Yesterday, Kevin Gausman went 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 3.01. Gausman was being drafted like, “Oh, I guess I’ll punt top starters and take Gausman.” Gausman was being drafted like: Person looking at your draft results, “You didn’t draft an ace.” Person who drafted Gausman, “I think Gausman is my ace.” “No, you need someone like Corbin Burnes or Sandy Alcantara.” I won’t break the record that I continue to break that people continue to ignore. I just want everyone to think about one thing: Pitchers are impossible to rank, thus draft. ERA, Wins and WHIP, to a lesser extent, are heavily influenced by luck. When there’s no luck playing a factor, they’re prone to injuries. You could’ve had Gausman as your ace everywhere. Or, you could’ve had Alek Manoah, who was scorched for 11 runs in 2 2/3 IP in the Florida Complex League. Oh, he’s absolutely going to have a complex, thinking, “Wow, I really suck.” Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 8/5
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | MIA | OAK

So Much Rookie Nookie hitting the waiver wire the last few weeks it’s been hard to keep my excitement in check. I’ve been walking around with a trash can lid dangling around my neck and resting below my waist. There is seemingly value on rookies in their early prices on the DFS menu. While they […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Turning on the TV, oh, lucky, it’s my favorite movie, Beaches. Wow, Barbara Hershey being selfless and allowing Bette Midler to shine. It’s so beautiful…Oh my God, what are these wet things on my cheeks? I’m crying tears of laughter and sadness that only the movie Beaches can elicit. Now, I am cutting pictures of Ohtani and Reid Detmers (7 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.77) out of a magazine and pasting their heads on the TV. Now Reid Detmers is Hershey, and Ohtani, of course, is Bette. Detmers is cold in Ohtani’s shadow. Anyone would be, Ohtani is one of the best of all-time, like Bette, so you can’t compete with that, but Detmers can cheer on his friend, and have an 11.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, and 3.64 xFIP. He also has a 13.3% Swinging Strike rate. You know who else has a 13.3% Swinging Strike rate (at least they both did going into yesterday)? For one night, Bette wasn’t better. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

We’re nearing the All-Star Break! There’s only 1 week of half-assed work before our national (pronounce that with a long “a”) BBQ and then some recovery days. Then it’s everything we’ve been waiting for: the Home Run Derby! Also the All-Star game, but who actually cares for that anymore. 

Why do I talk about the All-Star Break two weeks before it’s happening? Because this Week 13 marks the ACKSHUAL halfway point of the MLB season. A little bit more than a month left until the MLB trade deadline — and probably your fantasy baseball trade deadline as well. I almost wrote “fantasy football” in that last sentence because many multi-sport managers are turning their attention to another sport entirely. If you’re a bold one, make your fantasy baseball trades now before Tommy from HR is debating whether to draft Bijan Robinson in the first round. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Told you in Friday’s Buy column the Orioles were calling up their top prospect. I just forgot to include top infield prospect. Well, excuse me! I blame Itch. If he wasn’t so busy making casual death threats, he’d be on this! So, Itch had Jordan Westburg in his last prospects to stash report, and, on June 11th, he said, “Has 33 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 143 Triple-A games, which feels like a lot of Triple-A games for a first-round pick who’s slashing .305/.383/.601 on his return to the level, and I’d like to level Grey.” C’mon, man! I imagine Cowser will be up soon too, because, honestly, what are they doing in the minors? It makes no season. As Itch said, Westburg being in Triple-A that long is absurd, and so is Cowser. I tried to grab Westburg in every league, and failed. Let’s go! Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Starting off this week’s hitter profiles, we have to visit one of the more exciting hitters of the last few weeks in Luis Arraez.  He may be the truest definition of a better real life player than fantasy player.  Hitting .402 heading into games on Saturday, he is otherwise average or downright terrible in every other rotisserie category.  We are talking Joey Gallo with home runs or Scott Podsednik with steals.  These types of guys hurt a balanced fantasy attack but are ideal trade targets for the stretch if you need a single category to push you over the top.  Arraez’ s profile under the covers shows some significant luck and his lowest hard hit rate in five years.  If there was ever a guy to sell, this would be it and hopefully there is a team in your league that is simply a boost in batting average away from a stretch run.  Like Arraez, this week we will focus on recent hot streaks and assess their viability for the rest of the season.  With the London Series underway, we will change things up from our traditional Buy or Sell to an England version with Aye or Na!

Please, blog, may I have some more?