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Johnny Cueto has been a controversial player in Major League Baseball for quite some time. There was that ugly Jason LaRue incident during a Cardinals/Reds on-field brawl in 2010 in which Cueto repeatedly kicked LaRue in the head and ultimately forced the former catcher to retire prematurely. Of course, there's also the issue of his extremely unorthodox windup that has been compared by some to that of former Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant, the legality of which has been questioned in recent years. However, one thing that hasn't been questionable is Cueto's results this year. In his first season with the Giants after signing a six-year, $130 million deal last offseason, Cueto has been one of the best pitchers in baseball during the first few months of 2016. His 11 wins are more than any pitcher in MLB outside of Chris Sale and Jake Arrieta. His 2.42 ERA is the 8th lowest among qualified starting pitchers. His 1.79 BB/9 rate is the 11th lowest in baseball. He's giving up fewer home runs (0.31 HR/9) than any other starter. The question is: can Cueto maintain this impressive production? Let's take a look at Cueto's profile to determine what can be expected from him during the remainder of the 2016 season. Here are a few observations:

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Wed 5/14
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
REL baseball logo newAnother week is in the books in the Razzball Elite League, as we're right at the halfway point through the first REL season. Hard to believe! Two teams are fighting for World Series appearances to become the fabled inaugural REL champ, and after ceding the top spot last week, The Orange Birds reclaimed their throne over the Blue Jays in an epic battle of the birds in the AL. The Aviary League! Bada bing. I have dad jokes! In the NL, the Nationals continue to dominate, with the San Fran Giants still clipping at the Cubs heels [paws] jostling for second place. Here's how week 13 went down in the 2016 REL League, plus a look-in at the REL 2 League with how it's shaping up:
Sometimes it is hard to go for the highest price pitcher of the day. Today, the highest price is $13K for Madison Bumgarner, and we don't even get to use his hitting stats. However, on a day against the weak offense of the rivals across the bay, there is no reason to avoid the big horse tonight. He is as safe as they come, with no doubts in my mind about his ability to give you at least seven strong innings with a win. Oftentimes, picking a pitcher like this leads to "weaker" hitters; on any given day, those weaker hitters can outperform the best of them. Given that MadBum is the safest, lowest risk guy on the board, having to take a few chances on hitters is totally worth the price. New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run Monday July 4th to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. Wanna know what the best part is about signing up with us? The free subscription for the rest of the season to our DFSBot, that’s what! For details on the how to, please visit our Razzball Subscriptions page.
Yesterday, Noah Syndergaard admitted to having an elbow bone spur after denying it multiple times.  Terry Collins said, "No one would know our business if it wasn't for giving the PR job to a puppy dog!  Ruff ruff!  Come here, Fido, I wanna spank you with a rolled up newspaper!"  This is the 2nd Mets' starter in two days with elbow spurs.  I look forward to the opening round of the playoffs when all of the Mets' starters are wearing Iron Mike Sharpe elbow pads to hold their arms together.  Or they hire John Cusack to marionette their starters.  So, this is obviously not good news from Syndergaard, but it's also not the end of his season.  He could opt for surgery if he's in pain, but he says he's not in pain (though, he also said he didn't have elbow spurs up until yesterday).  Jon Lester has pitched through elbow spurs for the last five years.  It's not uncommon for starters to power through.  Would I look to sell Syndergaard low?  No.  If you can get a healthy, similar starter, then sure, why not?  No reason to panic.  Unless Syndergaard starts wearing cowboy boots on his elbow.  Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Sometimes things in life don't work out. Despite your best efforts, some things just aren't meant to be. Today, my friends isn't one of those times. No, quite the opposite in fact. Today is one of those days when everything goes right. All the lights you hit are green, everyone greets you with a smile, and you start writing a post about Dodgers farmhand Brock Stewart, and he's called up. Things rarely turn out this way in life, at least mine, maybe yours is different. I'm going to stop there before this turns into a more self indulgent undertaking than any mid-aughts emo band. My apologies to anyone listening to a Dashboard Confessional song while reading along (P.S. Kick your own ass). Today we'll take a deeper look at the Dodgers latest rotation member, and see what we can expect from Stewart in the near future. We'll then close things out with a truncated minor league update, just so I can get some nuggets of info into your heads. We'll be skipping our usual bi-weekly Minor League Update post this Sunday, for the midseason top 100 fantasy baseball prospects. That's right! Get excited, we can all argue about my over-ranking, under-ranking, and just general ignorance on your favorite prospects.
Lately it seems like every television network is airing a new O.J. Simpson show. I really couldn't get into the People vs. O.J. Simpson. I just couldn't get passed the fact that Ross Gellar was playing his best friend. Actually, I didn't like Cuba Gooding or John Travolta either. The whole show felt about as fake as Bruce Jenner's right to take a dump in the women's bathroom. I haven't had a chance to watch ESPN's offering, so I can't really comment. Here's the deal. I think O.J. did it. Good old T.D. Parker is guilty. How ironic is it that a guy that hurts people used to be the face of Hertz. When he was acquitted, I remember hearing the phrase "The Juice is loose". I don't know if they had the death penalty in California, but I was pushing for "Juice the Juice!" Speaking of "the juice is loose", anyone else have a craving for Starbursts? Screw O.J. Simpson. I'd much rather talk about a guy that's hitting the cover off the ball.
We have a special guest host this week. Marky Mark ladies and gentlemen! I enjoyed watching Entourage and The Italian Job. I forgot about the Marky Mark days. Now, I won't be able to watch anything Wahlberg-related anymore. To honor the douchey-ness of the above picture, all whammies this week will be Marky Mark pictures. Why bestow Marky Mark the honor of hosting this week's No Whammies!? Because there are so many similarities between Mark Wahlberg (Marky Mark) and Mark Reynolds of the Colorado Rockies. Terrible segue, I know. Just like that POS vehicle that mall cops ride around in. I digress.
Sup, readers of the Razz. Normally I lead with a pitcher call that I think is undervalued and sometimes I lead with a bat if said bat has enough to talk about with them. Don't worry, I get paid by the word so you'll never have to worry about me not having too much to say about anything. And yet, here we are. I'm speechless. This late slate of pitching has two beautiful scenarios at a high price and a whole lot of dreck. Ricky Nolasco is $7,100. He's the seventh best pitcher, according to DK pricing. The world hates us, fam. I'll have some points per dollar calls in the pitching today but in reality, pay up for the big two in cash and play in lots of tourneys with some bad arms elsewhere. Did I get you excited?!? Boy howdy! Ok, ok, let's do this. Here's my cover your hair and eyes hot taeks for this Wednesday DK slate... New to DraftKings? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run Monday July 4th to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! Wanna know what the best part is about signing up with us? The free subscription for the rest of the season to our DFSBot, that’s what! For details on the how to, please visit our Razzball Subscriptions page.
Yesterday, Brian Dozier went 3-for-4, 4 RBIs with two homers (11, 12).  Dozier's quietly had a great June (7 HRs, near-.350), after having a miserable May (2 HRs, .215) and an atrocious April (3 HRs, .191).  Who knows what July holds?  Which sounds like the title for a piece of art done by Daniel Johnston.  Let's see, Daniel Johnston describing Dozier.  "June is Fun!  Fun!  Fun!  If I ever thought I could be happy, it was from Dozier.  Fun!  Fun!  Fun!  Oh!  That rock and roll!  It saves my soul!  Owning Dozier in June, it must've been a happy time, Kool Aid flowing like wine, the bubble gum, forever-ever-ever-ever-ever-ever after!  Now I will get on a random bus in Austin and ride to New Mexico."  Oh, Daniel Johnston, you were taken from us way too soon.  *sees he's still alive*  Okay, moving on.  So, Dozier has turned his season around and is close to the same pace as his previous season stats (28 HRs, 12 SBs).  Moreover, Dozier has cut his Ks by a lot, so he could hit for a better average this year (.250 vs. .235).  Daniel Johnston might be onto something.  About fun, fun fun not about getting on random buses.  Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
It's been awhile since there's been any Trevors of note. In 1986, professional boxer Trevor Berbick became the first (and only) person to fight both Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. If you're a fan of the Castlevania series of video games, the name Trevor Belmont might ring a bell. Most fantasy baseballers are undoubtedly familiar with Trevor Hoffman's dominance from the mid 90s through the end of his Padres days (and with apologies to Mariano Rivera, it's hard to forget the coolest entrance in baseball history). Lately though, there haven't been too many newsworthy Trevors out there. Perhaps Trevor Noah would qualify, but longtime fans of The Daily Show would probably insist that it's for all of the wrong reasons. In fantasy baseball, however, there's been no shortage of relevant Trevors in recent weeks. Let's start off by highlighting this week's most added player in ESPN leagues, Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer (69.3% owned; +32.1% over the past week). Known mostly for his extreme training techniques and inconsistency throughout his MLB career, Bauer had been notoriously unreliable from a fantasy perspective entering the 2016 season. Since making his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2012, Bauer has posted solid strikeout numbers (8.45 K/9) but has been a ratio killer along the way (4.50 ERA, 1.38 WHIP entering this season). These poor ratios have been largely a result of shaky control (4.2 BB/9) and an inability to consistently keep the ball in the park (1.1 HR/9). This season, Bauer ditched his mediocre slider in favor of a cutter, and reduced his reliance on his fourseam fastball while leaning more heavily on his sinker, terrific curveball, and vastly improved changeup. The results have been impressive. Bauer has managed to maintain his solid K-rate (8.37 K/9) while drastically cutting down on his walks (2.99 BB/9) and homers (0.7 HR/9) allowed. His new pitch mix has resulted in a career high 50.0% GB% as well. Over his last five starts, Bauer has been downright dominant (37.2 IP, 37/9 K/BB, 1 HR, 1.67 ERA, 0.93 WHIP). If he can maintain his newfound control, you're looking at a top 30 starting pitcher the rest of the way. Here are a couple of other interesting adds/drops in fantasy baseball over the past week:
Congratulations go out this week to the league members of Cougs R Us.  We’re all Cougs R Us kids after all.  I wouldn’t have guessed that it would be possible for three league members to all be inside the top 10 overall in the Master Standings, but by golly, they’ve done it!  Team Frost leads the way with a 101.5.  Next up is Team Bromelia, who despite being behind Fatuous Jeffreys in the league standings with 95.5 points (compared to Jeffreys 97), is ahead of them by 0.3 RCL points in the Master Standings.  These strong scores along with a great LCI of 104 have placed these three Cougs kids into the top 10 overall.  Impressive stuff. Five leagues currently hold the top LCI of 104.  They are, in no particular order, Cougs R Us, ECFBL, FCL, Night of the Living Zombinos and the ‘Perty Perts league.  I’m impressed with the ‘Perts league index.  Typically the ‘Perts league has been a total pushover, full of mostly dead teams with only a few teams fighting it out ‘til the end.  It’s early yet and there’s a long season of Tehol’s stats yet to be compiled (or not compiled rather) but it will be fun to see if the ‘Perts can hold on.  FCL and ECFBL are no strangers to the top LCI leaderboard.  These leagues finished 1-2 last year with FCL (112) dethroning a long run of ECFBL (110) holding the title of “Most Competitive RCL”.  Keep fighting the good fight everyone, keep those LCIs high.  Let’s see what else what down in the RCLs in the week that was, week 12:
Some things are easy to pinpoint when it comes to DFS. Overall, chalk plays tend to annoy me. More often than not, they don't pan out the way they should. With that said, Nelson Cruz is chalk on Tuesday and he's going to be in all of my lineups. Cruz is a lefty killer and faces off against Jon Niese and the Pittsburgh Pirates. On the season, Cruz has 19 homers, 10 of which have come against left-handed pitching. When you set your lineup, start with Cruz and build from there; you will not regret your decision....we interrupt this broadcast for a special announcement. *Makes the static-like noise knowing full well you can't hear them*. Hey you. Yes you. What other you it would it be? You're the one reading...anyhoo, if you're just used to cruising by the italics, you might not want to today and moving forward. If you've reading these like a wallflower at the dance, now's the time to sign up. For the rest of the year, you can get a free subscription to the DFSBot if you sign up through us through DraftKings. 'But how do I do that', you ask timidly, tears welling in your eyes all while clutching your Adventure Time lunch box. First off, you gotta be of age so either you're kinda weird or you're kinda not gonna be able to do this. Secondly, we're ok with kinda weird; it's our brand, after all. A, B, C'edly, you can click on the link in the italics below here to sign up which will give you access to one of the best projection tools in the entire industry. Anyways, the clicky-pops are just below here so don't miss out on this great offer. And just so it's clear as mud, here's some legalese on how to make things go right from the Razzball Subscriptions page: Make a first-time deposit of at least $5 at DraftKings and open a free Cointent account (click here) with the same e-mail address to activate your subscription. This will provide access to the DFS Premium Package which is all the tools EXCEPT the lineup optimizers which will require a $50/season upgrade. This is the DFS Premium package. Please allow for up to 24 hours of activation of your account. This is the editor's note signing off! New to DraftKings? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run Monday July 4th to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! Wanna know what the best part is about signing up with us? The free subscription for the rest of the season to our DFSBot, that's what! For details on the how to, please visit our Razzball Subscriptions page.