DFS could be systematic, hydromatic, ultramatic... why it could be Rhys Lightnin' today! I'd probably draft
Rhys Hoskins above a whole bunch of guys next season. Throw Jose Abreu, Miguel Cabrera, Eric Hosmer, Logan Morrison, Ryan Zimmerman and Wil Myers on that list. Greasy Rhysy gives me the warm fuzzies with all of this home run business, oh and speaking of business, comparing him to a shart is kinda doable. We thought we knew what we had when Hoskins was called up in August, but when we pushed a little further, the explosion occurred. It's a party in everyone's pants, and since Hoskins ($4,100) is the lede on this fine Wednesday, he's most certainly one of my top OF picks today.
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Come hell or high water, Grey Albright and I will not stop until a Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast is delivered right to your doorstep. Or more accurately, right to your phone app. When the Singularity arrives, we’ll be able to upload it directly into your cerebrum, but until then, please bear with us while we work out some technical kinks due to switching recording software. We start the podcast by discussing the interesting fantasy seasons of Francisco Lindor, Xander Bogaerts, and Corey Seager, and how we project their numbers for 2018. Then, we talk about Yu Darvish’s relatively disappointing season and Robbie Ray’s breakout, before finishing the show by talking about some possible sleepers for next season, including Tim Anderson and Ian Happ. Finally, please make sure to support our sponsor by heading over to
RotoWear.com and entering promo code “SAGNOF” for 15% off the highest quality t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast:
So, where does Mookie Betts go in 2018? That's what we all want to know, right? That and WHAT TIME IS IT?! Sorry, was listening to Steppin' To The A.M. I was not listening to Time to Get Ill, however, because I don't like the Beastie Boys, but it might be more appropriate with The Bettsie Boy, Mookie. Home run distance is a weird thing. Well, maybe not weird, but hard to trust. Yeah, that's the ticket, said like that Jon Lovitz character. In hindsight, it's obvious. Mookie had so many Just Enough home runs last year, of course, he's not hitting as many this year, but I thought there would be enough mitigating factors to lessen Betts' drop off. He's young -- power still peaking; he's in a good park -- Pesky/Wall; the lineup -- oh, that lineup. Didn't play out that way for power and average. His average is nearly fifty points off of last year, and his power will end likely down about five homers from last year. Not huge? Well, that is around a 15% drop -- even after his big game yesterday of 3-for-5, 6 RBIs and his 20th and 21st homer. So, what does all this mean for next year? I think he's going to be undervalued, and I expect a bounce back of sorts. Likely closer to a 27-homer guy than his 30+ last year, but there's no way he hits near-.265 as he is right now. He's hitting as many line drives as last year, hitting the ball harder, in general, and a .267 BABIP. He's gotta be one of the unluckiest hitters this year. He's basically hitting line drives up the middle, but a squirrel is knocking it down into a fielder's glove. Maybe he's not Mookie Best this year, but I'm not counting out Mookie Ballgame yet. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Thursday night marked the beginning of 2017-2018
concussion football season. If your fantasy baseball league lacked waiver activity prior to kickoff, I can only imagine the subsequent days will be as lively as this fan
falling asleep in the fourth inning of a Yankees-Red Sox game back in 2015. Those who stick around care; they flaunt their championship around friends, family, pets, significant others,
potential significant others - just kidding, please don't do that - while their league mates consult countless websites wondering whether this stupid kicker, or this other stupid kicker is the better play. Don't be that friend asking about a kicker, put your time into something more valuable.
Remember in high school when teachers preached earlier time investment for projects leading to better results? This column is the child of benevolence you sat next to who saw the test, and filled your study-less void five minutes prior to the start of the exam. It's tough to become that kid unless you are a baseball nut like myself, so in the spirit of all that is Razzball, I've taken it upon myself to spur some early interest in 2018.
Sometimes with the SAGNOF machine it's best to take a trip on the way back machine. Players long past their usual usefulness of SAGNOF every now and again peep their heads out from the geriatric bingo and arts and crafts tent to be a whole bunch of fantasy useful. We peer our eyes on Jose Reyes. The once polished-up steal machine formerly of NY and now back again. The end of the year flurry which we are seeing could be fueled by his pending free agency, or maybe he has found the fountain of yutes. Either way he is showing out for the final stretch and is basically a must own type entity right now. Slashing .348/.446/.582 over his last 15 and has basically repeated his counting stats in the second half of games, in half the games (83 in first half and 4 since all star break). The middle infidel spot has been a tumultuous path of futility all year with ping-ponging guys that have arguably more value from day-to-day than keeping rostered the whole year. Just to put in perspective how good he has been over the last 30 days, he has better counting stats then Alex Bregman, who is owned in 91% of leagues right now. Reyes is only owned in 32%. If apples were to apples here, I would choose the dude in the big apple because of the speed. No I am not saying dump Bregman for him, I am simply saying that comparatively Jose Reyes should be rostered. Think fast it's on to the saves and steals news of the past week. Cheers!
There's nothing more random than September baseball. It's a time where you throw season stats out the window and ride the hot bat or hot hand. The mystery of a new guy can throw the league off for a few games and you can enjoy that all the way to a championship...or a few FantasyDraft bones. Then there's the recency of it all. It's always good to look at the 7 day performance of a given hitting team when trying to pick a pitcher during this time of year. All year, it's been a known thing: don't start a pitcher vs the Dodgers. Now? Dodgers have been in a free fall and have the worst wRC+ over the last thirty days. All this to say, this ain't your mom's time of year...hrm, not what I meant to say...namely cuz I don't know what it means so instead I'll just say over the last seven days, the Orioles have been one of the worst hitting teams in the league with a 53 wRC+ and a monstrous 28.2% K rate during that span heading into their matchup with Estrada last night (Marco was sitting at 3 K thru 2 as of this typing). Why does all this matter? Well,
Joe Biagini already got to enjoy the mess that is Baltimore. At Camden Yards on September 1st, Biagini went 7, struck out 10 so there's a good chance this slide continues for these birds. Keep in mind, this Biagini dream could quickly turn into a nightmare so stay away in cash, children. Good? Good. With that out of the way, lets get on to this. Here's my Barbara Eden taeks for this Tuesday FantasyDraft slate (walks away humming the I Dream of Jeannie theme song)...
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Yesterday, Carlos Carrasco went 6 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.41, as the Indians won their 162nd game, and four-thousandth in a row. Hayzeus Cristo, who wants some of the Indians right now? Who? Or, more appropriately with the Indians, how? They're fired up like their relatives just got a bad case of the pox and they're all out of peace to put in their pipe. Am I right? Or am I just borderline racist?! You tell me, Redskins fans! By the way, you know your team name is racist when you can substitute in Redskins and it makes sense, i.e., "The Cleveland Redskins won last night, oh, I'm sorry, I mean Indians."
Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
To anyone from Southeastern Massachusetts my title means something to you. If you're anything like me it signifies the first time in your life you were severely disappointed. I can still remember packing into my parent's station wagon with another family my parents were friendly with. We were headed to the "
World Famous King Richard's Faire". Six year old Ralph couldn't believe I was headed to THE fair of THE King Richard. I mean he was the best king ever, and here I am headed to his fair! Me, lowly 6 year old Ralph with a golden bowl cut! Welp, much like everything else in life since, it was a massive disappointment. What was supposed to be a day of jousts, knights, kings and princesses, quickly turned into reality. That reality was drunk bikers with swords, mutton, and the inescapable smell of feces and urine. The strangest part is it smelt just as much like urine as it did poop. It was as if the two smells were competing for dominance, each pushing itself to it's limits but neither overtaking the other. Needless to say I never went back. I could have, but I did better things with my time like drinking or masturbating. What does this have to do with Garrett Richards and his most recent start? Well let's just say I was excited, only to be disappointed. That's my big market tease, trust me you're bound to be disappointed...
Carlos Carrasco, $25,500 and the red hot Cleveland Indians are hosting the team formally known as the Detroit Tigers. If you haven't been keeping track the current Tigers aren't posting a fearsome lineup by any means. Nick Castellanos is swinging a hot bat, but other than him they are ice cold and Carrasco es en fuego! Over his last three starts he's 2-0 with 23 innings pitched, 24 Ks and 2 ER. Yes, please and thank you. Carrasco is the highest priced pitcher tonight, but with some creative pairing I'm confident we can piece together a winning roster. Brandon Woodruff, $14,100, versus Pittsburgh is just what the doctor ordered to balance out the high price tag of Carrasco. Woodruff has been very serviceable since being called up in early August. He's 1-1 with 1.52 ERA, with 20 Ks in 23.2 innings. He's facing a scuffling Pirates squad that's only won 4 of it's last twelve games and they've only scored a total of 6 runs over the last 5 games. There's not a ton of data to go off of for Woody, but I'll take with the discounted price tag tonight. Now that our pitching is set, let's take a look at our offensive options.
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