Dave Roberts just shuddered when he read the title. "Listen, Max Muncy was just great, but you don't want great out there, you want..." Then Dave Roberts ran through a stop sign and took home without a throw, but, that was because he was in his car and no one tries to throw you out when you're heading to your home in a car. Dave Roberts then kicked over a pile of leaves, and, when he was obstructed from our view, he rubbed dirt on his jersey, then he smelled his armpits and said, "Hustle," like he was Molly Shannon saying, "Superstar." As of right now, Max Muncy is penciled in as a starter, but where? 1st base? 2nd base? 3rd base? Outfield? Who's on 1st? What's on 2nd? I don't know! 3rd base? He played them all last year, so I'm assuming Dave Roberts can have the decency to find 400 ABs for his best hitter last year. For as late as I've been seeing him drafted (as late as 150 overall), if he gets 400 ABs, Muncy is going to blow away anyone drafted around him. If Roberts has a brain fart, and poofs out something that makes sense, Muncy could sneak into 450+ ABs, and shock the world for the 2nd time in two seasons. Anyway, what can you expect from Max Muncy for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
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 |
Just as we start to pick up speed with the Twins, the prospect preview train comes grinding to a halt with a mediocre Orioles system. I think the horse from Ren and Stimpy said it best - no sir...I don't like it. I skipped many a Sunday morning church service in favor of watching new episodes of R&S. I seem to be no worse for wear, except that when my kids ask me about their faith I usually dodge the question by offering to sell them some rubber nipples. With just two (questionable) Grade A prospects, this is the rubber nipple of minor league systems. I'm about to do my best to sell it.
I considered making this post: Tyler Austin and Jake Cave, 2019 Fantasy Baseball SleeperS! Though, I likely wouldn't have capped the S. I did that for you, Dear Reader. I didn't make this a duo sleeper post, because I think I have OCD and I like to keep shizz tidy and stylized as all previous sleepers. That doesn't mean if Jake Cave breaks out I won't continue to go back to this post, because I'm equally excited about both Tyler Austin and Jake Cave. Or as Google suggests, Jake Man Cave. Yes, he is a man, but I don't think we're talking about the same thing. So, why not just do a separate post for Jake Cave? Because no one cares about him. I tweeted at Jake Cave and he seems to barely care:
He responds with a GIF? Really? That doesn't scream confidence to me. What, you can't reply fully to a random Twitter person who you don't know who is obviously only interested in you as a fantasy baseball entity who wants to keep calling you Jack Cave? Anyone that apathetic worries me. Though, you can't spell apathetic without Pac. So...hmm. Even with his inability to hit lefties (.194 vs. lefties), he had the 22nd highest barrels per at-bat, the same as Javier Baez, and Cave's average home run distance was 419 feet, which was 5th in the majors for that many plate appearances. If this were about Jake Cave, and not Tyler Austin, I'd tell you Cave was the 2nd lowest for soft contact (8.6%), making better contact overall than Joey Votto, Voit, Matt Carpenter, Freeman, Betts, Just Dong and, well, every other player in the majors except Eugenio Suarez. Unlike Tyler Austin, Cave looks like he has the starting job, and could be the one guy who no one drafts who ends up on 100% of fantasy teams by season's end, cranking so many homers that everyone is going to be like, "What?" Pause. Eyes bulge. "WHAT?" If this were about Jake Cave and not Tyler Austin, I'd tell you my Jake Cave 2019 projections were 61/22/68/.259/4 in 476 ABs with a chance for more. However, this is not about Jake Cave. Anyway, what can we expect from Tyler Austin for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
There's gonna be a lot to like with Luke Voit, but it's fair to get out of the way upfront the issues. The Yankees haven't fully committed to him. Aaron Boone said Voit "has a leg up" on the 1st base job for 2019. That sounds positive, but if Boone was watching a dog pee on a fire hydrant while saying this, then it might be a negative. My guess is Boone wasn't watching Animal Planet, and it's good news. Well, relatively good. It says a lot about the Yankees that they're not just handing Voit the job. On the other hand (were we weighing options on hands?), the Yankees did give Greg Bird so many chances to win the 1st base job. Since we're using our hands anyway, I'm going to count on my fingers, and say Bird was given three seasons to win the job, and the third finger in is the middle finger, which is appropriate for flipping the Bird. So, the Yankees don't need a 'big' name at 1st base. Now that Bird's flew the coop, and is likely headed to being a throw-in a trade, the Yankees don't have any immediate other obvious option, besides Voit. So, Cashman has proven he will give the 1st base job to someone as unhearlded previously as Voit, and the Yankees should also know from this past season, they can win a lot of games with Voit as the 1st baseman. Pitching is more of a real baseball team need, than 1st base. So, what can we expect from Luke Voit for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
The first year player draft is an annual event for dynasty leagues, especially the really deep ones where everybody and their brother is already owned. They consist of players from the previous season's draft and any international signings. These rankings will sometimes include MLB-ready prospects from abroad, and they'll be relevant in standard redraft leagues. I'm spending a little extra time with the top ten, and next week the rest of the top 50 will roll out. That should get you through at least the first few rounds of a first year player draft. I've played in some really deep dynasty leagues and the approach changes dramatically depending on your competitive window, your draft position, and how many picks you have (some people collect FYPD picks like an 80's kid collects Pogs). These rankings don't take any of that into account and instead occur in a vacuum. I tend to value hitters over pitchers, hit tools over every other tool, and up-the-middle defenders over other positions. Also, these rankings consider 2018 performances in addition to the players' scouting grades (some fared better than others in their first go at pro ball).
Major League Baseball Looks to Smack a Home Run as Legal Online Sports Betting Grows in Popularity
Professional baseball players will officially lace up their cleats for opening day 2019, earlier than ever before in history. This news will certainly attract some level of interest, especially in places where winter hasn't yet given up its grip. There is also going to be another first that will have the baseball world talking even louder. For the first time in modern history, it will be legal in designated venues to bet on Major League Baseball games.
When the United States Supreme Court struck down the law that forbade states from permitting sports betting, the door was opened, if only slightly ajar. Delaware and New Jersey were the first states to swing that door wide open. So, now that sports betting is no longer against federal law, what should you expect from MLB's stance concerning online sports betting?
Back from baseball hiatus, the sausage lovers are joined by another fellow wiener lover, Walter McMichael (@RealFakeWalter) of Friends with Fantasy Benefits and the Real Fake Baseball Podcast. Off the top, the guys discuss three exciting prospects and potential 2019 league winners: Eloy Jimenez, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Victor Robles.
Walter then dissects several of his own picks from the recent FWFB30 dynasty draft including Royce Lewis, Byron Buxton, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Lowe. Other topics include: Christian Yelich and Corey Kluber early ADPs, Cedric Mullins, Jonathan Villar and the ever-polarizing Adalberto Mondesi. Grab a sausage and pull up a chair, the stove is heating up!
The Winter Meetings called it quits this week, and that was perhaps the worst Winter Meetings on record. Was it because it was in Vegas? Maybe there were a bunch more trades, but they all "stayed" in Vegas. The Mariners kept busy gathering veterans who will never play for them, as they grabbed Edwin Encarnacion from the Indians for Carlos Santana. You remember Santana, he was the last vet that the M's traded for that won't play for them. If the Mariners are trading for vets who won't actually play for them, they should grab Harold Baines so he can't go into the Hall of Fame, because last time I checked active players aren't allowed into the Hall. Or why bother sticking with baseball players. C'mon, Mariners, trade for Michael Jordan or Big Show or Turtle from Entourage. It's not like you have any expectation of them donning an M's uniform. So, the assumption is that Edwin will go to the Rays to bury their recently acquired Yandy Diaz. You'd think a guy with guns like Yandy Diaz would be doing the burying. If you don't know what I mean, see the picture below. If I don’t bring out the Crisco and apply the shortening, this post will be longer than The Fountainhead, so let’s just say you know Encarnacion, whether he's on the Rays or Mariners. For my Encarnacion projections I am assuming he'll be on the Rays, and putting him at 78/33/91/.241/2 in 523 ABs, and I already gave you my Carlos Santana projections after his last trade, but am upping him slightly to 74/24/84/.232/2 in 563 ABs. Anyway, here's what else I saw this offseason for 2019 fantasy baseball:
Up front I have to get it out of the way, I hate the Rays for hitting sleepers in shallower mixed leagues. They have five platoons set up already and we're not even at Spring Training yet. Once we hit March, there's going to be at least seven possible platoons. Platoons are good for liberty, bad for fantasy baseball, i.e., libertad/libertbad. The trade of Mallex Smith helps the case for Austin Meadows and, specifically, his playing time, i.e., you can't spell libertad without trade. (I tried too.) In the Rays' outfield, there's still Kevin Kiermaier, Tommy Pham, Brandon Lowe, who I want to get playing time, and Guillermo Heredia, who I don't want to get playing time but will likely because of that reason. Kevin Cash divvies up so much playing time we should call him, Kevin One Of Those Change Belts Teenagers Who Work At Arcades Wear. That's pretty pithy. Anyway, what can we expect from Austin Meadows for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
I've learned several important lessons in my adult life. Cheez-its are the ideal snack. Lauder's whisky is just as good as the expensive stuff. Children want you to spend time with them. And yet, soaking Cheez-its in whisky to sneak it into the movie that you're attending with your children is somehow not a sound plan. Oh, and Byron Buxton is probably not the next Mike Trout. Lessons learned. This year's Minnesota preview was really hard to whittle down to ten. There's a nice balance between high upside guys, specs that are close, and some decent pitching. It's just a good, deep system. Good and deep like the flavor of Lauder's Blended Scotch Whiskey. This intro has been brought to you by Lauder's Blended Scotch Whisky. I present the Minnesota Twins top ten fantasy prospects for your disapproval.
Everyone is clamoring for a Daniel Palka post. Don't even try to lie. I know how hotly contested this is gonna be. Fine! Daniel Palka is a bore, but let's look at this way. Imagine everyone lining up every sleeper post ever written. What's the number one sleeper post of all time? The November 1995 sleeper post about Brady Anderson and how a 16-homer hitter was about to hit 50 homers? A 2010 Jose Bautista sleeper post about how a 13-homer hitter was about to hit 54 homers? A 2000 Darin Erstad sleeper about how he was about to hit .355? Richard Hidalgo that same year about to hit 44 homers? Before each of those posts, they were snoozes too. Hence, sleepers! So, before you place your iPhone on the ground with this post open so your dog can rub its ass on Palka, let's hold judgment. Anyway, what can we expect from Daniel Palka for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Talk about a guy who could be completely off radars next year, and be huge. I'm hummna-hummna'ing before I even start. Let's talk team sitch first. You're gonna need a seatbelt for this one, because I'm going neck deep fast like a snake coming up a toilet drain. Ramon Laureano takes a walk, and not just at 8 AM with a senior at a mall going to get lunch. He might sneak into a .370 OBP, and, if I've learned anything from Fat Jonah and Billy Beane on a treadmill in Moneyball, a solid OBP guy means he's going to hit leadoff for the A's. The A's who last year scored the fourth most runs in the league and were sorely missing a leadoff man. They tried Marcus Semien for 292 ABs, saying, "Let's give Semien a shot! Hey...that's not mud in my eye." They gave Martini a shot at leadoff for 120 ABs and, like a bad episode of Sex in the City, Martini is what led to Semien, so we know how well that worked out. Unless they trade for someone else this offseason, and I see no reason why they would, who else is leading off in Oakland? Piscotty? Olson? Chapman? They shouldn't be, and, Billy Beane pulling the strings on that giant puppet-shaped Bob Melvin willing, they won't. Nomar backwards will. If they can do a surgery on a grape, Laureano can be the A's leadoff hitter for 400+ ABs. So, what can we expect from Ramon Laureano for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
