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Yesterday, James Kaprielian went 7 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 2 walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 1.53, and it's time to dig in. Luckily, I watched him since it was an afternoon game. Looks like his sum is greater than his parts. Like a Honda. Ya know, no one ever talks about parts being better than a whole, which is always more likely. Like Tenet. Like The Irishman. Like a seven-course dinner anywhere. Amuse bouche? I'll amuse you! Apps? Perhaps! Entree? Entry into my mouth! Cheese course? Okay, eff off. Mid-dinner sorbet to cleanse my palate? No, just bring me the damn dessert! So, Kaprielian appears to have a home run problem, but the Colossal-seum will help with that, and facing the M's didn't hurt. The command will be low 3-ish BB/9 with a 8.7-9.1 K/9. That's roughly a high-3 to low 4 ERA with neutral luck, and a Streamonator call. Whispers softly, "He's a mediOAKer starter." Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Monthly Archives: May 2021
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Some people are just good at farting.
In the comedic sense.
If we can be objective about it.
Which of course we can’t.
Our own farts are the best farts.
Not necessarily in the comedic sense.
But also definitely in the comedic sense.
If we can be objective about it.
Nobody has ever farted as funnily as I have, from my perspective, is all I’m saying.
I keep trying to avoid the subject of confirmation bias as an intro for this piece, but here we are, talking about my farts, and your farts, and I’m sorry it got so intimate so quickly. You didn’t come here for this. Probably.
And I don’t even mean to besmirch the thing itself. Confirmation bias can be a blast. Few phenomena match the thrill of that you’re-goddamn-right-I’m-right feeling of riding astride a fantasy baseball win.
Which is precisely what makes it self-insulating and self-isolating, which is precisely what makes it toxic. The second we stop looking for reasons we might be wrong, we invite bad mental processes.
We're almost two months into the regular season and I feel like all of my teams have run the Gauntlet from American Gladiators. Every time I think I've got a leg up on the competition, Nitro smashes me in the face with a jousting staff. This week we saw Manny Machado and Cavan Biggio miss time, along with DJ LeMahieu hitting the paternity list for a couple of days. Mike Moustakas continues to flip flop between healthy and not healthy and the rest of the third base pool is in a deep, deep slump. Let's get to the list and we'll talk about some of the movers.
SAGNOF, Week 9: Don’t Fry Because It’s Over
May 26, 2021 | Closers, Middle Relievers, SAGNOF | 4 Commentsby: Kerry Klug
Here I go again sounding the trouble alarm. The way relief pitching is going this season I expect this will be a recurring segment every two weeks in SAGNOF. I’m taking a look at closers who have been struggling since the last time I wrote about closers two weeks ago. The concern level scale goes from:
- Green: “That ain’t no problem, that ain’t no problem.” Shannon Sharpe
- Yellow: “Oh, I’m stressed!” Jerry Seinfeld
- Orange: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Han Solo
- Red: “Molly. You in danger girl.” Oda Mae Brown
Hard to believe we're approaching the end of month 2 of the MLB marathon. The injuries continue to mount and leave us with some interesting streaming options, which is good news because the pitching options at face value are not great. We get an MLB debut along with a bunch of mediocre starters. The only headliners are Trevor Bauer and Tyler Glasnow. Bauer has a tough matchup against the Astros, leaving Glasnow as the chalky ace pick. We should have another full slate as there's no inclement weather on the horizon.
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!
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Those pitching last night: Clayton Kershaw vs. Zack Greinke. Two surefire Hall of Famers, one who will give the shortest Hall of Fame speech on record. Also, pitching last night: future first ballot Hall of Famers, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. Two more must watch: Cy Young candidates, Corbin Burnes and Joe Musgrove, toeing the rubber to go against each other. All in one night. That's what we had yesterday. And the best pitching performance was the 41-year-old, 88 MPH hurler, Rich Hill aka Dick Mountain aka Dick n' Blisters. That's why baseball is incredible! Predict that shizz! Yesterday, Rich Hill went 8 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 13 Ks, ERA at 3.63. His perfs (the kids call them that -- the kids younger than Hill) 10 K/9, 3 BB/9, and almost exactly pitching to his ERA, as his luck has been virtually neutral. Will it continue? Well, since he saved his arm by taking all of his 30s off for blisters, maybe? Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Top Five College Prospects for the 2021 MLB Draft
May 25, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 4 Commentsby: Hobbs
And here we are. Our coverage of college prospect talent has finally come full circle, which is kind of redundant, don't you think? Circles are fully completed to begin with, unless by "full circle," we are describing the actual filling in of a circle, which in reality, would then effectively become a dot. So, you might say that here at Razzball, our coverage of college prospect talent has come dot. Ahh. That's better.
What do I mean by this? On March 12, 2020, the college baseball world came crashing to a halt, as did numerous other sports entities and industries. My own existence was thrown into a whirl; a seemingly unfathomable reality all too sudden to believe -- as I'm sure yours was, and your friends', and your friends' friends', and your friends' friends' mothers' friends and so forth. As I admittedly understand, the reaches of all that has occurred over the last year-plus comes accompanied with far more tragedy than the impact on sports. But even so, the events of March 12 pushed me into becoming a Razzball contributor and on March 19 -- just seven days later -- I released my Top 10 College Prospects to Target in Dynasty Leagues, otherwise known as my debut post on the site, otherwise known as the date I first started leaving Grey *67 voicemails. It was written while I stared deeply into Trevor Bauer's eyes, indirectly of course, via a photo I took standing outside of his house unbeknownst to him.
Fast forward to present day, one year and two months later (Note: NOT a Yellowcard song), and I am tackling that same practice yet again. However, this year we are beginning with the timeline we should be. The college baseball season has NOT been canceled and there ARE conference tournaments and postseason play ongoing. The 2021 MLB Draft is just under two months away, scheduled for July 11-13. It will be 20 rounds this year, not five. Thank. Freaking. Goodness.
Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Grey Albright Throws A No-Hitter!
May 25, 2021 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 2 Commentsby: Geoff
When even our handsome mustachioed leader is tossing no-no's you know that something is terribly wrong in Major League Baseball. The remarkable part is he did it throwing underhand eephus pitches to the Mariners. The lineup is that bad, what can ya say? They swing and they miss. All joking aside, we run through the growing no-no trend and a whole bunch of names you need to keep an eye on for the weeks ahead. Schmotatoes, Call-ups, and players returning from injury we have it all. It's the latest episode of the Razzball Podcast.
Rolling In The Deep: Still Chasing Victor-y
May 25, 2021 | Rolling In The Deep | 5 Commentsby: Laura Holt
Deep-league greetings, friends, and here's hoping that you are holding your own in your leagues. The injuries keep coming, and information about how long players may be out is vaguer than ever, making setting a weekly lineup full of players that you know will be healthy beyond difficult even in a standard league. And as we all know, what's difficult in a standard league is often next to impossible in a deep league. All I'm saying is that if you're finding the fantasy baseball waters particularly tough to navigate this year, you are not alone. And with that thought, let's look at a few names who may be of interest to those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other particularly deep leagues.
RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 7, 2021
May 25, 2021 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenter Leagues | 19 Commentsby: MattTruss
The rookies are coming, the rookies are coming! If you’re like me, you’re looking at your roster right about now and trying to figure out where in the world all these guys are going to play. I’d love to grab Vidal Brujan and sit on him until he’s called up, but as it is I have Joey Wendle, Jazz Chisholm and now Brendan Rodgers battling with Marcus Semien, Dansby Swanson and Francisco Lindor (who I drafted way too much of) for playing time. When Moustakas gets healthy, I’m going to have real middle infield trouble. It’s a good problem to have, but it makes playing rookie hot potato very difficult. Do we cut bait with Wendle despite his heater? Drop Dansby despite that lineup? At least Jarren Duran is in the outfield, a spot with slightly more lineup flexibility. How are you all handling the game of rookie hot potato? Are you just hoping you can beat your league mates to the wire when the time comes? Do you have a similar lineup crunch you hope will work itself out via trade or injury? Are you grabbing and holding or constantly adding and dropping every night hoping your rookie is rostered when they get the call? All of this is a good reminder to leave those last couple roster spots on offense able to be churned over. There is no issue with leaving an RCL draft knowing you’ll be hitting the waiver wire for your OF5, UTIL and CI/MI spots. There are players every year that pop from the waiver wire, just keep those eyes peeled. Right now, point your eyes below for the rest of the week that was, week 7 in the RCLs:
Welcome to another installment of Tuesday MLB DFS here on Razzball. We have a near full slate of games on tonight's main slate, with near perfect weather in most places. It’s warm across the land and bats are beginning to show life. As hard as it is to believe, we’ve gone almost a full week without a no hitter. Seasonal stats are beginning to become more useful as we near the 50 game mark for most teams.
We welcome the return of a decent arm in the Mets’ rotation as average MLB Starting Pitcher Jacob deGrom returns to the mound after missing two starts due to side issues. But seriously, he couldn’t ask for a better matchup to return to as he takes on the Rockies at home. This slate isn’t lacking in stud arms as there are 8 or 9 guys who are likely aces on seasonal teams. However, out of the group of 8 or 9, I’m going to focus my energy on 2 or 3. Good luck tonight, stay positive and visualize that bank roll spiking like Bitcoin in April. Visualize your success! You HAVE to believe it to be true before it can happen. Go with your gut and do it with confidence. Let’s go!
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!
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Let's take one more victory lap around my standing desk prior to moving on for good. A hirsute Donkey Teeth said to me in March, "I need a bold prediction from you for this season." I wrote back, "That they'll let you within 500 feet of a school." He wrote back, "About baseball." I wrote back, "The school will have a baseball team?" He wrote back, "Major League Baseball." I wrote back, "Venmo me $100 for wasting my time." Then, after a week back-and-forth, I said the first bold prediction that came to my mind: Keston Hiura's batting average would bottom out and he'd be demoted. He was going in the first 50 picks of drafts. This was not a willy and/or nilly bold prediction. People loved Keston Hiura. After that bold prediction, I doubled down, and he was my first sell of the season, telling you to get rid of him the day after Opening Day. *begins to pant* Okay, I'm winded, victory lap over. Keston Hiura (1-for-3, 1 run) was recalled yesterday, and I picked him up in all leagues. I, Mr. Don't Draft Keston, picked him up? Yes, because now his price isn't a 4th round pick, but free. Free's good. Hiura still had strikeout issues in the minors -- 34.2%, which is honestly laughably bad. If his price weren't free, I'd prolly pass. It's funny how many people are now suddenly excited about Hiura when he seems to have exactly the same problem. Serious question: Are the Brewers capable of teaching how to not strikeout? *looks randomly at their entire team* Forget it, I can answer myself. So, grab Hiura for the speed/power, but don't be surprised if he still hits in the .180 range. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
