Red Sox Call Dr. Drew To Rehab Lineup

May 21, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 837 Comments

Four teams were showing interest in [player]Stephen Drew[/player]. No official word on which four teams, but I'm guessing the Yankees, Tigers, Red Sox and whoever didn't want the Yankees, Tigers or Red Sox to get him. Probably the Giants. That Sabean is a real party pooper! "Stephen Drew is under 40 years old, but he comes across as a guy that is aging twice the speed of the average human." That's Sabean weighing Drew's pros and cons. Well, tough noogs, Sabean, the Red Sox secured their long-coveted, barely above replacement level shortstop. In a news conference, the Red Sox said they hadn't had a news conference in a while and felt like now was as good a time as any. "We were gonna hold a presser to say Jerry Remy was down to a pack and a half of smokes a day, but this is so much better!" Drew hasn't been worth owning in fantasy in about six years, so I wouldn't expect you picking him up will work as a Viagra substitute. He's around that of a 12-homer, 5-steal, .250 hitter. Lowercase yay. This will move [player]Xander Bogaerts[/player] to third base and [player]Will Middlebrooks[/player] to an outside chance of being a deep league sleeper in 2015, if he gets a few good at-bats off the bench when he returns because he's now out of a job. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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#	MLB Starting Lineups For Fri 5/16
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| OAK

RCL Update, Week 8: All Your Injuries Are Belong To Us

May 20, 2014 | Razzball Commenters League | 18 Comments

by: Jay

Looking for the Razzball Podcast? TOO BAD! It’s now Razzball Radio, and you can check out all the episodes here! Look, it's not that I want to talk about all the injuries going on in baseball ad nauseum, but another baker's dozen of arms, obliques, and ankles died this past week, and seemingly has turned everyone's RCL team page into a mix of names, stats, and the color known as 'Tears of Blood and Screams of Death' red. My favorite Crayola color next to Razzmatazz. Both of which, coincidentally, only work when doing Jazz hands. Whatever that means. Listen, I'm not a god-fearing man, but I hope she's hot when I'm finished reincarnating a couple times. Also, the problem here might be the lack of a DL graphic that CBS uses, which is a red box with a white cross in it... but I understand that this might be problematic for the vampire population. Or maybe the cross wouldn't help because maybe our team's now require priests and injury protection amulets to activate the cross-box? Religion still uses amulet's, right? And what's the patron saint of fantasy baseball anyhow? Alex Rodriguez's 2007 season? Rickey Henderson talking? John Rocker jumping off a three-story building? Who knows, but I'm willing to try anything at this point to part the sea of red that are now all of my RCL team's. Get it? Moses! Yul Brynner? Meh, who cares, it wasn't even that funny anyhow. Regardless, I think it was a great step this season to move to two DL spots instead of one. However, with the data we have now, I think we should go ahead and expand it next year to 32 DL spots. It's a good middle-ground.

Draft Kings – Bauering Out

May 20, 2014 | DraftKings | 11 Comments

by: Schlurricane

Everybody, and I mean everybody, is super excited to see [player]Trevor Bauer[/player] make his rookie debut. And by rookie debut I mean his 18^th rookie debut and by everybody I mean me. It’s gonna be huge. Not only is it going to be one of the most dominant starts of the year, but Draftkings is going to totally undervalue him due to his not “super official” former rookie debuts. So let’s head straight to the value play of Trevor Bauer at Draftkings today… or we can stand here holding ourselves. As of now, he’s not an option. So now that I spent my last 3 years waiting to write this post, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say, WTF!?!?! Good news or bad news? I knew you’d say bad news first. The bad news: I don’t have strong recommendations for every position on the field today. The good news: I’m not going to tell you who to start at every position so you can’t blame me for... EH HEM… you can take some credit for your winnings today. I got some really strong love for the guys below however. I shared an artisan, biodynamic, organic, gluten free, local and hand-crafted (the adjectivey way of saying from Portland) cocktail with mis primos Streamo, Tron and DFSBot last night. They were lubricated on the booze and shared all their secrets with me. You should only feel so lucky that they’re exhibitionists so they’ll be sharing with the public for the next 5 months minimum. After that, you’re on your own for 2014 fantasy baseball. It’s time to start chasing big money at Draftkings, who are offering free money if you play for real money and more free money if you tell your friends. Today’s recommendations are based on finding strong value. Make sure you look at today’s DFSBot to complement the following. I'm not saying you should do it, but maybe you like free money or you like playing games... I dunno.

10 CC’s Of Defatstrainol In Sabathia’s Knee, Stat!

May 20, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 782 Comments

by: Grey

[player]CC Sabathia[/player] is out until at least July. ESPN said, "The Yankees clearly want to save their ace for a late-season run, so will exercise caution, making sure to not rush a return." Seriously, is ESPN purposely five years behind everyone else or do they try to anticipate what other people think and just feed off of that? Are they under the assumption that casual (read: lazy) fans think Sabathia is the Yankees ace, so they just go with that? Are they ignoring Tanaka? Are they afraid of upsetting Yankee fans? Do they think Yankee fans are stupid? I have questions, y'all! Sabathia hasn't been an ace in two years and I see no return to that any time soon. Even if he loses another 75 pounds and grows back his belly, only now it's from being malnourished, and he shows up at the ballpark with flies buzzing around his head. [player]Chase Whitley[/player] will remain in the rotation now and he had a 10+ K/9, 2.4 BB/9 in Triple-A, but he wasn't even a starter prior to this year and the Yanks are throwing crap against their dresser hoping it forms a pretty, flower-doily design. I wouldn't mess with him outside of AL-Only leagues. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

DraftKings – Done Lyons For You

May 19, 2014 | DraftKings | 10 Comments

by: BTXJ

Hi there. It’s me – the guy who vouched for [player]Tyler Lyons[/player] in his last start, because let’s face it; his matchup (on paper) was prettier than Kelly Kapowski on prom night. Sadly, the outcome of said start turned out to be more like Prom Night the movie, which I never saw because it looked awful, but I imagine it was a blood bath with an awful soundtrack. So yeah, anyone with shares in Lyons (there were a lot) had an awful night, and I got trolled a little (which I love). I’m not sorry though. All I can do is present useful data the best I can and let the cards fall where they may. You just gotta keep on keepin’ on, you know? That being said, if you still can’t forgive me for Lyonsgate, there are other awesome tools here at Razzball like Stream-o-Nator, Hitter-Tron, and the new DFSBot. Wait, did I just call myself an awesome tool? Whatever. As always, we’ve got you covered here, so head on over to DraftKings and use our promo link; it could lead you to $100K and probably a foursome at the bare minimum. Now, let’s put this Lyons nonsense behind us and examine some key participants in tonight’s short slate.

Pitcher Profile: One Last Vogelsong Before Keuchel

May 19, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 87 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

I know, I know. I promised everyone [player]Dallas Keuchel[/player], but he's pitching tonight! His last start was so long ago that [player]Jose Abreu[/player] still seemed like a good guy to trade for if someone wasn't selling too high (ack!). So long ago that Jay Z seemed to still love his little sister-in-law! But do not fret, I promise unless there's a Noah-type monsoon that floods out four games, that Keuchel will be next week on his weekend start. So in my despair when I saw Keuchel was tonight and not yesterday, I went to Twitter for some ideas and got a great one for [player]Ryan Vogelsong[/player]. I gotta admit - I love Vogelsong. Helped carry me to titles in both 2011 and 2012 where he stayed undervalued for an entire 2-year stretch. Pretty hard to do. But 2013 was a disaster with hitters bashing him at a .299 clip, suffered a 5.73 ERA, and I guess the more appropriate adjective use of "suffer" would be for his broken hand on a comebacker. It was in a 5-inning scoreless game too! Talk about the worst timing, right whence he was turning it around. In 2012, everyone ignored Vogelsong because he started the year on the DL and I think he missed all of one start. Noobs! To ignore him (like I obviously did) based on a terrible 2013 for a 36-year-old pitcher I think is more logical. But he's got his velocity back up to 2012 levels, dropped the line drive rate, and has four gems in his last five starts. Indeed, it felt only logical to break down his start yesterday against the Marlins, and if he can indeed make another under-the-radar lasting impact on fantasy teams in 2014:

Ambulance Chasers, Week 8: The Princess Diaries

May 19, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 46 Comments

by: SethDaSportsMan

This is starting to get a little ridiculous now. It seems as if I can't even make it through my lunch break without hearing of some catastrophic injury news. No matter how well teams manage their young hurlers' inning limits ([player]Jose Fernandez[/player]), or how many times we yell to ourselves, "Stop sliding head-first on the base paths!" ([player]Ben Zobrist[/player]), the injuries just seem to keep piling up. Maybe fantasy baseball owners should probably employ a handcuff system similar to the one used in fantasy football. In fact, come August, there may not even be enough players to fill out major league rosters. If [player]Will Middlebrooks[/player] lands on the DL one more time, Julio Franco may be called upon to play the hot corner for the Red Sox. Here are this week's injuries and other health-related situations to monitor...

Danny Boy, The Swipes Are Calling

May 19, 2014 | Steals | 16 Comments

by: Mike

Fellow Razzballer and DraftKings extraordinaire BTXJ brought [player]Daniel Santana[/player] to our collective attention last week in the comments. Santana returned from a hamstring issue this past weekend and could be a cheap source of steals going forward. His ability to play both middle infield and outfield, as well as switch-hit, make him an interesting play in deeper leagues and leagues with daily roster moves. He'll most likely hit from the bottom of the lineup, but he could certainly play his way up at some point. The 23-year-old is 8-for-21 in the majors this year and stole 30 bags in Double-A last season. He had stolen four bases prior to his call up from Triple-A this year. Why does an inexperienced hitter coming off an injury get the lede? He's got the best possible match-ups this week. It's only five games, but the Twins draw the Padres and Giants. Those teams are 1-2 for the most stolen bases allowed in the majors this year with 42 and 38 steals allowed, respectively. Even without a ton of playing time, Santana could work in a steal or two against these teams. Here are some other steals plays for this week in fantasy baseball...

Cuba Limping Jr.

May 19, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 818 Comments

by: Grey

The date was 1 B.O. -- that's one year Before Okrent -- and the Fantasy Baseball Overlord rose from the Fantasy Baseball Overlord's Mom's Basement and said, "Fantasy baseball lovers, I will grant you one wish." One Fantasy Baseballer swooped his wisp of hair over his balding spot, in case he ran into any girls, and stepped forward, "I wish that all players would be healthy." The Fantasy Baseball Overlord scratched under his armpit, thinking. "Fine, prematurely balding man, I will grant you your wish. May all players be healthy. Just not all at the same time or while on your team." And with that the FBO descended back into its mom's basement, since it was almost snack time. As the Overlord descended the stairs, the prematurely balding man yelled, "Wait, I didn't agree to that!" But it was too late, and now [player]Jose Abreu[/player]'s landed on the DL too. Can't we have anything nice?! Please return to us, The Grande Dolor! Wait a second, where was Frank Thomas this weekend? Frank Thomas did a Snapchat with the Fantasy Baseball Overlord, didn't he? Answer me true, universe. The White Sox are saying Abreu will be fine to return after the minimum 15 days, and I say, *long sigh* hopefully. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Jam It or Cram It: A Farewell to Arms

May 18, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 208 Comments

by: The Guru

In between winning the Nobel Prize, shots of rum, bagging 240-pound marlins and banging 140-pound broads, Ernest Hemingway wrote: "The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially." Did Papa play fantasy baseball? My pitching staff was very good, very brave, and now they're very dead. Light a candle and cue the bagpipes (those things get me misty every time) in memory of [player]Patrick Corbin[/player], [player]Matt Moore[/player], [player]Kris Medlen[/player] and the latest soldier to fall, [player]Jose Fernandez[/player]. The literary references aside, the most talked about pitcher in baseball this season is not [player]Clayton Kershaw[/player], it's not [player]Max Scherzer[/player], and it's not even [player]Bartolo Colon[/player] after an at-bat. The most talked about arm in the game is Tommy John. If ol' TJ had a buck for every pitcher that has been lost this season to the surgery that bears his name, he'd have $19 - which is $4 more than he made in his Major League career. Thus far, 19 pitchers have blown out their prized possession, with Fernandez the latest to fall and rumors swirling about [player]Andrew Cashner[/player], who was just put on the DL shelf. All of last season, 19 players were lost to Tommy John. To talk some real baseball for a minute, even commissioner Bud Selig weighed in on the epidemic saying, "I'm almost afraid to pick up the paper because of the bad news." Unfortunately, the bad news Bud was referring to, in the paper, was that it looks like Beetle Bailey will never get out of the Army. Bud then answered a call on his shoe as his toupee fell into his soup. The fact is, no matter how well you drafted, your staff must be feeling the pain, and no amount of penicillin will cure what ails you. It's time to fire up the jammer-crammer machine©, dive into the deep-end of the waiver waters, and find us some arms that aren't stitched together like Young Frankenstein. Walk this way, it's time to jam it or cram it.

Jack’s Hit of the Week – Working in a Kole Mine

May 18, 2014 | Creeper of the Week | 48 Comments

by: J-FOH

As I was flipping through my records the other day I came across my 45 of Devo's Working in a Coal Mine. Originally a hit by Lee Dorsey, it was covered by the men in the funny hats and was a very popular song off the Heavy Metal soundtrack. For those that don't know what Heavy Metal is you can look here. I would like to put up the trailer but it's a NSFW kinda thing. Listening to this song reminded me of a guy that got lost in this seasons pool of injuries. [player]Kole Calhoun[/player] is due back this week, most likely Tueday, and his ownership has dropped down to 10.8% in all of ESPN leagues! As this injury epidemic continues on we have been forced to drop some good players to make room for our studs. In all my years playing this maddening little game I have never seen anything like this. You must be some kind of wizard if you don't have a player on the DL right now. Seriously go buy some lotto tickets and a couple of tall cans. You can pre-celebrate because you're destined to be a winner. I shouldn't try and explain all this craziness because that would be futile. Ok, maybe I'll try one theory...maybe Bud Selig made a deal with the devil and now it's time to pay the piper or maybe the devil and Bud Selig are one in the same. Insert your favorite evil laugh here....mine is Skeletor!

DraftKings – Find Some Lee Way

May 18, 2014 | DraftKings | 25 Comments

by: Mike

It's possible that the Philly homer in me is coming into play, but I am brimming with confidence in my Phils after last night's offensive explosion. [player]Cliff Lee[/player] ($10,600) looks like a great play today against a Reds lineup that is missing both [player]Jay Bruce[/player] and [player]Joey Votto[/player]. Lee's K/BB ratio is fifth among all MLB pitchers and he's the best option under $11K on DraftKings. Lefty [player]Cole Hamels[/player] had no trouble handling the Reds yesterday with 7 IP and 10 strikeouts, and I'm confident Lee can provide more of the same. Stream-o-Nator likes the cut of his jib as well. He's sitting numero uno at a $28 value. Head over to DraftKings and use our promo link. New players that click on this link will get into a free contest with a first time deposit (only new users eligible). The winner of that contest gets entry into our $500k Showcase with a $100k top prize. Also, check out the new DFSBot tool. It compares projected values to DraftKings salaries so you can fill your lineup with the best bang for your buck. If you just want to play for fun, you can enter a free contest with me to challenge my lineup today. A few other Razzball personalities have been known to stop by so come check it out. Here are today's picks...