The Itch

Author: The Itch

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The Itch

Top 10 San Diego Padres Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

November 25, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 17 Comments

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The Padres took a turn as America’s team this summer, partly because Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch when his team had a three-run lead, partly because the whole team pitched in to make the name Slam Diego stick, partly because we all love a rags to riches story, and the Padres’ future looks as rich as any club in baseball. 

Plus they really went for it in 2020, trading away several key cogs from last year’s list: 5) Taylor Trammell; 6) Joey Cantilllo; 8) Gabriel Arias; 9) Owen Miller after moving 3) Xavier Edwards and Luis Urias during the off-season. Trades are fun. AJ Preller is fun. The Padres are fun. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Top 10 Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

November 22, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 18 Comments

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The champions enter 2021 with more answers than questions, just as they’ve entered the past few seasons but now featuring the added benefit of some shiny new rings to verify that they are in fact the best as this game. 

Their minor league system, as you’d expect after such a dominant run at the top level, is a little less amazing than it’s been the past few years thanks to a flurry of graduations and the big Mookie trade. It’s still incredibly deep, but the name-value isn’t the same. 

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The Itch

Top 10 Colorado Rockies Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

November 18, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 12 Comments

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High times in Denver, these are not, at least not in a baseball or football sense. They do still have the Nuggets, so that’s nice. Baseball fans are in a sticky spot though, wanting their team to succeed because while simultaneously somewhere in the back of their minds suspecting the best path forward involves dismantling the whole thing, bringing in a new front office with a long-term vision, trading the left side of the infield, and finding out what they have in the assets they’ve allowed to stockpile and degrade from a perceived-value perspective. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Top 10 Arizona Diamondbacks Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

November 15, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 10 Comments

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The temperature reads 23 degrees as I write this sentence, so Arizona sounds pretty great to me right now. The high for Sunday (today) is 82. 

That’s probably cold comfort for Diamondbacks fans, who find their club somewhat adrift at the tail end of a tough 2020 after a promising 2019 and even more promising off-season that saw them sign Kole Calhoun and acquire Starling Marte via trade. This system is deep in potential everyday players and starting pitchers, so I suspect this current downturn could be brief. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Top 10 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

November 11, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 10 Comments

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My system overview would be incomplete if it failed to cite JKJ’s recent article from the pages of Razzball, Randy Arozarena & the Ex-Cardinals’ All-Star Team.

I’m not one for pouring salt into open wounds, but I think any sports fan can totally relate to the catharsis endemic to deconstructing the various rosters your team didn’t build, even as that team is relatively successful on the field. 

The redbirds’ minor league build is fine. It’ll probably land mid pack or better for the people who rank whole systems. That evaluation will be a bit inflated by Dylan Carlson’s last gasp of prospect eligibility and Norman Gorman’s residual shine from his early returns, but there’s also plenty of topside waiting in the lower minors and an outstanding 2020 draft class on the way. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Top 10 Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball 

November 8, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 9 Comments

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A few days ago, the Pirates made Chris Archer walk the plank. 

They paid lip service to bringing him back at a reduced rate, but keeping him around seems like inviting an ill wind. Every time a Pittsburgh fan sees him in uniform, a painting in an attic somewhere writhes itself into unimaginably hideous shapes.

It’s time to sail on, is all I’m saying. Or just flip the painting so we never have to look at it again. 

The team did well in the draft this year and has honestly my favorite system of the nine I’ve covered so far. I say “honestly” not because I’m mostly lying in this space but to convey my mild surprise at the realization of that thought. I think there’s a strong case to roster sixteen of these young bucs, so I’ve adapted the list a little this week.

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The Itch

Top 10 Milwaukee Brewers Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball 

November 4, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 9 Comments

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Although the season itself was a step in the wrong direction for Milwaukee, several key things went right in 2020. Jacob the Sheriff of Nottingham showed himself to be a capable catcher with enough stick to provide a capable option at the position. Devon Williams established himself as perhaps the game’s most dominant reliever. And Corbin Burnes stepped up to pair with Brandon Woodruff and form a strong one-two punch atop the rotation. These developments combined with a series of promising amateur acquisitions give the Brewers big boozy dreams for 2021 and beyond. 

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The Itch

Top 10 Cincinnati Reds Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

November 1, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 7 Comments

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When the Reds punched their ticket to the expanded 2020 playoffs, I thought they’d be tough on their opponents given their ace-powered pitching staff. 

Atlanta had other plans, and the Cincinnati bats scored a total of zero runs in two games. Very tough to win without runs. 

Nonetheless, the season can be considered something of a success. The team ended a long playoff drought and found some hope for a brighter tomorrow. Life after Trevor Bauer brings new challenges, but a pitching foundation built on Kyle Boddy and Derek Johnson is promising, especially considering the top few arms in the system. 

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The Itch

Top 10 Chicago Cubs Prospects for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

October 28, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 11 Comments

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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. 

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The Itch

Top 100 Prospects for 2021 Redraft Fantasy Baseball Leagues

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

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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).
    • Please, blog, may I have some more?