First off, thanks to everyone who has already signed on as a Razzball Commenter League commissioner. With 40 days to go until opening day, 531 teams have been created so we are well on the way to breaking last year's record of 576 teams. Currently, there are just 10 openings for new teams; 1 of those has a $50 buy in, 1 has a 7 AM ET draft, while 7 more are in a new keeper league which will not be eligible to be in the RCL next season, so we need more commissioners!! Please head over to the RCL Registration post to see how you can become a commissioner, or just add a team to one of the leagues. 
Monthly Archives: February 2013
First off, thanks to everyone who has already signed on as a Razzball Commenter League commissioner. With 40 days to go until opening day, 531 teams have been created so we are well on the way to breaking last year's record of 576 teams. Currently, there are just 10 openings for new teams; 1 of those has a $50 buy in, 1 has a 7 AM ET draft, while 7 more are in a new keeper league which will not be eligible to be in the RCL next season, so we need more commissioners!! Please head over to the RCL Registration post to see how you can become a commissioner, or just add a team to one of the leagues. Learn more about our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!
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Stats Needed To Win Your Fantasy Baseball League
February 19, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy | 119 Commentsby: Grey
With the Razzball Commenter Leagues sign ups in full swing, we look at what last year’s RCLs showed us, i.e., this is the stats you need to win your fantasy baseball leagues. Across 577 12 team leagues, you would think you’d have some wide variations, but it’s amazingly close what you need in each category to do average vs. win. Some quick points upfront. There were 5 outfielders and one utility, so if you play in a Yahoo league with three outfielders and two utility, I’d expect more offense across the board. Not much, but some. There was a 180 games started max for pitchers. 6.5 is average in a 12 team league, not 6 because the last place team has 1 point, not zero. Finally, the RCLs are made up of guys that are probably more competitive than your casual fantasy baseball leaguemates, so if you can hit these benchmarks, you should be in good shape. Anyway, here’s what it takes to win a 12 team fantasy baseball league:
There has been much discussion concerning whether players known/suspected of using P.E.D's should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. What has been lost in the debate is that there are a number of former players on the ballot that should be inducted at Cooperstown. Perhaps the player who has the most credentials, but is continually overlooked, is Tim Raines.
Battles To Watch: AL East
February 18, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 19 Commentsby: Spaceman
Spaceman here, and I’ll be keeping tabs on spring training battles to watch by position, in each division. I’ll hopefully convey a common sense approach that assists with your draft prep and roster depth. If not, I’ll head back to my farm in Vermont to sprinkle grass on my pancakes.
Blue Jays
2B Starter: Toronto brought Emilio Bonifacio over in Jeffrey "Expo Killer" Loria’s Miami fire sale, right after signing Maicer Izturis to a 3-year deal. So who’s playing 2B up in Canada? They haven’t committed to either, but G.M. Alex Anthopoulos appears to see Boni in a Utility role. Possibly taking over for Colby Rasmus in CF, should he struggle early on. Probable outcome: With the inside track to 2B, Izturis takes it, giving the Jays options in the OF should Melky Cabrera not perform off the juice. Izturis won’t provide much fantasy value outside of the deepest of leagues or as a late round MI flyer due to the improved offense around him. Whereas Boni should have an impact in leagues of any type, with his perennial base stealing and a nice position eligibility.
Buster Posey, Fantasy Schmohawk
February 18, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 209 Commentsby: Grey
It's more like you're a schmohawk if you draft Buster Posey in the 2nd round. Let's just look at his MVP season. Hmm, it might take me a while to get through 300 hours of video to look at his MVP season. Plus, you give this to me on VHS?! Grey's Intern, "Sorry, Mr. Albright, MLB is a bit behind with their technology. I assumed you didn't want grainy black and white film with Mel Allen voice over." Put an ad on Craigslist for a new intern! GI, "Aw, shucks." All right, due to a slight setback we're gonna have to look at Posey's season through the online prism of stats. His MVP year was 78/24/103/.336/1. To compare and contrast: he had the 66th most runs, one behind Michael Young and Andre Ethier. Yay. Yay, "Don't overuse me for your sarcastic amusement. I have feelings." Sorry, Yay. His 24 homers was tied for 45th best. Same as Napoli, Plouffe and Swisher. Super. Super, "I feel the same as Yay." His RBIs were 15th overall. That's one off of Pence's pace. Whoopie doo. Whoopie Doo, "I don't mind the sarcasm." Posey's steals were tied for 881st with Jake Westbrook, Prince Fielder and Xavier Nady, who I believe retired in 2009. A notoriously quick group, to be sure. Now, in case you skimmed the first ten sentences of nonsense. This was Posey's MVP season. So, he's going to get better this year? Is he going to win the G.O.A.T MVP and get knighted? Is the new number one name for boys in America going to be Posey? That'll confused some doctors in the maternity ward. New Dad, "Look at that Posey!" Doctor, "Now's not the time for that, sir." So what can we expect from Buster Posey for 2013 and what makes him overrated?
2013 Minor League Preview: St. Louis Cardinals
February 17, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 16 Commentsby: Scott Evans
Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America
2013 (1) | 2012 (12) | 2011 (24) | 2010 (29) | 2009 (8)
2012 Affiliate Records
MLB: [88-74] NL Central
AAA: [57-87] Pacific Coast League – Memphis
AA: [77-61] Texas League – Springfield
A+: [64-72] Florida State League – Palm Beach
A: [68-71] Midwest League – Quad Cities (Peoria beginning 2013)
A(ss): [44-32] New York-Penn League — Batavia (State College beginning 2013)
Arizona Fall League Players — Surprise Saguaros
Seth Blair (RHP); Kevin Siegrist (LHP); Boone Whiting (RHP); Mike O’Neill (OF); Colin Walsh (OF)
Graduated Prospects
Matt Carpenter (UTIL); Tony Cruz (C); Lance Lynn (RHP); Joe Kelly (RHP)
The Run Down
This is baseball's best system, and it's really not that close. The amount of high-impact talent concentrated at the upper levels of this farm system is nothing short of remarkable -- I ranked seven Cardinals prospects in my Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for 2013. Much of the credit here needs to go toward Jeff Luhnow, former VP of Player Procurement in St. Louis, current GM in Houston. But the impact of General Manager John Mozeliak cannot be denied -- since he took over in 2007, he's brought tremendous balance to this mid-market club, which is primed for big league success for the foreseeable future. Mozeliak signed a well-deserved three-year extension just a few days ago. The Cardinals are World Series contenders at Major League level, they possess the best farm in the game, and their fantasy contributions are plentiful, as usual. Swoon.
A SAGNOF Worth Dying For
February 16, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, OPS Leagues | 31 Commentsby: Tom Jacks
Trying to find a worthwhile steals guy in an OPS league is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But who looks for needles in haystacks anymore (sorry Amish readers)? A better comparison would be trying to find a sane prediction out of Matthew Berry’s bold predictions. In all seriousness, Mr. Berry is as talented a writer as I am experienced at being a fantasy baseball league commissioner. Speaking of which, y’all should sign up to be in a Razzball Commenter League and even be a league commissioner, which you could add on your resume (you can even add me as a reference). One more plug: some of the Razzball writers just began a mock draft. You should follow along at #RazzballMock (I’m @votetomjacks if that wasn’t already obvious). It’ll be the bee’s knees. Let’s get the buzz going! Anyway, if you’re wondering how it feels trying to get steals in an OPS league, I suggest you read A Tale of Two SAGNOFs. Essentially, there are very few steals guys that won’t hurt you too much in the OPS category, which makes these players that much more valuable. Did I mention that this article was inspired by a few awesome commenters in last week’s article? Now I did. My fellow Razzballers, here is a batch of 30+ steal players that won’t hurt you (too much) in OPS leagues:
Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for 2013
February 15, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 33 Commentsby: Scott Evans
Having already covered my Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for 2013, I thought I'd expand our scope a bit and take a look at 25 more who could offer fantasy value this year. Again, predicting for arrivals is an inexact science, and there's plenty of time between now and opening day for circumstances to change. No doubt, this list is missing some prospects who'll surface in the bigs and make an impact in the fantasy game a la 2012 Kyle Seager. Likewise, there'll be plenty of duds here too. Anyway, here's how I see the next 25 2013 fantasy baseball prospects:
Best Fantasy Baseball Team for 2013
February 15, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 282 Commentsby: Grey
So the title has a bit of superlative in it. What was I gonna say, the most kinda good fantasy baseball team? You'll get over your scoffing, I have faith in you. This is the best 2013 fantasy baseball team that I can put together when drafting from my top 100 for 2013 fantasy baseball and top 400 for 2013 fantasy baseball. Honestly, I could draft another 25 teams from those lists, and they’d all be different, but equally terrific... Well, one of the twenty-five would only be almost terrific, but it would be really hard to tell which one that is. If I took Votto in the 1st round, everything after it would change. For this exercise, I’m taking Swiggy first, because, well, I have him first overall. Until pick 100, I'm taking one guy somewhere in every twelve picks. It would be nice if I was in a league where someone drafted Strasburg, Verlander and Kershaw in the first round and I was able to take Votto in the 2nd round, but since Miggy and him are in my first 10 picks, according to the rules I’ve set up for myself, I can’t take them both. Then, as we all know, once you get into the 100's, there’s wide gaps between ADP and where players are actually taken. People tend to look at team need over value. So for this exercise, once I get to pick #101, I’m going to pick two players every twenty picks. Finally, because there is so much latitude in the last 200, I gave myself free reign to fill up my team. Throughout the draft, I also gave myself the ability to reach to a lower draft pick, but not reach forward. It should still be my ideal team… Or not. Let’s see, shall we? Bee tee dubya, this team is 5×5, one catcher, 5 OFs, MI, CI, 1 UT, 9 P, 3 Bench, just like the Razzball Commenter Leagues that are signing up still. (Yes, we need commissioners. I'm shooting for 60 leagues, but we need your help! Wow, I just sounded like FDR.) Also, if you're feeling especially industrious, VinWins started a thread of War Room teams in our fantasy baseball forums. Anyway, here’s the best 2013 fantasy baseball team:
2013 LABR 15-Team Mixed League Draft – Team Razzball
February 14, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Our Leagues | 71 Commentsby: Rudy Gamble
Much like Christmas, the expert fantasy baseball draft season keeps creeping earlier and earlier from arguably the best day of the year.* So ten days post-groundhog, we had our first draft of the year in what happens to be our most well-esteemed expert league - the 15-team mixed league LABR draft (click link for full draft results) run by Steve Gardner of USAToday.com/USA Today Sports Weekly.
* especially if you're Jewish and Christmas just means Chinese food + going to the movies with the atheists, eastern religioners, and Christian families that can't manage a whole day at home together as a family).
2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep, Pairings
February 14, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy | 267 Commentsby: Grey
Here’s a post that’s gonna make you wanna slap ya mama and call her Mark. The other day I told you how to draft your pitchers for 2013 fantasy baseball. I laid it out to you nice and simple (if you have a degree in “What The Hell Is Grey Talking About?” Not a PhD, mind you. Just a BS.) Today, we forget all that jabberwocky on the who-ha and get down to business old school-style (which means if you don’t comprehend, I will hit you over the head with a baseball bat signed by Joe Clark.) What I’m hoping to lay out to you is who do you draft 2nd if you’ve drafted so and so first. I think it might be helpful to go through pairings for your 5 outfielders, all your middle and corner infielders too. I’m not sure I’ll have the time or patience to do them though. We’ll see! Or not. Your choice. (Actually, my choice.) For easy reference, the royal we will be using the top 10 2013 fantasy baseball rankings, the top 20 2013 fantasy baseball rankings and the beginning of the top 100 for 2013 fantasy baseball. I’m going to assume you’re in a 12 team, 5×5, MI, CI, 5 OF, 1 Utility, 1 Catcher league, similar to our Razzball Commenter Leagues. Anyway, here’s some pairings for the first two rounds of 2013 fantasy baseball drafts:
2013 Fantasy Baseball War Room
February 13, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 91 Commentsby: Trevor
Some of us like our Fantasy Baseball War Room's like we like our women, so I would've thought Grey would've went with the old school one. Oh, well. If you're not cool with the new fantasy baseball war room, here's your alternative -- the downloadable Excel spreadsheet. This was original author and innovator Lou Poulas’ introduction, “While Grey and Rudy do a great job of breaking down everything you need to know for 2013 Fantasy Baseball, drafts still trip me up. I’ve been lamenting my inadequacies from the past 3+ years which resulted in an inordinate amount of time number crunching in Excel. My quest – a draft day “war room” that allowed me to keep my finger on the pulse of the league while minimizing my effort. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to keep track of more things as opposed to fewer.”
