Our 2017 Razzball Commenters Leagues are in full signup mode. I even heard there were a few people from Anonymous that signed up! They said, “To the world, I’m Anonymous, just another white man who sits in parking lots with binoculars watching women.” Man, that Anonymous guy is depressing! As we always do about this time, I eviscerate the haters and complicators! I eviscerate the not-knowers and the over-knowers! I eviscerate the ESPN goers and the garden hoers! I overuse a word like eviscerate that I just learned! I am the Fantasy Master Lothario (don’t abbreviate it) and I’ve come for your children! See, because blog writing doesn’t pay so well, I’ve taken a second job as a bus driver, so I’m literally here for your kids. Like a baller! A shot caller! An “I’m outside of Hot Topic at the maller!” My eviscerating (I’m conjugating my new word!) today comes at the expense of ESPN and their 2017 fantasy baseball rankings. To the tune of Kanye’s Runaway:
[Hook: Grey Albright]
And I always find, yeah, I always find something wrong
You been putting up with my shizz just way too long
I’m so gifted at finding what I don’t like the most
So I think it’s time for us to have a toast
Let’s have a toast for the “They said what the hells?”
Let’s have a toast for Klara Bells
Let’s have a toast for the one guy they bring on every year that never lasts
Every one of them that I know
Let’s have a toast for the Cockcrofts
That’ll never take work off
Baby, I got a plan
Run away fast as you can from ESPN rankings.
Joey Votto is ranked above Trea Turner. I repeat, Joey Votto is ranked above Trea Turner. I repeat what I just repeated while adding commentary, Votto is above Trea because ESPN doesn’t care about you. Let’s remove me from the equation, E=Not Me. Let’s set aside my dazzling intellect and break this down. Steamer Projections have Turner down for 88/16/69/.301/40 in 590 ABs; they have Votto down for 88/23/79/.286/6 in 522 ABs. Is this even close? Apples/oranges, tomatoes/potatoes, 1st baseman/2nd baseman. Sure. I’ll give you that, but if Votto was a catcher he shouldn’t be ranked above Turner. Well, Votto is more reliable, you say in the snottiest tone you can muster. Yeah, reliable like his 1st half last year when he hit .252? Reliable like in 2012 when he hit 14 homers? Reliable like a 33-year-old? You want younger players, not older ones. Lots of data has proven players’ aging curves don’t peak in the 30’s, but rather their 20’s. Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-BUT! Votto’s 2nd half last year! Sure, and Turner’s 2nd half was bad? Yeah, a’ight. The ESPN ‘perts either have contempt for anyone that uses their rankings or they just don’t care, which could be construed as contempt. I’m not even being hyperbolic when I say this. They do not care about their readers. They are like an ice cream store that only serves chocolate and vanilla. Will everyone be happy? No, of course not. Will enough people be happy while they exert as little effort as possible? Yes. Why do they have Votto above Turner? Because it is a more mainstream opinion, it’s the chocolate and vanilla of opinions.
[Verse 1: Grey Albright]
You can find pitchers in my rankings
I sent this girl a pitcher last year named Hendricks
I don’t know what it is with their rankings
But I’m not too good with that shizz
See, I could have me a good pitcher
And still be addicted to them waiver adds
And I just blame everything on ESPN
At least you know that’s what I’m good at
I just wanna tell you what I wrote last year. It’s gonna be slightly upsetting, so you’ve been warned. I ragged on ESPN for ranking Jose Fernandez after Keuchel, Kimbrel, Wade Davis, and Tulo. And now I’m quietly weeping. Why do people listen to ESPN? I’m not joking. I’m seriously asking. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU! Yahoo’s got its problems, but they show their work. Here’s how ESPN thinks: Players that are known commodities they rank high. They rank to avoid the least amount of waves. Keuchel just won the Cy Young, so they ranked him high. It’s the path of least resistance. When you go out on a limb, people can knock you off easier. Without looking, wanna bet if Porcello is ranked in the top 75 at ESPN? Okay, here’s a good one. Porcello or Duffy? I have Duffy first, who do you think ESPN has ranked first? Yeah, they’re out on Ken Patera limbs with all of their rankings.
[Verse 2: Grey Albright]
24/7, 365, fantasy stays on my mind
I-I-I-I did it, all right, all right, I admit it
Now pick your next move, you could leave or live wit’ it
Andrew McCutchen still a motherf*cking top OF
Split and go where? Back to reading Cockcrofts’, haha
Knock it off, Freeman’s, a round off
Let’s talk over H2H playoff byes, Bautista still a top OF, huh
L.J. Hoes like vultures, wanna fly in your Puig loafers
You can’t blame ’em, they ain’t never seen Hisashi gophers
Every bag, every pitcher, every keeper team in the basement
Comes with a price tag, baby, face it
You should leave if you can’t accept the basics
Plenty sleepers in this balla matrix
Invisibly set, the fantasy thing is faceless
I’m just old, poor, and tasteless
G!
Most of my sleepers that I wrote about almost two months ago held true as I figured they would. As I said back then, I have a pretty good idea who the big box sites will like. I’m way up on Velasquez (sleeper), Blake Snell (sleeper), Kepler (sleeper), Buxton (sleeper, by the way, ESPN ranked Buxton after Michael Brantley; you can’t even make this up), Devon Travis (sleeper) and Robbie Ray (sleeper). Go against people who use ESPN rankings and it’s gonna be magic — ta-dah! Oops, wrong Kanye song.
Now on the less-Kanye tip, here’s a chart of the biggest values from ESPN to me (Thank you!) and the players that ESPN overrates (No thank you!):
THANK YOU
Player | Grey’s Ranking | ESPN’s Ranking | Overall Difference | |
Freddie Freeman |
15 | 25 | 10 | |
Trevor Story |
20 | 31 | 11 | |
George Springer |
16 | 34 | 18 | |
Ian Desmond |
19 | 38 | 19 | |
Giancarlo Stanton |
24 | 45 | 21 | |
Rougned Odor |
14 | 52 | 38 | |
Yu Darvish |
50 | 65 | 15 | |
Mark Trumbo |
47 | 76 | 29 | |
David Dahl |
58 | 80 | 22 | |
Carlos Santana |
61 | 94 | 33 | |
Anthony Rendon |
41 | 97 | 56 | |
Cole Hamels |
89 | 116 | 27 | |
Justin Turner |
62 | 118 | 56 | |
Danny Duffy |
74 | 131 | 57 | |
Rich Hill |
90 | 140 | 50 | |
Adam Duvall | 94 | 149 | 55 | |
Danny Salazar | 82 | 166 | 84 | |
Byron Buxton |
93 | 173 | 80 | |
Jonathan Schoop |
107 | 176 | 69 | |
Devon Travis |
110 | 179 | 69 | |
Randal Grichuk |
155 | 192 | 37 | |
Lance McCullers |
119 | 196 | 77 | |
Max Kepler |
78 | 197 | 119 | |
Marcus Semien |
101 | 198 | 97 | |
Ender Inciarte | 141 | 201 | 60 | |
Joc Pederson | 163 | 207 | 44 | |
Michael Pineda |
147 | 209 | 62 | |
Nomar Mazara |
92 | 221 | 129 | |
Jon Gray |
148 | 231 | 83 | |
Aaron Nola | 127 | 239 | 112 | |
Robbie Ray |
182 | 244 | 62 | |
Tommy Joseph |
121 | 265 | 144 | |
Vince Velasquez |
165 | 268 | 103 | |
Shawn Kelley |
178 | 269 | 91 | |
Mitch Moreland | 120 | 273 | 153 |
NO THANK YOU
Player | Grey’s Ranking | ESPN’s Ranking | Overall Difference | |
Clayton Kershaw |
21 | 11 | 10 | |
Max Scherzer |
22 | 12 | 10 | |
Daniel Murphy |
69 | 30 | 39 | |
Carlos Gonzalez |
79 | 35 | 44 | |
Christian Yelich |
76 | 43 | 33 | |
Alex Bregman |
135 | 55 | 80 | |
Justin Upton |
114 | 56 | 58 | |
Andrew McCutchen |
99 | 58 | 41 | |
Dee Gordon |
109 | 67 | 42 | |
DJ LeMahieu | 111 | 69 | 42 | |
Jose Bautista |
115 | 70 | 45 | |
Rick Porcello |
152 | 73 | 79 | |
Michael Brantley | 186 | 79 | 107 | |
Zack Greinke | 154 | 84 | 70 | |
Dansby Swanson |
238 | 100 | 138 | |
Troy Tulowitzki |
204 | 104 | 100 | |
Javier Baez |
205 | 130 | 75 | |
Hisashi Iwakuma |
211 | 154 | 57 | |
Jung-ho Kang |
385 | 172 | 213 | |
Martin Prado |
392 | 210 | 182 | |
Jason Heyward |
315 | 216 | 99 |
I am thinking of targetting Jose Peraza as a key ‘speed guy’. Other recommendations for some speed guys in middle to late rounds that won’t kill you in the other categories?
Thanks for help!
From what I see in your rankings/pairings, you appear to favour a more balanced approach to drafting as opposed to favouring say power over speed. Is that correct or is really power (with a decent average) still king?
I’m trying for a crazy-stupid keeper trade in my yahoo, keep-5 league. I have 4 definites then I got plenty of (arguably) keepable talent, so I’m trying to change that into a major upgrade from a team who only has 3 (maybe 4) keepable players. Here’s what I offered:
Christian Yelich
Jose Abreu
Gary Sanchez
Chris Davis
Carlos Carrasco
for
Nolan Arneado
My league posted keepers prices and I was wrong on what I thought. Who should I keep.for how long. I have arietta for 20$ 2 more yrs.
1yr. 2yr. 3yr. 4yr
Kyle schwarber.. 6$ 15$ 20$ 25$
X Boagarts. 11$ 20$ 25$
Corey seager. 6$ 15$ 20$ 25$
Noah synd. 8$ 17$ 22$
Wil myers. 12$ next year will be 13$ or sign or drop just for myers only.
@mike: I need four names to keep and how long. Arenado is owned for 35$ 4 yrs in this league.
2 years Schwarber, Bogaerts 2 years, Seager 2 years, Syndergaard 2 years, Myers
@Grey: if I drop arietta its a ten dollar penalty. So I can only keep four.
Its a 14 team league. Trout goes for 85$ and goldy would go for like 65$ and these guys win like that. I won last year and took betts for 55$. If seager is ranked a top 20 he will go for 35$ 40$
Syndergaard, Bogaerts, Arrieta, Seager
20 team dynasty h2h with OPS, BB’s, defensive crap (putouts/assists/OF assists/ fielding %/ double plays) for pitchers, relief appearances, QS, shutouts, complete games, k/9, holds, double plays, OBPA added. gotta have minimum 9 TEX players at all times, and the vote it looking like by next year all 9 of those have to be in active slots (currently they could be in the up to 5 NA slots).
C none (it’ll be norris/cervelli or slightly worse later, really this is about playing time here)
1B desmond (LF/CF also for this year)
2B forsythe)
SS andrus
3B beltre
LF dahl (CF)
CF blackman
RF stanton
util odubel (CF)
BN (max 4 BN slots, to have 6 SP max 3 BN slots) choo (RF, probably LF too later), mazouza (LF/RF), profar (all infield and LF)
NA (projected) gallo (util), brinson (CF), calhoun (2B), e.jimenez (RF), z. collins (C), y.mendez (TEX pitcher who probably comes up this year in some capacity), one of the NA’s has to be cut before season starts probably.
SP (6 max, 5 min) darvish/archer/hammel/urias/cobb/gsellman
RP (7 slots) giles/kela/jeffress/romo/grilli
1. got an offer of napoli for odubel. while this does get me another TEX player hitting in a good lineup (and he could easily take over 1B at some point, i doubt a team that makes the moves TEX has made lately actually intends to play loney-doney indefinitely there, gallo probably up moves napoli to 1B or they split it). i do lose steals but i have way too many OF as is now already, and futurewise this might make at least some room in case i get no real offers for brinson. i do lose steals of course. what you think? napoli does have an option for next year, so he might stick on TEX for a bit, and if choo were to get moved this might be best chance to get a useful TEX player (i’m simply NEVER paying the lucroy price, or probably the hamels price, certainly not the dyson price, the odor owner ain’t selling, cargo 2 i don’t want either)
Nah, hold
Trade question..
Was offered a 6th rd pick for Duffy. Probly the best i can do. Do I accept?
This is 10 team keeper, we keep 7 guys.
Arenado
Seager
Marte
JDMart or Braun
Kershaw
Strausburg
Salazar
Take the pick
Dynasty Question. Just got offered the following trade:
Trade – Francisco Lindor, Victor Robles, and Alex Colome
Receive – Byron Buxton, Nomar Mazara, Jon Gray
Which side and why?
Hold
@Grey: Thanks! Does your answer change if I have Seager at SS as well?
Nope
Hi Grey,
NL-Only H2H 5×5 with OBP.
$280 Auction (5 Keepers)
Goldschmidt – 46
Villar – 12
Franco – 13
LeMahieu – 9
Hendricks – 14
A guy in my league wants to lower costs going into the auction and has offered me his Freeman ($28) for one of my LeMahieu/Hendricks.
If I didn’t already have GOLDY, I’d gladly trade one of them because of Freeman’s skills and he’d be a good keeper.
I think DJ would be the way to go since a lot of good SPs are being kept. Thoughts?
Thanks!
Trade him DJ
@Grey:
Thanks!
I’m trying. If he says no, but will do Hendricks, should I hold? SPs being kept already are:
CK, Max, MadBum, Thor, Cueto, Stras, CMart, Teheran, deGrom, and Taillon.
Hold
@Grey: Thanks!
No problem!
Keeper help in an auction league. Keep 4.
Donaldson-$24
Desmond-$8
Harper – $24
Polonco- $11
Yelich- $15
Rondon- $2
Benintendi – $5
Donaldson-$24
Desmond-$8
Harper – $24
Polonco- $11
Would you keep these 4 out of the group? Donaldson, Marte, Polanco, Correa, Just Dong. I’m thinking the three OF and Correa…but Donaldson enticing too. 11 tm.
Donaldson over JD
@Grey: CRAP!! I forgot to include Noah. So would your top 4 be Correa, Donaldson, Noah, and Marte? Polanco and JD left out?
Looks right
@Grey: Thank you! Hooray [email protected]Grey: CRAP!! I forgot to include Noah. So would your top 4 be Correa, Donaldson, Noah, and Marte? Polanco and JD left out?
No problem!
Yooo…Based on the pitching staff i showed the other day:
Salazar
J.Ross
T.Walker
D.Bundy
J. DeLeon
H.Iwakuma
D.Smyly
T.Skaggs
L.Weaver
Z.Wheeler
C.Reed
Would you Move Salazar and Belt for Harvey,R. Hill and Lackey…I’m leaning yes…Harvey has the upside of Salazar and the other two would help balance out all the upside guys i have.
That’s tough, I could see it going either way… Hill and Lackey are old and might break down, Harvey’s an injury risk
@Grey: Yeah im having a hard time with it
@Grey: Trying to get him to swap out either Hill or Lackey with Nola
Focus on getting him to do it with Hill
@Grey: So you like Harvey,Hill and Nola
No, I’d prefer to replace Hill instead of Lackey
@Grey: Gotcha…we shall see. ill keep you posted so you don’t lose any sleep tonight..Thanks boo.
@JeF WiTh 1 F: He wont add Nola…I’ll just hold for now, someone will make a good offer at some point
Cool
Ha, no problem
Really torn with picks 24 and 25. Whether to take an ace starting pitcher and perhaps 1B (Encarncion or Freeman) or take 2 hitters and then hope some good SP is left at 48 and 49. Really want to get 2 very good SP’s in the 1st 6 rounds and then 2 good RP’s shortly thereafter. Was thinking to get 6 hitters, 2 SP’s and 2RP’s in the first 10 rounds as a strategy.
Thanks for any advice/help!
Pretty clear which way I’d go if you looked at my rankings
Based on your ranking, I see that you would probably go 1st base and perhaps shortshop like either Story or Lindor with picks 24 and 25; am I correct.
I read another article that claimed that 1B and SS were the two most important positions to address in early rounds. I take it you would agree?
Thanks
Ok… i did an espn Mock and this is what i got:
Realmuto
Goldy
Odor
Baez
Rendon
Miggy
Springer
Polonco
Desmond
Mazara
Soler
Santana
Hendricks
Gausman
Velasquez
R Ray
Walker
Urias
Wickhoff
Neris
Bedrosian
Nate Jones
Glasnow
Schoop
Think mayby i should have gone closer the round i took realmuto and i would have been really looking good and might have wound up with Murphy
@Small’s Killer: also got Zobrist
You have too many upside arms at the tail end… If you take Urias, that’s fine, don’t need Glasnow too, though don’t know how many teams
Grey, I am Stoked!! In my friends/family league (3x champ, you will see why in a sec) i just completed 2 offseason moves. 1st i traded Lester for an extra 3rd round pick and just now gave up Polonco and a 6th rounder for Springer. This is a 7 player keeper league. Only 10 teams but i would welcome more competition but I’m not the commish. Anyhow, that gives me an extra 10th round pick but minus a 13th round selection after you consider keepers.
Now the fun part, my keepers are:
Betts, Arenado, Machado, Rizzo, Odor, Carrasco and now i have Springer added to the fold.
I just want to thank you again for your guidance that has got me this teams
On a fun note, last year i changed my team name to Haymakers in honor of Odor and Machado suspensions. Gotta love the players with the fight in them.
Nice!
Which side do you prefer in a 5×5 keep forever league?
Polanco+Schoop OR Odor+Jose Ramirez
Odor
Is there really any scenario/situation where you do not draft Mike Trout with the 1st pick overall in a seasonal 5×5 roto league. Not sure if having 1st pick is necessarily that great in snake draft?
Will be interesting who comes to me with 24 and 25 picks!
Thanks.
Nope
I want to swap a pitcher for a hitter in a keeper, Strasburg for Hosmer fair value? I’ve seen your rankings and know your general feelings on Strasburg, but seems like Strasburg has more upside and is more valuable at his position. Thank you. Also, awesome post, rankings are baffling sometimes.
Thanks! I think you should do a bit better, but it’s fair
I don’t know if it’s still how it used to be, but the rankings in the ESPN draft room are composites. They spend a day or two with all of their writers & they argue about guys & have votes & shit. So the reason that no one owns up to the rankings is because they are just aggregated and there’s no plan. So when TC says “that’s how they came out” maybe that’s what he means.
Yeah, could be, eff em
Evening G,
Nothing says baseball is back like RAZZ. 12 team H2H 6×6 OPS/ and K/9…Can keep up to 4, I’m keeping Arenado, Rizzo, and Odor…and just traded Thor for Lindor, so adding Lindor to the list. Infield locked down. How much of an increase is E5 for Lindor?
Looking forward to yet another great season. Thanks for all the work that you do my man. From the 207…
Jeff
Thanks! I’d want Lindor over E5
16 team ROTO 6×6 with K/BB and QS as our 6th cats. Any of these guys work keeping at these prices?
Bragman $13
Tomas $7
Sano $13
Duffy $13
Also, throw back Scherzer at $35 with his knuckle issue? Thanks, always a treat to read these articles!
Meant Bregman
They all are except Scherzer…. Thanks!
Hi Grey,
I need your advice. I’m in a 12-team H2H 10×9 category dynasty “keep forever” league and competing this year. My team needs pitching help.
The categories are:
R H HR RBI SB K BB TB AVG OPS and IP QS W ERA WHIP SV+HLDs K/9 K/BB HRA
I received the following offer where I trade:
Pollock/Just Dong FOR Price/NCruz/Thames
At CF I have – Heyward
At RF I have – JD/Bautista/Beltran
At SP I have – Arrieta/Greinke/Hill/Samardzija/Bundy
This deal makes my team older overall and I lose out on 2 premier 29 year old outfielders
Which side would you want in keep forever and is it close?
Thanks so much!
JD side
I’m crossing over from the hockey side of things to get help from Grey, Fantasy Master Lothario. 10 man 5×5 roto, same as RCL’s except innings cap instead of games played for pitchers. Keep up to 11 players forever, supplemental draft after keepers are declared to get everyone up to 11 players total, then auction the leftovers. Here are the group of players I’m leaning towards keeping:
Goldschmidt, Segura, Arenado, Bregman, Desmond, K. Davis, B. Hamilton, Bumgarner, Arrieta, Duffy, Britton
I don’t really like keeping that many pitchers but I don’t think anyone else from my leftovers are worth keeping over them outside of maybe Salazar (another pitcher). Those guys are Pujols, Castellanos, Schoop, Bautista.
1) Should I keep 11 or keep less?
2) If I’m keeping 11, should it be those 11?
Thanks boss.
Hey, Viz! Good to see you! 1. Keep 11 2. Yup
@Grey: Cool, thanks. Flights for L.A. should be booked in the next couple days, dealing with the Sabres now, when I know for sure I’ll give you the details.
Sweet!
I approve of this post.
Thanks!
Trying to figure out my keepers for a roto league. I’m torn between your rankings, my gut and the future. Who do I keep, if I had to pick either:
2 of these four: Tulo, Schoop, Peraza, Swanson.
or
3 of these five: Tulo, Schoop, Peraza, Swanson, Manaea.
(other pitchers are Stras, Carrasco, Taillon, Gausman. and holding those four without Manaea leaves me a bit thin in starters, no?)
Schoop, Swanson
Schoop, Peraza, Swanson
[email protected]Grey:
That was my gut! Thanks! Looking forward to another year of Razzball!
No problem
Hi Grey…what does your gut say about Phillies closer situation? They say it is Gomez but Neris is better pitcher and probably should earn role. Also,might be smart for Phillies to run with Benoit to increase his trade value. Benoit was solid after AS break last year. Thoughts between Gomez and Benoit if Neris drafted already.
And do you like Capps to overtake Maurer earlier than later? Thanks for all your priceless insights.
I just replied to you above
Lol. Ken patera arms. Read your columns just for comments like that.
Thanks!
Awesome writeup! Thanks for all the help! I am struggling to decide on a final keeper. League is 10 teams, mixed, 1 catcher, 5×5 with OBP instead of AVG. Auction is $260 per team, 7 keepers each. My options include:
Yasmani Grandal ($1)
Justin Turner ($1)
Adam Eaton ($6)
Billy Hamilton ($6)
Rougned Odor ($15)
Drew Smyly ($3)
Dellin Betances ($3)
If it helps…I am planning on keeping Wil Myers ($1), Anthony Rizzo ($49), Roberto Osuna ($2), Ken Giles ($1), Julio Teheran ($7), and Danny Salazar ($5) with my first six keepers.
Thank you again for all of your help and entertainment!
@Brandon:I agree with Grey, but I think you should also throw Rizzo back. Sure, he’s great, but auction leagues are all about value and Rizzo is not really getting you any value at $49 … would not be surprised if you could get him in the auction at less than that price (though YMMV based on the bidding tendencies of your league). I would much rather have Justin Turner at $1, which is pretty tasty.
Great stuff as usual Grey! Early Rounds Draft Strategy question….In a 10-team, redraft…I really want Story-3rd, Desmond-4th and Odor in the 5th round. Here is my dilemma: I (and u) have Odor ranked higher than Story. If I take Odor in the 3rd, Story will likely be gone before I can get him in the 4th. On the flipside, there is a fair possibility that someone may snipe me if I wait until the 5th for Odor. Do you recommend I stick to my (your) board or, do I get greedy and try to get my guys 1 round before adp? Thanks!!
Thanks! Just go with my board
@Grey: Sweet. Thanks again!
No problem!
Had my 1st draft of the season last night. Of course it did not go as planned; they never do. It was a 12 team 5X5 roto small $$ league with weekly lineups.
I lost out on both Paxton & McCullers …both went early in the 13th round. I also got timed out on my 10th round pick & ended up with Anderson early but I did need speed & he should add to that.
Here’s what I ended up with ….only one bench bat for added speed potential although he is currently hurt ..already. My SP has less young upside than I normally want & more boring choices later but I do like the final mix pretty well. The lesser closers kept dropping down so I collected a total of 5.
With weekly lineups having some SP choices is nice. Perhaps an extra bench bat for the same reason to play matchups but most people drafted 5 or 6 bench bats & most have 2 Catchers …so there should be plenty to choose from later after the SP & Closer situations shake out.
Mr Grey or any commentators …let me know how I did.
C – Flowers (356)
1B – Freeman (20)
2B Odor (29)
SS – Anderson (116) -my auto draft mistake
3B – Arenado (5)
CI – K Seager (68)
MI – A Escobar (284)
OF – JD Martinez (44); Dahl (77); JBJ ( 149); Mazara (188); Pederson(212)
Utility – Kepler (221)
Bench – Tilson (341)
SP – Archer ( 53); Maeda (101); Gausman( 140); Lackey (164); Nola (173); Pineda (197); Lynn (245); Nova (260); Skaggs (293); Norris (308); & Hammel (332)
RP – Giles (92); Dyson (125); J Johson (236); Madison (269); & Kintzler( 317)
Thanks for any advice or analysis of the team. As always great job …Razzball if the place to be for fantasy baseball.
Love the hitting, though Flowers is real garbage…. Your pitching looks solid too, taking a lot of guys I like… If I were being hard, I’d say you’re bit light on power but not bad
@Grey: Yeah it was 30 rounds in & I needed a Catcher. In hindsight Susac was the better choice. I am not worried at least 7 or 8 of the 12 teams have 2 catchers so I assume there will be options to be had.
Thanks for the critique …Moreland never got drafted so he could help my power a bit at the utility slot
No worries, yeah, would’ve preferred Susac for upside
Great read once again.
I joined a 24 team H2H dynansty league with a pretty standard scoring with weekly winner. Looking for advice on how tackle my draft, I pick 17. It is a daily league with unlimited moves.
Usually I would not take a SP before round 5 and closer before round 10.
Thanks for the articles
Who should I keep schwarber 6$ myers 12$ duvall 5$ corey seager 6$ mookie betts 54$ I can keep 3 .
Extra info is I have arrieta 20$ for the last year and plan in signing noah for 25$for 3 yrs.
Seager, Schwarber, Myers
Def a solid read as always. But looking back at last years comparison’s vs ESPN, you knocked some out of the park a few times, but also got knocked out of the park a few times as well. Almost 50/50. Just gotta pick the right combo.
Delino’s a late bloomer!
Thanks for the post, ESPN sucks.
I just inherited the 11th place-finishing team in a 12-team Yahoo roto 6×6 (OPS on hitting side and QS and SV+H on pitching). I need to choose 3 keepers from this mess (that can be kept max 3 years). Machado is for sure. Keep the next two highest (Cespedes/Turner) from your rankings, or any reason to look somewhere else from below?
Y Cespedes, J Turner, J Kipnis, A McCutchen, K Giles, M Pineda, V Martinez, L Cain, J Odorizi, M Estrada, S Kazmir
Thanks
Thanks! Yoenis, Kipnis
I’ve never played in a 2 catcher/2 utility league which I am joining this year
How drastically do the rankings change for catchers if you have to roster 2?
You should draft a good catcher, top 12, then punt 2nd one
Hey Grey, War Room problems. Tried logging in and got the following error message – I have already tried clearing cache:
“The page you were looking for doesn’t exist.
You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.”
Wieters to Nationals?
I have Betances as a late round keeper this year – may try to parlay him with a couple other elite MR’s, other than Miller who will be expensive – any high K set up guys you like?
Barraclough
@Grey: Thanks G
No problem
What are your thoughts on Phillies closer? They say Gomez but Neris is better pitcher. And Benoit might be the guy to get him more value at trade deadline and he finished last season pretty solid. Thoughts?
Gomez will get first crack, will crack and Neris will be closer
Maybe I’ve just been reading you too long and agree with most of what you preach, but going through the whole list there are only 3 guys I agree with them on more than you.
Dee Gordon .300 BA, 90 R and 50 SB if he doesn’t take more pills he’s top 70
Anthony Rendon .270 20 HR 10 SB Maybe 80 R and RBIs- Meh, Not Top 40
Cole Hamels – Walks and Hard Hit Balls are up. He’s not bouncing back. 4.00 ERA Prediction
But that’s it. You’re at least 97% Smarter than them.
I’ll take it!
Yet Tristan C keeps doing well in expert leagues. So either we blame this all on Karabell (logical), or TC keeps all his best analysis for himself?
From what I gather, they don’t believe the rankings they put out… Consistently I’ll ask him something like, “Why don’t you like (player)?” And he’ll say, “I do like him, but that’s just how the rankings came out.”
@Grey: as if the rankings just magically appear… It was easy to blame Berry when he was around. Now, my working assumption is that TC is the only guy who knows his stuff, and with his reputation as a nice guy, he just lets the rest of the room (Karabell, ?) Put their ranks out there. Then he can play off of them.
Yeah, that might be it, but I think for a while and maybe even still, they outsource their rankings to a different company and pretend it’s theirs, when it’s not really theirs
@TheTinDoor: basically they are (at least some of them) smart guys but are money whores for a big site that doesn’t give a tin shit about it’s viewers at all. and they don’t cause any stink and keep on signing those checks. back in the day some of the best poker players were shills for casinos too.
Grey,
in a 12 team h2h, offensive cats: R, HR, RBI, OBP, SLG, SB. lineup…
posey
rizzo
d. gordon
correa
sano
hosmer
mazara
trout
kepler
c. santana
UTIL #2
who’s my UTIL #2 and 1 bench hitter (unless I don’t need a bench bat in this league?):
choo
profar
eaton
hernan perez
moss
werth
shaw
bour
a. dickerson
schimpf
moreland
Thanks!
Moreland, Perez
@Grey: Dude, I forgot to mention OZUNA on that list. still Perez and Moreland?
Ozuna, Moreland
@Grey: thx! Dang, I paid up 14 for Eaton in the auction… looks like he’s an outright drop now… ouch
Why?
@Grey: Lol, why did I pay up? or why is he a drop?
I have him rostered now, but thinking about dropping Eaton and Choo for Ozuna and Moreland based on above.
Should I drop Eaton and Choo for Ozuna and Moreland?
Why would you drop him? Just don’t draft Ozuna if you don’t need him
@Grey: ah ok I gotcha
so I ended up with Eaton, Ozuna, Choo (in addition to current OF: Maz, Trout, Kepler, Joc). not sure why or how, but it happened.
does that change anything? one will need to be my UTIL #2, the second would be bench bat.
lose Choo for Moreland? lose Ozuna for Hernan (given current OF)?
Choo’s garbage… Why did you draft so many OFs?
@Whirlaway: hahaha no kidding. Maz was $2 late so i had too… Choo I nominated like a dumb— and got stuck with…
Eaton… that’s just a helpless man crush. i convinced myself that he’s going to be 17/25 with 100+ runs (way before reading your top outfielders post).
What do you advise now that i’m in this mess?
Guess you can lose Choo, but you don’t have to do anything now, you can wait for spring training news
Rudy agrees with ESPN on a few of these. Yelich jumps out as a big one. I’d like to see you tussle over that one. Wearing unitards. In the mud.
Haha… Can we get the Spanish lady from Modern Family to hose us down?
@Grey: Now we’re talking!
Can we make this happen now
@Grey: Does that show have the most attractive female characters or what? I could argue the oldest daughter is the hottest – but it’s tomatoes, tomatohs
Never seen the show, but I know what’s her face
@Grey: vergara was a big (hehe in numerous areas) deal in bikini modeling for many years before any TV work. i’ve also never seen that show but i certainly know who she is.
Nicely done Grey. I always look forward to your takes because most of the players are on the rise and simply more fun to follow. Your comparison to ESPN explains for why I have been semi-successful the last few years. The only quibble might be on Bregman. I don’t think he should be as high up the chart as ESPN and Yahoo have him, but he seems to be the kind of player you would rank higher. Thanks for the excellent work!
Mick
Thanks! Yeah, would’ve liked Bregman, but they have him super high
Grey,
In a 6 keeper league with OPS as a 6th cat, would you rather have Trea Turner or Lindor + Polanco.
Turner
@Grey: You have officially sold your soul t Turner this year…I’m taking the other two
@JeF WiTh 1 F: *to Turner
It’s close with two, but go for top guy
Sorry, another trade question, guys are hot on Marte!…OBP Dynasty league keep forever
How even is this deal? Which side wins?
Starling Marte and Jake Arrieta for Freddie Freeman and Chris Archer
@Bucktail: Tough call, Freeman side
Grey! A quick dynasty question for you.
Would you trade Belt and Salazar
FOR segura and Paxton?
@Noam: Yes
Dynasty OBP keep forever league…
Which side wins?
Giancarlo Stanton for Starling Marte
@Bucktail: I’d take the Giancarlo gamble, coin flip though
Grey!!!
Wow! Great write-up.
a. Signed up to an RCL today, commissioner Ryan Miller, password ‘nocryinginbaseball’. We need 7 more ballers last time I checked.
b. Off to stupid N’djamena for a 2-day meeting (Thursday/Friday) only we have to travel by road to Don Ameche (leaving at 08h00) to catch THE flight leaving Don Ameche International at 15h00, with check-in at 13h00. Really? for a flight departing at 15h00, we have to check-in 2 hours earlier. And I would love to show you how so non-rigorous and so anti-TSA the procedure is. Just like anything you want to carry, you can take it! I have tried wrapping a firearm in a pound of macon in thin strips but basically all kinds of crap can pass as carry-on. I made a sort of weapon out of the bottom of my Bic pen, it could do some damage. Will be back in Farchana, USA on Monday!
c. Will try to stay in touch.
Cheers,
Ante
In a keeper league: Would you trade Gary Sanchez straight up for Yu Darvish (if I’m in need of pitching)? Could I possibly aim higher for this year (such as Scherzer, MadBum, Sale)?
The rationale here: I can get an ace for a top-tier catcher and get comparable value (or negligible) later in the draft/stream hot catchers throughout the season.
Thanks for the write-ups!
@Sing Us a Vogelsong You’re the Pineda Man: In a second I’d take Yu
Grey,
10 team 5×5 weekly lineup league.
I am set on offense but missed out on a lot of closers. My current pitching is:
Kluber
Syndergaard
Cole
McCullers
Nola
Giles
Betances
Should I just target closers the rest of the way? (6 rounds left in the draft)
Current RP available are:
Iglesias
Bedrosian
Reed
N Jones
Feliz
Madson
Think I am fine to grab several of those guys the rest of the way and hope 1 or 2 of them steps up to resolve my RP situation?
Thanks
Did you do this for Yahoo yet?
@Bob: Nah, it’s coming Thursday
Much like the real version of runaway, when I saw this I cried juicy man tears. “I am Walt Disney in the flesh! Dennis Eckerlsey. Rolly Fingers. I’m a mustached GENIUS.” Grey A.
@Christian Herman: Ha!
Personally, I think you’re low on Dee Gordon, but I understand why you would discount him and with his suspension last year, he’s just a hard guy to project. However, I can’t fathom why ESPN is so in love with guys like Bregman, Lemahieu, and Swanson. Bregman if this was a dynasty draft, I could see being higher, but guys like Lemahieu and Swanson are not projected to juice any categories. Lemahieu was .388 Babip. That’s a risk. Assuming he falls back to last year’s very good .366, he’s going to drop to a .315-.325 hitter, which makes him likely in the bottom half of starting 2Bs from a fantasy perspective, and ESPN thinks that’s a 5th-6th rounder? PS – In checking the stats on this, I just realized DJ is 6’4″. He’s a monster, how does he struggle to hit a dozen HRs?!?
Swanson isn’t even projected to be an elite bat, just a very very good overall player. That first slot in the draft gets people all excited, but when it’s on a skill position player, expectations early in careers should be tempered. It’s rare that an up the middle fielder pans out to be a star early in his career. Hell, for someone like Dustin Ackley, it might never happen. I’m not buying an immediate breakout for Swanson. I think he’s more of a fantasy relevant guy in 2019.
@CMUTimmah: Do you feel DJ is an Altuve lite? SB and RBI seem to be the biggest differences. Just saying if you don’t get Altuve in the 1st round, DJ could be had in round 6 or so.
@Packers: I’m not taking DJ in round 6.
The person taking Votto before Trea is
Poor sap
Which is also a great maple syrup company name
@Grey: Dumb Clucker, Poor Sap.
Chicken and Waffles!
Cluck Hold, Poor Sap
Instructions on how to eat chicken and waffles
@Grey: Ha!
@CMUTimmah: I like LeMahieu, he actually hits balls far, but within reason is my like… Hard to see why LeMahieu would be ranked that high when he is as you say more of a .310 guy…. Yeah, Swanson’s the one that really puzzles me… He’s interesting, but he’s not even Semien with the bat
Great write up, Grey! It also begs the question why the RCLs are hosted on ESPN?
I’ve got two questions for you…I’m in a 12 team roto league with some interesting keeper rules (2 players, one hitter/one pitcher, one from 1st half of draft/one from 2nd half of the draft).
First question is which pitcher you would keep, given their relative values; McCullers in the 13th or Rich Hill in the 17th.
Second question, I’m keeping Mookie Betts with my 2nd round pick. I’m drafting 10th, and the only other projected first rounder to be kept is Altuve. That being said, who would you try to pair Betts up with at 10? In mocks I keep getting to choose between Blackmon, Miggy and Correa. There’s a small chance Rizzo or Harper may also be there. I’m leaning towards Correa (Also note that Lindor, Turner and Story are being kept) because I’m afraid of what I’ll end up with at SS if I don’t grab him there. What would you do, oh wise fantasy master lothario?
Thanks Grey!
@C-TPO: Thanks! Why is that puzzling? I think ESPN’s site is better for actual game play, their rankings don’t matter… I’d keep McCullers, worth upside gamble…. Rizzo, Harper or Miggy
C – Realmuto
1B – Goldy
2B – Schoop
SS – Machado
3B – Beltre
MI – Travis
CI – Miggy
OF – Springer, Blackmon, Polanco, Piscotty, Jankowski
Am I overly optimistic by saying this offense doesn’t have any problems? Going into my (10 team) dynasty draft with almost $0 to fill a Utility spot and 4 bench spots, anything I should target with that Utility pick? I’d like to get my hands on Ryon Healy and see if I can’t replace Beltre with him after this year.
Grey would you be comfortable starting Baez as your 2nd baseman in a 12 teams, 10 man keeper?
@Julio: Nope, he’s a platoon player
Baseball season doesn’t truly start for me until my morning bathroom dump is spent reading the latest razzball post.
Seriously this content is far too good to be free, most of these readers would cough up the dough for a premium service. If you build the paywall they will come.
@Relsh: Thanks! Appreciate it!
@Relsh: Hey! Stop giving them ideas!
Love these pieces, Grey! The ESPN auction values are a little different (Trea at $30 > Votto $26, for example), but still super fun/exploitable and mostly the same.
My favorite aspect of the auction values are all of the tasty SPs for $2 or less (including . . . McCullers?!)
@Duda Want to Build a Snowman?: Thanks! Leave it to ESPN to have Turner’s auction value above Votto…. McCullers is crazy low
Hey Grey,
So my league did our draft. It’s a 12 team 20 keeper dynasty league. It’s a 35 man roster which includes 5 NA spots for minor league players. 7×7 head to head scoring format: runs homeruns rbis steals xbh avg obp, wins losses saves ks qs era whip.
C Jt Realmuto
1b Freddie Freeman
2b jean segura
3b Nolan Arenado
Ss Carlos Correa
Of aj pollock
Of Jackie Bradley jr
Of nomar Mazara
Utility. Jay Bruce
Utility Manuel Margot
Bench:
Keon broxton
Logan forsythe
Curtis granderson
Alex Dickerson
Na spot:
Francisco mejia
Brett Phillips
Sp Lance McCullers
Sp Aaron Nola
Sp Sean manaea
Rp kelvin Herrera
Rp tony Watson
P Tyson Ross
P Collin Mchugh
Bench:
Jharel Cotton
Trevor Bauer
Jamie Garcia
Scott kazmir
Seth lugo
Andrew triggs
Tyler Anderson
Mike leake
Kyle zimmer
Na:
Aj puk
Yadier Alvarez
Braxton Garrett
Lengthy post however I’d like your opinion.
Thank you
@Matt: I imagine you know what’s good and bad w/ your team… Your hitting is solid, your pitching is risky and likely a mess… I like your top 2 pitchers, but they’re risky, you have no anchor and your backend starters are quantity over quality
Love it Grey.
Can’t wait for the Yahoo ranking compare!!
FYI – Rotowire also has Votto higher than Trey in their rankings. What do you think of their lists?
Thanks again,
Jim
@jim: I don’t look at Rotowire
6 Keepers, 5×5 OBP league, 10-team
Goldy, Odor, Miguel are three players to keep
Advise the rest 3 : Villar, Tulo, Trumbo, Lester, Kluber, M. Carpenter
@Wilson: Villar, Trumbo and Kluber for me
@Wilson: Agree with F
Screw big business ESPN! Go indie Grey!
Big trade idea in 10 team full keeper salary: I give Cano (38), Abreu (16), & Buxton (14) and get Hosmer (18), Dozier (13), and JD Martinez (9).
Thanks!
@Chud: Burn down the establishment! I’d take Dozier side, pretty fair
Grey, you have to start playing in OBP leagues. They are so HOT right now! I could see Votto over Turner in an OBP league, not a standard 5×5 with BA. The difference in OBP between Votto and Turner could be as much as 60-70 points.
@PEDs3: Ha, I’m in OBP leagues, these rankings weren’t for OBP, they were regular roto
Would you trade SMarte for Desmond in a 10 team keeper league?
@Foul balls: No! Marte is in his prime and more consistent. Desomond’s upside for this year is 30-20 but unlikely and his numbers will drop off quickly the next couple of years.
@Foul balls: No
@Foul balls: Is Desmond a better fit for your squad? Marte has more speed and Desmond more power and is that 1st base eligibility going to help you? I think they are close. I’m not buying marte’s average last year either.
@Big Odio: my outfield is loaded and obtaining Desmond for Marte would pair him up eventually with Votto at 1B
@Foul balls: Agree with F
I seriously can’t believe I used to use these bums every year. Thanks Grey!
In a roto keeper format where the top 60-70 players are kept, where would you target Bregman? Thanks
@Mike: No problem! He’s gonna go 1st round-ish (70-80), so you have to grab him if you want him
I need pitching help…namely I need a reliable SP to lead my staff. I am considering taking one with my first pick…keeper/contract league so many guys are not available and our first round is more like the fifth. With that being said, I think that Odor will be available for my first pick. I love Odor! Without a second round pick, do I take Odor or a top SP in round 1? I am coming back with unpredictable pitchers…Matz, Wainwright, Urias.
Thanks.
@Cuthbert Allgood: Would need some idea of what your team looks like and who the pitcher would be that you would draft over Odor…Most likely I’d want Odor though.
@JeF WiTh 1 F: Thanks. That is what I am thinking. All the top SPs are gone…I believe that best available would be Arrieta, Price, Lester, maybe deGrom. My only thought with Arrieta is that he is undervalued at $9 and I think he will outperform that price. Odor is $20. My current team also has Hosmer, Belt, Machado, Harper, A. Russell, Baez, Heyward, and Stanton.
@Cuthbert Allgood: Agree with F
Grey thanks for the write up, it’s great being back in fantasy baseball mode. I need some help with keepers. I’m in a 12 teamer Yahoo H2H, 6×6 with OBP & QS league and we get to keep 4 players. I’ve narrowed down the list, but can’t seem to decide on my last 2.
Player (Round Kept)
Darvish (21) <-def keep
Trea Turner (20) <-def keep
Odor (3)
Aaron Sanchez (19)
Springer (10)
Strasburg (12)
Villar (12)
Votto (3)
Gary Sanchez (12)
Who do you like for my last 2 keepers?
@Sean: My take is Votto because of the format and Springer because of the value.
@Packers: I’d say Springer in the 10th for sure. Then either Villar for the value, or Odor if you just want the best player. I’m getting Odor in the 4th round for the three Yahoo 12-team leagues i’ve drafted so far. But, with keeper leagues and players already being off the board, Odor seems fair in the 3rd. Gary Sanchez at 12 is ok, but he’s a catcher and Grey will tell you to Reggie Roby that shizz
@Sean: Springer, Villar