Way back in the wild west days of the international market, teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox approached the July 2nd signing period the same way Glenn Quagmire approached a night at the strip club. Cash in hand ready to make it rain on the first young talent that caught their eye. It was in one of these talent-laden spending sprees that a strapping young Dominican power hitter by the name of Starling Heredia first surfaced. In one of the more gluttonous international splurge's since your creepy Uncle took that "trip" to Bangkok, the Dodgers dropped $45.38 million in that period on players like Yadier Alvarez, Yusinel Diaz, Omar Estevez, Ronny Brito, Oneal Cruz, and of course Heredia. The Dominican outfielder was ranked 9th in the class by Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, two spots behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and ahead of such currently buzzy names as Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Leody Taveras, and Aramis Ademan. He was described in the scouting reports at that time as a "the best corner outfield prospect in the class by some scouts, in part because of his raw power and projectable body." Tools grades rated his raw power at a 60, and his hit tool at 55, pretty aggressive grades for teenage hitter. Don't be too frightened, but at that time he listed Yasiel Puig as his role model. Then again Puig was good then. So what's to Heredia? Is this just another rookie season flash or are we looking at a potential star in the making from the notorious Dodger pipeline.
Monthly Archives: July 2017
Learn more about our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!
The best daily/weekly player rankings/projections (hitters, starters, and relievers) for each of the next 7-10 days + next calendar week starting Friday. Kick-ass DFS lineup optimizer and projections for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo!.
I don’t have enough spam, give me the Razzball email newsletter!
Weekly Razzball news delivered straight to your inbox.
Almost 10 years before The Fast and the Furious, many of my friends were into street racing. They'd form crews and fix up their cars to race at Battle of the Imports or on the street for cash or pink slips. I remember one crew was called the Decepticons and had the logo plastered all over their cars. Some looked so tight. I'll never forget one guy, though. He'd spend a ton of money on the exterior: rims, lights, body kit. He even decked out the interior with a roll cage, racing seats, pedals, instrument gauges, etc. His ride looked so, so nice. The only problem was that he spent no money on the engine. ALL SHOW NO GO. Which segues perfectly to [player]Carlos Gonzalez[/player] (70% owned - decrease of 6.1%). CarGo sucks. One of Grey's favorite movie lines is: See that S Car Go from Trading Places. One of my all-time favorite movies by the way. Anyways, this CarGo ain't going anywhere. He hit 40 home runs two years ago. Last year, he hit 25 home runs. This year? He's hit six. SIX! The ISO is at .116. The triple-slash line is .218/.296/.335. wRC+ is 47. His ground ball rate is at a career-high, hard contact rate is at a career-low, and he's going oppo at a career-low rate. Steamer has rest of season projections at .277 average, 12 home runs, 33 runs scored, 38 RBI, and one stolen base. I'm just not buying it. He's 31 years old. Side rant. Why didn't the Rockies trade him last year? Anyways, other than the fact that he sucks, is he even going to play everyday? Charlie Blackmon is entrenched in centerfield. You guys know my love for Gerardo Parra. I guess he platoons with Ian Desmond. But....what happens when David Dahl returns? TRASH.
This week, Dr. Easy and I (he’s the Rudy, with the stats and the puns; I’m the Grey, with the high-pitched giggle and the puns) continue our Adventures with the Razzball Season-to-Date Player Rater (STD PR), looking for players who are rated higher than you may think they are — or lower than you think they would be — in an attempt to help you with waiver wire pick-ups, trade targets and DFS plays. We’ll look at a couple of position players but focus mostly on non-closing, non-handcuff relief pitchers, to try to get an idea of where their value lies for a roto team.
Francisco Liriano best protect his neck on Thursday as he takes on the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Red Sox are an enticing stack as they face Liriano, who lasted just two innings his last time out with neck tightness. Liriano has a 6.04 ERA this year with a 5.01 BB/9, which is high even for his standards. Hanley Ramirez ($3,200) is a huge bargain as the Streamonator's fifth-highest ranked player, while Mookie Betts ($4,100) takes the top spot by a large margin. Lefty-killer Chris Young ($2,600) is a fantastic play in the outfield, as he should be batting fifth in the Red Sox order. Just about any hitter who makes it into Boston's lineup is worth looking at with such a favorable matchup.
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
I have Michael Jackson's autograph from his three distinct artistic periods -- Jackson 5, breakout solo artist, fondler -- and while they are priceless, I'm going to put them by this open window--NOOOOO!!! Torenado!!! I been pouring out some liquor for the fact that Arenado's homers are gone, gone, gone. And trying to help fantasy baseballers (<--my mom's term!) if their Correa is gone. And since Arenado starting to bubble like a tub full of Calgon. Guess it's only right that I should help you with how much Nolan Arenado hits are gone. Sorry, that song was on my iTunes, and felt appropriate. If my baby boo bae, Giancarlo, wasn't metaphorically already all over my bedsheets, Arenado would be right there. Yesterday, he went 5-for-6, 4 runs, 7 RBIs with three homers (19, 20, 21), and the summer is here in Coors. Yippee, you mothertruckers! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Rolling In The Deep, Week 16: Doolittle Now, Or Wait For (Al)Mor(a) Later?
July 19, 2017 | Uncategorized | 4 Commentsby: Laura Holt
Well, baseball is back and the All Star break already feels like a distant memory, but it seems like there’s not really a lot going on in terms of the NL or AL-only waiver wire. With [player]Jose Quintana[/player], [player]Sean Doolittle[/player], [player]Ryan Madson[/player], we’ve had one biggish-name and two possibly impactful crossover players head to the NL, so depending on how your waivers work that may have produced a flurry of activity. Beyond those names, though, I feel like the waiver wire has been even thinner than normal in both the NL and AL only world. Perhaps a moment of calm before the storm as more trades/promotions go down, and it can be awfully difficult to predict how much real-life trading action there will be -- and how it should impact one’s approach on using waiver priority, FAAB dollars, or whatever other method your league NL or AL-only league might use to acquire crossover players. (By the way, I should mention that I’m writing this on Monday and will not have a chance to edit it before it gets published, so if crazy flurries of trades, injuries, and assorted moments of baseball wackiness occur on Tuesday, well, that’ll have to be addressed next week).
Ambulance Chasers, Week 16: Carlost Without You
July 19, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 8 Commentsby: Kerry Klug
Now the baseball Gods have gone too far. [player]Carlos Correa[/player] was my AL MVP pick for this year, my biggest keeper in my main league and one of my few reasons for joy so far this fantasy season. 6-8 weeks is his time table and since it is a torn ligament and not a broken bone he probably won’t have that super-human [player]Freddie Freeman[/player] healing time frame. August 29th is the earliest we might see Correa take the field again in real life, but he’ll be playing SS and hitting HRs every night in my dreams. Stash or Trash: Stash. Unless you’re in a 2-team league. In which case, what the hell is wrong with you? Fill In: I grabbed [player]Jose Reyes[/player] (18.3%) because I’ve lost control of my life. Since the beginning of July, Reyes has a .405 AVG with 3 HR but only 1 SB. If he’s figured something out he might find eventually himself hitting higher than 7th in the Mets lineup. More likely though, I'll be cycling short stops in an out until August 29th.
Who's got one thumb and hit over 60 home runs in their career? Sorry, Carlos Correa ain't what I'm looking for. Yeah, so what if I spent my Tuesday night researching weird thumb stuff? We already know Correa wasn't the first person to pull off a thumb injury like this. But hey, turns out, he's not even the first person named Carlos to do it! Yep, former Chicago White Sox-ian Carlos May blew off his own thumb in 1969 while serving in the U.S military. His story is one hundred and ten times cooler than Correa's, and it's kinda scary that he went on to have a more productive career with one appendage, than 40% of all Major League players.
A week after the All Star break is the best time to ignore actual stats and ride on a whim of "yeah, he should probably play better in the second half, my Dad thinks so". It's like a relapse of Opening Day optimism, only by now you probably know that your team sucks. Enough of the history/heartfelt reflection, though, here's my take for Wednesday's slate:
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
J.D. Power Now Associates With The D-Backs
July 19, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 537 Commentsby: Grey
Yesterday, J.D. Martinez was traded to the Diamondbacks for Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King, a package that has been described by me as a .280, 40-homer hitter for Okay, Who Cares and So What. My visions of Yasmany Tomas returning and helping my NL-Only team went from "Hello, what's your name, Pamela Sue?" to "No, my name is Pamela and I'm suing you for sexual harassment." The ol' 180 in the pants. Well, I'll save the rest of my moans and/or groans for my shrink, since this is great news for Just Dong. That should be a 90 degree turn in the pants for Just Dong owners. Has he ever hit in Chase Field? Doesn't matter, he's about to love it. Outside of Coors and Miller, there's no place I'd rather my player move for hitting and between-inning dips in a hot tub. (The Coors and Miller hot tubs are gnarly, by the way. "Did you say swell?" "No, I said swill.") For FAAB, I'd go aggressively after Just Dong like he was the last guy to move to the NL, even if he might not be. He's a 35-homer guy in Comerica. In Chase, he could be the equivalent to a 45-homer guy over the final ten weeks. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Bear or Bull: I aPARRArently Can’t Let Go
July 18, 2017 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 14 Commentsby: Son
We all have players that have a sentimental place in our hearts. A batter hits a walk-off home run to ship you all the money in DFS. A streamer pitches a gem to win your league. Maybe it's just a player that takes the time to sign an autograph. Whatever the reason may be, everyone has at least one.
RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 15
July 18, 2017 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 28 Commentsby: MattTruss
More like the weekend that was, amiright? Despite the three day work week for us fantasy baseballers, there are still numbers to be crunched, standings to be compiled and trades to be analyzed. No rest for the weary here at Razzball HQ. The Razzball Commenter Leagues march on. It’s interesting that it seems like everyone really stepped away from it all during the time off. Only two trades were completed during the four day hiatus. Friday and Saturday things picked right back up though. Maybe, like VictoriaB, everyone was sitting in the corner rocking and crying while they waited for baseball to return. Let’s take a look at those trades and what else happened in RCLs in the shortened week that was, week 15.
Well, the All-Star break happened and now here I sit. Only three games of data to expunge my sort of genius onto the masses... that's like the Gettysburg Address stopping at "four score and seven". So with limited research, I gotta get creative with words. Like, have you checked out Fantasy Soccer, yeah... it's that oddly shaped ball at the top of this page. Don't play? Well you should. So onto the number seven with bacon. Also known as the KC stealer. Over the past 15 games that oddly enough dates back when we were still celebrating fireworks and stuff, Whit Merrifield leads the majors in steals with 7. Big deal, 7 whole steals! Well, the steals bandwagon has lost some steam this year with Billy not doing consistent Billy things and Trea doing game-ready stuff at Chuck E. Cheese's, but strangely enough he still needs an adult with him. Curse you baby-faced guys! Whit isn't just a dead stick as he has revitalized the Royals line-up, as they have an unbelievable record since his insertion into the leadoff spot. It's not George Springer-type good, but for SAGNOF, we take what we can get. Currently owned in half of the ESPN leagues, which means that he is owned in every RCL league (basically), so kudos for all of us that are paying attention. But on the happenstance that he isn't owned, go grab him, do it gently though, he pees when he gets nervous.
