Julio Rodriguez, 2021 Fantasy Outlook

October 30, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 77 Comments

On July 16th of this godforsaken year, Julio Rodriguez suffered a hairline fracture of his wrist. Why? Because 2020 was the year no one saw coming, hindsight be damned. Pack up your suitcases and move in with your most charitable, rich relative, we'll come out of this thing at some point in the future. Wake me up then, 'kay? A wrist fracture feels like the end of the story for 2021, as well. Julio Rodriguez is 19 years old. Losing a year of development, puts him behind the eight ball, as they say in pool halls. Take a year to get back to where he was this year, and get back to me. I'm living with my rich cousin who invented the app that skips ahead of the personal stories on all recipe blogs. Unless Julio Rodriguez is a *whispers* phenom. *checks notes, slowly raises head, eyes watery* He is a...dot dot dot...dramatic pause...big gulp...orders again, "Can I get a Big Gulp?" Sorry, I'm typing this up at 7-11. Yes, he's a phenom! Oh, yeah, Julio Rodriguez is a phenom. He. Is. A. Phenom. Yes, the one-word douchey sentences. On Prospect Itch's top 100 fantasy baseball prospects in redraft leagues, Julio Rodriguez was 3rd overall. He would've been my number one rookie coming into 2021 fantasy baseball, if I had any faith in the Mariners promoting Julio Rodriguez to start the season. My biggest concern is playing time. Otherwise, he's a lock. There's at least a 50% chance Juli-Rodrigu (what friends call him) keeps his prospect status for 2022 and I'm back here at this time next year saying he's the best rookie going into next season which will be two seasons from now, and not confusing at all. So, what can we expect from Julio Rodriguez for 2021 fantasy baseball?

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Randy Arozarena & the Ex-Cardinals’ All-Star Team

October 29, 2020 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball | 18 Comments

by: JKJ

Hello again, my friends. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I had another fun-but-also-terribly-painful experiment for you guys. For some of you this will be euphoric. But as a Cardinals fan myself, well, this just sucks. My experiment is rather simple, and it's similar to my last piece on Waiver Wire All-Stars. I'm certainly not alone in this, but I've noticed a whole lotta ex-STL players having really, really, really good things happen after leaving town. I got to thinking, and I wondered if it were possible to field a full fantasy squad of 100% ex-STL players and still have a good team. The answer is YUP. Oh, joy. I had to take some liberties, and I had to do a lot of digging through past draft classes and minor league affiliate rosters, but I've built a Yahoo standard lineup of players who at one point in time were in the Cardinals system (with some liberties sprinkled in). It's not a perfect team, but it's a damn fine one if you ask me. It just hurts all the more knowing this didn't have to be fantasy for the Cardinals. IT COULD HAVE BEEN REALITY! MAYBE! *crying baby GIF* Another thing about this experiment is we gotta assume these players reach or maintain their fantasy ceilings. Some guys weren't so great in 2020 but have been good recently, or vice versa. Some of them I don't exactly miss, if I'm being honest, but that doesn't mean they couldn't help this fantasy fantasy squad win. Cardinals fans, get your tissues ready. Have Freese's heroics from Game 6 of the 2011 World Series playing on a loop in the background as you read. Go to your happy place and try to stay there as you see name after name break your heart over and over again. This is supposed to be therapeutic, right?

Top 10 Chicago Cubs Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

October 28, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 11 Comments

by: The Itch

Once upon a time, the Cubs represented the gold standard of how to complete a rebuild. Now they’re sort of stuck in neutral—still a silver standard in how to compete year over year but not much of a threat to the Dodgers and Rays of the world. Where they go from here is unclear. They missed their window to sell high on Kris Bryant, an unforgettable misstep after they manipulated his service time badly enough to all but guarantee he’d never resign. They have him and Kimbrel on the books for one more year at an inflated rate, so it seems like they’re stuck on the tracks they’re straddling now, sliding their way into the decade with little idea of how the roster will look just three or four years from now.

Jo Adell, 2021 Fantasy Outlook

October 27, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 52 Comments

by: Grey

There will be many people screaming that Jo Adell is no longer a rookie, and to those people I say, "Stop screaming, I think you're right," but by my own admission in my Sixto Sanchez fantasy, I explained I was going by old rookie eligibility rules, because the new ones for just this season were confusing as all get-out. For our purposes, Jo Adell had 130 or less at-bats, so welcome to the resistance (to actual rookie eligibility). And, if porpoises are reading, I want to go on record as saying I never enjoyed Sea World. They're popcorn was always stale. Never the hoo! Jo Adell, or as I like to call him, last year's Randy Arozarena. Can y'all remember back to last year when we were like Jo Adell or Mike Trout, which do you prefer? And half of us were like, "Hee-haw! I want Jo Adell!" That aged like a fine cheddar that is stored between your toes. Adell's season was not, how do I say, good. He went 9/3/7/.161 in 124 ABs. Glad he got those growing pains out of the way, huh? This reminds me of what a wise man named Grey Albright once said, "These prospects, huh?" Ah, no truer words have been said. It is pretty funny how we think we know what we're getting, yet no one knows anything. Funny, funny stuff. So, what can we expect from Jo Adell in 2021 fantasy baseball?

Patreon Podcast: The Billy Hurley Show!

October 26, 2020 | All Podcasts |

by: Donkey Teeth

Razzball Patreon members receive our weekly podcast where Grey cackles about the funniest news stories we've found over the past week, plus you get that warm fuzzy feeling of supporting your favorite fantasy sports site in all the land. It's the 20th episode of I Can't Believe It's Not Not News with Grey Albright, Donkey Teeth and world renowned comedian Billy Hurley. First, Grey gives an update about his role as pedophile on an episode of NCIS and the codpiece cookies he made for Chris O'Donnell. Then we dive in on this week's stories with a Billy reporting from under a rock about a website offering a chance to live under a rock during election week—excuse me while I book my accommodations. Speaking of the election, an Iowa man who stole an election sign then stole every newspaper that reported his original theft. Then find out all about the boy who's eaten noting but sausage his entire life; straight from teat to the sausage. Tune in now for all the laughs and Albright cackles you can handle by signing up for the exclusive Razzball Patreon Club for only $5/month!

MacKenzie Gore, 2021 Fantasy Outlook

October 26, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 37 Comments

by: Grey

Patiently awaiting the Triston McKenzie / MacKenzie Gore matchup to watch it on my couch with my cardboard cutout of Mackenzie Phillips while Mack the Knife plays, wearing my Mack truck overalls. How was I built? Like a Mack Truck, baby -- chugga-chugga-choo-choo. On the reals, it took me forty-five minutes to write the previous sentences because some people's names have a capped K; some don't; some have Mac; some have Mc, and this is worse than Zach/Zack/Zak/Zac. Stop the train and let me off. I need a mnemonic, Johnny! One of the more disappointing elements of 2020 -- like, roughly, the 12,576th most disappointing thing -- was that MacKenzie Gore didn't get a call-up. He's ready, Dads, let's go! Not to mention, I think the Padres could've used him. Weird move to go get Mike Clevinger, when they likely would've been better with Gore. That's a big market move done by a small market team -- a small market team that's worth like $1.8 billion, but anyway.

Top 100 Prospects for 2021 Redraft Fantasy Baseball Leagues

October 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 36 Comments

by: The Itch

I love most things about playing fantasy baseball leagues, but I especially love the push/pull of short versus long-term outcomes. I play a lot of dynasty, keeper and redraft leagues of various shapes and sizes, so the range of values I might place on a prospect in a given league is wide. Not here, though, where I’ll be going full cut-throat, win-the-money redraft style. I don’t know why anyone will be cutting throats. I love that phrase, but yikes, what a thing to say in casual conversation, huh? This list won’t turn out to be 100 percent accurate, but it will reflect many hours of trade talks, gameplay, research, roller coasters and centrifuges of thought, educated guesswork, and dash of the psychology motivating humans working within a nihilistic capitalist structure.

Note: I wasn’t sure how to handle innings caps. Every pitcher got dinged a little for the purposes of this list because some/most organizations will be very conservative pushing pitchers from 30-something (or zero) innings up above 100 (or more).

Ian Anderson, 2021 Fantasy Outlook

October 23, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 52 Comments

by: Grey

One thing I'm noticing in the bigger picture sorta way is there's gonna be more pitchers in this fantasy baseball rookies series this year than other years. The nature of the season made it more conducive for rookies to be called up, and rookie pitchers had no way of exceeding eligibility requirements. On a side but related note, this year made it abundantly clear that teams only keep prospects down in the minors because of phony money concerns. I mean, the concerns are phony, not that their money is phony. It's real, and absurd. Not to become Willy Woke, but if a guy is worth $5 billion dollars; he can afford to promote a prospect and lose control of him a year early. On another side but related note, how many teams in the playoffs would've not been in the playoffs or there with a totally different looking rotation? It's hard to imagine the Braves getting to the playoffs with the rotation of Max Fried, Kyle Wright and Ian Anderson. That's not to say I don't like them (to varying degrees). But if, say, the Braves called up Ian Anderson in May, his arm would've been so taxed by the playoffs, or just shut down. It's interesting (to me, at least) to think of what a guy like Ian Anderson would've been in a 162-game season. Him especially, because he could've been up in May, and pitched 150 IP. I have an idea! Let's actually figure out what he can do in a full season! Bravo, Grey, an ingenious plan! So, what can we expect from Ian Anderson for 2021 fantasy baseball?

The Robbie Ray Retrospective

October 22, 2020 | Pitcher Profiles, Pitcher Rankings | 13 Comments

by: everywhereblair

"I released it, he's swinging, and as he's making contact, I'm like, "Oh boy, this is gonna hit me, and so I turn... and it hit me, and it actually ricocheted off my head...my ears were ringing, so loud that it was hurting my eyes.

"When I hit the ground, I just went straight for my hat, and ripped my hat off, and I was bleeding. From the time I hit the ground, it was really...kinda crazy. I just had this, like, amazing peace about me. It was like God was saying 'Hey, you're OK.' It's like, 'I got you.'"

Robbie Ray, Interview with YMI, published March 12, 2019

Top 50 Prospects for 2021 Redraft Fantasy Baseball Leagues

October 21, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 65 Comments

by: The Itch

Note: Nobody will be cutting actual throats. I love that phrase, but yikes, what a thing to say in casual conversation, huh?

This list won’t turn out to be 100 percent accurate, but it will reflect many hours of trade talks, gameplay, research, roller coasters and centrifuges of thought, educated guesswork, and dash of the psychology motivating humans working within a nihilistic capitalist structure.

Note: I wasn’t sure how to handle innings caps. Every pitcher got dinged a little for the purposes of this list because some/most organizations will be very conservative pushing pitchers from 30-something (or zero) innings up above 100 (or more).

Sixto Sanchez, 2021 Fantasy Outlook

October 20, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 26 Comments

by: Grey

How do we know 2021 is going to be like no season ever after the season we just lived through and by 'season' I mean two months of games? Where do we begin? How about: Sixto Sanchez has 39 IP thrown in the major leagues (regular season), is a contender for the NL Rookie of the Year award and still eligible for that award in 2021. Is that right? Am I losing my mind or is that the case? By the way, I'm not being facetious. "Losing my mind" is definitely a possibility. *does some light research for five hours that covers everything from rookie eligibility for 2021 to whatever happened to Shannon Whirry* So, Sixto Sanchez does appear to be a rookie still (and Randy Arozarena, for that matter, which is hilarious too). Why does this matter? Because that's how I decide on which players to write up in the 2021 rookies for fantasy baseball. Well, like everything else with Major League Baseball, they've made it impentratable for fans. Instead of saying you can't win the ROY award twice, they said, "..." Well, do you really want to know? You know MLB makes everything impossible to understand, right? Okay, fine, but I warned you. Any players who accrued more than 45 days on an active roster during the 2020 season or previous seasons prior to September 1st will no longer be considered a rookie. MLB wants me to check player's call-up dates and count calendar days? Haha, yeah, okay, you're dumb. That ain't happening. Also, by the way, Sixto Sanchez is still eligible for the ROY award in both 2020 and 2021, if he doesn't win it this year. Not joking. So, MLB may be stupid, but I'm going over rookies for this series with old eligibility requirements -- 130 ABs or 50 IP in the majors. That is a long way to tell you a clerical situation. Any hoo! Sixto Sanchez! Yes! Each year I open the rookie series with the rookie who I think will be the most highly ranked rookie in the upcoming year. For 2021, that feels more difficult to pinpoint than previous years. I did think about other guys for the coveted first rookie spot in 2021, and, as mentioned in my Randy Arozarena fantasy, I'm split on him and Sixto, as the top 2021 rookie. Today, I'm going Sixto Mode! *does robot, gets stuck bent over, screams for Cougs to oil my joints* (By the way, I couldn't find any up-to-date information on Shannon Whirry, hope she's well!) So, what can we expect from Sixto Sanchez for 2021 fantasy baseball?

Patreon Podcast: Uber Farts

October 19, 2020 | All Podcasts |

by: Donkey Teeth

Razzball Patreon members receive our weekly podcast where Grey cackles about the funniest news stories we've found over the past week, plus you get that warm fuzzy feeling of supporting your favorite fantasy sports site in all the land. Billy Hurley returns triumphantly from his comedy show on the park hill and Grey has a tub of Boba from his new favorite tea establishment for this week's episode of I Can't Believe It's Not Not News. But first Grey divulges a super secret TV show which will be recorded in his home this week. Then we dive into the earth shattering news story about the man who was charged with ASSault after farting in an Uber. No, seriously, the gassenger is facing 6 months jail time for his stinky crime. And after several sightings of a man in a jet pack 3,000 feet in the air over LAX, questions arise regarding Grey's recent whereabouts. Also, a Florida father sends his son to school wearing a Hooters mask. Or Hooters underwear on his face, hard to tell. Tune in now for all the laughs and Albright cackles you can handle by signing up for the exclusive Razzball Patreon Club for only $5/month!