As you might have already figured out from the title of this post, Josh Reddick (+76.1%) was the most added player in fantasy baseball this past week. What else could you have possibly guessed? Wait, let me stop you at leather chaps and Rammstein. To each his own. But getting back to JOSH Reddick, it's not difficult to figure out why his recent ownership numbers have surged. Over the last two weeks, he's produced a 10/3/15/0/.463 batting line across 48 plate appearances, leading MLB in both on-base percentage (.542) and slugging percentage (.805) during that time period. Consider his early plate discipline numbers (8/5 BB/K), high LD% (29.7%), and low SwStr% (4.9%), and Reddick looks like he's locked in. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and based on these early results, it could last for a while. Here are a couple of other big adds and drops in fantasy baseball this week:
Monthly Archives: May 2015
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There’s a lot of hate towards qualifiers out there. I get it, you feel like the odds are long when you have to spike two rosters to make it count. I also get the sentiment that people feel like they get raked twice when they play qualifiers. If you can win a qualifier however, and you do spike that second lineup, that my friends is bankroll changing. I’m not saying to stop playing you regular tournaments or anything, I’m just trying to make sure you aren’t ignoring what could be a great opportunity to drastically increase your fun money. I’ll lay it out for you using one of DraftKings upcoming featured contests, the Slugfest. This contest is a $33 buy-in, $300K total prize pool event with 10,300 total entrants. Buying straight into that bad boy might be a little out of your price range, and that’s fine. Perhaps the Moonshot tournament is more your style, at $3 buy-in and 30,600 entrants. You may want to consider passing on the Moonshot one or two nights and maybe playing a $3 Slugfest qualifier instead. These qualifiers are 758 entrants with the top 60 earning a spot in the Slugfest. Roughly 8% of entrants will win here. Low odds you say, and you’re right. If we compare these odds to the Moonshot odds however, you’ll see it’s not that bad. In order to win enough in the Moonshot to pay for your buy-in to the Slugfest you’d have to finish 130th or better (winning $40). Your odds there my good friend are a mere 0.4%. Them’s bad odds right thur. If you have a lineup that can get you in the top 8% on the night of the qualifier and then just min cash in the Slugfest (a top 20.1% lineup will get you there), you’d walk away with a cool $65. If you’d like to turn your $3 Moonshot into that kind of cash, you’d have to place in the top 60, in other words a top 0.2% lineup. The other great thing about these qualifiers is, since they have such a bad rap, there is often overlay. Overlay is your friend. Look for it, embrace it, play it often to great success. Look, I’m not saying playing these things is going to allow you to quit your job or anything, I just want you to be aware of them. Don’t let a good thing slip by just because you heard it was bad, try it for yourself and see what you think. Now, let’s cover some plays that might help you win yourself a ticket tonight.
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 25 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.
But wait, there’s more! Sticking with the program here, last Tuesday’s Razzball Friend’s and Family DraftKings contest was none other than your humble author. I feel a little awkward shouting myself out, but hey, at least you know the guy handing out advice isn’t finishing 23rd out of 25 every night, so there’s that. Now, back to regular scheduled programming.
The title's not to be confused with a Wahlburger. By the by, Marky Mark was at my gym the other day. My man's short. He looked like a Caucasian Altuve. Steal some bases, Marky Mark! You know, there's nothing quite as frustrating as setting your weekly lineup and having your star go down the moment games begin on Monday. It's more frustrating than the person in front of you trying to locate exact change. Use your debit card! What do you mean you're going to see if there's some loose change in your car ashtray? Cars don't even have ashtrays anymore! In the preseason, I supposed that Hanley Ramirez would need to be moved to shortstop at some point, unable to handle The Green Monster. Yesterday, Hanley got a taste of Wally. The Red Sox said it's a shoulder sprain, which could mean he's back in a few days or out until July. Yay, specifics! On a related note, a Red Sox reporter from The Boston Globe tweeted in the 2nd inning, "It's 4-0 Rays. Red Sox season could be done soon at this rate. Losses and injuries piling up." I'm in no way a Red Sox fan, but really? Done because you're losing in the 2nd inning of an early May game and your team is practically at .500? Wow, is that guy a Masshole. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Sometimes a news story falls through the cracks, but Lewis Black is there to catch them in a segment we call Back in Black! Oh wait, got a little carried away there... I mean:
Sometimes a pitcher falls through the cracks, and Grey is there to catch them!
Now, I have somewhat of an excuse... Due to the MLB and regional networks wanting to stick it up the rear of their viewers and black out however-the-hell-far their national maps can reach, I can't watch Orioles or Nationals games live in my region. It's so frustrating that I sold high on [player]Adam Jones[/player] in my keeper just because I couldn't see the homers right away! I'm an instant gratification kinda guy, wink wink.
It's easy to follow the hitters from these teams and see the highlights, but I never see big samples from either teams' SP unless it's on national TV. Or in this case, in a Pitcher Profile! Grey has been all about some Miguel Gonzalez on the Podcast, and I guess it's easy for me to be a little dismissive as he's never had "huge" numbers and I can't ever watch him. Plus, how good could he be anyway, he's not even the only starting pitcher named Miguel Gonzalez! Mmmmmm, Alfredo. But not the Simon kind! Anyway, since I've seen so little of Gonzalez and he had a very under the radar 2.09 ERA in the final 3 months last year and a 2.59 ERA this year with nice Ks, I figured it was a good time to break down his last start hosting the Rays to see how he's doing pitch-by-pitch:
SAGNOF Special, Week 5: Introducing The Speedy Prospects
May 4, 2015 | Closers, Steals | 44 Commentsby: RotoLance
It's been a busy week for SAGNOF (Steals/Saves Ain't Got No Face) as we've seen the demotion of one closer (Miguel Castro), the injury of another (Adam Ottavino) and we've had some demotions and call-ups of base stealing prospects. Firstly, I just want to brag a little bit because I told you to pick up Jake Marisnick. Okay, so I called him Jake Marsinick at first, but hey, let's not be picky here. The fact is, I first recommended Jake Marsinick, or whatever his name is, three weeks ago here. That was back when he had one home run and two stolen bases. Since then, he's basically gone one to destroy MLB pitching. Well anyway, hopefully this will help make up for any calls I've gotten wrong over the past few weeks... (and truthfully, I would consider Marisnick a good sell high right now, maybe you can get Brandon Moss in return if you need power).
Podcast: “Tehol Just Texted Me, And He Says Domonic Brown”
May 4, 2015 | All Podcasts | 13 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
We're finally settling into the new digs! This week on the Razzball Baseball Podcast we welcome Jay to the show to talk everything Padres and the perfect decibel level for Grey's cackle laugh, JB and Grey discuss [player]Masahiro Tanaka[/player]'s value after the oft-injured pitcher hit the DL once again, then chat about over-achieving guys like [player]Jake Marisnick[/player] and how to value breakouts. We even brought back the butter/margarine scale! And for the first time this season, we limit the talk about the RCL Perts League and Brewers to under one minute. Progress! Here's the newest edition of the Razzball Baseball Podcast:
Yesterday, Evan Gattis went 2-for-4, 3 runs, 4 RBIs with his 5th and 6th homers, while hitting four homers in the last three days. After the game, Gattis likened this streak to the five red lights in a row where the first car to stop had broken windshield wipers and Gattis had a squeegee. Adding, "Right now, I'm swinging the squeegee as good as ever. There was one guy, Non-Tall Paul, who claimed to get a six-red-light streak back in '98. Non-Tall Paul reminds me of Altuve, actually. Size-wise. Not smell-wise. He smelled of grapes. Very, very rancid grapes." Okay, Gattis! This weekend Gattis reminds us how ridiculous it was that people wanted to drop him in the first week-plus when he was striking out like Non-Tall Paul at a plus-sized model runway show. I think someone even asked me in the first two weeks if I had revised projections for Gattis. Guys and five girl readers (we have a new one! Hey, lady!), the season isn't even a month old yet. You need to trust your players. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
I'll be honest, picking a creeper early in the year is not an easy task. We have small sample sizes to work with, players under performing and pitchers very hard to predict. I ask myself every week as I prepare these: what angle can I find to make a call? What is a constant that doesn't change? Where are my pants? Well, the third question is nearly impossible to answer because it's like trying to figure out where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. The other two are things we always look for, regardless of what point of the season we are at, are park factors, lefty/righty match-ups, Schmotatoness, and batter vs. pitcher history. For example, this week, Brad Miller plays six games and for five of them, he faces right-handers. On the year, he bats .348 against RHP (good thing), but among the five he faces this week, he bats .191 against (not so good), and Hitter-Tron (-$2.5) says he won't be any good. I'll pass too. That's a little snapshot into my process. This week, I'm going for Schomtatoness and park factors to make my call. Would you like to hear more? Oh c'mon, I'll give you some Arby's coupons? Dairy Queen? Fine, then skip to the top 100 and we can fight about that in the comments instead.
Ladies and gents, boys and girls, gasses and minerals, can we be serious for a moment? I have something that's touched us all in one way or another to discuss; the cold streak. Yes they happen to DFS gods such as myself too. Hard to believe I know, but it's true. Since last Sunday's post my wins have been few and far between. The worst part about all this is I'm not getting blown away by the field. I'm consistently finishing just outside the money. East Coast players (where's my furs and gators?) like myself will be all too familiar with the old going to bed a winner and waking up a loser act. Your girlfriend told me you wake up a loser a lot, so you get it. But that's besides the point, and they make pills for that "issue". Just blame it on the alcohol. Either way today is a new day, just as it is everyday on DraftKings and with it comes new opportunity.
After studying todays pitching roster there's a lot of arms with good matchups, at value prices. My favorite arm of the day, and one that will be in all of my lineups (GPP's included) is Jason Hammel. The Cubs starter has been a good under the radar play thus far this season striking out 23 batters and only walking 1 in 25 1/3 innings. That's some old school Cliff Lee shizz. Last time out, Hammel went 8 against the Pirates, not allowing a run and striking out 7. Today he squares off against the Brewers and all American boy Jimmy Nelson. The Brew crew has not been very formidable in 2015, ranking 29th in team wOBA, while striking out at the third highest rate (23.4%) in the league. Full disclosure time, Milwaukee has played most of their games sans their best hitter Carlos Gomez, who returned to the lineup yesterday, but the numbers tell me they need a lot more than Gomez. Fuller disclosure, Vegas hates my idea because the winds be a-blowin out hard to left but at a price of $7,400 you'll have plenty of other dollars to spend elsewhere.
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 25 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.
Minor Accomplishments: The Sweet Snell of Success
May 3, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 65 Commentsby: Mike
There's admittedly a special place in my heart for left-handed pitchers already, but I'm falling hard for Blake Snell. The 22-year-old southpaw ranked 9th in my Rays Top 10 prospects this offseason. Here's what I said there: "His arsenal features a low-to-mid-90s fastball, plus slider, and plus changeup. His ceiling is more of a mid-rotation starter, but in deep leagues he’s a prospect worth checking in on just in case he figures out his control and takes another step forward. He will face a bigger challenge in 2015 when he gets his feet wet in Double-A." His feet are officially wet. After just four games in High-A, Snell was promoted to Double-A Montgomery and made his first start Friday night. He responded with six scoreless innings, striking out eight while allowing just one hit and one walk. On the season, Snell has now pitched 27 innings and has yet to allow a run. He has struck out 35 batters and opponents are hitting just .124 off him. If you're in a deeper dynasty format with some minor league slots to fill, I'd be getting on the Snell train. Here's what else is happening around the minor leagues...
