Razz-a-ma-tazzers, there are two rules at Razzball that I made up*:

At Razzball, we keep our promises to bring you honest news about pain.
At Razzball, we also provide you with actionable fantasy baseball insights.
*Razzball leadership did not sanction or approve of these two rules.

In this edition of Ambulance Chasers, I will provide you with an MLB lockout update as well as a BONUS 2022 SP injury update and outlook.

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

The last two weeks we’ve talked about fantasy baseball from more of a mixed-league perspective, but this week I’m ready to start swimming back to the slightly deeper end of the pool as we continue to look at ADP and how it may affect early drafts. Even with ADP readily available, it’s tricky to know just how high you’ll need to grab ‘sleeper’ targets when there’s little to no ADP information out there. If you start drafting in November, as I do annually, it really can feel like a complete crapshoot. What I’m going to look at this week is a handful of players who I had at least loosely targeted and figured I could get very late, but have recently been going off the draft board earlier than I originally expected or hoped they would. Getting back to the deep league theme: while these players could ultimately prove to be options in shallower leagues, they all had an NFBC ADP outside the top 250 for the months of October and November combined.  As you’ll see, some of them have already creeped significantly higher up the ADP ranks now that we have an additional two months of draft data (i.e. numbers from December and January combined) to compare to the original October/November marks.  Obviously a solid spring (should spring training be a thing that ever happens again) could propel any of them even further up the draft board.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Attention Razzballers! The Not Not News Podcast is now available 100% free of charge! Subscribe to the Not Not New Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. It’s your favorite hour of the week!  The Not Not News is back with Billy Hurley, Grey Albright, and B_Don standing in as host for Donkey Teeth. We start […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Chugging right along in the 2022 fantasy baseball rankings! All things being equal the top 60 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball is around the 150th overall range to about 225th overall. This is your number three to fourth starters. Of course it could be your first starter if you’ve punted everything accidentally by oversleeping your draft. Wipe that sweat off your brow and grab the Streamonator! Oh, yeah, our subscriptions are up and running, and that comes with our online Fantasy Baseball War Room. Here’s Steamer’s 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. All projections included here are mine, and where I see tiers starting and stopping are included. Anyway, here’s the top 60 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball:

NOTE: All 2022 fantasy baseball projections are based on a 162-game season, and will be until we hear definitively there will be less games, due to the CBA. Also, I’m going on the assumption the NL is getting the DH.

NOTE II: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE III: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

College prospect coverage is officially back like cardigans and leather. Those are hip again, right? This is coming from a guy who had to ask a coworker what it meant last week when she said the staff taco bar was “bussin’, so you’ll have to pardon my mid-life cluelessness. Fortunately, one thing I’m not clueless about is the 2022 college draft class. After posting way-too-early top-10 rankings in September, I have reworked my original top 10 and added five new names to create the first installment in Razzball’s college rankings for the 2022 MLB Draft. As I’ve done here the last two years, I will expand upon this initial top 15 in the months leading up to July, culminating with a Complete College Top 100 prior to draft day. This year’s top 15 features three stud catching prospects, but only three right-handed hitters and three pitchers. It’s a draft class loaded with left-handed and switch-hitting position players, and everyone I’ll go over today should immediately be on your radar in dynasty formats and any league utilizing a first-year player draft. Once you have your lilac cardigan on with some trendy leather pants, click the button below and we’ll get started on the top 15.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

B_Don is joined by fellow Razzballer Steve Paulo (@StevePaulo) and Darik Buchar (@DBuchar) from the NFC to talk about the upcoming RazzSlam contest. Steve is our resident RazzSlam writer for the season and Darik is one of our primary contacts, and the two of them are here to go over the details and our draft strategies for the RazzSlam and the Cutline contest in general. We discuss how to handle some of the transitions from roto to the Cutline points set up and how to handle steals, starters vs closers, and other tricky areas. Darik walks us through the offerings from the NFBC this year. Before I let my guests go, I ask them about some of the big free agent signings of the off-season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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The top 40 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball fall roughly in the 75 to 125 overall for those of you who are wondering where we are overall, and, of course, when the rankings are done I will be along with a top 500 overall to show you exactly where we are. Think of this set of starters as your number twos and number threes, but, again, I will have a pitchers’ pairing tool to help with that too. I give and you receive. Ho, ho, ho, that’s me giving and you receiving. Also, our subscriptions are up and running, and that comes with our online Fantasy Baseball War Room. Here’s Steamer’s 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. All projections included here are mine, and where I see tiers starting and stopping are included. Anyway, here’s the top 40 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball:

NOTE: All 2022 fantasy baseball projections are based on a 162-game season, and will be until we hear definitively there will be less games, due to the CBA. Also, I’m going on the assumption the NL is getting the DH.

NOTE II: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE III: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Thirty third basemen thumping? What is this the Twelve Days of Christmas?

Well, yes and no. The gifts in that song, except for the golden rings, seem awful, and the third base position has gone down something of a  barren road the last few seasons. Vlad Jr. wound up at first base. Nolan Arenado wound up in St. Louis. He’s still fine, and Anthony Rendon is still good, probably, when healthy, and there’s still elite bats at the top, but in general, this position needs a talent infusion from a fantasy baseball perspective, and it might be about to get just that. Are there five golden bats in this group? We’ll have to peel our way to that truth one day at a time. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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The royal we already went over all the hitters for 2022 fantasy baseball rankings. That’s not the “royal we” as that term usually implies. It was me writing it alone while wearing a Burger King crown. I refuse to draft a top starter where they are usually drafted. Unlike hitters, you need six starters, depending on your league depth. In most leagues, there’s a ton of pitchers on waivers that can help you — all year. Not just in April. With the help of the Stream-o-Nator, you can get by with, say, three starters while streaming the rest. (By the by, Razzball Subscriptions are now open. Early subscribers get Rudy’s War Room, which I haven’t drafted without in about five years, and it’s worth the price of a subscription alone.) There’s also the fact that three stats by starters are difficult to predict due to luck. Wins, ERA and WHIP are prone to change, depending on which way the ball bounces and whether or not the guys behind the pitchers can score runs. Finally, the best starters can give you four categories. The best hitters can give you five categories. Here’s Steamer’s 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball:

NOTE: All 2022 fantasy baseball projections are based on a 162-game season, and will be until we hear definitively there will be less games, due to the CBA. Also, I’m going on the assumption the NL is getting the DH.

NOTE II: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE III: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I Mean, Prospects Don’t Last For 13 Years Right?

Some players get the call to stage quickly, and for some, like Frankie Montas it takes a bit longer when you’re sauteed on the hot stove. He began his journey stateside in professional baseball with the Red Sox in 2009. After working his way up their farm system to AA he was traded to the White Sox at the deadline in 2013 as a part of the 3-team deal that sent Jake Peavy to Boston. Starting over at A-ball he had to work his way up again, and finally, as a member of the AA Barons in 2015, Montas carried a 2.97 ERA in 112 IP.

That was enough to earn him a cup of coffee in which the young flamethrower posted a 12.0 K/9 despite a 5 BB/9 in a limited 15 innings. That same season he appeared in the Southern League All-Star Game as well as the MLB Futures Game. You see, in spring training that season Montas flashed his 70-grade fastball that began to touch 100 mph since he had built up more strength. And thus the hype built up with him.

Then that offseason, Frankie Montas was traded to the Dodgers. Once again, he was the primary chip in a deal; this time sending Todd Fraizer to the White Sox as part of another 3-team deal with the Reds.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Grey Albright and B_Don are back to go over 1B rankings for 2022 fantasy baseball. For the first two guys, Vlad and Freddie Freeman, see the top 20 podcast. Then, we walk through the 1B tiers and determine where we might be investing at 1B in our drafts to try and find the best values for the position. See how low B_Don is on Votto and what 1B he’d be taking over the veteran 1B.

We also look at Rudy’s first run of his projections to see how they compare with Grey. The 1B you take may be more about your team build than ADP or one player outproducing another by a large margin. For the catchers mentioned in this pod, check out the catchers podcast. And here are the Andrew Vaughn sleeper and Alex Kiriloff sleeper posts for your reading pleasure.

Please, blog, may I have some more?