Richie Tauriello

2021 Fantasy Baseball: 2 Start Pitchers Week 4 (4/19-4/25)

April 18, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Two Start Pitchers, Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers | 1 Comment

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Week three is in the books, and yet again, pitching voodoo was conjured up, this time by the unsuspecting lefty Carlos Rodon, who came within a “toe ball” HBP of a Perfect Game. He threw a No-No and has not allowed a run this year over 2 starts, so maybe, just maybe, this is the breakout campaign we’ve long-awaited.

I would also be negligent in my duties if I did not mention the fact that on Saturday, for the second straight start Jacob deGrom struck out 14 batters while allowing 3 unearned runs. The Mets did everything in their power to provide deGrom with a loss but the baseball gods were just on that day, promptly delivering deGrom a win after he was pulled.

So to stick with the theme of the Mets and No-Hitters, Marcus Stroman is my pick to furnish the Mets with their first officially unofficial No-Hitter ( We don’t count the Johan Santana Debacle). Alright, I’m supposed to talk about 2 Start Pitchers so without further adieu…Let’s get goin!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Jakkers

Top 25 Shortstops Rankings: Week 3

April 18, 2021 | Top 50 Middle Infielders | 3 Comments

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Well, it didn’t take long for injuries and poor play to blow up my preseason rankings.

Fernando Tatis is back in the lineup now for the Padres, but he gave every fantasy owner a heart attack when a vicious swing nearly ripped his shoulder off his body. Meanwhile, Adalberto Mondesi has yet to even get his season started while Tim Anderson was sidelined with a hamstring issue. While injuries are a nuisance, nothing frustrates a fantasy owner more than poor performance.

It seems shortstops such has Trevor Story, Gleyber Torres and Dansby Swanson have decided to enter the witness protection program instead of hit a baseball with any consistency. Story’s slow start has seen him fall 16 spots in my rankings while Torres and Swanson are nowhere to be seen in the rankings right now. Speaking of rankings, let’s get on with the show and see who ranks where – and why.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
The Real Joey Bart

Fantasy Baseball Streamers, Week 3: Ride the Wave

April 18, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Streamers, Fantasy Baseball Two Start Pitchers | 3 Comments

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I was a little worried about how last week would go, but I’m very pleased with the results. None of our streamers got blown up, and the two-start streamers looked brilliant in their first start of the week. We also got gems from Steven Matz and Cole Irvin, rounding out a really good week. That has me geared up and ready to go because we’re in full-on grind mode now. One thing to keep an eye on is the weather, though. Mother Nature has been cruel to my streamers articles in the past, and like most women, she’s going to continue to be persistent. The snow and rain wreaked havoc last week, so let’s pray for clear skies this week! With that in mind, let’s get into it!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
MikeJacob711

FanDuel: Fade Justin Bieber And J Cole – Fire Up Fast Freddy

April 18, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 3 Comments

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Greetings and salutation friends! Welcome to week 3 of my baseball DFS Sunday musings. If you have followed my advice in the first 2 weeks you have won money. Logan Allen far exceeded value last week, the Yankees scored 8 runs. I also have hit on all 3 of my sportsbook plays since starting here at Razzball. I must be swimming in money too huh? Well no, I moved from Jersey to Georgia 3 years ago right as NJ legalized sports betting. Georgia is still debating whether or not to allow…. Nevermind no politics!

Today I have a pitcher that I LOVE combined with a stack that will help you win both GPP and cash games. So far I have given you cheap pitching options so that we could load up on bats. That’s my sure fire cash game strategy which can also help in low entry GPPs. Today we are going to move up and tier and target Freddy Peralta ($8,500). With Bieber and Cole on the slate today Peralta is a great way to pivot while saving money and getting almost the same upside.

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?
 
The Itch

Prospect News: Luke Raley Confronts the Fathers 

April 18, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 37 Comments

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Having a big bank account certainly helps the Dodgers, but it’s guys like Zach McKinstry and Luke Raley who make them a juggernaut. You might’ve familiarized yourself with McKinstry at this point, but one thing to mention here is that he’s outfield eligible in most leagues now, even Fantrax’s Util purgatory, making him a nice option in leagues of all sizes. Second base eligibility should come next. He’s got six games there already. 

Side note: my Perts league team is thick with second basemen (DJ, Whit, Villar, France), so it’ll be special for the group when McKinstry earns that badge. Whit just got his. Ty France is in the waiting room with eight games at 2B as of today. Big Perts party incoming for team Itch. Michael Brantley finally added OF this morning. Woohoo for positions!

Back to Luke Raley, who started on Thursday and again Friday when he went yard against the Padres, likely earning himself a few more chances on a team that likes to play the hot hand. Los Angeles clearly liked Raley, having taken him out of tiny Lake Erie College in the 7th round of the 2016 draft. He wound up with Minnesota for a couple seasons as part of the Brian Dozier trade, but Los Angeles got him back about a year later in the Kenta Maeda deal. On the field, Raley is a plus runner who’s stolen 21 bases and been caught five times across his minor league career. In 2019, he stole four bases in 33 games without getting caught. While he’s not going to carry anyone in the category, he’s a sneaky source for deep league speed, and one that comes equipped with plus power. He has never posted a below average offensive season according to wRC+, living mostly in the 125 range, or 25 percent better than the league average hitter. All this is to say: while his name probably rings hollow for the average fantasy player on first first reference, Raley has serious upside if he can minimize the strikeouts. If anyone can get the most out of his rotisserie skills, it’s the Dodgers. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
 
Jeremy Brewer

Hitter Profiles: Bouncing Back…Maybe

April 17, 2021 | Top 100 Hitters | 21 Comments

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The 2020 season was an adventure for several reasons.  However, there were still breakouts and breakdowns across the circuits.  It is always much more fun to talk about the young upstart that represented a draft day gamble that paid off, while it is much more likely that identifying the early season pickups will win the day (or league).  We are not talking about predicting that Christian Yelich will rebound from a rough 2020 as a bounce back.  Anybody can make those calls.  The real winners find diamonds in the rough that have been cast off and left for dead.

A few weeks into the season is a great time to find waiver wire gems to plug the holes in your draft strategy or react to the injury bug.  In today’s hitter profiles column we will look at some names delivering early season value after abysmal 2020 seasons. and make the call on whether we should buy or sell them for the long haul.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
MattTruss

FanDuel: Get Cute, Get Flexen

April 17, 2021 | DFS, Fanduel | Leave a comment

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I hope we got all that rain out of our system yesterday.  Trying to field a full lineup in season-long while constantly hitting refresh on the weather before DFS lineup lock is no fun.  I much prefer when we can just Ron Popeil those lineups and wait for the screen to turn green.  Our rainouts yesterday have caused a little havoc with tonight’s Main slate, leaving us with just five games, three aces and not a lot of options.  I’ll go over those aces in a bit and implore you to play them, but sometimes I like to get cute with a GPP lineup or two and Chris Flexen ($6,800) is just that, a cute option.  This is that dart throw you just hope hits and hope you’ve stacked the right bats when it does.  Flexen does have a couple things going for him, 11 strikeouts in 10 IP for one.  For two, he’s facing an Astros team that is short-staffed to say the least.  Thirdly, he’s at home.  It’s just enough to make me think some magic could happen here and it’s worth a couple darts.

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?
 
Dan Pants

Jazz Up Your Fantasy Team

April 17, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 31 Comments

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Ryan Gosling wants you to believe in Jazz Chisholm. Did you know that I love Ryan Gosling? Not just because La La Land helped me rediscover my love of Los Angeles. Or because he’s a bird if Rachel McAdams is a bird. Not even because of his squeaky voice in Gangster Squad or his face tattoo in the Place Beyond the Pines. Nope. I love him because he saved Jazz. Baby Goose loves Jazz. And now he’s got that crazy, stupid love for Marlins rookie middle infielder Jazz Chisholm, who had himself a night Friday going 2-for-3 with his third dinger and helped spur the Fish (get hooked!) to victory. The 23-year-old is currently slashing .294/.405/.706 with three jacks, seven runs, and six RBI through his first 12 games. Did I mention he has three steals? Because this is a power-speed combo available in over 65% of fantasy leagues. Mmhm. Dude is smooth like…uh, smooth jazz, I guess. Anyway, as I did my 5-10 minutes of toilet research for this post I noticed many articles referenced some eye-popping stats on Chisholm’s baseball savant page. Most notably, his average exit velocity is way above the league norms (93.9), and his 34.8% barrel percentage is one of the highest in the league. Yes, but what does it all mean, nerd?? It means he’s absolutely demolishing baseballs. Molly-whopping. Mashing. And Fueling that insane .783 XSLG%. Now, obviously, the 12 strikeouts in 34 ABs is more than a bit concerning, but he’s also drawn seven walks and hasn’t been chasing pitches outside the zone on those Ks. If the Jazz Dinger can keep his strikeouts down and continue to be selective with the pitches he swings at there is a rare raw power-speed combo here that would make Emma Stone blush. He could be a 25-25 guy! Gosling says Jazz is “conflict and compromise, And It’s Just… It’s New Every Time. It’s Brand New Every Night!” Intoxicating enthusiasm from The Gos and he’s right. Grey told you to BUY and all that Jazz could be worth a speculative add wherever you need middle infield help. Time to Jazz up your fantasy team!

Here’s what else I say Friday night in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?