A look at some of the recent call-ups -- Nate Lowe, or Nathaniel Lowe if you're formal, Carter Kieboom, Michael Chavis and Kelvin Gutierrez. Then we look at some closing shituations with the Braves and Rays. Finally, we look at some waiver wire pickups and Jesus Aguilar. Oh, Jesus. Finally, Mike Minor, Frankie Montas, Jose Peraza and more. Check it out, Razzhole-e-ohs.
Monthly Archives: April 2019
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.
One Man’s Trash: My Bologna Has a First Name, It’s K-E-V-I-N
April 30, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 6 Commentsby: Son
Bologna gets a bad rap. Is it because of it's association to baloney? Or maybe blame should be given to it's American counterpart, the hot dog, which, because of it's processed meat nature, is linked to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and high mortality. I sat in the all-you-can-eat pavilion at Dodgers Stadium and put down over 10 Dodger Dogs, and I'm still ticking. Doctor: Your blood pressure is abnormally high for a man of your age. Can you think of any reason why? Me: Nope, I eat an apple a day, so I'm still trying to figure out why I'm in your office. Hot dogs can't be that bad, right? Dodgers Stadium sells them for $6.75 a pop and they sell around 2 million every year. Fine, they aren't great for you, but they aren't the worst. In fact, they provide some utility and have value. Just like Kevin Kiermaier, who was dropped in 8.4% of ESPN leagues the past week to bring his ownership down to 26.8%. Trash or treasure?
Rudy is back and that means we have numbers to crunch once again. Before we take a deep dive into the leaders from the past two weeks though I wanted to chat real quick about K/9. Back in the old days of the Razzball Commenter Leagues I preached about the importance of keeping an eye on your strikeouts per Game Started or K/GS. With the move to FanTrax and the change from GS to Innings Pitched (IP) the K/GS stat went out the window. However, we have a different stat you should be keeping an eye on now, and that is your K/9. Since every team is limited to only 1400 innings strikeouts essentially turn into a ratio stat. Once your innings are up, you are stuck with the number of strikeouts you have. This makes those high K/9 relievers such as Josh Hader and Matt Barnes (despite not getting many save chances) very valuable pieces. Quick shout out to Great Knoche for tipping me off to another K/9 specialist in Nick Anderson who’s rocking an 18.24 K/9, just below Barnes and Hader. Something I like to do is sort players by K/9. You can do this by hitting “Extra” on the player page when viewing pitchers. Then just sort by K/9 and make sure you’re looking for players with a substantial amount of IP. Reyes Moronta has been another favorite of mine this year. So, if you find yourself without a save vulture target for the day and your offense is full, consider grabbing a high K/9 reliever to help boost those stats. It only takes a few 7 IP, 2 K performances to put you behind the pace. It’s important to monitor and keep a balance. Fortunately for you, and especially those that are bad at math, we’re tracking your K/9 for you on the Master Standings page. There, you can see that among teams with at least 40 IP/week we have Metal Face Doom with an impressive 12.1 K/9. Bringing up the rear is Fake News Bears with 7.9 K/9 in 245 IP. There’s still time to correct though, so fear not! It’s also going to be important to monitor your innings usage. You can click “MIN/MAX” on your team page to see your innings used and your pace. I like to keep my pace pretty close to right on the money, but your mileage may very. Just don’t leave innings on the table if you can help it. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week that was, week 4 in the RCLs:
FanDuel: VV the Vaudeville Villain
April 30, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |by: TroyKlauder
Phillies starter Vince Velasquez has quietly put a clean 1.99 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings this year. He has a tremendous opportunity tonight against the Tigers, who struck out 14 times in their last game against Reynaldo Lopez - they now have the fourth-highest K-rate against righties at 26.6%. Their .288 wOBA is also one of the worst in baseball, as if you needed any evidence that a team batting Jeimer Candelario leadoff is bad. Unless you're going to pay up for one of Trevor Bauer or Blake Snell, Velasquez is my favorite option at starting pitcher.
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!
Hey Lowe, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
April 30, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 607 Commentsby: Grey
[brid autoplay="true" video="408938" player="10951" title="Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 6"]
The Rays called up their 1st base prospect, Nate Lowe, to go with Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz and Daniel Robertson, which brings me to the real question of the day: How can Tampa have so many corners on their roster and no bodegas? The Rays have more cornermen than Avon Barksdale. My 9th grade geometry teacher, Mr. Corbello, would tell you, if you have two sides of a diamond and four corners, then you're looking at a clusterfudgeogram. The clusterfudgeogram generates little playing time and lots of headaches for those making heads or tails of it. The real question might be: Would the Rays be as daft to call up one of their top prospects to ride the bench? That seems unlikely, but since he's a lefty and this is Kevin Cash, and Cash Ruins Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M. get the funny way to set your lineup, ya big dummy. We care because Lowe's got some lumber. His projections are at the Prospectonator, and they're not too shabby, like the quarter piece of Harrison Ford's Jewishness. Prospect Mike ranked Nathaniel Lowe (Why so serious, Nate?) in his top 100 fantasy baseball prospects and said this elsewhere, "Lowe is a big left-handed bat who can hit for both average and power. In 2018, he popped 27 homers and hit .330/.416/.568 across three levels. He’ll be ready when the Rays need him, unlike how no one needs Grey." Okay, not cool! I tried to add Nathaniel Lowe and Nate Lowe everywhere; I believe they're the same person and they were both gone. However, I didn't contract any FOMO. Finding a bat corner bat with some pop is as easy as going down to the corner store, grabbing a burner Moreland-type and avoiding the clusterfudgeogram. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Top 100 Hitters, Week 5: The New Girl in Town
April 29, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 41 Commentsby: Kerry Klug
There hasn't been a #1 ranked hitter in my rankings besides Mike Trout since he went down with an injury at the beginning of August 2018. His replacement, Mookie Betts was in the thick of his AL MVP/World Series campaign and the difference between them wasn't that vast anyway.
This year, the 2018 NL MVP who everyone was sure was going to regress has done just the opposite and started off even hotter than anyone anticipated. Christian Yelich has tied Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez with 14 HRs to begin the season. To top both of those jabronis, Yelich has also stolen 6 bases. Just to whet the appetites of Yelich owners -- A-Rod went on to win the AL MVP that season while Pujols was the runner-up in his season. Yes, I know that Cody Bellinger is beating Yelich in some statistical categories already this season, but forgive me if I believe more in Yelich's .350 AVG right now over Bellinger's .420.
Injuries in baseball are mounting faster than casualties at Winterfell. When you have a lineup hole to plug it can be a dangerous game to attempt duplicating your expected production from the hurt player in every category. Most of the time you'll just hurt those categories. A more focussed approach is often preferable. Depending on position it can be an opportunity to pad your steals.
FanDuel: Houston Does Not Have a Problem on Monday
April 29, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |by: wander34
Monday’s nine-game FanDuel slate starts with the Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander. The right-hander has put up some very strong numbers to start the season. He has a 2.61 ERA with a 3.32 SIERA. His 30.5% K% is second best on the slate. And while Minnesota has put up some decent offensive numbers this season, Verlander is a top DFS play. In 187 career at-bats, he has held the current Twins’ roster to a .171/.201/.339 slash line with a whopping 54 strikeouts. Las Vegas has the big right-hander pegged as a -165 favorite, so move forward with confidence.
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!
[brid autoplay="true" video="407853" player="10951" title="FantasyBaseball2019BuySellHold5"]
Subliminally, I nod my whenever Reynaldo Lopez is mentioned. It’s a disease similar to Jimmy Legs; it’s called Lo-Pez Head. Yesterday, my Lo-Pez Head nodded for all the good he was doing (6 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunenrs (3 BBs), 14 Ks, ERA at 6.03). Lopez faced Murmurer’s Row of Detroit and sent them down, down, down, down--how many downs is that? 4 downs at three downs per down, that's still only 12 downs and he had 14. Damn, that's too many Ks for even the Alt-Right Sox. Usually Reynaldo Lopez rattles off a bag of Dick Poles. Am I now interested? Do I look *makes nutter rolly finger motion on side of head*? He was once a big-time prospect with a mid-90s MPH fastball that can hit straight-boing type levels. I see his current 11.2 K/9 and get weak in the knees, can barely speak, but his 4.9 BB/9 is his usual Pitfall Harry and his 5.47 xFIP doesn't scream confidence like a man with 100-point font. I'd continue to view him as a streamer for now. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend for fantasy baseball:
This is easily my favorite week of streamers so far and I’m going to be pedaling harder than ever right down the stream. What I really love is all of the two-start pitchers available. We actually have five two-start streamers that we’re going to recommend, which is a new record for this article! I’m pedaling so furiously that there’s going to be a hole in my kayak!
FanDuel: Sunday Bruch, Part IV
April 28, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |by: NichFields
Hi! So, we know we should size our FanDuel entries based on our bankroll and probable outcome, we know we should diversify our lineups, and we know how we can approximate our optimal player distribution based on our projections. But what’s the best way to use our projections? Click below to learn how to use these projections and get some of the top plays of the day:
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!
Prospect News: Tuck’s On A Roll
April 28, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 75 Commentsby: Mike
Kyle Tucker has started the 2019 season cold. Like really cold. Like, the freezing point of helium cold. Shout out to my unfortunately-named high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Richard Sores. But, there is hope for the flowers. Tucker has hit safely in each of his last three games with a double and two homers in that span. Why is this important? If you own Tucker, who was a favorite to get called up at some point this season, he needs to play well to avoid getting leapfrogged by Yordan Alvarez and Myles Straw on the road to Houston. Here's what else is happening around the minor leagues...
