it any longer. Picked him up last night, not regretting it so far.
@Eddy, Ha. Me too!
With Gio, Latos, ASanchez, Niese, Leake, and Chacin as my starters.. and no current closers (NL Only 4×4)
Is it worth trading Chacin, Leake, or Niese, to the guy with the number one waiver pick (for Casilla)?
He already has Guerra and Myers and could use a starter. I’d like to hold onto Niese, will Chacin or Leake do it?
And if he wants to hold onto Casilla.. and offers Gravy or Myers, do I take that?
@elwood blues, Chacin or Leake… Sure…
Our favorite Dizzy Canadian goes deep twice already!
@Wake Up, There’s a pulse!
Come on Nats!
@Grey, who would be the best SAGNOF option: Pierre or Rajai? Thanks!
@Howard, Pierre
@Steve, Desmond, you useless bastard. Bad day to own Hudson and Zimm.
Not to mention Morrow and Garza…
@Steve, How about Latos?
@Grey, Oh yeah, him too.
Don’t own him, but had been thinking about making a run at him in my H2H league where my pitching needs a boost.
Stay away, you think?
You can have him from me.
@Steve, It’s an inning too late, Nationals!
ESPN is broken, it’s telling me Prince Fielder has a SB and J-Z only got 3 K in 7 IP. Where have all the strikeouts gone, Paula Cole?
Am I the only one that owns Latos? I need a hug.
@Grey,
>:D<
@Steve, Apparently that’s a hug.
Thanks…
@Grey, You own The Peav though, right?
At one point… No longer…
solid 2 out walk to garcia….sad face
Yeah, he looked great there… Thank god for a good throw from BP…
@Grey, but buehrle looks like hes gonna go nine. huhhhhhhh (kanye voice)???!!
@herschel, What’s the world coming to?! De Niro voice.
@Grey, garcia shouldnt be able to hit a triple in my santa monica softball league….herschel voice…
I’m too sad to ha.
@Grey, hoo-ha
boo-ha
@Grey, I own him, albeit in a weekly league, so I expect the soreness to subside by Monday. Looking forward to being able to sit down and not walk funny!
He’s on my RCL team…
@Grey, Ouch. Well…he had an ERA around 5 last April, so I’m hoping this is just him getting some emotional BS out of the way. He could be too focused on the fact that the Reds bet the farm on him. Or maybe him and Cueto haven’t quite worked out which is the sidekick and which is the bully.
@royce!, Krispie and Gardner on the DL in our keeper (sad trombone).
@Steve, Damn, I totally jinxed him yesterday by boasting about having drafted him for you… I can’t do anything right!
Hopefully there are a good amount of DL spots? Eh, I go nothing, that just blows chunks.
@royce!, Yeah, we have 3 DL spots. But as you can imagine, in a 14-teamer with 4 OF spots, the pickings are a bit slim…
@Grey, I’m Latos intolerant, sorry. Nice to see The Phantom Yoenis back with a SB yesterday and a dinger tonight.
At what point will you have to offer an apology, in both a post and a podcast, to Rudy for your comments regarding the Morneau Draft Incident?
@Awesomus Maximus, Ha… All-Star Break…
Feel free to contribute, Longo. Any time is good.
@Steve, That’s no shit…
im already fed up with latos, watched his last outting, his shits gettin sketch now that hes out of petco (#JPeavs), im thinkin about droppin him for Edwin Jackson or Drabek (big jays fan). is it worth pickin up one or should i wait er out with shmatos…?
@Rich, Hold
Feeling like dropping Lind for Morneau…say it ain’t so… It’s making me twitch a little.
@Wilsonian, Ha… I wouldn’t do that…
Flu-like symptoms the oblique injuries of 2012?
Teix, Trumbo, Reddick.
What the hell is going around baseball?
@Eddy, Ha… Good call…
Scarcely seems possible that Sanchez could depart with the lead.
George is getting angry! Team is just not hitting.
My starting SS has been Cozart. Ike Davis (recently dropped
in my league) is starting to hit. Would you drop either
Aybar or LoMo to add Ike Davis. He would be used in the UTIL spot.
Just feel this knee problem is going to limit LoMo’s counting stats
this season. And Aybar hitting .171 is pissing George off.
Morrison for Ike is fine…
Jake Peavy is looking more like Jake Peavy……….
@BigFatHippo, Yup
@BigFatHippo, meaning he’s injured or pitching well? Emoticon.
@Wilsonian, Snizzap.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Luke Scott or Eric Thames. Pick one to own.
@BKK, Scott
Cards might win the Central by 20 games
@B.o.B, doubt they even win it. That team is old and injury-riddled and most of them won’t play anywhere near a full season, and it looks like Berkman is going to end up hitting the DL in the next day or two. They could surprise me, but I doubt it happens.
Gardner hitting the DL, is the word on the streets of Twitterville.
@Steve, yep, he’s on it according to Rotoinfo.
@Steve, Ugh
@Steve,
You have got to be fucking kidding me. Gardner had a 2b after he got hurt last night. First Young, now this BS?
Even though I’m starting H Alvarez tomorrow, gotta grab Luke Scott in the same league, right?
@Steve, Yeah
Berkman aggravates calf again…2 times in a 9 day span = DL
@B.o.B, Sounds that way…
@B.o.B,
Geez. Puma legs out a triple and gets hurt last week. Now he comes back and tries to start stealing bases? Yhgtbfkm! With him, gardner and young, that’s 3 of my 5 Ofers on one of my teams out.
Can’t believe this Gardner DL thing. I watched the game. He did a little Godzilla dive, made a good catch. Finished out the game. Said he was fine post game. Now he hits the deal. And yes I have Latos on my RCL too!
@Wake Up, I know, such crap…
Berkman has a balky calf and manages to steal a base?
@Wake Up, I have J Up and Latos and Berkman on that RCL team!
Torii Hunter or Boesch worth cutting loose in a 12-team OBP league?
@Eddy, Neither? Boesch…
@Grey, Bleh. Only one DL spot and own both Ells and Gardner. Boesch and Hunter have done nothing and no one in my league seems to like ‘em.
@Eddy, Lose Hunter…
Holy shit. Through 8 innings, Cliff Lee has thrown 79 pitches – 63 of them for strikes.
@Steve, Yeah, just commented below… Crazy…
Humidity is really high in San Fran tonight.
Cliff Lee could easily go 10 innings…
@Grey, Agreed…Guy in my other league has both Lee and Cain going tonight…and Headley…Hello!
@Wake Up, Ouch for you.
@Grey, He’s back out there…
@Steve, I feel like 10 IP game is more rare than a no-hitter.
@Grey, You’re probably right. He’s thrown 102 pitches. 102!
@Grey, And let’s not forget Bartolo…
@Steve, Bortolo threw 38 consecutive strikes between the 5th and 8th innings
@B.o.B, Staggering.
@Grey, Guess Brad is not bunting with his prized Pill? Guess Brad is starting Pill over Belt now? Who the hell is Pill Brad? And why isn’t he bunting Brad?
Grey, who should I pick up as a OF replacement. 3/5 are injured so I can’t even field a full team. Options are: jay, ibanez, Ross, wells.
Second question, I put in a waiver claim for Matt Moore dropping duffey, I assume you approve of that? Didn’t think I’d have to drop duff but now I suddenly have 3 (possibly for w/ puma) on the DL and only 2 DL spots.
Um, yeah. I guess you could say Cliff was the hard-luck loser there.
Just got off the phone with Murray Chass. He called to tell me that Cliff just doesn’t have what it takes to win games for his team.
Gimme a Holds guys for the next few days:
Crain (v BAL)
Reed (v BAL)
Wilhelmsen (v CLE)
Lindblom (@MIL)
Elbert (@ MIL)
Ryan Cook (@ LAA)
Please?