Here’s me yesterday looking to pick up the new Yankee closer…. *types Kelly into waivers box, presses Enter* Inner monologue, “Joe Kelly?! No, I don’t want him! Casey Kelly?! Blech! C’mon, this is a 15 team mixed league, I’m not in an NL-Only keeper! Someone beat me to the waiver wire? Really? For the first time in three years, I’m watching a Yankees game because nothing else is on and serendipitously David Robertson is announced with a groin strain, so there’s no way anyone beat me to the waiver wire… I’m here first, I have to be! So where’s Kelly?! Fine, I’ll click the button that shows the players that are owned too. Wait, he’s not even listed there. What in the holy name of Christ Colabello–” And that was around the time I realized his name was spelled Kelley, not Kelly and while I was misspelling it someone else swooped in and grabbed him. This has been the latest installment of Grey Albright: Are You Sure You Want To Listen To This Man? So, Robertson is out for a few weeks with a groin strain — easy on the noodes, doode! — and Shawn Kelley is your new closer in New York, and, even though yesterday was Kelley’s first career save, it doesn’t mean he can’t be successful for the next three weeks. Or unsuccessful, but I’d pick him up either way in any league. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Hiroki Kuroda – 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks. Amazing how easy he throws with such solid results. He looks like he could throw with his eyes closed while listening to Baby’s First White Noise CD.
Jacoby Ellsbury – 2-for-4, 1 RBI and a caught stealing as he moved into the three hole. No real fantasy production change for him with this move to the three hole. He’ll get some more RBIs, some less runs but he’ll try to steal still, because he do what he do. As long as he’s not D’Ellsburied, you’re happy.
Ubaldo Jimenez – 4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 13 baserunners (5 BBs), 4 Ks. More like Uballdoh. If you own Ubaldo, and he keeps going with all of those BBs, you will shoot your eye out.
J.J. Hardy – Sat out yesterday with back stiffness. He should go to a Relax, The Back Store. I recommend The Lumbardi.
Matt Wieters – 2-for-4, 1 RBI and hitting .391. Nice Tony Gwynn impersonation, Wieters, but you don’t eat enough donuts. Come back to me after twelve hundred Krispy Kremes.
Matt Moore – Left his start with elbow soreness. Rays don’t believe it’s serious, but I don’t believe the Rays. He grimaced pretty badly after his last pitch. If you ignored my advice and drafted Moore, the best thing that could’ve happened was an injury. And, in all his wisdom, The Fantasy Overlord smiled down on you and did you a solid before Moore did any solids on your team. Now you can DL him until the news comes out with how long he’s going to be sidelined. I’m guessing longer than 15 days, but shorter than back-to-back Tommy John surgeries a’la Brandon Beachy.
Ben Zobrist – 2-for-4 and a solo homer. Great if you own him, terrible if you had to watch the Bucks on the Pond commercial after his homer. Can they at least do baseball questions? Steve Yeager! Sound barrier! We know! Give it a rest!
Jason Vargas – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 2 Ks. Another dynamite start from Vargas vs. the Rays, after holding the Tigers to one run in seven innings in his first start. According to the Stream-o-Nator, he gets the Twins next and that looks like a yes, please and thank you.
Omar Infante – Left the game after being hit in the jaw by a pitch. What kind of man hits an Infante?! Oh, Heath Bell. Every time a Bell flings, a Royal gets hit in the face.
Albert Pujols – 1-for-5, 1 run. I will be standing outside the Angels clubhouse with a boombox, playing Chi Ali’s Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number to try and psychologically empower Pujols. By the by, Chi Ali was featured on America’s Most Wanted — twice!
Kole Calhoun – 1-for-3, 3 runs and his 2nd home run. I dropped some sleeper buzz on him in the preseason, and, while he is hitting .179, I still like him a lot. You, “Oh, the Fantasy Master Lothario suggests I get Calhoun just like he suggested I draft Pujols. FML, indeed.”
Ian Stewart – 1-for-5, 1 run as he got the start at 3rd over Freese. To pithy that up, that’s the Angels going from Freese to permafrost.
C.J. Wilson – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks vs. the Asstros. I’m sure glad he bombed out in his first start so I’d drop him and not reap these benefits. I want my just desserts! Oh, and Wilson gets the Mets next, which the Stream-o-Nator is rightfully crazy about. Dah!
Yasiel Puig – His MRI showed a strained thumb ligament. I guess that’s a luigament. Mattingly said that hyPuigchondriac could still be in the lineup on Tuesday, but I get the sense Mattingly is so fed up with Puig that he wants him hurt worse. This will be an ongoing soap opera all year — As the Puig Turns.
A.J. Ellis – Will have arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear and will be out for six weeks. Ellis’s value is now less than zero. For a while, Ellis kept trying to tell someone he had a problem, but every time he opened his mouth, Puig called a medic. Drew Butera, Miguel Olivo and Tim Federowicz will take over behind the plate. Not all at once. That would be illegal.
Jordan Lyles – 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks in Coors Field. It’s thin air and Lyle love it. Harmony, chorus, Usher turns his chair around, Blake points at his head. And scene!
Troy Tulowitzki – 3-for-3, 2 runs and a solo homer. So a Blackmon and Pollock walk into a bar…
Ryan Roberts – Signed by the Red Sox to act in after-dark Showtime movies and as 3rd base depth while Middlebrooks is on the DL.
John Lackey – 7 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks. Has a 1.38 ERA so far, i.e., Lackey’s been Luckey.
Grady Sizemore – 2-for-4. Hype Machine, “One of those was a hard hit double!”
Jackie Bradley Jr. – 3-for-4, 1 run, 2 RBIs. A walk’s as good as a hit JBJ, don’t get greedy!
Mike Napoli – 3-for-5. Hard to go three-for-five with no counting stats in the middle of a lineup that scores five runs. Hype Machine, “Not with JBJ and Sizemore doing work! I’m dancing right now! Hey, stop touching my butt, Hitter-Tron!”
Tanner Scheppers – 5 IP, 2 ER, 10 baserunners, 3 Ks. He looked a whole lot better when he was Schepper’ing in his stuff for one inning late.
Seth Rosin – 1 IP, 3 ER. Perfect last name for a pitcher getting manhandled on the mound. Joe Saunders is looking to change his name to Jose Piñata.
Michael Wacha – 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks vs. Tony Cingrani (4 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks). This matchup was rated NC-17, and fantasy baseballers thought it was due to the likelihood of multiple fantasy baseball orgasms from the two pitchers upsides, but it turned out that it was from profanity used during Cingrani’s start.
Trevor Rosenthal – 1 IP, 2 ER. Kazaam!
Kolten Wong – 1-for-3 and his first steal. Fun fact! Due to a typesetting error, an Academy Award winning movie was released in China as How the West Was Wong.
Peter Bourjos – 2-for-5, 2 runs, hitting .111. A big thank you goes to the TSA for finally letting his bats through customs!
Ryan Ludwick – 2-for-3, 1 run, hitting .364, and five for his last eleven with a home run. And you thought getting in a cold pool was the only way to make an already small sample size smaller.
Joel Hanrahan – Mets will attend a showcase in a few weeks to watch Hanrahan throw. I think I saw this movie. Doesn’t Dennis Quaid play Hanrahan?
Tommy Hanson – Signed by the White Sox. This came after they saw Hanson in a showcase titled, Mmmflop.
Kevin Correia – 5 2/3 IP, 6 ER. Kim Jong-il just rolled over in his pink velvet, glass-enclosed tomb.
Eduardo Nunez – The Twins acquired him to provide infield depth, and I could see him stealing at-bats away from The Jamaican Shoe Store, Florimon. This is a standard small market move of ‘throw enough crizzap against the clubhouse wall and something eventually sticks.’ In fact, that’s kinda how the entire Twins team is built.
A.J. Griffin – Doing strengthening work and is still about a month away. If only we could get Merry Clayton to sing “about a month away.”
Ryan Cook – 1 IP, 0 ER, 2 Ks as he was activated from the DL. Don’t see the A’s replacing Jim Johnson any time soon, so Cook is merely a middle relief ratio helper. Just thought of something, we need a glossary term for a middle reliever who is just rock solid in ratios/Ks, and you own for that purpose, without even caring if he gets into the save picture. Like the $12 Salad of middle relievers. Please suggest in the comments.
Coco Crisp – Sat out yesterday due to wrist inflammation, but received a cortisone shot and will return on Wednesday to hit 17 homers in his first at-bat back. I’m only half kidding. The Lily Tomlin half.
Craig Gentry – Expected to rejoin the A’s this week to work as a 4th outfielder. Gentry has some nice speed, but you’ll need to platoon him. Though he makes it difficult because he doesn’t have a strong side as seen on the Platoony Tunes chart.
Scott Kazmir – 6 IP, 3 ER, 10 baserunners (4 BBs), 5 Ks vs. the Twins. Not a terrific start, but he escaped relatively okay against a Twins team that was swinging hot bats. Watch out for Colabello, he will fizz-spray sucrose and phony caramel flavoring in yo’ face! “Plouffe is the Mentos in our Colabello!” That’s Gardenhire firing up the Twins fans who wear leg sweaters.
Jed Lowrie – Left yesterday’s game after getting hit in the foot by a pitch. When the pitch was coming in, his kinfolk said, ‘Jed, move away from there!’ but he didn’t in time.
Alberto Callaspo – 2-for-4, 1 RBI, hitting .444 on the year. He’s regularly Callaspoo, but does get hot occasionally and it looks like now is one of those times.
Josh Donaldson – 2-for-5, 2 runs. Josh Donald Jr. is hitting .161 so far and I say drop him! I’m kidding; it’s early. The panic in some people’s comments is good comic relief, like Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi shticking it up and making you want to commit third degree manslaughter like the owner of Pinkberry.
Derek Norris – 2-for-4 and a solo homer. Not much to see here. Though there’s is a lot to see with John Norris becoming the Single White Female version of Kevin Bacon. “If you don’t want to watch The Notebook, I will call up John Norris!” That’s Kyra Sedgwick threatening Kevin.
Grey!
You know how the Chinese steal everything from us (I say from us as a proud Canadian who watched helplessly as the government allowed a Chinese ‘student’ to intern and then steal the blackberry (a Canadian invention) and then re-sell it as the redberry in China for 1/1000000th of the cost of a blackberry)? How about this steal? The new hollywood rom-com…The Right Kind of Wong!!!
Grey!
Love the show, man! On Monday, I was offered Braun for Bailey. I accepted immediately but regretted it immediately and sent a message to my league’s commissioner to try to cancel the trade. Of course, around about midnight last night the trade went through (only 2 objections). Now, of course, the former owner of Braun wants me to trade Braun back to him. Asking for advice. My ideas to resolve the issue are as follows.
1. Do nothing (finder’s keeper’s).
2. Trade him back Braun but for an upgrade since his value has ‘literally’ gone up over night.
3. Trade him back Braun for Bailey (least preferred for me, doesn’t seem right now.).
He has Stanton (have Pence, Gomez and Bautista in OF), AuSchitt (have Davis), Scherzer (would be a serious upgrade in SP) and Kimbrel (he can’t give up Kimbrel and most likely never will – drafted in the 5th round) as the only bonafide Tier 1 players, Liriano, Desmond (have Tulo, do not need SS) and Santana (have Rosario not interested in adding Santana) in Tier 2.
Scherzer would be ideal IMO.
Best regards,
Ante
I’ve been offered Brandon Belt for Leonys Martín. I’ve already got Goldschmidt and Fielder, and trading away Martin would put me short on OF, but I’m still tempted to pull the trigger given Belt’s promise.
What do you think?
*****THERE’S A NEW POST FOR FOLLOWUPS************
Wait, did you rank Moore in the same range as Greinke and Price… basically advising us to actually draft him since he went way later than those guys?
Hi Gray, I need to drop one for a pitcher, Dexter Fowler, Leoyns Martin, or Grady Sizemore. Your thoughts. Thanks!
Sizemore
Need to start 2 of these:
Kemp vs mad max
Butler vs archer
A. Garcia @ Coors field
Braun, I stood pat, 3 jacks, 7 ribbies….makes me a happy boy :-)
*****THERE’S A NEW POST FOR FOLLOWUPS***********
Cut Vargas for Fields? 12 team roto
Are Owings and Solarte the real deal. Who thus far after 1 1/2 weeks do you see as a major add Hitter and
Pitcher.
Example: adding Trout 2 years ago and adding Corbin last year for how good he was in drafted.
Thank you.
I know there’s the whole “be patient” thing, but I feel like I’m wasting my time with guys like Carl Crawford and/or Avisail Garcia. What’s your thoughts on guys currently on my waiver wire, like Blackmon or Ackley?
En Vogues. Sexy, for the ratios, but the saves? Never gonna get it…
How about a Sweatup Man or a Middle Believer?
Grey would you hold your Wong or drop your Wong for Dee Gordan?
@Party Boy John: he’s said before (like today) to not drop wong for gordon
Grey! I’m sorry for not listening to you and drafting Matt Moore!
Here’s an acronym, SPAM, that food in a can that has some strange appeal but you never want to touch it. They’re solid pitchers and only get noticed when they screw up.
Solid Pitchers, Always Maligned.
would you drop ubaldo or Kennedy to pick up and stash AJ Griffin on the DL or should i just stand pat with those two schmoes
@Marc: @Mr. Glass: Why rank a “don’t draft” one behind Greinke?
*****THERE’S A NEW POST FOR FOLLOWUPS**********
Belt and Seager too much to give up for Adrian Beltre in shallow league?
Nope
Colby Lewis worth adding over Hutchison or Mejia?
Eh
Was offered Marte and Rodney for Puig and Cmart. Roto 5×5. Pull the trigger? Thanks. Enjoy the day!
Sounds fine if you need saves
The Yahoo rework is killing me. Yangervis Solarte keeps on coming up in the player list as “DirtyName Sun-Tea.”
HA!
So now that Adam Jones remembered that it’s good for his team when he hits that little ball over the fence, think we can get a prayer octagon going so that his teammate Mr. Davis can join in the fun?
Ha, yup
Looks like Bauer will be up for a start tomorrow at home vs SD.. you like?
Eh
Man, what is with some of these managers this year? You’ve got a guy that’s hit a HR in 4 straight games and you’re batting him 6th so Martin freaking Prado can hit clean-up? Clearly stupidity knows no bounds. We need to get on e-mailing all managers your “How to Fill Out a Lineup Card” ASAP.
Haha
adam jones draws a walk !!
Crazy town!
@costaricanchata: In a game of Pictionary, right?
10 team 5×5.
Start
Kluber vs. SD
Yordano vs. TB?
Both
@ Grey :
am liking thayer for possible save tomorrow .
you ?
Why?
@Grey:
double – header
Oh, then yeah maybe as a spec one day add…
Someone get a zimmer frame for ryan Zimmerman. Arthritis is not to be taken lightly.
Latos scratched from his minor league start today. Manager to address the media later on what happened.
Yup
I have Belt, Gold and Pujlos…looking to trade 1 for a SP.
Who should I be trying to move and what kind of pitcher should I target?
I’d go for a #1 with Pujols, like J-Fer range
Do I still go off your rankings when deciding between eovaldi, kazmir and dickey?
I need an open roster spot for broxton in shallow league and wanna drop kazmir but dont want to regret it but guys like tillman, dickey, and eovaldi are out there.
Thanks
Kazmir, Eovaldi
Pls rank for 5×5 roto:
Pagan
Melky
K. Davis
Belt
Blackmon
Belt, Melky, Davis
Melky available, would you drop Wong to pick him up or still hold? Wong is a bench bat for me. Also Porcello or Evoldai? Drop A. Garcia for Colabello? Thanks!!
I’d go Melky, Porcello… Eh, hold Garcia… Smoke it!
Someone dropped Panda and Cespedes.. Would you drop Yelich for either?
Yes, Cespedes
Question about how much you trust to Hittertron. Would you bench Wil Myers for Asche today?
Nope
“We need a glossary term for a middle reliever who is just rock solid in ratios/Ks, and you own for that purpose, without even caring if he gets into the save picture.”
Pizza Cutter. It’s a tool you own for one specific purpose, but it’s damn great at that purpose and you don’t care if it can’t do anything else.
I like MRkin better
Schoop is going to be a good hitter. He’s got excellent wrists. Tracks the ball well and has shown me already that he can handle MLB breaking stuff.
Yeah, liked what I saw yesterday from him when he roped a double
Thoughts on Matt Cain, he is on waivers, but he has looked awful.
I’d own him
Want to hear something ridiculous, Cervelli is playing 1B in the Yankees home opener. CERVELLI!
It’s not the home opener, but yes crazy
Mister MR
I like MRkin better
When you need to bring down swollen ratios…fast, you call in a:
“Preparation H”
You also have the H alluding to “hold”, the “preparation” alluding to the fact that he’s some kind of set-up guy, and the fact that you need anal medicine at all suggests that you are being bent over the sink by your the rest of your pitching staff. I’m resonating on at least three or four levels here. Whaddaya think?
I like MRkin better
Is Jesse Chavez worth a start @Min on Wednesday?
Need to start Paxton today right? And keep faith with Homer vs the Cards?
Yes on both
Scratch that. Would you take Pedroia Cespedes and Alex Gordon for CarGo?
If I needed depth
Razzballers, I have an offer on the table and really want some opinions.
I would get:
Aramis Ramirez
Alex Rios
Jason Heyward
I would give:
Adrian Beltre
Jonathan Lucroy
Abraham Almonte
My lineup:
C – Carlos Santana
1B – Prince Fielder
2B – Jose Altuve
3B – Adrian Beltre
SS – Ian Desmond
OF – Wil Myers
OF – Jay Bruce
OF – Ben Zobrist
UTIL – Abraham Almonte
UTIL – Jonathan Lucroy
Bench – Chris Blackmon
THANKS!!
Sounds good
Adam Jones homers! And all of us, followers of Grey, are happy
Two more today and I’ll be so happy
$12 Salad , $6 Crouton beautiful, Are you listening Smokeman?
Haha
9 pitches, 3 runs for Ivan Nova…that’s bad right thur
JONES!
12t H2H 7×7 (OBP/XBH + QS/IP)
How bout the following trade? Cruz, KJ, and Tillman for Liriano and Lowrie? I also have Burnett, Kluber, Perez, and Porcello but not sure if any of those will get it done. Maybe AJ..
Owner was receptive to Cruz for Liriano, but wanted some pitching back. Hence the trade. Thoughts?
Cruz side
Would you give CarGo, J Upton as Chapman and Brantley or Gyorko to get a trio of lets say, Pedroia, McCutchen an Rios?
Which side? Ryan Zimmerman and Andrus for Tulo?
Tulo
I don’t understand why some of you even play fantasy when you have to ask who should I bench, who should I play, should I drop him, pick him up? No wonder the divorce rate is skyrocketing! Cue October, some guy will show up blaming razz for losing hehe :-)
@Bi-Felicia: It’s a symptom of the availability of information coupled with the idea that if someone appears to know what the hell they’re doing, many people (readers) will assume that they (the reader and advice-seeker) are somehow in the dark w/r/t this information. Add to that the fact that there is such a wealth of FB advice columns, the fantasy baseball player (and reader) becomes more disposed to cases of neurosis, anxiety, and rosterbating.
“Wow, player A looks really promising! Oh, wait, but so does player B! So much upside…”
“Player C is vastly underperforming, and Player D just got bumped up to the 2-hole, but I really need a closer and setup man A looks like he’s about to pounce”
It can overwhelm…
@Bi-Felicia: do you know who we should blame for marrying people in the first place. Fantasy baseballers are probably less likely to be responsble than average person for that.
Farquhar worth owning in 12 team H2H pts or stream the spot?
Stream
Real Quick; Who gets the Save today for the Yanks: Warren or Betances?
Warren
@Joeg414:
neither .
baltimore wins .
At this point would you rather have Morse or Sizemore?
Neither? Morse
How about calling them a “Fuzzy Handcuff?” I mean, yeah you could lock down ur RP position with one of them, but they are a little too much frill and not enough function…
Not bad, I like MRkin better
Who should I drop in an H2H points, Ubaldo or Tyson Ross?
Ubaldo
GREY! – Any thoughts on Kalish. Will he get more playing time in Chicago, or just a LHB for Lake?
Platoon player
Was offered Linecum for my Axford. My only other two closers are Kimbrel (rd 7 keeper) and KROD. I’m tempted to accept banking on an eventual Axford demotion. Dickey, Gallardo, Fister, Huddy, Straily, M. Perez are my other Sps. Eovaldi and Skaggs available via FA. 14 team head to head. THoughts?
Eh
In a league size where fowler, rajai etc are available 6×6 with ops, which side is better?
Choo/Lawrie or Belt/A Gordon?
Already have Seager and would use lawrie at util and to maximize 3B slots
Thanks
@MB: Gordon side
I have Ryan Zimmerman on my bench and the news isn’t great about the shoulder.
Rizzo, A. Soriano, Arenado, Villar, Laroche are all on the wire. Do I just stick with Zimmerman and let it all play out, try to get a trade going or pickup one of the available players?
@Ron: Try to trade
In honor of the great Luke Gregerson, Gregorian Reform which had to deal with changes to correct the Calender year introduced by pope Gregory to correct the celebration of Easter as it coincides….oh forget it, this is boring ass stuff. Gregorian Reform is my last pitiful attempt
@J-FOH: I like MRkin better
Was just offered Allen Craig for Brandon Belt straight up. Any hesitation? It seems too good to be true despite their respective starts…
@Scott: I’d take Craig
So I’ve got an interesting proposal on the table. I give Heyward and I receive De Aza and Teheran. My team is zunino, pujols, Hill, Longoria, segura, a. Escobar, rizzo, a. Gordon, Heyward, Rios, Bruce, puig, Myers.
Pitching is Cobb, Salazar, jo-fer, kluber, porcello, E. Ramirez, t. Walker, Soria, Rodney, Valverde, Broxton, Lindstrom.
12 team espn standard 5×5
Keeper, auction
Heyward $17
De Aza $1
Teheran $9
What do you think?
@Pope: I’d take Heyward
@Grey: Well its a good thing I consulted you. Thanks
No problem
Hey Guys, u would drop Eaton for Billy Hamilton? 10team roto 5x5cat
Thanks!
@740: No
Like Santiago at Seattle today for 12 teamer?
@Andrew: Sure
Would you prefer Lohse at Phillies or Kendrick home vs brewers today?
Thanks
@Andrew: Kendrick, but I’d look at the SON
@Grey:
but don’t stare .
you’ll go blind .
Too late!
Would you prefer Lohse at Phillies or Kendrick home vs brewers today?
Thanks
Travis Wood, Bartolo Colon, Josh Johnson, Derek Holland. Bear or Bull? Quality Starts instead of Wins.
Why Travis Wood is only 5% owned, I don’t know. I’ve watched the video and I really believe he knows how to pitch (Mike Minor Lite or Diet Cliff Lee). And only 27 years old.
Colon is now in the NL. If he can thrive in the AL, he can be solid in the NL.
I thought Holland and Johnson were the best DL stashes I could find. Thoughts? Please and thank you lol
@Great Bambino: Eh, don’t like him
@Grey: 14 team H2H league. the pickings are reallyyyy slim. I have no choice but to roll with them =/
The BJ Upton-Frustrate-O-Alarm went off early in my league this year — he just got dropped.
Worth dropping any of Adam Eaton, Jim Henderson, or Chase Headley for a speculative add?
@Baron Von Vulturewins: He was dropped in 2 of my leagues too and I looked at grabbing him, but I couldn’t, and I had lesser guys than you
Holden Relievers. Loyal, reliable, unselfish like the dogs.
@OaktownSteve: I actually quite like Golden Relievers
@mauledbypandas: golden relievers was what i was going to say after reading thr comments… Think of the potential dog jokes!
“Alex torres, hes just mans best friend”
“Siegrist with 1Ip and 3ks.. Which proves dogs are better than kratz”
I mean, cmon!
@OaktownSteve: Not bad, I like MRkin better
All i got is Rati-BRO (like the Bro from Seinfeld cause they support your ratios…)
@mauledbypandas:
ManZeroes.
@OaktownSteve:
“Bro’s no good. Too ethnic.”
“You got something better?”
“How about the Mansiere?”
“Mansiere.”
“That’s right. A brassiere for a man.”
“I lived with him for forty years, I never saw him trying on my underwear. As soon as he leaves the house he turns into J. Edgar Hoover!”
Good stuff
@mauledbypandas: I like MRkin better
I got a trade offer of (my) Braun for Jose Bautista? What do you think?
@Em: Bautista
I know these aren’t very good but I’ll throw some things out there
The classic Fireman of yesterday is like our $12 MR, but Fireman is just not fun enough so in honor of nick moving to the US I say call them the Hoser!
Any chance I can plug the awesome Harvey Keitel I will and will call them the PenWolf…..WolfPen….ReliefWolf….anythehoo, I just wanted to use the Wolf character from Pulp Fiction because like those great MR’s we need a fixer.
I think the most solid MR over the years has been Luke Gregerson, an awesome MR who most of us never thought had a serious chance at closing because when he did he was awful, but always brought great ratio assistance. I can’t come up with a play on words with his name yet…need coffee
@J-FOH: I like MRkin better
Would you go with SON for these for H2H pts?
I actually like lowest 3-4 rated guys better than the top ones:
McGowan vs HOU 16.0
Roark vs MIA 12.0
Skaggs vs NYM 12.0
Morrow vs HOU 9.5
Morales vs CHN 8.1
Santiago @ SEA 5.6
Jackson vs PIT 3.5
@EK: Also where would you put Morton @ CHC (-0.7)
Thanks
@EK: Skaggs, Roark, Santiago would be my call
In an RCL do I give Harper to get Braun?
@Fish: NO
The Other Woman. You keep her around for that one(or two) things your wife can’t get right.
@gladIdidn’tdraftapitcher: I like MRkin better
Who is a better DL stash : Gavin Floyd or Derek Holland?
@Joeg414: Holland
Hey Grey! Would you keep Avisail on the bench or play Avisail for the series against the Rockies in the UTIL spot over Rizzo or Smoak? Thanks man
@My Minor Likes Female Pujols: Nope
O/U on when Zimmerman is back in the lineup for the Nats?
@Steve Stevenson: Friday
@Steve Stevenson:
agree with Grey .
and then , again , right before the asb .
and once more … around sept 1st .
MRkin – to cover up the ugly ratios of your 5th and 6th starters.
@shark week: thats pretty good!
@shark week: Wow, nice, might be my new favorite
@Grey:
GIVE THIS MAN THE PRIZE!!!
Cingrani for Salazar…which side?
@popgreatpimp: Salazar
Reliable middle relief help: Middle Sages?
A few deep league either/or questions based on what we’ve seen so far:
Ruiz or Zunino?
Blackmon or Melky?
Lindstrom or Shawn Kelley?
Skaggs or Eovaldi?
Thanks!
@Enrique: Eh on term… Take Zunino, Melky, Lindstrom, Eovaldi
Wow. John Norris has Phil Specter eyes.
@TysonFrozenChicken: Seriously
Kelley or K-rod?
@BitchesBeShoppach: K-Rod
I swear, every year, no matter who I pick, all my closers go down or have bad years. I owned Parnell, Jones, Robertson, and Henderson. W.T.F. Looks like I’ll be punting saves again this year in both leagues! Took 1st last year punting saves so what ev.
Hey Grey (and Razz people) how early is it? Shin Soo Choo is hitting lefties better than righties as of today! Now THAT’S early!
Thanks for the post Grey, fun read as usual.
@Shawn of the livid: Ha, nice
In a H2H points league where the scoring is tilted towards pitching, who wins in this trade?
Goldschmidt and Shelby Miller for Strasburg and Rizzo
@malamoney: Gold side.
Who should I drop for Vargas:
Nolasco
Peavy
R. Zimmerman
Yelich
B. Moss
@AJ: Nolasco
@AJ:
Nolasco is probably an ok swap, but just to provide a moment of sanity….Jason Vargas has a career 4.62 xFIP, a 5.85 k/9 rate, and a career WHIP of 1.31. We’re not exactly talking fantasy gold. It’s highly likely that this is his high watermark for the year and you’re going to get the regression back to his career norms.
@OaktownSteve: Gotcha, would you say that even with said regression back to normal that he’s a better candidate than Nolasco?
@AJ:
He’s probably a tick better.
@OaktownSteve: KC has something in the pitching water, Guthrie started hot last year and Ervin looked ridiculous for them last year, an AL Pirates dare i say?
@J-FOH:
There’s probably a little something to that. Good park, solid defensively. They were first in the AL last year in starter runs allowed per game and second in starter innings per game behind Det. One thing you hear from people inside and out of Royals locker room is the unbelievable influence of James Shields on the whole team and the pitching staff in general. He’s credited with an almost single-handed culture change in KC and that could not have been an easy thing to do. Big Game James.
They’ve gotten pretty nice work out of Bruce Chen too. So we’ll keep an eye on it but it’s a fair point JFOH.
Lackey was top 15 K/BB last year. Not that I expect that again this year, some decline is probably happening, just think he’s underrated.
@FMFBL: Could be a bit
After one week I am in 12th place in 4 out of 4 12-team leagues. I feel like this could actually be a good omen for all of my teams. Last year, in one league I was in 12th place for most of April. By May 7th or 8th I was in first place, a position I did not relinquish until early September, when I fell to second, where I finished. AAGNOF (April Ain’t Got No Face)
@Principal Blackman: Agreed, still very early
Would you start Tyson Ross with any confidence today versus the Indians?
@Sal: I am not. But I’m wary of starting a Hodgepodre away from Petco. I’ve seen Gremlins.
I went all in on Pujols this year… drafting him in multiple leagues. I also went in on JHamilton and thats working out a lot better so far. All I can say is bjhgsfdiu27yhbdp0a.sjfiujfss… oh sorry I was crossing my fingers. All i can say is at least he seems healthy. Lets all h$%pbikdbsldun97 and EFGYI&G*&GRo9jncnaas he turns it around.
@Game of Throws: Ha
Hi Grey,
Which OF prospect would you rather be holding: Taveras or Springer?
Thanks!
@Jay:
Depends on your plan. If you need a guy this year, Springer has the clearest path to the majors. If your plan is to hold for next year and beyond, Tavares is the more talented.
@Hawk: Disagree. Springer is best bet for this year and next. More power, more speed, and if his swing gets a bit better he won’t be such a K risk.
@Jay: Springer, Taveras has been unable to stay healthy
Mustard
@Fungazi: I like Ferratio or $6 crouton or salad fork better
Robertson down…I can pick up Jason Vargas or Kelley. Waddaya Think?
@Mr. Zimmer: Kelley
Hitter-tron used to bang the hype machine but he got sick of pillow talk involving Wayne Housie, Brian Rose, Scott Cooper, and the time JBJ walked multiple times in a game.
@Ralph Lifshitz: Ha
Where was your advice not to draft Matt Moore? You had him ranked 3rd highest out of the 73 experts on fantasypros.
@Marc: If you read the blurbs associated with the rankings, Moore is in a tier called “loved them last year, not so much this year,” and that’s me quoting Grey.
@Principal Blackman: Right…Also just to add…Grey has repeatedly said to stay away from him to commenters this year and said he wasn’t draftng him…I traded him for Tanaka based off his advice and JB’s b4 season started once he was auto picked for me…I feel pretty good now.
@Principal Blackman: Right, so obviously don’t reach for that tier. But Grey had him ranked so much higher than ADP and other pros, that in the 10th round of many drafts, Grey’s 17th ranked pitcher is still available.
@Marc: i noticed that myself, he was pretty much the only big injury case that we could’ve actually had (if we religiously followed rankings), braun was barely possible, kershaw completely impossible.
RAGNOF
ratios ain’t got no face
too easy?
@rapscallion13: I like Ferratio or $6 crouton or salad fork better
Trade Puig for Stanton or deal with the soap opera?
@Bryan: Stanton. All day.
@Ty Wiggington:
Stanton all day, every day.
@Bryan: I don’t think the Stanton side would do that deal.
20-man league, who would you want as part of a platoon? Lucas Duda, David DeJesús or Jason Kubel?
@ichirosan: Kubel
Grey – Would you trade away Joe Nathan for Danny Salazar, straight up?
My SP’s are kind of weak, and my other closers include Greg Holland, Valverde, and Qualls.
@patrick: SAGNOF doctrine says do the trade.