You never stop learning. Ever. The baseball season is a long race and while you think you may know what a player is or what you can expect, you have to keep checking in on trends to make sure you didn't miss a zig when you been watching them zag all season.
Today's J.D. Martinez is tomorrow's Ryan Zimmerman. You may disregard a player like Brandon Moss, but if you are watching his power metrics and hard contact rate holding at an above average rate, you may just roster him in a tournament and watch him go deep with pride, as he did Thursday night.
Stay vigilant. Players returning from injury, like Stephen Strasburg, may have tightened up something that they weren't getting right pre-injury. For Stras, it's his curveball that he's found that has jumped his swinging strike rate from 7-8% pre-injury, to 13 percent over his last several starts.
David Wright is a has-been who can't be counted on anymore. *You check the numbers, find out he's raking* Welp.
Making this part of the routine makes the DFS season fun and takes advantage of fish who have taken their eyes off baseball right now to bone up for the NFL season. Reel them in and cash on them -- it's what David Wright would want you to do.
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 20 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.
As Jeff Probst once said, "Turnabout is Johnny Fairplay," which was his mashup of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart line, "Turn around, bright eyes," which was co-opted by a children's toy commercial with, "Turn around, Rainbow Brite eyes," which was Elmore Leonard's original name for a pedophile, which he changed to short eyes, and short people have big reason to smile, unless they're not wearing shoes and, yesterday, Matt Shoemaker threw a one-hitter into the 8th inning. *takes a breath, bows, exits like Tommy from this season of MasterChef* And scene! So, Shoemaker returned from the minors yesterday and did exactly what we'd hoped from him since March -- 7 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 2 baserunners, 5 Ks. He will remain in the rotation, but I wouldn't indiscriminately add him in all leagues. I would give him a shot in his next start in Oakland, and go one start at a time from there. While you're wearing the kid gloves for Shoemaker, hopefully you don't accidentally Like an Instagram post from two years ago by someone you once dated that you're now stalking. Been there! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
*swirls a glass, takes a gulp. spits it back in a bucket* "That's vintage
Justin Verlander," said Kate Upton. "Okay, this might sound gross, but can you spit into my mouth?" That's you getting up the nerve to say something to Kate Upton. I just thought of a moneymaking idea for Shark Tank! You stand outside of Comerica Park with a cardboard cutout of a naked Verlander and have people pay $10 to take a picture with him, pretending to be Kate Upton. Oh, and no, this post isn't an attempt to Bleacher Report up Google's rankings by mentioning Verlander and Upton repeatedly, though it does seem that way...Verlander/Upton, Verlander/Upton and Verlander/Upten for the illiterates. So, Verlander did look magnificent yesterday until the 8th inning when he began to tire, ending up with a one hitter --> 9 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners (1 Hit), 9 Ks with an ERA at 3.45. Big Magoo captured Verlander's upside about two weeks ago with
this post. Worth reading, but the key part (cause I know, y'all can only read so much), "Since the All-Star break, Verlander’s 7.25 K/BB ratio is the 5th highest among qualified starting pitchers, and his 1.1 BB/9 is the 6th lowest. He shares the same swinging strike rate (12.1%) as Jake Arrieta and Gerrit Cole over that span as well. Now, excuse me as I go drain the weasel on a picture of Grey." Hey, wait a minute! I didn't remember that last part. So, if Verlander is out there in your league, the one-hitter yesterday doesn't seem to be a hirame. Sorry, I just had sushi. It's not a fluke. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Jorge Soler is likely done for the year with a strained oblique. This is one of those injuries that comes with a sigh of relief. Yay, I don't have to keep running Soler out there and being disappointed. Disappointment, you are the mistress of expectation, aren't you? Soler fascinates me in a car crash that you rubber neck while you pass sorta way. Here's a preseason tweet from Peter Gammons, "John Mallee (Cubs hitting coach) says Jorge Soler hasn't swung at a pitch out of the strike zone all spring. Scary good. May be best of Cubs lot right now." Cubs committed to playing him, and, by the end of the year, you had to wonder if they should've just been committed. If his year is over, he ends with 7 HRs, 3 SBs and a .265 average in 278 plate appearances. Worse (yeah, it can get worse), his strikeout rate zoomed, and not in the fun way like Aretha Franklin's zooming. On our
Player Rater, he was about as valuable as Will Venable, Brandon Moss and Jeff Francoeur. Or make that, as craptastic as those guys. In 2016, Soler will be one of those guys that goes in the 150 range that could be as valuable as Pollock this year, or as valuable as the Pollock that parked so close to your car you couldn't get in your door and needed to climb through the trunk, knock down the backseat and crawl through to the steering wheel. Time, not the magazine, will tell. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
A few weeks back, I was on vacation and the Big Magoo covered the creeper. He did
one hell of a job by making good calls and changing up the format. This week, I'm feeling inspired by the Big Magoo and will follow in his form. I should literally follow in his form because we are similar in height, but not in weight. I'm always looking at schedules every week to help assist with my creeper, but this week I'm taking it a step further. I'm going all in on home parks. This is my mixed bag of who to grab throughout the week because you should be shuffling players in and out as long as you don't have restrictions on moves...
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Look guys. There's where all my skills as a player went. Floated away, like a cloud...[/caption]
It's been a while since I've done one of these round-ups, and to be honest, hanging out over at our
Fantasy Football site (Football is almost here!), I'm not even sure if I remember what baseball is or how it works. However, looking over the some of the games last night, I noticed that my Padres are 55-61, good for second-to-last place. So things haven't changed at all I suppose. Oh, wait, the Astros are 63-53 and are in first place? Okay, so let me redefine that. Some things change, but nothing changes when it comes to things I like. Yeah, sounds about right. Alright, alright, yes,
Matt Kemp did hit for the cycle, the first one ever in Padres history (going 4/5, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R), which I guess is okay... Look, it's impressive, no doubt, but all I'm saying is: it's about time? I mean, to be honest, I'm not sure if I was more impressed with Melvin Upton Jr. managing to get one hit out of four tries. Actually, yes, I'm way more impressed with that. Okay, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm just being salty at their entire season. Admission is the first sign of recovery folks. Regardless, let's get this show on the road.
Here's what else I saw from yesterday's games...
With just over a month and a half left to play, it's still a tight two-horse race between Razzball's J-FOH and Hannibal Montana for the first Razznasty championship. The big story right now though is MattTruss (The Hippos). Truss has gained nearly 20 points in the standings since our last league update in early July and now sits comfortably in third place. How has he done it? Basically he's dominated the rest of us since July 1st - leading the league in RBIs, wins, and strikeouts over that span. But that's not all. The Hippos have also been top five in four other categories, including hitting the second most homers and posting the second best ERA since the beginning of last month. In other words, it's been a balanced attack on the standings, and I am now officially scared of hippos. There is still a lot of ground between Truss and our two leaders, but anything can happen when you're a 2-ton animal on the move.
*Grey adjusts his chiseled body, places himself on a seat, props his chin up with his hand, makes sure that he's not covering his mustache.* "Welcome to today's symposium on the intersection of art, science and fantasy baseball. Thank you for joining me at the New Brunswick Holiday Inn. For those arriving late, please fill in the front seats. Don't groan, my handsome will distract you from wherever you're sitting if you allow it. Carlos Rodon showed yesterday what he's capable of -- 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 11 Ks -- but his 4.61 ERA shows everything else. Yes, he will be a 2016 sleeper; his stuff is just so nasty. He has a 10 K/9 in 91 2/3 IP this year (good for sixth best in the majors if he qualified). Yo, Prince, what you say to that? He's a sexy M.F. Unfortunately, his walk rate is 5, which is as awful as his K-rate is good (would be the worst qualified starter's BB/9). You know who that reminds me of? Just about every hard thrower when they first came up: Scherzer, Randy Johnson, Sale, Carrasco.... Even Kershaw's first full year's BB/9 was 4.79. I'm not saying Rodon will be that good next year, but he's 22 years old and by the age of 24 he could be a top ten starter. Okay, that should be enough for you to digest for now. For the five ladies joining us, I will continue this in the hotel bar, The Cheeky Monkey, for refreshments and chicken fingers." Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
The Red Sox season is like the guy that knocks over the Jenga structure with the first block pulled, then manages to somehow knock every single block off the table, even the ones on the very bottom. Koji Uehara hit the DL with a fractured wrist, and is done for the season, as originally speculated here after reading between the lines at other sites. I also read between the lines that aliens constructed Tikal in Guatemala. And I thought Tikal was constructed by Method Man. Also, I have a bone to pick with read, why is the past tense still spelled read? Siri can't even figure that shizz out to speak. You messed up, English language! Any the hoo! With Uehara out, this opens a hole for Jean Machi or Junichi Tazawa to walk through. Tazawa is Asian, though I'm not sure that's a requirement, Machi is ugly. Again, may not matter. Either way, I'd go Machi first since Sawx manager, John Farrell, indicated that Machi would fill-in as the closer, adding, "And Sandoval is still fat." Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
I'm picturing Droopy Dog saying, "Going down," to my Excitement for Jose Fernandez. My Excitement for J-Fer is hooking up with a strobe light honey at a club, and my Excitement for J-Fer's friend later tells my Excitement for J-Fer, "She was cute, except for that protruding Adam's apple." My Excitement for J-Fer just got a $300 red light camera ticket. My Excitement for J-Fer put the green trash can at the curb the day it was supposed to put the blue can and then puts the black can at the curb the day the green can was supposed to go out. My Excitement for J-Fer exclaims, "Why can't I even throw out the trash right?!" My Excitement for J-Fer sighs and puts an emoji in its text messages that symbolizes its childhood hero Hulk Hogan being a racist. As you've likely heard, Fernandez is out indefinitely with a bicep strain. Hopefully, he can be fine for next spring, i.e., I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't return this year. Otherwise, as the old beer jingle will tell you, J-Fer, the pitcher to draft when you're DL'ing more than one. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
You know how they have 17 hours of unseen footage on the Anchorman DVD that you spent 17 hours watching to only keep saying, "Well, I know why they cut this out?" In a similar vein, I wrote about V-Mart in the Buy/Sell that's coming later today, but have since cut it. Still, here it is in its uncut form, "Victor Martinez - Hey, it didn't work out like you antissapated (sic) when you ignored my advise (sic) to not draft hymn (sic). In 12 to 14 team mixed leagues, he's still tentatively a hold, but in shallower leagues, you really need to start looking elsewhere. (Maybe make this funnier, Grey, your intern wrote this and it's hot garbage and who's writing this note if it's not you, Grey? Wait, are you asking yourself if you're writing in third person? That's like next level shizz!)" So, yeah, I was ready to move on from V-Mart in shallower leagues. He looked lost like the Lost writers during the final season of Lost. I told you not to draft him in the preseason, and I still don't like him at all, but after he homered twice yesterday (2-for-4, 5 RBIs with his 7th and 8th homers), I'd definitely hold to see if yesterday was the K-turn he needed to get out of his cul-de-suck. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Whatever happened to Flavor of Love? That show was my jizzoint! And Rock of Love, its companion piece, was the Better Call Saul to its Breaking Bad. You can't tell me those two shows went off the air because Flavor or Brett found love. They were both likely married when the shows aired. It wasn't about love, it was about meeting incredible people and finding out about other cultures..and watching girls fight! So,
Matt Boyd rang 'em up and rang 'em down (Is that the saying? Let's say it is!) with a line of 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 2 Ks. Boyd came over to the Tigers in the David Price trade, which is different than the Star of David trade, which sent a necklace to Bernie Hermowitz for a mah jong set. Sadly, Boyd is a streamer for most mixed leagues with his 91 MPH fastball and likely 6 to 7 K/9. In his next start, he gets the Royals again, and no matter what the
Stream-o-Nator says, I wouldn't touch him, not unless Mo'Nique's taking him under her wing at Charm School (another great show!). Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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