Just when you thought you would be sparred any more Tyler O’Neill propaganda, I strike with the Cardinals Top Prospects list. You just can’t shake it! Tyler O’Neill or no Tyler O’Neill, the Cardinals have long been a strong player development program. Earning the reputation for top notch scouting, homegrown stars have been the calling card of the Red Birds. The highlights of homegrown talent are too deep to list, but more than a few potential hall of famers have passed through this farm system. With a new crop of exciting kids and a AAA team that rivals a few of the weaker MLB lineups, the future remains bright in St. Louis. If only we could say the same for Nelly. If you need an audiobook to go with this, check out yesterday’s podcast! Enough of that, it’s the St. Louis Cardinals Top Prospects.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
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Mother Nature can suck a fat one. Our first excursion into the double dip starters was largely foiled by weather, an issue that has loomed large since the start of the season. There have been 25 postponements already as of this writing, the most in April in over 10 years. So, there is no better time than now to remind you to keep an eye on such things late into Sunday, assuming that’s when you’re putting in your two-start claims. Enough with the garbage weather. Let’s play some ball!
This week’s list is a lot ickier than the last. Tier 1 and 2 are pretty thin, while Tier 5 is thick with the grease of back-end starters. So greezy. Carson Fulmer and Miguel Gonzalez both have plus matchups with Seattle and Kansas City, but man…those guys are bad. Between the two of them they have 15 BB and 14 K over 23 IP. You have to really hate yourself to start either one. I’d rather have Halfthor Bjornsson throw a bowling ball at my genitals than start both of them in the same league. By the way, I am switching things up a bit this week. Rather than just list the actual wOBA of the opponent, I thought it would be more beneficial to list the opponent’s MLB rank to give you a bit more context. I’ve also included the opponent’s K% vs that starter’s handedness to give you the idea of what sort of strikeout potential you can expect.
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FantasyDraft: O(rino).co Flow—Sale Away
April 21, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, FantasyDraft | Leave a commentby: VictoriaB
I’m somewhere where I don’t know where I am. I began this week in sunshine in Iceland and came back to an ice storm that had me grounded for hours in Toronto (and it’s late April, may I remind you). Facebook (dafuq?) was showing live MLB games. Jose Bautista is a minor leaguer. Everything feels turned on its head. I don’t trust much anymore, but for my FantasyDraft lineup today, I do feel I can trust Chris Sale ($23,400… Yes. I know) as he squares up against the Oakland A’s in O.co Stadium. Sale has pitched there only a couple of times, but he’s fared pretty well, with a 3.21 ERA. There’s a good chance he could hit double-digit strikeouts against the A’s, who are striking out at a 23% clip. So in summary, Sale today should be A’s-O-Ks.
Let’s take a look at other options for FantasyDraft for April 21, the first day of spring. (“No, autumn!” cries everyone in the southern hemisphere.)
New to FantasyDraft? 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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Continuing his NL-West dominance, Tyson Ross took a no-hitter into the eighth inning Friday night, allowing just one earned run off one hit (a pinch-hit Christian Walker double) and three walks while striking out ten. I’m sorry but I just completely blanked on everything you said before, “while striking out ten.” Tyson was tattooing faces and D-Backs, the 7.2 innings pitched was a season high and it took him 127 pitches to get there. He was just four outs from San Diego’s first no-hitter in ever, but nah. SAD! Another day I guess? You’ll get there, Padres. Errr. Don’t force it. Welp. Regardless, it might be premature to re-anoint Ross the ultimate hodgepadre status he achieved in 2014-2015 season when logged ERAs of 2.81 and 3.26, but things are looking promising early. Let’s face it, Texas is where pitchers go to die when Colorado’s roster is full. Just ask Bartolo Colon. Ross’ back in San Diego where he can pick up where he left off. He’s currently sporting a sparking 2.81 ERA with a 1.01 WHIP, and its the 3.21 xFIP, 23.5 K% and 6.9 BB% that got me all hyped up and mouth-punchey on Tyson. Ross will face a true test next week when he takes on the Rockies at Coors, and while I can’t recommend him for this start, I’ll be watching it closer than the Westworld premiere because robots doing human things is clearly more interesting to me than humans doing human things. Look I’m not trying to bite your ear off (zing!), I’m just suggesting you give Tyson Ross a good look. He’s available almost everywhere and he’s got the history, the ballpark and the skillz to be undisputed heavyweight champion of the world–err, I mean, hes got the skills to be a very solid starter all season long, in other words, he wants to eat your children.
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
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Oh glorious day when Tyler O’Neill, the King In The North, is called up, and we just-so-happen, to be scheduled to do our Cardinals show. Sometimes life works out, what can I say. Lance and I start the show talking about some of the forth-coming call-ups, and who we think will get the call first between Ronald Acuna, Gleyber Torres, Nick Senzel, and Michael Kopech. We then briefly touch on some early 2018 MLB Draft talk, before jumping right into the St.Louis Cardinals Top Prospects for 2018. Lance lets me rant about Tyler O’Neill for 27 minutes straight before jumping in on Jack Flaherty, Andrew Knizner, Jose Adolis Garcia, Carson Kelly, and a little Max Schrock talk. Finally, please make sure to support our sponsor by heading over to RotoWear.com and entering promo code “SAGNOF” for 20% off the highest quality t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast:
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Buy Gurriel – Because You’re Worth It!
April 20, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 427 Commentsby: Grey
Yuli Gurriel will forever be known for the less-than-woke gesture he made in the playoffs, unless he were to do something even worse — “Hold on, it appears Yuli has taken the field with…uh…Is that pine tar on his entire face? Oh, man, that was misguided.” “Wait, is Yuli patting a rosin bag on his face and performing Kabuki theater on the mound? Oh, c’mon, Yuli.” “What on earth is Yuli thinking, he’s dressed like Nanook of the North and building an igloo out of Igloo coolers. This guy desperately needs to see Human Resources for some sensitivity training.” Funny in retrospect he made the Asian slight when his nickname is a mashup of two Asian names, Yu + Li. Any hoo! Was shocked to see him owned in less than 50% of leagues. Prior to his Spring Training injury, I had him ranked high, due to how much I wanted him. Sure, there’s some concern his injury could linger, but he’s well worth the flyer for his potential 20-homer power, .280-ish average and solid counting stats. Just hope he gets the sensitivity training he needs. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
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Closer Report: Fear Of Commitment
April 20, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball, Closers | 20 Commentsby: Smokey
Not only is it bad for marriage, but it is doomsday for fantasy baseball. Rostering three relievers from one team, all who accrue saves is just a blight on society. No one has the ability to carry three separate relievers from one team. Unless… naw… it’s just stupid to even think about. Two, I can be on board with. Definitely two. So you and two guys from one bullpen can have a save-a-trois. This is the good/bad problem right now with fantasy baseball. When do we say when for owning relievers from one team. We almost need a safe word, and even then we wanna over-rosterbate and leave lineup chafe marks. The current situations in Houston and Milwaukee are both good and bad. The good are Chris Devenski and Josh Hader. The semi-good is Jacob Barnes and Brad Peacock. The bad is bringing in and rostering Matt Albers and Ken Giles. I say they are bad only because it brings back the too many hens in the savehouse-type scenario. Plus, Ken Giles has basically been phased with high-end stuff lately and he of the high draft choice are just wasting away like Dick Gregory on the Bohemian diet. It is an impossible pill to swallow, that he’s a drop just 15 games into the season, but at what point do you look at your losses and start accruing stats that matter from a coveted relief spot? (Stats that actually matter.) No, Greg Holland walks don’t count, ya donkey. So when rostering relievers, think two max. The only other fourth guy that should be looking at the save circle jerk is if you are comfortable enough having a cameraman. Stay tuned kiddies, more tidbits of closer-dom after the bump… plus the first in-season 12 Buck Salads, Donkeycorns, Employed, and Freezes!
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Why Buy The Cow?
April 20, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball, 2018 Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 9 Commentsby: Donkey Teeth
A little over four years ago my girlfriend and I moved in together. Or, more accurately, I moved from my mom’s basement to my girlfriend’s basement. Shortly after the move, my lady and I were having dinner with my grandparents. It was during this meal that I received some of the only praise I’ve ever received from my grandfather: “Nice work Donkey, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free!?”
You’re probably wondering what this is going to have to do with fantasy baseball. What’s the milk going to be in this analogy? And is Bartolo Colon the cow? Of course he’s the cow! But not for the reasons you’re thinking. He has big bones, people! Cut Big Boned Bart some slack! I’m going to leave you on the edge of the toilet seat in your office bathroom, contemplating this analogy for just a little longer.
First, I need to add a preface; the following bit of fantasy baseball theory is mainly geared towards season long rotisserie leagues. If you only play head to head leagues you can feel free to flip back to that pornhub tab for the last few minutes of your bathroom break. Unless of course you’re looking for more sage life lessons from Grandpa Donkey, in that case stick around.
In recent seasons you may have noticed the league-wide pitching numbers are on the decline across the board in a big way. Starting pitchers are throwing fewer and fewer innings while giving up more and more runs. Whereas only a couple years ago it may have taken a 3.25 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP to win those categories in your league, this past season a 3.75 ERA and 1.20 WHIP was plenty to land the top spots in many roto leagues. I’ve compiled some data in the tables below to support these claims.
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FanDuel: Picks for April 20th, 2018
April 20, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, FanDuel | 1 Commentby: HouseofShlain
Got to get down on Friday. Personally, I had some success on FanDuel yesterday and you might’ve too if you used the Razzball lineup optimizer, which led me to a Lester/Tigers/Orioles lineup for the early slate and a lineup with Jake Arrieta, Ketel Marte, and Brandon Belt in the main slate. So of course I’m riding high after yesterday and I couldn’t have a picked a better time to do so as it is 4/20. Get it? Alright, alright, alright stay tuned for more bad 4/20 jokes and my DFS research and recommendations.
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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Morton’s In Houston Requires No Reservations
April 20, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 386 Commentsby: Grey
Charlie Morton aka Ground Chuck was playing “Hamburger Patty Cake” with the Mariners yesterday — 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, 0 walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 0.72, WHIP at 0.88. Ground Chuck said, “I’m A-1, try to ketchup.” Then he took a long pull off his Jamaican meat patty, and continued to speak in food allusions, “I’m topped by Monterey Jack, you’re whack.” Ground Chuck cracked his knuckles, “I make you so gay, you try to find Ground Chuck on Grindr.” Then, after a pause, “Gay, as in happy, but no judgments.” Finally, concluding, “If the Babe had a kid named Chris, then Ruth’s Chris still ain’t got shizz on Morton’s.” Charlie Morton sounds a bit cocky there, but he has every reason to be. In the preseason, I said, “A pitcher that goes through life as an also-ran to turn it around in his 30’s is rare. One other guy comes to mind, his name rhymes with Bitch Chill. Anyhoo, I’m buying into Morton’s transformation. How about a late-in-career transformation we call The Caitlyn Jenner? No? Okay.” And that’s me quoting me! One thing I did not understand at all was why there were so many skeptics on Morton this preseason. It was as if they ignored all of his previous season, and did not watch him in the playoffs. Ground Chuck is Salisbury Steak’ing his claim as a top five starter. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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