First off, it was against the Tigers. Let’s be clear here — hey, I’m a poet and aware of it! — the Tigers are laughably bad. Yet, again with some stank, YET! Kyle Hendricks (8 IP, 1 ER, 8 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.27) looked fix. Hendfixed? Hmm, will work on that. Kyle Whenfixed? Okay, they’re getting worse. He(ndricks) had a season-high 30 called strikes and the most called strikeouts (7) by a pitcher in the majors this year. He looked exactly like what we expect from him, just hitting the same outside corner, over and over and, well, you know. Call him Dutchboy because he was just painting! Also, the good news gets gooder (better?) the digger you deep–Uh oh, GreyBot3000 is breaking down, must recharge…*fills mouth with boba*…Let’s go! Hendricks’s ‘luck’ should continue to get better too. Terrible BABIP of .338, when his career high is .296, which was way back in 2015. His home runs are also out of control for his career, and, brucely, for the entire league. There’s no way he’s dealing with a deadened ball and giving up his worst number home runs, unless his command is bad, and it was. Until yesterday. It looks like the Hendfixed might be in. By the way, saw Ryan Hendrix pitch yesterday, and how many goddamn ways are they going to spell that last name? Hendrickx is next. Only requirement is you have to pitch and have an Irishy first name (Kyle, Ryan, Liam). Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
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Injuries are the story of last week. Two of the best pitchers in the game have gone down. Jacob deGrom is still not throwing due to an inflamed lat muscle, but he’s said to be progressing. It remains to be seen when he’ll start throwing again. What is more concerning is the injury to Zac Gallen. Gallen suffered what they are calling a “minor sprain” to his Ulnar Collateral Ligament. Let us pray he does not need Tommy John. Gallen has said he doesn’t think he’ll need Tommy John surgery, regardless he is shut down from throwing for two weeks and will be re-evaluated after the two weeks. Jose Urquidy also left his start with shoulder inflammation, he is shut down from throwing for now as well.
Returns to the hill are the story of this week. Stephen Strasburg is set to make a rehab start this week. David Price has already thrown a batting practice session and is set to return from the IL at some point this week. Both Astros pitchers Jake Odorizzi and Framber Valdez are set to start their rehab assignments this upcoming week as well. Valdez particularly is of note, he is a really good pitcher and if you have an open IL spot you should roster him immediately. Also of note, Shohei Ohtani was scheduled for a two start week but his first start this week has been pushed back due to general fatigue. Joe Maddon has said this is just precautionary, so there is nothing to worry about there.
At the time of the writing of this, Shane Bieber did not throw a No-Hitter in his first start but he still has a start against Seattle. My weekly No-No pick of the week is…Yu Darvish!!! He’s been so good this year and has juicy matchups, we’ll be talking about him soon. With that said…Let’s go talk about him!!
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Top 25 Fantasy Shortstops for 2021 – Week 7
May 16, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Shortstops, Top 25 Shortstops | 2 Commentsby: Jakkers
With April in the rear view mirror and June fast approaching, we are starting to see a lot less wild movement in the Top 25 Fantasy Shortstop rankings.
Two weeks ago, five new players entered the rankings – Alex Bregman, Brandon Crawford, Paul DeJong, Freddy Galvis and Kike Hernandez. While all five players produced well to move into the rankings, they were help by the continued freefall of Francisco Lindor and the cold bats of Eugenio Suarez and Donovan Solano and injuries to Jean Segura and Ketel Marte.
Now in Week 7, the top shortstops have, for the most part, moved to the top of the rankings while the middle tier players are settling into their spot in the rankings. Of course, not all the stars are performing as expected and players you probably thought were never going to valuable in fantasy baseball are doing their best to get off the free agent wire.
If you are wondering about Lindor and where he is ranked, don’t waste your time. He is still missing in action this season, hitting .195 with two home runs and seven RBI. I guess if there is a bright spot, both of his home runs and five of his seven RBI have come over the last two weeks. If you can buy low on him, you might as well do it because he has to turn it around at some point, right?
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I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t nervous about last week’s streamers when I wrote that article. Luckily, it ended up being a terrific week for us, with all of our recommendations pitching well. JT Brubaker, Luis Garcia, Yusei Kikuchi, Taijuan Walker, and Adbert Alzolay led the way, making it one of my best pieces of the year! That has us riding the wave at a rapid speed, having just one poor week through the first six weeks of the season. There’s a lot I like this week, too, so let’s go ahead and get into it!
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What’s up peeps! I found out last week that I have at least two regular readers. Wow, I’m pumped and super motivated, two regulars baby. I write for you guys! I’m only half joking I’m actually really excited that even one person would open Razzball on Sundays to read my stuff. This is why we do it. There is one small caveat today though, I have a wedding in like two hours (my cousin that I haven’t seen in years but my wife tells me it would be “bad form” if we didn’t go). So this wont be the endless word salad that you’ve become accustomed too. I really am just going to give y’all a few plays to start your Sunday lineups. Shout out to Mike D who took our advice and parlayed two dogs into a win. Congrats man lets see if we can replicate that today.
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
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What’s up, everybody? It’s Sunday and I’m pitching for Itch today, so I wanted to do a quick look at pitchers who are currently wonky on the Player Rater thanks to high or low Win values. Because pitcher wins are so difficult to predict and oftentimes arbitrary. Let’s keep in mind Rays’ reliever Pete Fairbanks was in the Top 10 for wins last year (6) and there are 5 relievers in the top 50 in wins over the past two years. Did you know that Antonio Senzatela and Lucas Giolito both sport a cumulative 6-7 record from 2020-2021? Pretty wild, eh? And you thought Rockies pitchers were useless. Almost all fantasy baseball formats require Wins, it’s helpful to think about pitchers who are winning more often than they should (the Charlie Sheens), or the wingmen who just can’t get a win (the Goose). Catch me after the jump to see my Buy, Holds, and Sells!
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One of the great things about points leagues is that they are very straightforward. You don’t have to balance out a guy with a poor average who hits bombs or steals bases. All we need are the guys at each position that score the most points. “Wow, that’s so smart, why didn’t I think of that earlier?” Yes, I can hear the groans now. Obviously, you know that the team with more points wins. What I’m getting at is that at the end of the day we have a nice clean number to quantify fantasy performance. So what’s my point you ask? Well, it also highlights the differences between points leagues and categories. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at how the player rater compares to the current points standings.
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As we approach the quarter season mark, there are generally three potential outcomes for assessing a team at this juncture. The first option is to invest which includes an assessment of the strengths and weakness of the lineup or categories to shuffle and fill the gaps. The second option is to stand pat when underperformers, injuries, or other ailments are dragging down a solid team and time is all the doctor prescribed. Finally, the last option is to tear it all down in dynasty and keeper leagues. In those season-long leagues, tearing it down is likely more appropriately termed burn it to the ground. Knowing you are a devote believer of all that is Razzball, we will assume this is not the time to burn it down. We shall never lead thy astray.
This week, in our hitter profiles for the 2021 fantasy baseball season, we will be focusing on investing as we push into the second quarter of the season. We have hit the point where owner frustration has led to open trade blocks and waiver wire opportunities. For today’s dive, we have three guys with upside where the price is generally going to be minimal. What makes them so intriguing when on the surface the contributions are lacking? Time to dig deep.
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Freshly promoted Mariners rookie outfielder slash phenom slash heart throb slash Seattle savior slash pride of Pike’s Place, Jarred Kelenic put on a clinic in just his second game in the majors with three hits in four at-bats, scoring two runs and his first big league home run, a 2-run shot to right in the third inning that put the Ms up 3-0. After a disappointing debut on Thursday where he went 0-for-4 without reaching base, the dinger was Kelly’s (can I call him Kelly?) first major league hit, but he wasn’t done showing off his skillz with a “z” yet. We got to witness that highly touted speed of his, as he hustled out two doubles and added an additional RBI out of that C-Attle lead off spot. Mmhm. The super prospect is likely owned everywhere at this point and for good reason, I imagine what follows is some hilarious worst-to-first Major League type scenario where Jarred carries the Mariners back to relevance. Please let it be so. This isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger also homered Friday night and raised eyebrow emoji face…do all of a sudden the Ms have an offense? If Kelenic is going to hit like this, and going to hit lead off, it kickstarts this offense in a huge way and just his presence could make a lot some of these players more valuable. I’m looking at you, Dylan Moore (2-for-4, run, 7th steal). Wishful thinking, perhaps? Still Kelenic’s big night Friday was exciting to see, and a glimpse of hope for a fanbase that hasn’t seen their team in the post season in almost 20 years. Is he going to hit three extra base hits every night? Maybe add some steals tomorrow? Close out games? Strike out sides? No-hit the Tigers? Call balls and strikes? Probably! Either way, you’ve got to be hype to see what’s next for Jarred Kelenic. This kid’s gonna be a star! Ha-cha-cha!
Here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
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Cheap is a relative term here, but the fact that Trevor Bauer ($11,000) is not the most expensive pitcher on tonight’s main FanDuel slate is a bargain. Sure, Rodon has been great, but Bauer is the top option tonight by a long shot. Miami ranks in the bottom ten in team OPS and in the top ten in team strikeouts. Bauer is at home and should absolutely cruise to victory. The Stream-o-nator has Bauer as double the value of every other pitcher tonight and he should be good for nearly double the FanDuel points. For cash games, there is really no other option, but you can feel free to get frisky in GPPs. If you’re rostering Bauer, you’ll need to dig for value bats, but if you want all those pricey Coors bats, you’ll need to get creative. Let’s dig, shall we.
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
Please, blog, may I have some more?
