Welcome back, Razz faithful. We have the first week plus in the books. And of course, there's a LOT to talk about and a lot to overreact to... as well as gloss over. Yes, all the things. There is nothing quite like the drug that is April baseball. I call this the NyQuil and Naquin update because there are many well-known and well-thought-of bats that are still asleep *glares at Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on my bench* and other lesser-known bats starting the season loudly, like Tyler Naquin (Raise your hand if you saw that coming. No you didn't, put it down!). So rather than freak out let's relax like Frankie. Pull up a chair, breathe, and take a dose of the no-playtime, slow-start, whiffing, choking, groundout, hit-into-double-play, bad BABIP, so you can roster medicine.
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Did you know Huascar Ynoa signed as a 16-year-old, when he was likely 10 years old, because the Braves scout players when they're in Latin American T-ball? "The kid throws 97 as an 8-year-old, we might want to throw $500 his family's way so he signs with us for twelve years." That's a Braves scout. By the way, according to prospect grades, Latin American T-ball is comparable to Double-A. If Huascar would've held out, he would've been a 1st round draft pick and everyone would be crazy about him. Ya know? Yeah, ya know Ynoa. He's on the list of the top ten velocity increasers this year, up to 96+ MPH on his fastball, and he has two pitches -- an 85 MPH slider is the other. Both are wipeout, bye-bye, 'say hello to your mother for me' type pitches. Yesterday, he had the most Ks for a 22-year-old Braves pitcher since 2013 (Teheran), going 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 0.75. With two pitches, he could get some mileage around the league once, twice, three times a Ynoa, or be out of the rotation in a few weeks. Absolutely would grab him in all leagues to see if he can keep it up each time around the track.
Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Welcome back gang, we are making our way to the home stretch of this short season and you gotta make some tough decisions. This, as always, is a continuation of my
Top 75 Outfielders for 2020: Midseason Edition and hopefully, we can steer you in the right direction. Don't be afraid to drop a slumping power bat if you need some steals to leap up the rankings, likewise for the reverse. Without further ado, let's dive in.
Here's what I've been seeing around the league:
Welp......whatever was in the water in the Bronx last year that led to one of the most ridiculous injury riddled seasons ever apparently is still sticking around, because the Yankees just keep taking hits left and right.
Last week, we chronicled Giancarlo Stanton's hamstring issue, and a week later, the Yankees are now down two more stars, as DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge have both landed themselves on the IL. Judge has a calf issue that SEEMS minor, but this is Aaron Judge and the Yankees we're talking about here. The hope is that he'll only miss a couple of weeks, but these things have a tendency to snowball in this training room. With LeMahieu, it looks like he'll be able to avoid surgery after an initial scare with his thumb injury. His timeline is also 2-3 weeks at the moment. So all three big Yankee hitters are slated to come off the IL in 2-3 weeks. Until then, we gave you Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier last week, but adding Tyler Wade and Thiaro Estrada in deeper leagues makes sense as fill ins for LeMahieu. Guys like Miguel Andujar and Mike Ford should also see some boost to their value with an OF and DH spot opening up full time.
We're about a third of the way through the season and time is just flying! So, I guess I'm having fun. This week, we'll take an alternate look at finding low owned hitters that could help lead your team to victory. Being a Phillies fan, I realized just how many hits/runs/fantasy stats the bullpen was allowing since the arms were pitching like hot garbage. So I started working my way backward in finding hitters to stream by finding bullpens to attack. I don't want to stream hitters against the Brewers or Dodgers because once the starters are out, my bats are going up against sub-2.50 ERA arms. So let's take a look at some teams to stream hitters from this week.
We got a week in the books, folks, and I didn't think I'd being doing another post this year after the unthinkable, unspeakable, most-obvious-thing-to-happen happened when a good quarter of the Florida Marlins team tested positive for coronavirus. Most would think when a worst case scenario like this occurs, the season would be halted, or at the very least restructured. (After watching some NBA last night, the bubble certainly appears to have been the way to go). But no. It's just the Marlins, right? Who cares. I wonder to myself, "Self, would the reaction have been the same had 15 Yankees tested positive." But they didn't, it's just the Marlins. The "worst" team in baseball. Besides this was a one off thing, right, what are the odds another team gets it? *Fast forward three days* Oh, three teams have it now, you say? Welp. And Commissioner slash idiot Rob Manfred claims he could shut down the season Monday if the "players aren't more careful." L-O-L. Careful like sending hundreds of players and workers back into situations where they not only have to travel, but its often impossible to maintain social distancing? So now we have six teams not even playing, teams that actually "matter", and its an absolute mess not just for players and fans, but anyone trying to field a daily fantasy line up. Phew. OK, sorry for the tangent but this could very well be my final post of 2020, so I'm going to write about what I want, and I want to write about Taijuan Walker's best start and first win in almost four years! After missing the majority of the past two seasons due to Tommy John, Taijuan Walker returned "home" to start in Seattle for the first time since 2016 Friday night. Walker looked dominant pitching seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, two walks and striking out eight A's. Tai consistently threw strikes and used his fastball effectively, topping out at 95 mph. Sweet sassy molassy! His Jordan cleats were hitting different, too. It's always the shoes! The cutter was cutting, his breaking ball had good movement but it was really the way he commanded that fastball that made the difference. After a rough first start in Houston last week, it was an excellent rebound for Walker to get him and the M's back on track. Rotoworld called a Walker add quote "risky" today, but as I ranted above, this season is all about risk, so why not take a risk on Taijuan Walker!
Hello Mother. Hello Father.
Here I am at Camp Corona.
Tests are bad here. The system's failing.
We’re very stressed but fairly uncomplaining.
Now I don’t want this should scare ya,
But my bunkmate thinks we'll soon lockdown this area.
Sorry for that.
But wow am I excited to be writing a prospect news piece!
Aroldis Chapman tested positive for Covid and has mild symptoms. Aroldis was reading a radar gun, when he said, "Damn, I haven't thrown 101 in so long," then he realized he wasn't reading a radar gun. This is not great news. Zack/Zach Britton would fill in if Aroldis can't get back on the field in time for Re-Opening Day. (I'm trying to make Re-Opening Day happen. Is it obvious/working?) I'm hesitant about moving Aroldis down in my
rankings, because he only needs -- what, two throwing sessions to be ready? Seems like he could be back by Re-Opening Day, or maybe a day or two past Re-Opening Day or three days past Re-Opening Day (is it a thing yet?). Anyway, here's what else I saw in fantasy baseball:
I’ve been looking forward to this post for a while.
The shut down threw the content-creation world one hell of a curveball. Many outlets have been using the dead time to catch up on unfinished 2020 organizational prospect rankings, but I completed Razzball’s back in January, so I moved on to another large project I didn’t have the winter minutes to complete but spun it forward to next season, ranking just about everyone across each position from a long-term perspective.
Got some push back early. “So we’re just skipping to next season? smdh”
But I kept riding through the Wild West of dynasty baseball’s future, mapping middle-aged aces alongside yet-to-be-drafted youngsters. This led to wonderful conversations with Razzball’s brilliant readers, who helped me build a set of rankings I hope we can all use to find fantasy fun and glory in the seasons to come.
I’m proud of this project, thrilled to be working with so many smart fantasy players, and eager to distill the past few months of work into this one post. Can't wait to keep chatting and building with you all! Happy scrolling!
Continuing on the series that began with
April Powers Part 1, I showed you the top hitters over the last 3 years in the month of April with the caveat that they had to be "hot" at least twice. This week we'll take an initial look at the top hitters from April 2019 and see if how they performed in the following months, and maybe catch a glimpse of what to look out for in Part 3.
In honor of Star Wars week, let's take a page from Master Yoda. Always in motion is the future, difficult to tell. But to find our way there, we can start by looking at the present. After all, it's impossible to know where you are going, if you don't know where you've been without feeling under pressure. Right, David Bowie? They said it couldn't be done! Yoda and Bowie in the same reference? Check. Now lets look at the board:
Draft season is getting into full swing. Unless things break right for you early you're likely to find your team a little light in the steals department. Take a stab at some of these cheaper players to boost your speed.
The 2020 Razzball Commenter Leagues are now open! Free to join!
Usual Suspects
- Jarrod Dyson - Dyson probably has the most guaranteed playing time coming into the season. Injuries tend to cut into his ABs but when he's in the lineup he's running.
- Delino DeShields Jr. - We've all been there with Delino. He's cheap and has 50 steal speed if he could only play everyday and avoid the litany of injuries that tend to derail his season.
- Dee Gordon - I'm actually interested in Gordon as a speed dart. He's been around a while but is a seemingly young 31. The wheels aren't what they used to be and will likely degrade as the season goes. Still, there's plenty of scenarios that see him leading off in Seattle.
What's up party people. Throughout the season I'll be bringing you my, you guessed it, Top 75 outfielders rankings for the 2020 season; or as I sometimes refer to them, the Top 75 glorified ball-shaggers (yes I was an infielder, why you ask?). Like my other compadres, I will be updating these throughout the season and pointing out the risers (the ins), fallers (the outs), and others that have me thinking at the moment warranting attention (the what-have-yous). We all have opinions, and I have plenty to share with all of you (aren't you lucky?). You can share yours with me in the comments below (shameless plug). Baseball is back.
Outfield, the final frontier (for failed infielders with plus bats that managers are trying to hide in the field). Sure you have your superstars with arm-canons and so on, but one thing is often overlooked. Some of these players, while they have above-average offensive potential, are liabilities in the field and essentially are trying to swing their way into the everyday lineup. Their future, as a function of playing time, is tied to their production at the plate. Domingo Santana is a prime example. Last year in Seattle he contributed a solid -1.9 dWAR, a career-low. Obviously, he's not a golfer. This brings me to my next point, the DH, allows some "outfielders" on AL teams to get many more ABs than NL part-timers including big bats like Soler, Alvarez, and Reyes.
This year we also have a lot of young guns getting their shot at full-time gigs across a full season and more set to make an appearance as the season goes on. Rookies like Luis Robert and Jo Adell are set to make their debut in The Show. Second-year guys like Cavan Biggio and Oscar Mercado aim for Opening Day jobs and a full season of ABs. This offseason I was hyped to see Kyle Tucker and his 30/30 skills unleashed this season but then Bang-gate happened; Hinch was fired; and the death-of-all-young-position-players, the Toothpick, Dusty Baker was hired. Hopes and dreams squashed. Sure he might eventually come around, but I'm not holding my breath (yet).
Some initials thoughts as we begin Spring Training:
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