First and foremost, I wish all of you a fun and safe Memorial Day. Hard to believe that we are almost done with two months of the season and moving officially into summer. We have an insane week of games coming up. The Cubs play 9 times (insert Ed Rooney.gif), while Detriot, Milwaukee, Minnesota, and […]
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Do you remember that one kid in elementary school who always seemed to win every raffle, cake walk or prize when it was nothing more than dumb luck? Well, welcome to Major League Baseball where that same kid is reimagined as Chris Davis and instead of winning the cake walk, he wins a ridiculous $161M contract. Both of these guys stink if you are not them and the second one sinks your fantasy season as well. This week our hitter profiles dig into a few luck metrics to warn or yearn for the rest of the season. Do not worry, I won’t mention Chris Davis again.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Red Sox second year breakout and probably should-be closer Garrett Whitlock began the night on a roll firing six innings of two run baseball, allowing just six base runners, five hits, one walk and striking out four. The offense was on fire, Xander Bogaerts had two hits with a 3-run homer, Fenway was abuzz, and […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Therapy is a good thing. Much of the stigma surrounding therapy appears to have disappeared and that is positive. Though I am not a therapist by trade, I feel as if the amount of back-and-forth banter I have shared with my fellow DFS writers and the Razzball readers has provided me some insight into the […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Happy Weekend to my Razzles from your Reporter of Fragiles! This week’s report will begin with a moment of silence for Kris Bryant. He was not off the IL for long, but he did come off of it. For a minute. While I am certainly breaking some sort of Razzball policy by showing you this, […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1019641″ player=”13959″ title=”BSH%209″ duration=”226″ description=”undefined” uploaddate=”2022-05-26″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1019641_th_1653533913.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1019641.mp4″]
(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH.)
Me and seven guys who I picked up in a Home Depot parking lot are bringing home a life-sized cutout of Grayson Rodriguez in a wheelbarrow. “Cory, please help me get my make-believe son, Gray, uh, son, onto my couch.” Cory and my new Home Depot friends, who I paid with Venmo, manage to lean the 6’5″, 220-pound cutout onto the couch.
Later, me and Cougs are watching The Staircase and between us is my make-believe son, Grayson. “Say hello, Grayson,” I say. I nudge the Grayson cutout with my arm, and it falls over crushing my wife’s foot. At the Urgent Care, I explain to Cougs that Grayson Rodriguez is the best pitcher the Orioles have right now. As a horsey might say, nay, he’s a top five arm in the AL East right now. If he’s healthy, it’s stuff you’re not seeing from many pitchers in the major leagues. Five above-average to plus-plus pitches with control. Through nine starts in Triple-A as the 9th youngest pitcher at the level: His K/9 is 13.7; his BB/9 is 2.9; his FIP is 1.77.
I shush Cougs’s sobs. I ask, “Are you sobbing from your broken foot from my make-believe son cutout falling on you or are you worried about his slider?” Before she can answer, I anticipate and tell her his fastball sits 95 MPH with a plus whiff rate, and his two plus secondaries are his curveball and changeup with whiff rates above 50%. Oh, and by the by, he has a slider and cutter that grade as average or better too. Is this man a hydra? What kind of water do they have in the Rio Grande that they’re giving this Texan? He’s unreal, like an alien. He just needs a nickname to play off Grayson, and being an alien. Oh, I know! Call him Spawn. Grayson’s going to be the best thing you’ve seen since the last future Hall of Famer was promoted. A chip right off the old block that fell on Cougs, that’s my Spawn!
Also, here’s me talking about Grayson Rodriguez (please subscribe to this friggin Youtube channel — click that and click subscribe):
Please, blog, may I have some more?As we head into Memorial Day weekend, this week has once again reminded me of the occasional agony that ensues due to the myriad of options available to fantasy owners in shallow leagues, options which simply aren’t there for those of us in the deep league world. On Wednesday, I managed to have both Joc […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Do you know anybody who tries too hard to be clever? A person who finds exceedingly difficult ways to do things when more easy, direct paths to success are staring them right in the face? That’s what this pitcher pick feels like today. Instead of saying “He’s one of the elite SPs going against perhaps […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1014595″ player=”13959″ title=”Bsh%20Week8″ duration=”207″ description=”undefined” uploaddate=”2022-05-18″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1014595_th_1652837712.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1014595.mp4″]
Bert Blyleven allowed a major league record 50 homers in 1986. It was in 271 innings. Hunter Greene (5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 5.89) might beat the record in 100 innings. There’s an old adage (I don’t know what an adage is but it sounds good) and it goes that starters are better at home. Just in general. Of course, there’s exceptions. Or I should say “of Coors.” Any hoo! Greene is the type that could throw a 15-K shutout vs. the Dodgers or give up five homers to the Marlins with Miguel Rojas leading the charge. His opponent or environs don’t matter, so it’s hard to roster a guy like that. Also, don’t ever say “environs” in real life, person you’re with has ever right to punch you. The offensive star of the game for the Reds was Kyle Farmer (4-for-4, 3 runs, 5 RBIs and his 2nd and 3rd homer). Was his first game back from being out with general soreness. Lucky he didn’t run into Major Setback. Also, in this game, Nick Senzel (4-for-4, 3 runs, 1 RBI) did what we expected of him in 2019, and 2020, and 2021, and, well, you get the picture, as he hit leadoff. Was this a sign of things to come or just going against a terrible pitcher? Well, Justin Steele (2 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 5.40) did not look good. Maybe it wasnt the best idea to pitch the Man of Steele against a guy the color of Kryptonite. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?It is often said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. At the same time, repetition is the key to anything, as it helps “transition a skill from the conscious to the subconscious.” Malcolm Gladwell and his 10,000 hours would agree. That said, walking to the garage, grabbing the hammer, then swinging it repeatedly towards one’s genitalia will bring pain. Every. Single. Time. Without fail. Trust me on this. But for some reason, we humans are an interesting species because we often get transfixed on the “This time is different” mantra. Man, life is too complicated. Anyways, for fantasy baseball, the huge sample size of stats allows us to ascertain a good lay of the landscape but there are always ebbs and flows, hot and cold streaks. In addition, one small tweak could alter the entire landscape. Martin Perez has had a FIP of at least 4.5 in each of the last six seasons but, in 2022, that number is at 2.44. He’s the 26th-best pitcher on the Razzball Player Rater to date. He’s been added in 34.1% of ESPN leagues over the past week and is coming off a complete-game shutout of the Houston Astros. I’ve been on this ride before and it’s rarely been pleasant, but I felt compelled to dig in further. Will I be falling for the Martin Perez in the tailpipe again?
Please, blog, may I have some more?Editor’s Note: As CA alludes to at the end of this post (spoiler warning!), his family is currently welcoming a little CA into the world. As a man of the people, he still got this article out on time but he didn’t get a chance to write a witty intro. Is a witty intro just […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Grab those bats, it’s that special time of the week to check in on some possible waiver adds that can take your squad to the next level. The weather is heating up and so are the power hitters. Maybe it’s the ball, maybe it’s the weather. Or maybe it’s that two months into the season guys are finally getting into the swing of things and finding their groove. Marh/April saw 574 home runs and a .231 batting average, with almost a week left in May we’re already up to 697 home runs and batting average is up to .244. That’s good news for fantasy managers and the points should keep flowing. Summer is upon us so get ready for some fireworks.
Please, blog, may I have some more?