Shaba Antone in the know knows that I am all about Jamaica. Love to visit the place. I also have several friends that reside on the isle and like to partake in the national festivity of... well, you know, don't make me say. The Dodger pen has been a flux of capacitors all year, and I think at some point I'll bet a sixer on the leading hold leader from them being someone who may have contracted a melanoma. Enter Joe Blanton. The resurrection project of all resurrection projects. Not only has he flourished in the role of set-up to the stars, but he doesn't seem to have any competition to say the opposite. In his last 30 days, minus a week off for the All-Star break, he has a one-off the pace total of 7 holds, a K/9 rate of above average, and an ERA of two bills. All this for a team that has lacked stability setting up the dude who sounds like someone you would rent a kickboard from in Jamaica. Now, he isn't the only reason for the Dodgers having a top-5 bullpen ERA in the last 30 days, but he isn't not-not the problem. He is someone you may need to own though, add in the fact that in some leagues, I have SP eligibility, and he looks even sexier. So now that we have got the lede out the way, let's get to the milk and cookies of the bullpen report.
See all of today’s starting lineups
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ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK | SF |
There's gonna be a lot of haters out there about Jose De Leon. It's the times we live in. His great-great-great-great grandfather was the original body-shamer. Ponce De Leon set out about five hundred and fifty years ago looking for the Fountain of Youth because, his words, "my old bitty needs to go bye-bye if she continues to sag in the FUPA area." He was also the originator of the common 1500s phrase, "Ponce upon a time you looked good, girl." A phrase that has rightfully disappeared from common speech before any more women were hurt by vernacular manslaughter, so to speak. As for Jose De Leon, he's got the youth thing for days, but he's not quite as young as Julio Urias, which I'm gonna say is a good thing in this case, because Urias is so raw he may as well be carrying botulism. De Leon, 23 years old, is destroying Triple-A on the current -- 13.8 K/9, 3.06 ERA -- which is more or less same-same what he's been doing for the last two years. Even more importantly, the Dodgers have an immediate need with their rotation a M.A.S.H. unit, a Jamie-Farr-kin joke. I'd grab De Leon now in most leagues for his impending arrival. And, yes, even if Chris Archer's in Dodger Blue, De Leon should be up. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
Decisions, decisions...we all love when a bad hitting team gets to go up against a good to great pitcher. But do we love it when it's in a friendly hitter's park? This is the question you're going to have to ask yourself today. With so many good pitching options on this slate priced reasonably, is it the kind of day you should toss
Jon Gray out there on your team? Clearly Gray isn't without risk given Coors is the backdrop but lets consider a few things for a moment. His K/9 on the year is nestled right in between David Price and Jake Arrieta. His GB% sits at a healthy 47.8% and his xFIP (3.53) is nearly a run less than his ERA (4.33). Also, Gray has done a tremendous job this year of taking advantage of cush matchups no matter where he was at. He went seven and K'd seven Padres back on June 10th in Coors and just finished up the Braves in Atlanta with eight Ks for a seven inning shutout. When Jon is given an opportunity to take down a bad team, he does it with authority. The asking price of $8,200 isn't the cheapest nor is it unmanageable; it's just there asking you if you like taking a bit of risk with your LU. Well, do ya punk? Alright then, let's get on with the getting on. Here's my fuerte taeks for this Friday DK slate...
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Yesterday, Francisco Liriano went 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 13 Ks with zero walks. Insert the madman cackle of Francisco Liriano's owners who owned him up until last night when he had a 5.11 ERA. He had 13 Ks without a walk! This came from a guy who had a 5.7 BB/9 coming into the game. That's not bad. No, no. You think that's bad? You should swipe right on Tinder the next time you come across a thesaurus if bad's all you got. That's effin' egregious. That's the 1980's Lower East Side before Donald Trump fixed the entire New York City as narrated by Jon Voight. That's the worst walk rate since Todd Van Poppel's walk rate of 6.87 in 1994. Since 1980, there's only been walk rates of 5.7 or worse four other times. In 36 years! Jesus, 36 years? I'm getting old. This start came against the Brewers who have struck out more than any other team in the major leagues. So, nice start, but I wouldn't go near him. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
The surname Quintana is listed as having a Spanish origin and meaning "dweller on a piece of land whose rent is one-fifth its produce." In the case of Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Jose Quintana, this definition seems to be fairly accurate. After all, he starts one-fifth of his team's games and is compensated roughly one-fifth of what a pitcher his caliber would be on the free agent market. If my math is accurate, this would make him the equivalent of an indentured servant or a government mule in the MLB pecking order. There's no need to start a fundraiser for this mule, however, as his listed salary of $5.4 million this season is hardly chump change, but the truth is that Quintana has been undervalued and underappreciated for quite some time now. Since the beginning of the 2013 season, Quintana has produced the 6th highest WAR (16.3) among all MLB pitchers, placing him directly above established aces Madison Bumgarner, Zack Greinke, and Jon Lester over that span. He's also in the midst of arguably his best season to date, as his 3.13 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 8.15 K/9 rates represent career best marks in those respective categories. With impressive numbers like these, Quintana is starting to gain more traction in fantasy circles, as his name has been popping up on a lot of top 20 starting pitcher lists around the web in recent weeks. Quintana just might be one of the top dozen or so MLB pitchers in real life, but has his fantasy value followed suit?
Let's take a look at Quintana's profile to see if his ascension into the fantasy elite is sustainable moving forward. Here are a few observations:
I know I used a similar open a few updates ago, but dayum! Next week we'll be over 100 games into the season! That's right, I plagiarized myself. Is that in fact plagiarization?! Is it bad I had no idea plagiarize had that first "i" in there?! I can't even plagiarize the word plagiarize!
The NL continues to be a boring domination by the Nationals, who keep adding younger and sexier talent somehow. Their Minor League system is some sort of oligarchy. Don't know if I'm using that term correct, I never studied for History class... At least the AL is much more interesting, with the Blue Jays in the driver's seat with the surging Tribe moving into second. The Orange Birds, who led for most of the season in the AL, are still clearly in the mix, as are the Red Sox and Astros with over 100 points. Here's how weeks 15-16 went down in the 2016 REL League:
Steven Wright has been a revelation this year, and he's such a feel good story. Everyone has fooled around with a knuckleball in their backyard, and lemme tell ya, mine's pretty good! I may even look more athletic than Steven Wright... However, Knuckle Papi is the guy in The Show, and I'm the guy writing about him. Ah well, someone has to do both. Just pick him in your lineup today, he's facing the Twins... Need I say more?
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 25th 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.
"Naquin the Chef looks determined without being ruthless. Something heroic in his manner. There's a courage about him. Comes across so calm. Acts like he has a dream. Full of passion. Well, you know why. Knock homers out of the box all the time. Pitches know his repertoire, big fly. Yeah, straight up, Naquin mess your whole team up. It's for real though, ball connect with stick, ditto. We could trade places, ball lifted run around the bases. Word up, peace, infatuated redfaces." I almost didn't write the title of the Naquin the Chef song, Infatuated Redfaces, but then I was like, "There's a team named Redskins and a mascot named Chief Wahoo, I think I'm all right." Yesterday, Tyler Naquin kept it going with the insane run he's been on -- 3-for-4, 6 RBIs with two homers (11, 12). He now has six homers in the last ten games. That's six homers in July to go with his six homers in June. As I said back in spring training when I saw Naquin play, he had a nice stroke against righties, but looked kinda gnarly vs. lefties. Looks like a 17/17 player that needs to platoon. Right now, his power's way above that, but will likely come down to earth at some point. Of course, I'd still own him now. Word up, peace, infatuated redfaces. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Unless you're a greasy teenager or the warden of Shawshank Penitentiary breakouts are good. Particularly when we're talking about athletes, and even more so when we're talking about up and coming athletes. Heck, I can still remember when I first saw young Ariel Winter blossom from younger sister on Modern Family to busty sexpot. After writing that last sentence I feel like I'm ghostwriting Tehol's posts again. Who knows maybe I am, throw in a Dom Brown reference and a couple of lords and BOOM you got a Tehol post. That's not why we're here though. No we're here to talk about the breakout stars of the minor leagues. The guys jumping up, and in some cases, into the top 100. It's a great time to review this for a few reasons. Chief among them is three and a half months of data to crunch. Not to mention a plethora of updated top 100 have hit the streets. So who am I lovin, who do I want to be huggin? Let's get into it.
Last Friday I presented my
pitcher projections for the second half of the season. In said projections I concluded by predicting that
[player]Chris Sale[/player] would be the American League Cy Young Award winner. I put his final line at 227 IP, 23 W, 6 L, 231 K, 47 BBI, 186 HA, 82 ER. Sale certainly came out of the second half gates as if he had read my post. There was a rumor going around that both Sale and
[player]Dylan Bundy[/player] frequent Razzball. I have no proof, but it sounds logical to me. Speaking of Bundy, while it might not have been very impressive, he made his first Major League start this past Sunday. Despite only lasting 3.1 innings, there are still some positive takeaways. I'm not sure what his exact role in the Orioles' rotation is going to be, but it seems he's going to be groomed into becoming a full-time starter. It just might not be this year. I'd also like to point out that I expressed my interest in Bundy this season back in April. On April 13th I said I'd rather stash Dylan Bundy than own Byron Buxton. Then, one week later, I elaborated on my
thoughts on Bundy. Those in leagues that allow SP in RP, should take an extra look at Dylan should he be available in your league.
Unless you're not into that, of course. And if you are, that's cool, I'm not into it myself. Not that there's anything wrong with that...anyhoo, Phillies can be ponies, right? But of course, we know that even with that reference, it still doesn't work seeing as, well,
look at the dang gif, y'all. You know he ain't talking about equestrians. For those who still haven't got it, it's a sexual innuendo, or 'inyourendo' if you're 15 mentally which I am so we're good! Now that I've dated myself very badly, lets get down to dropping that
synth-burp bass and talking up
Wei-Yin Chen. Feels like we've been here plenty this year and the theme has been common and easy to follow. Here's a quick flowchart:
You're welcome for offering up the Staples button for ya because yes, that was easy. The Phillies have found a new low of late as they've even slipped beneath the Braves in wRC+ against southpaws, sitting at a lowly 64. They say it's lonely at the top, but what's it like sitting down there on the porcelain throne? Whew...Chen isn't the safest get for the night based on his own stats on the year and his HR tendencies, but with the opponent at hand, I could see 6 to 7 Ks and it's just a question of how many bombs he gives up whether that's worth much. I'll play him in cash and tourneys alike on such a smedium evening slate. But enough about bad 90s R&B, let's move on. Here's my
Peyton Manning grooving hot taeks for this Wednesday DK slate...
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 next Monday, July 25th, 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.
It's time for the Dodgers' mailbag with your host, Grey Albright and I'm here with Dave Roberts. First question up, Billy from Toluca Lake asks, "Why didn't we sign Johnny Cueto?" Dave Roberts runs full-speed towards 2nd and slides head-first...safe! Well, that doesn't exactly answer the question, but he is still quick. Okay, next question, "Was there ever a chance of re-signing Greinke?" Dave Roberts brushes dirt from his uniform and motions for the ump to call him safe, and he likely would've been safe if we were in a game and not just taking questions from Dodger fans. Okay, next, "What exactly is Brandon Beachy doing as a Dodger?" Dave Roberts takes off for third, what a speed demon, though we're not sure what that has to do with the Dodgers losing pitchers one per hour. Early yesterday, the Dodgers announced Hyun-Jin Ryu hit the DL with elbow tendinitis. There's no clear timetable for his return, but I'd guess sometime in the future. Him returning in the past seems to be a long shot, at best. Ryu didn't look good after he returned from injury and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't return until next season. If you have no DL room, you should look on Redfin. Might be time to get in a bigger place. For now, I'd drop Ryu. Next up for the Dodgers was Clayton Kershaw would be shut down indefinitely. Ouch. I hate to see the top guys in the game get shut down. It hurts the game that we all love. Oh, who am I kidding? I don't own him, and am pumped about the teams that do have him, losing him. Schadenfreude! If he's shut down now, I'd say the earliest he could possibly return is mid-August. Filling in will be Julio Urias and his special brand of 5 IP, 3 ERA, blink-and-you-miss-it starts, which makes me wonder if he's seen himself pitch. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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