On this week’s episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Grey and B_Don discuss who should take home the MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year awards for both leagues. We called the MVP race months ago, but do we still think so? Please, blog, may I have some more?
Willson Contreras (1-for-3 and his 20th homer) giving the winning run to Adam Wainwright (7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 7.40) for his 200th win is severely throwing off the Comatose Cardinals Fan. "Okay, I've been doing a snooze button for what? Ten days? Weeks? Months? Wow, that's wild. I feel great! Good to see Adam Wainwright pitching, too bad he allowed that homer to Contreras. Those pesky Cubs, amiright? I'm not right? Hmm, I might need to sit down. Wait a minute, I am sitting? In a jar of formaldehyde?" Maybe because I'm old enough to remember the days of 300 wins by a starter (not in one year, I'm not that old), but 200 wins feels significant. Not sure we ever see another one. Gerrit Cole is the closet (not officially, but Johnny Cueto's not winning ten more, let alone 57 more), and Cole's five years away, at least, which assumes health. I used to laugh that deGrom was one of the best pitchers of his generation and he won't crack 100 wins, but a lot of pitchers won't. Wainwright is a throwback to a bygone era. An era when pitchers started the game in the 1st inning, and went as long as they could. Sometimes, that meant all the way to 200 wins. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Hello? Is it me you're looking for? I see you caressing a butter sculpture of my face. It's not weird, just a little...out of place. I mean, I thought our relationship was me being the whiffonator, and you being a feasting fantasy baseballer who can't get enough whiffs. Supply and demand. Basic economics.
Which is the long way of saying: we're down to, like, 14ish games left in the season. From a writer's standpoint, we are in meaningless territory. A player slumps, and it's nothing more than variance. Unpredictable downtime. A player surges, and how can we tell whether it's playoff adrenaline or they're just flipping the coin lucky-side first? For the most part, we can't.
The marathon is almost complete. Congrats on your championships and/or being in the hunt at this point. The waiver wire is likely barren and the trade deadline has long passed, so I figured we’d take a look at the 2024 middle infield landscape. Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Mercury is rising on Freddy Peralta (P: $11,300), who has racked up nine or more strikeouts in four of his past five starts. In nine starts since July 26, Peralta has surpassed 30 DraftKings points three times, and has failed to crack 20 points just once. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Was announced on Saturday that Shohei Ohtani is done for the year. Though, it doesn't mean he's done with the Angels. He can re-sign--I am effin' around! Of course he's done with the Angels! Be thankful he doesn't return to Japan after playing with the Angels. He left the Angels and a 212-pound Tim Salmon was lifted off his shoulders. A 20-year Rally Monkey's Paw curse that festered under his skin for years must now be exfoliated away with Mariners' skin cream. Thank God, Ohtani was able to walk away from that barge of bad luck in Anaheim. The Angels turn even the most bright-eyed, bushy-tailed among us into Danny Glover on a toilet about to explode. As Ohtani emptied his locker, it became clear the Angels were one of the best teams to stream against these final two weeks, and Sawyer Gipson-Long (5 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 11 Ks, ERA at 2.70) took advantage. Long made short work of the Angels, but is he actually, pause for drama, good? He has three pitches (four but uses three).
We have arrived at the penultimate week of the MLB season. After this, there’s just one more. I’ll be honest, if you’re in H2H, it’s been over a decade since I played that format, so I’m not sure if it’s customary to go down to the wire, or like in fantasy football, the last week is avoided due to pre-playoffs rest or shifting of rotations? Please, blog, may I have some more?
It’s mind-blowing that these are my final two articles of the season. It always feels like the season is slowly steaming along, and then it’s just gone one day! That saddens me because this felt like one of my best seasons ever. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Baseball TwitterX was peppered with Prospect Crush lineups last week, and while I’m not sure I could articulate the definition of “crush” in this context, I thought the idea was interesting enough to build an article around as we near the tail end of the minor league season. I mean I almost dropped my own squad into Elon Musk’s private hype site before I realized I was pouring a lot of time into generating content for everyone’s favorite space invader.
I am no Mike, but I also had no interest in leaving everyone hanging in what could be the finals or semi-finals of many H2H leagues and the final weeks for category juice in those sweet, sweet roto leagues. My quick, little rundown will not be nearly the thorough breakdown Mike does, but I’m going to try and focus on a few important elements and give you some thoughts for the final weeks. Please, blog, may I have some more?
We are in the stretch run of the 2023 season, and time is running out to find a few more top dynasty keepers.
This week I want to focus on Colorado Rockies outfielder/first baseman Nolan Jones and briefly discuss Toronto second baseman Davis Schneider.
Jones, drafted by Cleveland in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft, is a former Top 100 prospect, ranked as high as 45th by Baseball America, 36th by MLB Pipeline and 52nd by Baseball Prospectus in 2021 before dropping out of the rankings ahead of the 2022 season.
The Guardians (Indians at the time) thought so highly of Jones that he was the team's representative in the 2019 Futures Game.
Jones, who is now 25, made his Major League debut for Cleveland in 2022 and appeared in 28 games and getting 86 at-bats. But by the end of the season, the Guardians had decided it was time to move on from Jones and traded him to Colorado in November for minor league infielder Juan Brito.
Right now the trade is a win for the Rockies. But let's dig in and see why I consider Jones a top dynasty keeper.
