[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1281329″ player=”13959″ title=”2023%20Razzball%20BUY%20SELL%20HOLD%20for%20Fantasy%20Baseball%20Week%203″ duration=”169″ description=”It’s the Razzball BUY, SELL, HOLD for 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 3!00:39 Jorge Soler1:22 Yandy Diaz2:03 Luis Rengifo ” uploaddate=”2023-04-12″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1281329_th_6436c7df20ec5_1681311711.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1281329.mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″]

Maybe because Oneil Cruz casts a long shadow — a six-foot, seven-inch shadow — but this week feels especially geared towards replacing him, and there is no replacement, let’s be honest. Orlando Arcia definitely wasn’t replacing him. Orlando sounds like an either or with no right answer. Or…lando Calrissian is the only good that’s coming out of that question. He’s not the answer anyway; Orlando Arcia is hitting the IL with a microfracture in his wrist. Finally, the Braves have room for Ehire Adrianza! “Unless,” Alex Anthopoulos points at the dotted line on the contract that ties Vaughn Grissom up into a standard 14-year deal for $3 million that buys out arbitration years, pre-30 free agent years, and right-of-first-refusal to first-born son. Alex adds, “You have to call your boy, Andruw, in case we want to sign him, because it helps with merchandising.” Okay, yes, grab Vaughn Grissom in your league. He’s coming up! Yes, even that league! I gave you a Vaughn Grissom fantasy back in December, before I knew the Braves were going to play hardball off the field. A key takeaway there was when I said, “Last year in 141 MLB at-bats, (Grissom) hit .291. Maybe the .350 BABIP is a tad high. He’s fast though, so it might not be absurd. His 21.8% strikeout rate at 21 years of age is really the flashing light saying, “Hey, look at this! This is really good!” He didn’t come anywhere close to qualifying, but, if he had, his contact rate on balls in the zone of 89.9% would’ve been top 30 in the majors, around that of Andrew Vaughn (no relation) and Jeff McNeil. His strikeout rates in the minors were incredibly good, hovering between 11% and 14% depending on the stop in pro ball. He’s a guy you’re going to love to have in fantasy, and the Braves will because he’s going to keep getting on base.” And that’s me quoting me and totally misreading the Braves! But he’s here’s now and should be on your teams. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Learn more about our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!

The best daily/weekly player rankings/projections (hitters, starters, and relievers) for each of the next 7-10 days + next calendar week starting Friday. Kick-ass DFS lineup optimizer and projections for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo!.

I don’t have enough spam, give me the Razzball email newsletter!

Weekly Razzball news delivered straight to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/9
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

Michaelangelo’s statue of David is arguably the most famous statue in existence. Korean bus tours ferry their customers to gawk at it, so you know it’s famous beyond famous. Giorgio Vasari, a renowned Renaissance painter himself, said this about the statue of David:

“When all was finished, it cannot be denied that this work has carried off the palm from all other statues, modern or ancient, Greek or Latin; no other artwork is equal to it in any respect, with such just proportion, beauty and excellence did Michelagnolo finish it”

The David I’m going to be talking about in this piece is far from perfection. In fact, his imperfections are so apparent that the boy from the Mask, not the Jim Carrey one but the Cher one, has become more confident. This David whom I write of is David Villar of the San Francisco Giants. Here’s why I think he has some utility.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

One becomes angry when a blurb states that someone has staked a claim for the role, one pays 15% of their salary for the fellow, only to watch a guy someone snagged for a buck get the next 25 saves for that team. One begins to feel honest resentment towards a website whose content claims no authorship. The floating, listless rage of fantasy baseball is truly something to behold.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

A couple weeks into the season how is everyone feeling? Anyone on full tilt yet? Hopefully not because we already overreacted last week.  Nonetheless there are some performances to get excited about and that’s what we should focus on today. In most cases I’m not ready to panic on guys, especially if you believed in them two weeks ago. Deep breaths, it’s only been two weeks. Guys have hot and cold periods all the time. While you’re taking a couple deeps breaths let’s take a peek at some strong performances that stand out.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

As we reach the college season’s midpoint, I got to wondering: after you drink 50% of your ballpark beer, is it half-empty or half-full? On one hand, it’s half-empty because we don’t want the season to end, but on the other, it’s half-full because there’s still plenty of baseball left including the highly-anticipated College World Series. Then I remember that the disgruntled concessions worker that charged me $18 for my souvenir cup only filled it up two-thirds of the way, so really the ballpark beer is 33.3% full, unless you take into account the volume accounted for by the ice… and that’s how I successfully lost my entire audience before even beginning the discussion about the first overall pick for the 2023 MLB Draft. So how about this? Drink ALL of your ballpark beer, click “Please, blog, may I have some more?” and hit up the comments section with who you’d take first overall if you had the pleasure (or lack thereof) of being Mr. Ben Cherington.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1276562″ player=”13959″ title=”2023%20Razzball%20BUY%20SELL%20HOLD%20for%20Fantasy%20Baseball%20Week%202″ duration=”182″ description=”It’s the Razzball BUY, SELL, HOLD for 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 2!00:43 Brendan Donovan1:22 Tommy Edman2:08 Jake McCarthy” uploaddate=”2023-04-06″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1276562_th_642e405846199_1680752728.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1276562.mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″]

Yesterday, Jarred Kelenic (2-for-4) hit his 3rd homer in three games. Sonavabench x 3! Incredible! This is shaping up to be the worst sonavabenching in the history of sonavabenchings. Kelenic does something for the first time in three years and he’s on my bench! Why is this my life? This home run went 482 feet! That’s almost 147 meters! That’s the longest homer in Wrigley in the Statcast era. Could the breakout be happening? Is this the gorgeous we were once promised? Is this like watching the plastic bag in American Beauty? To me, it’s slightly comical that Jarred Kelenic is being labeled as “THE BREAKOUT IS HERE” while in the exact same game Cody Bellinger (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) hit his 2nd home run and it’s like, “Meh, whatever. He can eat a D.” For those who are thinking, “Yeah, okay, you’re handsome and all, but Kelenic is hitting .351 and Cody Bellinger is hitting .238.” Kelenic is hitting .351 in 37 ABs. Difference between him and Cody is about four hits. He has a 44% Whiff rate on breaking pitches, and a 40% whiff rate on offspeed pitches. I want the Kelenic breakout as much as anyone (hopefully it can start next Monday, though), just trying to put an ounce of realism here in our fantasy. Like when Penelope Cruz is still bored in your dreams when you talk about your fantasy teams. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1276562″ player=”13959″ title=”2023%20Razzball%20BUY%20SELL%20HOLD%20for%20Fantasy%20Baseball%20Week%202″ duration=”182″ description=”It’s the Razzball BUY, SELL, HOLD for 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 2!00:43 Brendan Donovan1:22 Tommy Edman2:08 Jake McCarthy” uploaddate=”2023-04-06″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1276562_th_642e405846199_1680752728.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1276562.mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″]

Sad to report Zach Eflin’s back is tight and he will miss two starts–WHOA! Hold on a second here, Previous Sentence Grey! Eflin is injured but the Rays are calling up Taj Bradley. Wonder if Taj knows the Reds’ India. They would seem like natural friends. Taj is a pretty girl’s name, let’s see if I nod my head after looking at his stats. Looks at stats, nods heads–I mean head! Yes, I’m interested. So far this year, he’s only thrown two games and that sorta sample size is irrelevant — that’s what she said derisively! Here’s what Itch has said previously, “Bradley is a little underrated at the moment. Makes sense. Feels like Tampa can poof a good starter into existence at any given moment, and Bradley wasn’t dominant in 59 innings at Triple-A (1.19 WHIP, 15.4 K-BB%). On the other hand, he’d just posted a 0.91 WHIP and 24.6 percent strikeout minus walk rate in 74.1 innings at Double-A. The Rays make overperformers out of decent athletes all the time. Bradley is a plus athlete. I don’t know if he’ll splash like McClanahan or Rasmussen did, but I am expecting something pretty similar when they deem Bradley ready. Finally, I want to punch Grey in the head.” Okay, not cool! We all love our rookie starters — I called ahead for a table for one. The name is: Horntown. — but they could clobber you. Plus, Eflin will be back soon, so I could see a Taj Bradley streamer, but he’s likely not long for mixed league relevance. At least not this first call up, i.e., Taj isn’t ready for the long Mahal just yet. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?