Hey, what's up, I'm Grey Albright, a big, big fan of the Kansas City Royals. Born and bred in the Kay Cee -- blue fo'eva! I only eat turtle, and by 'turtle' I mean meat that is slow and low. When someone mentions Chisholm, I think jazz should be more improvisational and lowercase. I like my Dons named Denkinger and my Steves named Balboni. I was born into a powdered blue blanket and I still use it for rallies. A born and blue Royals man! As of this past Saturday. So, I took part in the LABR, 12-team, mixed auction this past weekend and I built a team revolving around two big Royals players, because I have a screw loose, and I cannot not NOT not love me some upside. Unlike most of my 'pert league recaps, this might actually help youse because it's a shallower league. Besides being an auction and two catcher, it's very similar to our RCL leagues (spots available to take on me and all of your worst frenemies, and win prizes; it's free -- sign up for a Razzball Commenter League under that linkie-ma-whosie.) Anyway, here's my LABR 12-team, mixed league draft recap:
Monthly Archives: March 2022
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Recaps and Nightcaps: Draft Strategies for 2022
March 7, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball | 11 Commentsby: everywhereblair
Not everything in this world is logical or sensical. The MLB labor relations situation is pretty over-determined: each side knows what the other wants and there's not a lot of true leverage on either side. MLB is a practical monopoly and the players can't play in another league, and the owners can't fill their rosters with replacement players that fans would want to watch. Are there things like replacement fans? Bots? Maybe MLB doesn't care about fans because they plan to fill the stands with bots. That's it. Now we're treated to a lockout, where the most we can do is draft imaginary baseball teams while we fans practically beg for closure on how much season we'll get.
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It’s your favorite hour of the week! The Not Not News is back with all the Billy Hurley jokes and Grey Albright cackles you can handle. Please, blog, may I have some more?
In the early 90’s Parker Lewis was a too cool for school teenager that couldn’t lose. Wikipedia defined him as “a smart guy with a penchant for garish shirts and cutting classes”. The show had a very Ferris Bueller feel. Parker, the title character, usually had a plan up his sleeve which almost always involved outsmarting someone else. Please, blog, may I have some more?
In solidarity with MLB players, I drove to a cliff on the PCH, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, stepped out of my Sebring while it was still in neutral, locked the doors, and watched as it rolled off the cliff, crashing into the roof of a billionaire's beachfront home. To illustrate the MLB owners' position, I went to a Chipotle, and on a sign clearly labeled "pull," I pushed for hours, screaming, "What happened? Am I locked out? This is totally unfair!" For the fans, I took out a full newspaper ad, pleading for both sides to go back to the negotiating table, and that was seen by the 12 people who still read a hard-copy of the paper. We. Are. United! Which is what I was shouting as I was escorted away from the Delta terminal.
So, no great news has come out about the MLB lockout. I'm not a labor reporter, and won't bore you while pretending to be. This is an evolving shituation that could change tomorrow or six weeks from now. My guess is there will be movement in the landmark case of sooner vs. later. Hopefully, it won't last much longer. *wavy lines* The year is 2081. After a 60-year lockout, a deal is finally struck between the 80-year-old player rep, Wander Franco, and Rob Manfred Jr. Jr., the 15-year-old MLB commissioner-slash-influencer who opens graves and harvests human bones for petroleum on TikTok. *wavy lines* Yikes, what kind of dream was that?
If you want this broken down to you in the simplest of terms, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is we already lost one week of games. The good news is you're not Rob Manfred.
"It's all about the fans." -- Rob Manfred, walking past a store that sells ceiling fans. What if Rob Manfred's real job was to make Bud Selig look good in retrospect? Makes ya think, huh? Ain't sayin' anything groundbreaking here, but when MLB owners aren't losing money by losing games, the system is broken. Okay, back to fantasy, as I said last week, I was updating my 2022 fantasy baseball rankings, but later on I discussed it with Rudy and we’re holding tight for now, because, honestly, one week missed of games isn’t going to change anything. Two weeks isn't really anything, either. Later this week, maybe I'll change my mind and remove a couple weeks from the projections. Maybe I'll leave the positional rankings's projections on a 162-game scale and only change my top 500. A few players might actually be benefited by the lockout, and there was some news. So, let's get on the other side of this "Anyway," and get to it. Anyway, here's what else I saw this offseason for 2022 fantasy baseball:Could anything be more appropriate than Rob Manfred practicing his golf swing on the worst day of his tenure as MLB commissioner? https://t.co/8mI4OlAL0s
— Razzball (@Razzball) March 1, 2022
I don't know about you, but with no spring training going on and the Owner's lockout not appearing to be coming to an end any time soon, thank goodness for college baseball and fantasy baseball drafts!
The college season is off to a great start as my 12-0 Texas Longhorns (Class of '93!) are the No. 1 team and have allowed only 13 runs in the team's first 12 games. Meanwhile, in the first of my many dynasty drafts, I was able to snag Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer and George Springer. I know, I know - if you have been reading my earlier posts you know I value hitters over pitchers and young player over the older stars.
But when it comes to dynasty leagues, they are like a box of chocolates...no, that is the wrong thought. What they all are is once you get past the inaugural draft, each one takes on its own personality and learning to adjust when needed is a key tool to have in the toolbox. In the case of this league, we are in year eight. Not only do we have 40-man rosters, but we have 20-man minor league rosters. So with the top prospects gone and players like Ronald Acuna, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis not close to being available, I went for the best player on the board strategy.
Even if you are starting a new dynasty league, you have to be able to zig at times. You need to enter the draft with a game plan and stick to it as much as you can. But if an older stud player is staring you in the eyes and you know he will make your team one of the best in the league, then you take him. And if it happens again and then again, then you zig and zag and then get back to your plan.
Snagging as many young players is still a top goal, but sometimes the oldies but goodies are too good to pass up.
Welcome to a new thing we’re trying out. New is always good, even when it’s merely mediocre. Much like my new diet. The format here is a discussion between myself and two industry friends about a couple of players in an ADP range. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Attack on RazzSlam, Season Two: The Slammening
March 6, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 10 Commentsby: The Itch
Last year around this time, we were all bright-eyed and razzy-tailed youths looking forward to a fresh new season through the lens of a fresh new format: The RazzSlam, a collection of 12-team best ball leagues to determine who is the Razziest baller of them all.
I did what I could to find my way through the field and wrote about it here in Attack on RazzSlam: The Itch’s Final Draft Rundown.
Mistakes were made. I drafted 19 pitchers, which is fine, especially considering the pitchers I got: Logan Webb at pick 447, Alex Reyes at 399, Trevor Rogers at 346, Jake McGee at 327, Dylan Cease at 303 . . . Hey, how come I didn’t win this league?
Well, outfield weakness, for starters. Christian Yelich at 2.15 was not fun. Conforto at pck 63. Teoscar at 82 and Buxton at 134 were fine, but in general, I was short on corner bats (had Dom Smith, Andrew Vaughn, Eric Hosmer at 1B) and short on outfield bats. Was also weak at catcher: Vazquez, Tom Murphy and Torrens oh my.
In most roto leagues, I think you can cover a weak spot with a strong one. That doesn’t seem to be the case in the RazzSlam, so I guess that was our blueprint heading into the draft: have good players at every position. Seems simple enough.
Hitter Profiles: Lockout Shuffle!
March 5, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball | 3 Commentsby: Jeremy Brewer
I always try to look at things with a glass half-full. Unfortunately that glass has a large hole in it right now where the MLB owners have drained my confidence in their love of the game. However, the savy fantasy baseball manager is always looking for an edge. This week our hitter profiles focus on impacts from the lockout and what it should mean for our expectations. Whether it is recovery from injury or time away due to suspension and off the field struggles, there is always an angle to investigate. Today we try to turn a Manfred into a Lemon and hope we end up with Lemonade. Here are three hitters that stand to see a change in value the longer the lockout progresses.
Tout Wars: You Down With OBP…Also S+H & IP?
March 5, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Our Leagues | 5 Commentsby: MattTruss
First off, a humungous thank you to Grey for the recommendation and to Jeff Erickson, Todd Zola, and Peter Kreutzer (and any others over there I may have missed, apologies, I’m new!) over at Tout Wars for letting little ol’ me into the land of Touts. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Ambulance Chasers: Catching A Case
March 5, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 1 Commentby: keelinbillue
Razzlings,
While the first two series of the MLB regular-season are cancelled, there is hope yet in these Razzhalls. RazzSlam has been chugging along. Additionally, The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational (TGFBI) began this week. Most of the writers are participating in TGFBI as well as RazzSlam. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Howdy, Razzqueens n kings.
I wanted to shift my focus this week. Purely selfish motives here since I’m tired of just talking about saves while simultaneously being too lazy to hammer out a full-on SV+HD tiered ranking. Instead, this week I’m kind of doing what I did last week, except instead of early-bird specials on closers, I’m gonna look at early-bird specials on setup men. Please, blog, may I have some more?
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