If I may, I'm going to vent for a minute. Or maybe a bunch of minutes. Might even be more than a bunch of minutes, kinda depends on how quickly you read. Let's just settle on calling it as many minutes as it takes you to read this. There's no simple way to say this, but I hate your dynasty league. I don't just hate it a little either I hate it a lot. I want to crap all over it every season to you and your friends, but I restrain. I don't hate all dynasty leagues, some are great. I play in an embarrassing number of them, with a variety of sizes, scoring, and roster setups. Some have keepers, some salaries, some have complicated rules no one knows because reading the constitution is like reading an insurance policy. So I've had my share of aggravation over the years, but nothing like yours. No you guys did EVERYTHING wrong and now you have a crap sandwich on soggy wonder bread. So today I'm going to tell you all the things I hate about your dynasty leagues. Because I'm salty and I can, that's why.
Monthly Archives: August 2016
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Who Are These Guys, The Baseball Edition
August 17, 2016 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 15 Commentsby: malamoney
In the next few weeks I will be transitioning over to the football side of things here at Razzball. Those of you that play fantasy football and do not already get your football advice from Razzball, you should certainly consider doing so. And those of you that do not play fantasy football, well, do you also sit down when you pee? At a minimum, sign up for an RCL and get your feet wet. The water's delightful, come on in. And finally, if you do play and you do read football.razzball, then you might be familiar with my "Who Are These Guys" posts where I scrap together a starting lineup using players from the waiver wire that would beat pretty much any other lineup. Well, today I give you the baseball edition.
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Let me start out by briefly introducing myself because this is my first post here at Razzball. Literally everyone that has ever played fantasy sports thinks they are the best to ever do it. All of these people are wrong. I am the best, period. Now that I got that off my chest, let's head into my picks for today...
When I think of the word "Archer," I first think of Katniss from The Hunger Games. Why? Because she is an artist with a bow and an arrow in her hands. She uses her archery skills to fight off enemies and ultimately win "the games." Next, I think of one of the very few talented players on the Tampa Bay Rays, Chris Archer. Though Archer had a rough start to the year, he is still averaging 18 DK fantasy points per contest and has a very favorable matchup against the San Diego Padres this afternoon. A date with Archer on his home turf is never fun. He is significantly better in Tampa Bay than he is on the road. Not to mention, the Padres can't do anything offensively unless they are facing a left-handed pitcher. Plus, believe it or not, the Rays are hot. They have somehow managed to score 35 runs in that past two games, so Archer should get the run support he needs to register a win and an extra 4 DK points. So, go ahead and take Archer at $10,600, grab your popcorn, and enjoy two bottom-of-the-league teams face-off against each other.
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 August 22nd 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.
Brave Or Chicken? Swanson’s Both!
August 17, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 333 Commentsby: Grey
True or false: A) Dansby Swanson is famous for being Ted Knight's caddy in Caddyshack. B) Starting a meme at his frat house in Arizona where he'd put his checkered pants on a cactus with the caption, "I'm thirsty, yo." C) There's no C. D) All the above. E) Was drafted a second ago by the Diamondbacks 1st overall, then traded to the Braves for the fellow WASP, Shelby Miller, and all-around terrible pitcher. If you answered D) All the above, how did you know what all the above was before reading E? Also, it was a true or false quiz, what the hell is all of the above?! So, Dansby Swanson is being called up by the Braves just in time, no lie, for their series against the Diamondbacks. Dayum. Hello, wounds, here's your salt. In Prospector Ralph's midseason top 100 prospects, Dansby was 22nd overall, right by Willie Calhoun, who totally tanked Mike Dukakis' campaign. Swanson is a 22-year-old that was a'ight in Double-A (8 HRs, 6 SBs, .261 in 84 games). That's neither here nor there, he's young; he should be owned in most mixed leagues; you're not going to find his talent level on waivers in many leagues; semicolons; fun. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Over the past few seasons, the blueprint for the New York Yankees franchise has been a predictable one: assemble an aging, overpriced roster, finish a few games over .500, rinse, repeat. Reload rather than rebuild. However, those days appear to be coming to an end. 41-year-old Alex Rodriguez and 39-year-old Carlos Beltran are gone. 36-year-old Mark Teixeira has been reduced to a part-time role. High priced relievers Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller have been traded away for a boatload of prospects to restock the farm system. The youth movement is officially underway. One of the newest youngsters on the Yankee roster is this week's most added player in ESPN leagues, 24-year-old outfielder Aaron Judge (34.8% owned; +31.1% over the past week). Judge's 6-foot-7, 275 pound frame and impressive raw power have drawn comparisons to Giancarlo Stanton, but I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. Stanton already had 154 homers on his MLB resumé by the end of his age-24 season while Judge is just getting started. I think that more reasonable comps would be along the lines of players such as Richie Sexson and Mark Trumbo - big, powerful righties who have racked up some impressive home run totals throughout their careers. Another trait that Judge shares with those sluggers is his propensity to strike out, as he's whiffed in 24% of his plate appearances this season after doing so in 26% of his PAs last year. The homers could come in bunches at times, but there could be some cold streaks as well. A .250ish average with plus power is a reasonable projection for Judge moving forward. He's worth an add in all leagues for his power upside alone.
Here are a couple of other recent Yankee call-ups who have drawn the attention of fantasy owners over the past week:
RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 19
August 16, 2016 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 35 Commentsby: MattTruss
A big “Thank You” to VinWins for stepping in last week, what a guy! Vin’s post are what I strive for each and every week, so I hope you enjoyed him last week, because it’s back to mediocre drivel this week! The trading deadline has now come and gone in the RCLs and it went out with a bit of a whimper. A couple of our top teams made some moves, but it wasn’t the 30 trade onslaught I was anticipating. If you weren't able to find a dance partner, fear not. We are about to enter the silly season of fantasy baseball, where everything is needs based. Travis Jankowski won’t help you any if you’re already leading your leagues in steals and Aaron Judge is on the wire. Ditto for those teams that have used all or most of their Games Started limit. Starting pitchers should start dropping like flies in the next few weeks, making for a streamers paradise. Kudos to you if you’ve paced yourself well, now good luck avoiding the Cleveland Streamer. A new overall leader emerged from the fray this week, it took having the highest league score to do it, but it shows someone from a, “not so competitive RCL”, has shot at the title if they put up huge league numbers. With seven weeks left, expect some big changes to the overall standings as teams use up those GS or teams that have used all their GS get caught. There’s still plenty of time to make some noise, so get rowdy. But first, check out the rest of the week that was, Week 19:
DraftKings: Trea Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)
August 16, 2016 | DraftKings | 2 Commentsby: AskRotoBaseball
It wasn't very long ago that Dusty Baker's preference at shortstop was Danny Espinosa. You know Dusty--he loves his veteran guys. Fast forward a couple of months and Espinosa is still at shortstop. Where things changed is now Trea Turner is an everyday player and the leadoff man for Washington. Turner is currently playing second base on most nights and is batting .310 with three homers and 10 steals. Multi-hit games have been Turner's speciality with plenty of extra-base hits sprinkled in. This is DraftKings gold and Turner is a horse to ride until regression sets in. Luckily, that's unlikely to happen at Coors Field. Batting leadoff will give Turner at least four--likely five--at-bats and he get a mediocre right-hander in Chad Bettis. His price tag of $5,400 is quite high, but it's Trea Day, so pay up so you can get paid. The young speedster is my favorite hitter on Tuesday night.
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 August 22nd 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.
Join us once more for our smooth dulcet tones on the Razzball Baseball Pod, where we catch up on the sexy, pinstriped Yankees callups where everyone digs the long ball, double-digit K performances, and where to value Alex Reyes in 2017 if he opens the season in the rotation. Then we wrap up the show by looking at league leaders, and find some surprising little nuggets with BABIP and K/9 leaders. Here's the latest edition of the Razzball Pod, now with more baking!
(And be sure to check out the newest episode of our Fantasy Football Podcast here!)
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Green Tells Chirpy Jays Bats To Chad Up
August 16, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 317 Commentsby: Grey
Chad Green was out there painting corners like he was on work release and someone decided the yellow curb needed to be yellower! Green ball in the corner pocket is what he felt! Green was dealing like a sad-looking, poker dealer at a poker room that is badly lit, which is known for having great dealers! Green for the money, gold for the honeys! Yesterday, Green was the envy of the league, though not a shizzton happened, admittedly. He threw 6 IP, 0 ER, 2 baserunners, 11 Ks vs. the Jays. Because his name is Green! Nah, that's prolly not the reason, but it's an interesting thought. Green has worked well in the minors (1.52 ERA in Triple-A), and gets strikeouts (9.5 K/9) with his mid-90s MPH fastball, and cutter. At this point, I'd still rely on the Stream-o-Nator with him for shallower mixed leagues, but I could see a flyer on him in keeper leagues for a chance there's something here moving into 2017. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
So, I'm going to do something a little different today. I'm just gonna throw out the reason why right off the bat: I'm selfish and lazy. That's what mid-August baseball talk is all about!
As part of my rebuilding efforts in the REL - well, I should say, my main anchor in my rebuilding efforts - I got Alex Reyes to hopefully be my staff stopper. I mean, have you SEEN the Brewers rotation?! Yikes. With some control issues and a pretty bad ERA in AAA, I wasn't too surprised to see a fantastic arm like Reyes get the call-up anyway as a bullpener. This had been speculated upon all season - the Cards did this with their major prospects in Adam Wainwright and Carlos Martinez - so we're not getting a big shock. And with Reyes called up at the same time as Luke Weaver, it appears they might piggyback each other for the foreseeable future. But Reyes clearly, CLEARLY looks like a dominant starter that's about ready. After seeing his debut inning last Thursday night where he hit 101 twice, I've been eagerly awaiting an encore. Here's how Reyes looked in his 2nd-4th career MLB innings Saturday afternoon at Wrigley:
SAGNOF Report: Jose’s On A Vacation 90 Feet Away
August 15, 2016 | Closers, Middle Relievers, Steals | 15 Commentsby: Smokey
Come on in and talk it over. So many the Erie warriors would want to say, but I think the platoon is very much over. So Jose Ramirez has embedded himself in the land where former Chisenhall's roamed. Who, by happenstance, is playing here, there, and most left of nowhere... which is left field. Jose is getting all the good spot-stuff you need for a guy to be rostered, and I am not just referencing the SAGNOF love. He is hitting .431 over the last 15 games with 10 RBI's 15 runs scored, 4 home runs, and the salt on the rim of the margarita glass is 6 steals. If you wanna lump in the fact that he is eligible in most formats at four positions... This is Hernan part deux the redux of multi-eligible position players with Latino descent showing out. He is currently, over the last 15 games, in the top-2 of all players in the ESPN database. Only Mr. Blackmon can hold sway over him. Now the ownership has spiked and he is currently in the 80's, but hey, some leagues are dumb and slow, so just in case, he is there, which he shouldn't be (just check). Worse comes to worse, he makes for an interesting guy to trade for down the stretch because his name isn't sexy and could probably be involved with a bigger name with some draw. SAGNOF report is incoming with some players to look at and some saves ups and downs from the three days that you missed me so...
