Well this pick is a little strange. After covering guys that probably won’t get drafted in most regular leagues this year, I’ve come back to a guy going in 13th round currently in mock drafts with Kendrys Morales. I could lie to you and say I like a guy like Brandon Belt more because he’s going so cheap but until he hires a professional make-up artist that makes him look 35, he’s going to have a hard time staying on Bruce Bochy’s good side and away from Huff’s rally thong. I’m suggesting we take a look at whether or not Kendrys is a discount seeing as first base isn’t all that deep. Scoff all you want but I suggested Allen Craig to you last year when he was merely a pipe dream. Yes, that’s a picture of Jay ‘Bones’ Buhner and yes the writer calls himself ONC. Well that was me before I went Red Dragon on y’all and ‘transformed’. You see, I’m that dude Sky from the fantasy football side of the Razzball world but I cut my teeth on the baseball side by dropping helpful preseason nuggets to you last year and one of which is the afore mentioned Craig. The same Craig who’s now going 7th in mock drafts over at MDC amongst first basemen. For such a power-heavy position, doesn’t 22 HRs in 514 PAs scare you a little with where he’s going? Exactly. So with that, I think it’s time we take a look at why you might be paying less for more with Morales.
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Top 20 for 2013 Fantasy Baseball
January 15, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 173 Commentsby: Grey
This is one of the hardest posts to write all year. There’s so many different ways the top 20 for 2013 fantasy baseball could go. I almost wrote a top 10 for 2013 fantasy baseball and just made the tenth ranked guy a ten way tie with these guys and washed my hands of this post entirely. Isn’t David Wright as risky as Longoria but Wright didn’t even make the top 20? Then Beltre’s low with seemingly no risk? Where’s the pitchers? Posey’s not ranked? You know the NL MVP?! What gives, GA? McCutchen was crazy high and now Kemp is crazy low! Was I taking meds when I wrote this? Was I not taking my meds?! There’s a lot of questions to be answered as we continue our 2013 fantasy baseball rankings. There are not as many guarantees as I’d like. Verlander seems more safe than any of these hitters, but you can find so much pitching later, he didn’t even make the top 20. Thankfully, as VinWins’s data about our leagues shows, a 2nd round pick that you Mr. Bungle doesn’t spell doom. Last year, a Cano second round pick was solid and you finished around sixth out of 12 teams. An Adrian Gonzalez pick, which wasn’t great, had you finishing around sixth, too. One pick does not a team make. Here’s just twenty picks you should make. Anyway, here’s the top 20 for 2013 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?How did I GET here? Did Grey open a magical portal and whisk me away from my fantasy football world like he was Dr. Who? I don’t remember stepping into his TARDIS. The last thing I do remember was some guy with a mustache, free candy and a windowless van but he said he wanted to step into MY TARDIS. I don’t think I’m remembering that last word right. In any case, just like Eddie Munster and him being a public notary, I’m also a fantasy baseball writer so I’ve got that going for me too. That last sentence was a Simpsons reference that only the cool – read ‘forever alone’ – kids are going to get. But of course, none of this filler is what I came here to tell you about which you no doubt knew from reading the title because you’re clever like that. Nay, we’re here to talk to you about a catcher north of the border whose game travels down my treasure trail and warms my southern hemisphere. We’re talking about none other than the starting catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, J.P. Arencibia, and whether or not his current low value at mock draft central is justified or not. Hence the title ‘Discount Double Check’ which is also a reference to Aaron Rodgers and fantasy football. See how clever that was and how it all ties together? They don’t just keep me around here for my looks is all I can say. But enough of that, on with the show.
Please, blog, may I have some more? Top 10 for 2013 Fantasy Baseball
January 14, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 172 Commentsby: Grey
It’s that time again… Drop your drawers and do two laps around your office! Not your underwear, I meant drop the two desk drawers you were holding and celebrate. Oh, well, you’ll find another job in this economic climate; no problem! Now before we get into the top 10 for 2013 fantasy baseball (though I imagine every single one of you has skipped this intro paragraph), I’m gonna lay some ground rules. No talking. Damn, I’m copying this from my University of Phoenix syllabus and it’s not translating as I had hoped. Okay, here’s our fantasy baseball podcast. Here’s where you follow us on Twitter. Here’s where you follow us on Facebook. Here’s our fantasy baseball player rater. Here’s our fantasy baseball team name generator. Here is all of our 2013 fantasy baseball rankings. Here’s the position eligibility chart for 2013 fantasy baseball. And here is a picture of my son. What a punim! You may not get all of those links in such a handy, easy-to-use format ever again this year, so make proper note. Now my expositional half insists I breakdown some generalizations about these 2013 fantasy baseball rankings. The 2013 fantasy baseball rankings will be an ever-evolving mass like the blob. This fantasy baseball top 10 for 2013 list is as of right now and could potentially change with a big injury or Miguel Cabrera breaking a tooth on his maple bat as he tries to extract hops. So while it is the 2013 fantasy baseball gospel, take it with a tablet of salt. Tomorrow we will cover the rest of the top twenty for 2013 fantasy baseball, then we will go around the horn with a top 20 list for every position. Then for pitchers and outfielders, I’ll turn the dial to 100. Listed next to each player are my 2013 projections. Did I consult with whoever else does projections? It would be ignorant not to, but in the end they are my projections. Players need 10 games at a position to get included in the positional rankings. Finally, as with each list in the 2013 fantasy baseball rankings, I will be mentioning where I see tiers start and stop. I look at tiers like this, if Miguel Cabrera and Ryan Braun are in the same tier, it doesn’t matter if one guy is ranked 1st and one guy is ranked 2nd, they’re both very close. It comes down to personal preference. I would prefer the guy at number one better than the guy at two, but you do you, I’ll do me and let’s hope we don’t go blind. Anyway, here’s the top 10 for 2013 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Under the Greydar: Rob Brantly
January 13, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 15 Commentsby: slimsmitty
Like Tobias from Arrested Development, the Miami Marlins will forever be known for their offseason fire sale. OH, THE BURNING! Giancarlo Stanton seems to be the last man standing in South Beach. However, rebuilding can often mean opportunities for young talent to shine. This will be the case for catcher Rob Brantly. Brantly, 23, will have the chance to be the every-day catcher (sorry, Jeff Mathis) for Miami in 2013.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
My Country Ortiz Of Thee
January 12, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft, OPS Leagues | 10 Commentsby: Tom Jacks
It’s time to start looking ahead to the 2013 fantasy baseball season. With that in mind, this column will hope to shine a light on players who are noticeably affected by OPS:
Please, blog, may I have some more? Mike Fiers, 2013 Fantasy Sleeper
January 11, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 108 Commentsby: Grey
If you read this fantasy baseball web-blog when it still looked like a Geocities site, you know all about Mike Fiers. Bee tee dubya, I like the new site design and I think we’ve addressed all issues with mobile devices. If there’s still problems — besides, can you change the font to Wingdings? — tell us and we’ll look at it. Things are evolving. We have something coming in March that necessitated the site changes. We had simply outgrown the old site. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for those wild orange flames that caused every fifteenth viewer to suddenly have a seizure. Maybe we can still get seizures…Together…With this new design. Last year, Fiers burst on the scene. Or rather, Fiers spontaneously combusted on the scene like he was a nine-year-old Drew Barrymore. (I’m referring to her role in Firestarter, not to her lighting up a crackpipe.) In Triple-A, he had a K and walk-rate of 8.02 and 2.95, respectively, then bested both marks in the majors with 9.52 and 2.54 rates. His pre-All-Break numbers were a thing of beauty (2.31 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and a 5.56 K/BB rate in 46 2/3 IP). To speak to only the K/BB, a 5.56 K/BB is incredible and would’ve been the 2nd best rate in all of the major leagues behind only Cliff Lee. None of those numbers are sustainable for Fiers and his 2nd half failed to live up to the 1st. Tiring in his first nearly full year probably played a role, but I don’t think a guy should be considered a lock to beat his Triple-A numbers in the majors. So what can we expect of Mike Fiers for 2013 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more? Felix Doubront, 2013 Fantasy Sleeper
January 10, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 98 Commentsby: Grey
A little insider info, I wrote all of the pitcher profiles for one fantasy baseball preview magazine. (And here I didn’t even know they made magazines anymore!) Felix Doubront didn’t make the top 100 for that magazine. Did I shortchange them and their readers so I would give more to you Razzball readers? Um, well, I wouldn’t say I shortchanged anyone. I just, you know, had selective fantasy ‘pertness for those outside of Razzball’s universe. Last year, the Po’ Sawx looked like they were a dozen eggs short of an ostrich egg. Ellsbury, Ortiz, Pedroia were hit with injuries and that wasn’t even the big problem. Their pitching looked like one of those fake vomit plastic discs where the factory in China accidentally put real vomit into one. “That’ll teach those stupid Americans to scare people with uncontrollable indigestion problems.” That’s a fake vomit factory worker in China. His name is Wei-Spray. He hates his job. He used to work at a fake doody factory, but felt like it was below him. He didn’t catch the irony of that. For starters with at least 160 innings, Doubront had the 4th best K-rate. Right behind, Scherzer, Darvish and Gio. That’s elite company. There’s not a drafter out there that doesn’t know to look at those three. Doubront’s BB-rate wasn’t great, in fact, it wasn’t good. But of those four he didn’t have the worst walk rate, that honor goes to Darvish. If you asked a hundred fantasy baseballers (<–my mom’s term), who will have a better season, Darvish or Doubront? I guarantee you that a majority, if not all of them will say Darvish. I’m not sure it’s that obvious. So, what can we expect of Felix Doubront for 2013 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Welcome to the 2nd annual Razzball Reader survey! These results help us immensely in tailoring our posts and statistics to reflect our readers’ needs.
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Rudy
2013 Minor League Preview: Houston Astros
January 9, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 14 Commentsby: Scott Evans
Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America
2012 (17) | 2011 (26) | 2010 (30) | 2009 (30) | 2008 (29)
2012 Affiliate Records
MLB: [55-107] NL Central (AL West beginning 2013)
AAA: [78-65] Pacific Coast League – Oklahoma City
AA: [81-59] Texas League — Corpus Christi
A+: [74-66] California League – Lancaster
A: [69-69] South Atlantic League – Lexington (Quad Cities of MWL beginning 2013)
A(ss): [15-25] New York-Penn League — Tri-City
Arizona Fall League Players — Mesa Solar Sox
Jarred Cosart (RHP); Chia-Jen Lo (RHP); Alex Sogard (LHP); Nick Tropeano (RHP); Jiovanni Mier (3B); Jonathan Singleton (1B); George Springer (OF)
Graduated Prospects
Marwin Gonzalez (SS); Matt Dominguez (3B); Lucas Harrell (RHP); Dallas Keuchel (LHP); Rhiner Cruz (RHP); Fernando Abad (LHP)
The Run Down
Jeff Luhnow is so flippin’ awesome. I cannot stress this enough. In little more than a year at the helm of the Astros, he’s turned the organization into one of the most fascinating franchises in the sport. Obviously, they’re not among the better ball clubs — not at the MLB level, at least — but by surrounding himself with baseball bloggers and NASA engineers, Luhnow has created an environment that celebrates new ideas and is well ahead of the curve in terms of analytics. Houston had a few nice prospects in place when he arrived, but the system as a whole was shallow and weak. Luhnow spent his first year cutting big league payroll, adding depth to the farm via trade, and spending big in the draft. I imagine more of the same is in store for 2013, so expect another sub-60 win season as Houston joins the AL West. It might be a few years before they’re competitive again, the Astros are transforming much more quickly than I thought was possible. They’re building cost-controlled depth, and waves of promising prospects are set to arrive in Houston beginning this year. So even if Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio aren’t voted into the HOF this afternoon, Astros fans can sleep soundly. The future is bright, indeed, for Houston.
Matt Harvey, 2013 Fantasy Sleeper
January 8, 2013 | 2013 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 110 Commentsby: Grey
For a few years, I talked about how Mike Minor or Kris Medlen were gonna be my last round starter flyer in all leagues. Never really worked out. Sure, I snatched Medlen off waivers last year when he needed to be, but for a few years they were drafted and dropped numerous times before they rewarded fantasy owners. I don’t tell you this to remain modest. Does my mustache make me look like a man of modesty? I tell you this so you know where I’m coming from when I say I’m going to draft Matt Harvey in every league. At some point, he’s going to be a top starter. It may not be this year, it may not be next year, but at some point he’ll be there. You can look at this as a Matt Harvey sleeper post, a rookie outlook post or simply a heads up that I need to get me some of this young brother, in the non-biblical way, unless there’s a clergyman reading and he gives me his Razzblessing. Speaking of which, do we have any priest or rabbi readers? I could see a Sunday sermon including SAGNOF (Satan Ain’t Got No Face) and how Jesus Montero was a fanny pick. In Harvey’s short-stint in the majors, he did some bedazzling work on fantasy owners’ jean jackets. A 10+ K-rate and a 2.73 ERA in 59 1/3 innings. Awesome called and said he wishes he was more descriptive because that doesn’t do Harvey justice. So what can we expect of Matt Harvey for 2013 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?Will Middlebrooks is the reason the Red Sox felt it was okay to trade away Youkilis. Well, that and the fact that Youk and Bobby Valentine were bickering like they were in the final rose ceremony and Red Sox fans were the Bachelor. “He told me he doesn’t love you, and he’s only using you so he can be on the cover of People magazine for the next two years talking about how his heart was broken.” That’s Youk pleading his case. Then Bobby V. started singing Rihanna’s Diamonds, and the fans chose Valentine and that romance lasted about as long as the usual Bachelor romance. Now Youk is a Yank for symmetry sake, Valentine returned to inventing new sandwich types, “I call this the Naanwich. A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Naanwich is a gentrified sandwich,” and Middlebrooks was left behind with the Red Sox 3rd base job and the six hole of the lineup (depending on Napoli’s signing). Last year, Middlebrooks’s stats were stacked like a d’brickhouse (the D is silent). In 286 plate appearances, he hit 15 homers and .288 with 4 steals when his season was cut short with a fractured wrist. He should be healed for Spring Training. So, what can we expect of Will Middlebrooks for 2013 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?
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