by: Kerry Klug
Hey Yoan! There he is! Moncada’s bat is officially awake! Through his first 49 ABs Moncada had 1 HR, 0 SB and a .604 OPS. Since then? 42 ABs, 5 HR, 4 SB and a 1.295 OPS. Here’s my worry — will Moncada continue to be streaky and see a 700 point swing in his OPS every few weeks? Or did he just get off to a slow start?
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
With a lot of other fantasy websites I’ve noticed that in their waiver articles they’re recommending players who are owned in over 50% of standard leagues. For every league I’m in if a guy is over 50% owned he is already long gone. So going forward I’m going to focus on players who are less than 25% owned unless I really can’t find someone who fits that criteria. I really want to highlight some deep league gems who might be able to help your team after an injury. You Razzball readers are smart and don’t need me to tell you to add Cesar Hernandez (52.1% owned) if he’s available. And that’s me pandering you!
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
Introducing the interrobang list! (You’ll find it at the bottom of the top 100.) What’s an interrobang you may be asking yourself? An interrobang essentially is a hybrid of a question mark and an exclamation point. When someone says something like “What in the world?!” You can save yourself some space and use the interrobang. “Okay cool, weirdo — how does this apply to fantasy baseball?” The interrobang list at the bottom are a few guys who didn’t make the Top 100 list proper, but are still people that are making me go “?!”
Please, blog, may I have some more?Oblique? More like nooooooblique! Seems like it is a mild one so he has that going for Jonathan Schoop, 2B, (strained oblique). Which is goodblique. Orioles are hoping for a minimum stay, but I think it’ll be similar to Christian Yelich where they hold him out for 15-20 days instead of just the minimum 10. Stash or Trash: Stash. Fill In: Howie Kendrick (14.5%.) Nobody wants to play Howie Kendrick — we all just somehow end up with him on our team at some point throughout the year when our players get hurt. (Which always coincides with that two game a month hot streak Kendrick always has.) The conversation we usually have with ourselves when it comes time to add Kendrick typically ends with “I guess I’ll grab Howie Kendrick to replace ____” Here’s the same old song and dance you hear about Kendrick every year: he’s hit safely in every game he’s played this season except one. He’ll accidentally hit 1-2 HRs right before you pick him up, but then won’t hit 1-2 more until right after you drop him two weeks later. Howie-ver, he won’t hurt your AVG/OBP and could provide a HR and a nice handful of runs in the Nats lineup until Schoop comes back. Then you can pass him back to the waivers until someone else needs him.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
Boy, this Ohtani is all anybody’s ever talking about. I’m so sick and tired of hearing about how brilliant that Ohtani is. I was so tempted to put Shohei Ohtani on this list. So tempted! Unfortunately he only has 30 at-bats compared to the league leader, his teammate, Albert Pujols’s 67. That’s too small of a sample size for me to overreact and 3-4 batting games per week can leave you in a hole. It is fun to see that he has a 0% soft contact rate though. But that Ohtani is some kind of something, huh?
This winter weather is messing with a lot of players. At the bottom of my top 100 you’ll see a list of hitters who shoulda, coulda, woulda been in the top 100 if they were healthy. I think most of them will return and find themselves back on the top 100 list, but for now, due to their missed games and health uncertainty — they get their own list.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Knock on wood, there really hasn’t been a season ending Tommy John surgery this year outside of Jharel Cotton. The scariest thing about that fact is the wait. Hopefully it never happens — but you know it’s going to. I’m sure all of you are now staring at your pitchers in tears “not my babies!”
As always, if you’ve got league specific questions — I’ve got league specific answers. Leave ‘em in the comments!
Please, blog, may I have some more?Week 2 of Razzball’s top 100 hitters is here! Now with actual baseball being played! This list is not going to be overly reactionary after nine days of rainy, snowy baseball. Barring injury you won’t see too many shake-ups among the top hitters. Yes, I see Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, and Anthony Rizzo’s batting averages and I’m not going to freak out and you probably aren’t either. Should you try to buy low on them if someone’s entire team is really under-performing: of course you should. In the same vein, if you saw in the comments last week everyone was calling for Jose Martinez to be on the list, but he has just as many multi-hit games as 0-fer games. If he can even that out a little bit he’ll find himself climbing this list faster than the yodeler in a game of Cliffhangers on Price is Right after some fool says that a bag of rice-a-roni costs 10 bucks. Get a grip Suzanne! Shohei Ohtani on the other hand — after the sloppiest of sloppy springs he is now starting to live up to the Japanese Babe Ruth moniker with HRs in three straight games. He’s not in the top 100 proper just yet — but should he keep this up he’ll be rising up.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
How are we feeling after a week of games? A couple dings and sprains but no major season ending injuries so far so we should all be feeling good. Unless by some freak coincidence you’ve drafted everyone on this list…
If you’ve got league specific injury questions — leave a comment below.
Or hell, if you’ve got Wrestlemania prediction questions — leave a comment below too!
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
FINALLY baseball has come back to our televisions! This year on top of my weekly injury article I’ll be bringing you the top 100 hitters for each week. I’ll be honest — this first week is just going to be a boring baseline. Nothing too outlandish on this list. I’m not one to overreact too much to spring stats or three days of games. However, from here on out you never know who is going to be showing up, moving up or sliding down this list.
by: Kerry Klug
Better now than in September! Just keep telling yourself that. We’ve already got a healthy dose of injured players — but you, an intellectual, aren’t going to panic. Right?! Nothing too season ending so far (maybe a few April-ending injuries) so you will all be fine. As always if you’ve got a league specific question […]
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
The most depressing column on Razzball is back! The one everyone dreads reading week to week! That’s right my little Chasers — I’m back and I’m covering every turf toe, every Tommy Johns, every blister, and every Dodgers starting pitcher DL-stint!
Each week I’ll be covering all injuries major and minor for your players. I’ll be letting you know whether I think you should stash ‘em or trash ‘em. Stash them in your DL spot or throw them back to the waiver wire trash heap. Along with that, I’ll provide a replacement player who is owned in less than 50% of leagues that you can add as a replacement. Every injured player will be placed in alphabetical order by last name so you can quickly find your guy. Just a heads up — if a player isn’t owned in over 5% of ESPN leagues — I won’t be covering him. If you own a player who is less than 5% owned — first, why? Second, leave a comment and I’ll help. One last thing: I also won’t be covering players who just have diarrhea and will be missing a game or two. They’ll be fine. Their facilities manager on the other hand — yikes.
As always with the Razz family of products — if you’ve got league specific questions — throw them down below and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
Enough banter — let’s get chasing!
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: Kerry Klug
Draft This: Brett Gardner, NYY | Not That: Tommy Pham, STL
I’ve participated in a half-dozen drafts already (sometimes 2 or 3 at a time) so I feel like I have a good grasp on potential draft steals that you can take advantage of. I’m actually representing the Razzball family in a 5×5 standard roto mock draft as I’m writing this! (Check the final results here.)
I know what you’re thinking already, “But Kerry, how could you take that old bag of bones over that young buck Tommy Pham?!” Tommy Pham is 30. You know every fantasy baseball manager recoils when they see a three at the front of a player’s age! Yes, Gardner is 4 years older than Pham — but as I’m about to show you — his production isn’t that far off.
Please, blog, may I have some more?