Harvey Does About Face, Turns Heel

September 7, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 187 Comments

Matt Harvey did a 180 on his 180. This weekend he announced that he's not pitching past 180 innings. Come rain, come shine, come playoffs. Then, when met with a huge backlash, he reverted course to say he will not pitch past 180 innings in the regular season, so he can pitch in the playoffs. Somewhere, Nolan Ryan is cackling like a mad man (though, after he cackles, his arm falls off and he needs to Crazy Glue it back on). I don't have anything personally against Harvey's decision, but, to announce it yourself, it comes off like a selfish decision. PR 101, have the team announce it. And, don't, whatever you do, have your agent announce anything, especially while Boras is wearing that horned costume with the pitchfork. Or maybe I just saw a picture doctored by a Mets fan. This is not at all surprising. He's coming off of Tommy John surgery. He should be shut down at some point. Glad to hear he's pitching in the playoffs, those innings won't count towards his innings count for next year. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. None of this bodes well for how much I'll like Harvey next year, since I prefer pitchers to get babied, but I guess this won't be an issue if the Mets are bounced early in the playoffs. Let's go Dodgers! Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

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I Got A GUYer For That And The Top 50 Hitters, Week 23

September 6, 2015 | Creeper of the Week, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 80 Comments

by: J-FOH

Last weekend I wanted to go see Action Bronson when he performed at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. I was feeling my usual cheap self, so I hit up some of the homies in the lighting game to see if anyone was working the show. Well, they weren't, and I didn't go. So bummed I couldn't use the connects to get a pass into the show. That group of friends have been good guys to know, and if they are working an event they can sometimes get a few cats access. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those guys always looking for a freebie, but it's nice to have a guy. You know that guy, the one who can score you the primo stuff, get you in contact with the right people, get your car smogged (California BS) because it's customized like a mother f***er, or help you out of a bad spot. The last one is never advisable, because then you owe them a favor and that's not the kinda favor you want to owe them. To go along with the theme of the title, I hope I'm your Creeper guy, your go to creeper caller. This week I'm the guy telling you to add the Guy(er) to be your guy... for the coming week. Okay, enough about guys, this is starting to get weird... let's get to creepin'.

Ambulance Report, Week 23: Dodgers Dance Around Injuries

September 6, 2015 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball |

by: Davidwiers

Since last week's Ambulance Report the Los Angeles Dodgers have suffered a pair of injuries. If there is a silver lining to them, it's that the team went and called up Corey Seager. Given his lofty prospect pedigree — he's unarguably a top-25 guy, mostly top-10 prospect — and the potential for playing time down the stretch as the Dodgers rest some of their other players, it's time to pick up Seager if he's still free in your league.

DraftKings: Eye of the Tiger

September 6, 2015 | DraftKings | 2 Comments

by: Bigfoot Paul

Wouldn't we all like to be in Justin Verlander's shoes? Yep I thought so- who wouldn't want to be one of few major league players to be MVP and Cy Young in the same season? It's been four years since he has accomplished that amazing feat, but have we noticed how well he's been pitching lately? Verlander has pitched 7 Quality Starts in his last 8 outings. Today he faces the Cleveland Indians at home in Detroit. He's faced them 41 times in his career, the most of any team. His lone start against them earlier this season was very good, allowing only 3 base hits. The walks have been down and the 1.08 WHIP is impressive. He'll only cost you $9,600 today too. So as we all envy the guy for his incredible career accomplishments, don't scroll by him, letting the first thought of super model pop in your head. Keep your eye on the prize. Keep reading and check out some of my other DraftKings picks for today. New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 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: Meadows’ Lark

September 6, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 25 Comments

by: Mike

The minor league playoffs will be starting this week, and the Altoona Curve have cut their magic number down to two entering last night's games. Altoona is the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they called up top prospect Austin Meadows to help the cause. Meadows has rewarded them with great play, with multi-hit efforts in two of his three games, including a triple. Meadows has always been linked to Clint Frazier in my brain, since both came out of Georgia high schools in the 2013 draft and both were/are super toolsy prospects. Meadows hasn't displayed a ton of power to this point, topping out at seven dingers this year in the pitching-friendly Florida State League. The 20-year-old has done a lot of everything else though, hitting over .300 at each stop in his young career and swiping 20 bags this season. He's a great fantasy prospect because he's either going to keep contributing across the board with solid power and speed numbers, or he may trade in some speed for homers as he fills out his athletic frame. It's hard to say right now which way he'll trend, but power tends to develop later and the carrying hit tool makes him a no-brainer Top 50 spec and one that could find himself creeping into the Top 25 now that he's reached the upper levels. Here's what else is happening around the minor leagues this week, with a special focus on players who'll have some 2016 fantasy value...

Two Start Pitchers, Week 23: Fresh To Death

September 5, 2015 | Two Start Fantasy Starters | 64 Comments

by: Geoff

Hello! How many of Y'all remember the early 90's? I don't mean you were 5 and sort of remember it. I mean you know all the words to Color Me Bad, "I Wanna Sex You Up", or K7's "Come Baby Come". How many of you had a fly honey in high waisted shorts and a fresh perm? Can you bust out a Running Man or the Wop? If you caught even 60% of what I just said this one's for you. You know for all my overall shorts with the one strap rocking CooleyHighHarmony heads. We're bringing it back New Jack Style with some of the flyest threads of the early 90's. Ya heard? One big change before we go forward, the format of the charts got a little remix treatment here in the two-trey. Yours truly, decided to roll out a different set of wOBA ranks, scrapping the righty/lefty splits and instead looking at the entirety of the second half. This should give you some idea of what offenses are A. Hot and B. Putting it together following any acquisitions they made before the trade deadline. Because who really cares what a team looked like in April or June, right? Should we let our judgement be skewed by first half data if a team has been awful for all of July and August? Hell no! So we made that change for your benefit I'm a giver. The other change is we dropped the k% and added the ERA/FIP/xFIP of each potential two start pitcher over their last 5 or so turns. We did have a couple with under 5 starts total for the season, but it was just two (Zach Davies, and Cody Martin). Once again this is taking a look at the current form of each starter, not how they were pitching two months ago. Ya Dig? Good, well let's get to it.

Don’t Javier Baez Remorse, Buy Javier Baez

September 5, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 27 Comments

by: Dan Pants

Chicago Cubs mega prospect, and super phenom [player]Javier Baez[/player] made his second start yesterday since being called up September 1 and went 3-for-4 with a 2-run HR and 3 RBI. After debuting 0-for-4 with a strikeout on Tuesday, this was a welcome sight for Cubs fans and more importantly, fantasy baseballers like you and me. Will he play every day? I don't know. But if he keeps going 3-for-4 and hitting dingers...yeah, he'll probably play! Cubs fans, you so spoiled with prospects these days. Kris Bryant is basically my role model. Rizzo be the Izzo. All Kyle Schwarber does is hit home runs. Now you've got Baez to fawn over. We all know about Javy Baez's power by now, but let me remind you in case you forgot. In 2013, he hit 37 homers and slugged .578 in 130 games. More recently, he slugged .526 with 13 homers and 62 RBI in 74 games in the minors this year. Last year, in just 52 games with the MLB Cubs, he hit 9 homers with 20 RBI! That's a 30 homer hitter, folks. Sure he also batted .169 and struck out 95 times but that was last year, he was still a raw talent and not quite ready for the big show. This is 2015, a brand new year and Javier Baez is ready to shine. I'd grab him everywhere he's available for the potential power upside. Grey told you to BUY and adds like this can win your fantasy league. It's Javy time and this kid's gonna be a star! Ha-cha-cha! Here's what else happened in fantasy baseball Friday night:

DraftKings: I’m For Playing Holland, Isn’t That Weird?

September 5, 2015 | DraftKings |

by: Sky

There was a time when Mike Myers was funny. I know, weird thought, right? Not sure what happened to him. The Love Guru was an unmitigated disaster and everyone hangs the end of him on that but really, think about it. How many times can you do a Scottish accent as a big part of your career and get away with it? Myers proved there was a threshold for his antics because as we all know, we didn't watch him for his acting chops (though I give props for his role in 54; definitely wasn't playing a Myers character you've seen before there). In the end, there's absolutely zero tie in here and I'm tired of talking about Mike so I'm segueing: Derek Holland! He's a good pitcher. Isn't that weird? Ok, not really. He's shown flashes in the past but after his complete game shut out against Baltimore with 11 Ks, I picked him up in all season long leagues where he was available for this upcoming start. The Angels on the year haven't struck out a lot against LHP but they have shown to be inept, posting a weak 88 wRC+ for the year and when you combine that with their trailing 30, 14, and 7 day wRC+, you could catch a dead team walking. At his $7,200 price tag, I'm hoping for 6+ innings, minimal on base damage and 7 K with room for upside. So come visit Holland with me won't you? I'll even buy you a bong and a blintz. But enough about my odd breakfast habits, let's move on. Here's my unfortunate smelting accident hot takes for this Saturday DK slate... New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 20 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.

OPS Leagues: Eager To Meet Seager

September 5, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, OPS Leagues | 6 Comments

by: Elliot

[player]Kyle Seager[/player] has been on a bit of a tear. Seager’s OPS over the past week is a very handy 1.372. He is going to close out 2015 with stats almost identical to his previous couple of seasons, 20+ homers, 70+ RBI, and a .260/.330/.430. Not bad, but not all that special, either. Seager is one of those guys that you draft for safety but recognize immediately that it wasn’t a “sexy” pick. In my 10-team AL-only league, I had my eye on Kyle but he was plucked right before me in round 5, so I grabbed [player]Manny Machado[/player]. If we’re talking “sex” and “baseball”, we’re talking Machado … or Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham. Now that we’ve established that Kyle Seager isn’t as beautiful as Manny Machado, how does Kyle’s younger brother [player]Corey Seager[/player] compare?

Buy Didi Power Of Grayskull

September 4, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 318 Comments

by: Grey

So, I'm here today to talk about The Gregorius D.I.D. Yo, tell me, who's hot, who's not, who still out on waivers? Check out my mustache, I'm no shaver. D-I-D P-O-P-P-A, no info from the ESPN. Free agents mad cause I'm flagrant. Call my cell and I'm in my mom's basement. My fantasy team supreme, stay clean in the offseason. Bats in holsters, pitchers and their effin' shoulders. Playboy, I told ya, cause I talk to the centerfolds and they talk back to me. Hanley bruise too much, I lose too much. I guess it's cause you run and come up lame too much. Me lose my touch? Never that! If I did, ain't no problem to pick up a bat. Yo, waivers, where the true players at? So, Didi Gregorious, BK's finest, has been smoking hot for the past week and should be owned in every league. In the last week, he's hitting near .600 with three homers. Will it continue? There's only three weeks left of the season, it doesn't matter if it will continue. It's Cadbury Crunchie time, own players that are producing right now, honeycomb. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

Points Leagues: Kershawshank Redemption Part 2, The Full Beard

September 4, 2015 | Points Leagues | 19 Comments

by: malamoney

During the preseason I made a strong case for selecting [player]Clayton Kershaw[/player] as the top overall pick ahead [player]Mike Trout[/player] in points leagues using total points, Z-score and FVARz. Kershaw edged out Trout across the board, but I'm sure that didn't convince most of you to pull the trigger. Actually I'm pretty positive of this because Trout's average draft position (ADP) was 1.3, while Kershaw's ADP was just under 2 at 1.9. That means that there were a few of you that joined the dark side, but the rest of you just didn't have enough balls. Let's see if I made a jacka*s of myself taking such an outrageous stance.

DraftKings: Coors is the One

September 4, 2015 | DraftKings |

by: jasonwalker

To play or not to play, that is the question. When there are home games at Coors, you can be faced with that question. Do I do what it takes to roster guys in games at Coors, or do I do my best to build out a more balanced lineup with more reasonable prices? Alas, in cash games, you will probably have to have some exposure into the game in Denver. Afterall, it's likely the highest run total of the night and you always want to have some exposure in that game, whether it's in Denver, Toronto, New York or wherever. In tournaments, though, it's a little more difficult to decide, so I default to wanting to have it all. I make sure I at least have one tourney lineup with players in the Coors game and another one without or with less. Everyone is going to be in on them, so in tourneys it makes a lot of sense to pass, but you don't want to be too cute and miss out when you could have had some players in that matchup. Tonight, the Rockies are actually very reasonably priced, and will be well owned. How much you have in your lineup will depend on the value you can find elsewhere. I'll make some picks below that will highlight some less expensive players that would enable more Coors players and some alternates if that's not what you want to do. Again, in cash games, you'll want some of these guys, but maybe not stacking the whole team. To play or not to play, or do both. It's the American way. 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.