(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH)

“Are the Cubs stupid? We come back after the break to answer that very important question and many more.” The anchor takes off his earpiece and says, “Yes, they are stupid. They’ve kept down Matt Mervis and Christopher Morel for so long now for what reason? Is there a reason? Well…?” Then, he realizes he’s not an anchor, but instead he’s a fantasy baseball owner of Matt Mervis and Christopher Morel, and he’s not wearing pants and he’s sitting in his mother’s basement and he’s doing a ‘newscast’ to his cat, Pajamas Higgins, who was the Cubs’ first baseman last year for 38 games, though he’s better known as P.J. As I said last year, “I did a google for Matt Mervis and his ETA and I found he’s going to be promoted to the Cubs in 2022. Very cool, let’s see how he did. Let me do another google for us. Hmm, I’m not seeing any stats for Matt Mervis with the Cubs. The Cubs must’ve had some great 1st basemen for the last year.” And that’s me quoting me! Same story, different year! Matt Mervis is a 25-homer guy in the majors tomorrow with no change in approach. He’s not young, so, ya know, he should already be in the majors, if the Cubs didn’t want to waste him for no reason. At 25 years old, it would be easy to write him off, but he was a college guy who lost 2020. I asked Itch if Mervis was going to be Tork 2.0, and he said he hoped not, then asked for my GPS coordinates to send a drone. Itch also added that Mervis has more reps against good arms and he keeps getting better. Sounds like he should be Never Nervous Matt Mervis. He reminds me of every super late cornerman that is rostered in every league. 25/.260 guys have value, and he should’ve been up already. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week 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 | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK

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Just like when a Jewish kid turns 13 and they become a man or woman, and have their Bar Mitzvah or when a hitter breaks out and they have a Star Mitzvah, the same can be said of a team. A team becomes a Man Team when they decide they’re too good for Adam Frazier. That’s what happened yesterday for the Orioles. They looked at their team, and they said, we’re a Man Team, we need a Man 2nd baseman. (Though, they just moved Adam Frazier to right field yesterday; Santander to DH and Gunnar to the bench, but let’s hope they didn’t decide to become a Man Team without Gunnar.) To be a Man Team, they called up Joey Ortiz to be their new Man 2nd baseman. Itch’s said, “(Ortiz is) probably my favorite player in this system at the moment in terms of value to our game versus perceived value across the lists I’ve seen. Ortiz is a plus defender at 5’11” 175 lbs and could come on so quickly that the club has to promote him early in the season. He finished 2022 with an excellent 26-game stretch in Triple-A (.346/.400.567) and doesn’t have much more to learn in the minors. If he hits as well as my fist against Grey’s head, then sign me up!” What even? Ortiz looks like a 15/15/.280 hitter if he has an everyday job. It’s time, O’s. Man up! By the way, if you leave a sandwich out for 13 years, it becomes a Manwich. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Outside of the day I got married, the birth of my kids and the first time Grey commented on one of my pieces for Razzball, the two months of Linsanity back in 2012 were the greatest two months of my life. This past month of Lynnsanity has been one of the most painful months of my life. Lance Lynn has made five starts, served up batting practice for 26 1/3 innings and posted a 7.52 ERA so far in the 2022-23 season. Good times. It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. So is the life of Lynnsanity. But do we capitulate or do we make William Wallace proud and hold?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

David Lynch’s mid-career masterpiece Lost Highway tells the story of a few lost souls and found ghouls prowling the liminal spaces of Southern California. About half through the film (spoiler but the movie is more than a decade old, so the spoiler rule does not apply suckers), Balthazar Getty’s character transforms into a completely different character played by Bill Pullman with no explanation beyond Lynch later stating that the film exists in the same Nightmare Logic universe as Twin Peaks. Identities, egos, and even flesh are seen as nothing more than oobleck, temperamental and seemingly impossible. 

Such a film brings to mind one person: Bud Black.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

To be honest this was not the intro I thought I would be writing today but this news is too big to ignore. For some reason that none of us at Razzball HQ can understand, the Cardinals have decided that sending Jordan Walker to AAA is the right move for the team. That move likely leaves more than a few of you, myself included, scrambling to find a new option at the hot corner. I know he wasn’t lighting the world on fire but he was playing pretty well and as a top prospect there was plenty of reason to expect his numbers to improve. Apparently he wasn’t elevating the ball enough and that’s why Taylor Motter is a better choice for this team. The team DFA’d him (him being Motter) right before resigning him and obviously they are so much smarter than I am. All that aside, if you drafted Walker may find yourself in need of a new third baseman. I have no insider knowledge but I sincerely hope this will be a short stay for him and we’ll get him back in the show soon. I don’t know this but I have to hope it. Bring him back. Third base is not the strongest position but it’s not completely devoid of options. So on this sad day, let’s see who can fill Walker’s shoes.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Happy NFL Draft Day, sports fans! Today it is April and next week it will be May. After May comes June, followed by July, otherwise known as MLB Draft month. To be frank, my preseason top-15 is already out-dated, as is MLB Pipeline’s top-100 posted months ago. I’d be willing to bet my second-born child (lost my first in a poker game last month) that Chase Dollander is NOT the second player off the board and is in fact not a lock to go in the top five. I’ll also tell you there’s a chance Dylan Crews goes second overall, not first. And there might even be a player currently ranked in the top-five overall that I could see falling into the 20s. Oh yeah, and only six of the top-20 are pitchers. Who are they? What has changed? Well, you’ll have to make like Oliver Twist and pound the button below to find out.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Jordan Walker was optioned to the minors. What a joke of an organization. Their corresponding move was to give Taylor Motter a contract. I can’t even be mad. Who are we kidding, I am so mad! He was hitting .274 vs. righties and lefties! League average is .245! Only three teams collectively are hitting above .274. He tied the longest hit streak for someone under the age of 21 in 120 years! What is going on?! Is Oli Marmol dumb? I’m truly concerned he might lock himself in a closet and not be able to get out. Is someone keeping an eye on him? What if he forgets how to get out of his car? Does he have assistance? Can we make sure Oli Marmol remembers how to put on his pants?! Can we?! Can someone do that?! What is going on?! Seriously, I’ve seen some huge BS in my time, but this is up there with the top BS’ings in the history of BS. This takes the BS cake, then craps out more BS! What is happening?! He’s better than than at least half of the current Cards’ lineup!? I wanna hurt someone! *realizes I’m screaming this in a Dunkin’ and cops are looking at me* Um, but, ya know, I will simply drop Jordan Walker from my fantasy teams, instead. Honestly, I don’t feel better after this vent session. Oli Marmol fell asleep to Camp Granada the other night, got the “Hello Motter” part stuck in his head, and now we’re losing Jordan Walker because of an earworm! A freakin’ earworm! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I hope Dodgers 2B Michael Busch really drinks it all in during his big league debut because he might be right back in the minor leagues the following week. Doesn’t matter much either way to his long-term outlook. I suspect he could push Miguel Vargas if the bat plays early. I’m not confident Vargas ever got right in Spring, and then he got hit by a fastball in the thumb on April 4th. He’s slugging .295 with zero home runs or stolen bases but still posting a .364 on base percentage due to the plus plate skills. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?