Over 1,500 players took a swing or threw a pitch in 2018. We couldn't cover every single one, so we pinpointed those we thought would be weighing on your minds most for your 2019 rosters. Our 2019 Fantasy Baseball Video Draft Guide begins, right here on Razzball! Andy Singleton (@PeoplezPen) and Ralph Lifshitz (@ProspectJesus) give you 5 quick hitting minutes on why, or why not, you should be drafting these guys. Today we feature Royals SS Adalberto Mondesi.
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 | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK |
Here's a post we didn't think we'd be reading last year at this time, huh? What's next, a Robbie Ray sleeper post? Actually... Okay, will save that for another day. Last year, was a lost year for Carlos Martinez. He dealt with a myriad of injuries. By the way, Myriad is a great name for a cult. Just throwing it out there in case any readers fancy themselves the next Bo and/or Peep of Heaven's Gate. Or Myriad could be a 60-year-old Jewish woman. "Myriad, you know I can't have lactose!" Any hoo! Carlos Martinez's injuries began as oblique than progressed to straight bleak with shoulder issues. At one point, he was hit by a screamin' meemie comebacker off his chest that sent him for x-rays. Carlos Martinez was the refrigerator and injuries were the magnets. By the by, if you want to use Screamin' Meemie as your cult name, I'm not hating on that either. So, the big question is will Carlos Martinez be able to bounce back from his dreadful year and return to ace status. So, what can we expect from Carlos Martinez for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
This year my New Year's resolution is to complete all thirty minor league previews by Opening Day. And lose 50 pounds. And stop drinking. And stop smoking. One of those is doable. I'll let you figure out which one! We're about through the AL East with this Yankees preview, who recently lost one of their best prospects in a trade (Justus Sheffield). Once we take the turn into the National League, we'll pause and start cranking out the Top 100 list. Something to look forward to! For now, let's discuss what I believe are the ten best specs in New York's system.
Jesus's teachings are highlighted on this week's Ditka Pod. Razzball's own Prospect Jesus that is. Us and Ralph Lifshitz discuss a bunch of prospects who could have significant fantasy impacts for 2019 fantasy baseball.
First, Jesus shares his prophecies regarding when some of the top prospects in the game will arrive to the big show, including Vlad Jr, Eloy Jimenez, Fernando Tatis Jr, Forrest Whitley, Keston Huira and many others. Then Ralph settles some debates on which prospects are most worth gambling on at their current early draft season ADPs before rattling off some deeper prospects with legitimate 2019 fantasy potential. When Jesus talks, we listen! Kanye voice, "Jesus talks."
It is true that I've called two different Orioles sleepers. We know I haven't completely lost my mind because they're not pitchers. Is Ubaldo still pitching for them? No, okay, who cares. Finding value on discarded teams is no exact science, unless you have a BS from the Fantasy Baseball College of Charleston. Why I tend to like late-round gambles from garbage teams is they have nothing to play for. If you're not sure what I mean, check out how many games Freddy Galvis has played in the last few years. If collecting garbage at-bats was an art, Galvis would be in the MOMA with a statue of David made out of reclaimed coat hangers. My hope is Cedric Mullins can do a series of water lilies with secondhand Hypercolor t-shirts from Goodwill -- call it Goodwillies. Anyway, what can we expect from Cedric Mullins for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Oh! Yeah! Of course! Willy Adames! That old chestnut from Battlestar Galactica with his pock-marked face and--FRACK! Captain Adames, they're all Cylons! *cough* Nerd! *cough* Looking through middle infidel sleepers, I almost made this post about Ronny Rodriguez. Wait...WHO? Ronny Rodriguez, y'all! I mean, no dur, right? Then, I almost made this post about Niko Goodrum. Fun fact! If you spray that guy with pineapple juice, you have Niko Gooddaiquiris. Handsomely turns to the mirror, "You and I both deserve the very best, that's why I put boba in my daiquiris." *casts fishing pole out* Okay, let's reel this one back in. I realized quickly I was only saying Niko Goodrum was a sleeper, because I wanted to be able to draft him while swirling an imaginary sifter glass. Okay, hashtag be best, so I went back to the well, and I found Willy Adames and Baby Jessica. Hearing in my head, leave the baby, take the Willy, I found myself here with Adames. Then, as I dug through this tub of butter and magic, I started to wonder how Willy Adames wasn't more obvious, then I realized if he wasn't obvious to me, he may not be to other people. Frank Voila! Anyway, what can we expect from Willy Adames for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Snap out of that egg nog coma...we've got more prospects to cover! Hopefully everyone had a safe and happy holiday. The Red Sox are the next minor league system to step to the plate, and while it's not exactly the sexiest system in town, it's doable. It's corner infielder heavy with all three Grade A specs manning either first or third. After that, it gets a bit pitching happy with a few more corners mixed in for kicks. Maybe we'll get a Christmas miracle and Prospector Rowf will chime in. I hear he's a big Sawx fan!
On Dancer! On Prancer! On–Oh, I didn’t hear you come in. Welcome, reader! Grab some egg nog and brandy it up to the fire. You look festive. I love that Rudolph tongue ring. That’s the great thing about Christmas, no matter what your interpretation is, it’s all about commercialism. That’s unless you light the Munenori Kawasaki. The
2019 fantasy baseball rankings are not far away. Right now, January Grey is throwing darts at a board to figure out where to rank Matt Davidson, the hitter vs. Matt Davidson, the pitcher. Two can play this game, Shohei! In the meantime, let’s look at the players who have multiple position eligibility for this upcoming 2019 fantasy baseball season. I did this list of multi-position eligible players because I figured it would help for your 2019 fantasy baseball drafts. I’m a giver, snitches! Happy Holidays! I only listed players that have multiple position eligibility of five games or more started outside of their primary position. Not four games at a position, not three, definitely not two. Five games started. If they played eight games somewhere but only started one, they are not listed. 5, the Road Runner of numbers. So this should cover Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, et al (not the Israeli airline). Players with multiple position eligibility are listed once alphabetically under their primary position. Games started are in parenthesis. This is the only time a year I do anything alphabetically, so I might’ve confused some letters. Is G or H first? Who knows, and, better yet, who cares! Wow, someone’s got the Grinchies, must be the spiked egg nog talking. Anyway, here’s all the players with multiple position eligibility for the 2019 fantasy baseball season and the positions they are eligible at:
The trade of Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood to the Reds means one thing, the Dodgers are signing Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. I'm kidding, in the non-funny way. Maybe it means that, but I kinda hope it doesn't, so Muncy, Pederson and others have room to play. Not sure why the Dodgers rehired Dave Roberts, but I'm impressed the Dodgers realized that Dave Roberts had zero capacity for managing a team. "What's he doing?" "I don't know." That's two Dodgers execs watching Dave Roberts juggle three VHS copies of the movie Platoon. "I don't think he understands what we meant when we asked him to juggle platoons." "Yeah." "So, we should trade Puig?" "Maybe trade like five guys." "Okay." So, Puig goes back to the Reds, but they're no longer an island nation in the Caribbean. Now, they're in Ohio. In five years, people will be like, "I forgot Puig played for the Reds for three months." Yes, I think he'll likely be traded in July. Either way, he will get everyday at-bats and should get a nice boost in fantasy value. The Reds were surprising solid last year on offense, and I see no reason why that would end. For 2019, I'll give Yasiel Puig projections 73/27/83/.273/11 in 502 ABs. Anyway, here's what else I saw this offseason in 2019 fantasy baseball:
Happy holidays! For your present this year, I'm pushing out the Top 50 First Year Player Prospects. I chose those words precisely because rankings to me are like childbirth. Painful. Everybody wants to see. And then your in-laws complain about the name you picked out. Wonderful! For reals though, these specs are the most unsurest of an unsure bunch, so tiers are chunked in tens. I won't put up much of a fuss within tiers, but if you want to talk about a player being in the wrong tier altogether, I think that's a discussion worth having. I've already gone over my Top 10 First Year Player Prospects, and in that intro I talked a little about where my head's at when I do these. (Insert "up my ass" joke here). Enjoy!
After a painful hiatus Lance and your boy Ralph are back at it again. Lance is fresh off the Winter Meetings, and I’m just fresh off. We open the show with some interesting tidbits Lance picked up out in Vegas and follow it up with some discussion of the Rockies recent acquisition of Daniel Murphy. What’s to become of Brendan Rodgers and Garrett Hampson? Don’t worry, we’ll tell ya! We finish the show with some dynasty strategy talk, walking through the first half of a recent startup league I’m participating in. It’s another dynamite performance from Lance, and a slightly above-average phone in job on my end. It's the Razzball Prospect Podcast powered by
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Some guys who I label sleepers are about where they're being drafted vs. where they should be drafted. With Jonathan Villar, I just want to write about him. I don't really care where he's being drafted. I'm pretty sure he's being drafted too low. He definitely is compared to where I think he can perform. Even more so, if you consider where a guy like Adalberto Mondesi is being drafted. I know some of you are turning your nose up at anyone on the Orioles. I kapeesh that, but what if I told you a team had to start a guy 155 games because they're next best option is Breyvic Valera. Would you say, "Crap, I didn't know they had Breyvic Valera" or would you say, "You just made up the name Breyvic Valera?" Or would you say, "Breyvic Valera is the mayor of my town in the Ukraine." How about that Steve Wilkerson, huh? He's gonna steal time from Villar? No, Steve Wilkerson is not the guy in your office who makes uncomfortably long eye contact with you. He's some schmohawk the Orioles have on their depth chart. The Orioles' depth chart is a lot like an eye chart. Everyone who looks at it squints. Villar also has the ability to play all around the field if the Orioles have the terrible misfortune to lose Chris Davis, Renato Nunez or any other schmohawk currently penciled into the lineup. If Villar can stay healthy, he might see 600 ABs. Just thinking of that made my eyes spin rapidly and land on cherries. Anyway, what can we expect from Jonathan Villar for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
