Grey

Brandon Marsh, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 13, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 16 Comments

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This is the 2nd Angels outfielder that I’ve pegged as a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper. What’s the chances that comes to fruition? Zero? Can you do negative odds? Last year I pegged Jared Walsh as a sleeper, and he broke out. This year I like two. What can I tell you, I’m a dumb man. At least I think Luis Rengifo is still very terrible. Having Mike Trout (I think, he still plays, right?) and Shohei Ohtani in the lineup with Anthony Rendon (remember him? I legit forgot until I looked at their depth charts), David Fletcher, Jared Walsh, Stassi, Adell and Brandon Marsh shouldn’t be a layup for anyone. Their pitching still looks pretty raunchy, so don’t worry, it’s not like I’m picking the Angels to win the World Series. Above average hitting? Yeah, I’d think so. Unlike Jo Adell, or similar to Jo Adell, depending on how poorly that works out for me, Brandon Marsh might have playing time issues. Assuming Mike Trout is healthy (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA), there’s two outfielder spots for Adell, Marsh, Phil Gosselin and Justin Upton. Clearly, I think Adell and Marsh are easily the lead candidates for the last two spots, but other guys have to get some at-bats, and benching the lefty Marsh against lefties does make some sense. It’s not ideal, but there’s plenty of other reasons to like Marsh, besides always knowing where the stash is:

So, what can we expect from Brandon Marsh for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Psyche! Before we get into the Brandon Marsh sleeper post, just wanted to announce that I’ve begun to roll out my 2022 fantasy baseball rankings on our Patreon. It’s an early Xmas miracle! Like this new deodorant that I invented that smells like sweat. Investors? Anyone? Anyway II, the Brandon Marsh sleeper:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Wed 8/6
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 Itch

Chicago White Sox Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball

December 12, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 20 Comments

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This is not a strong system, but you could probably guess as much given their recent run of rated rookies and deadline deals. Something about the weak systems invites me to dig, and I probably spent too much time doing that here, where I think I found ten players who legitimately matter for our game. As is often the case, the more I dug, the less I found, so I kept going and wound up liking a few of these players more than consensus. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Jo Adell, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 10, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 44 Comments

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He was drafted in 2017. Snooze, what’s taking so long for Jo Adell? Wait a second, he’s still only going to be 22 years old when the 2022 season starts? Assuming it starts. It’ll start. Right? Riiiiiiiiight? Eight I’s!? Whoa, that’s a lot of I’s and Jo Adell is still pretty young. I have gotchies older. Of course, those gotchies are in a framed-glass case behind my desk for my Zoom calls. It’s a move to impress people. It’s failed to do so just yet. Okay, recapping non-underwear news! Jo Adell went 27/10 across two levels this past year, Triple-A and the majors. He hit .289/.342/.592 in Triple-A, then came up and hit .246/.295/.408 in the majors. This was in 441 total ABs (130 in the majors). His final 17 games in the majors: 3/1 and .302/.343/.524 when he hit in 14 of the final 17 games. Because MLB hates baseball fans to see games in their geographic region, I had to search to some Jo Adell home run clips, wanna see them? Of course, you do!

He hit that so easily I’m picking the bottom of my jaw off the floor. Let’s see another the other way:

I don’t want to say anything stupid, but he kinda reminds me of Fun Tatis Jr., due to the ease the ball jumps out. Everyone in the organization was impressed with the gains Jo Adell made. Might say Maddon was singing Adell’s praises, saying he set fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire to the raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain. That’s a direct quote, but they were karaoking at the time. But was this a true fix or a small sample masquerading as a big sample with a monthly subscription to Get Roman? So, what can we expect from Jo Adell for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Alex Kirilloff, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 9, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 18 Comments

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I call this year’s fantasy baseball sleepers,”Rookies that failed to impress last year.” Okay, not all, but Alex Kirilloff is clearly in the same boat as Jarred Kelenic and Andrew Vaughn. By the by, before we start, I can’t properly express how much I must like Alex Kirilloff, because spelling his last name over and over again is like trying to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time. Double L, double F, double R–Damn! There’s no double R! I patted my stomach and rubbed my head, didn’t I? Try again! Okay, double K–ugh, out already. All right, first up, what did he do last year? Not much! Moving on! Okay, fine: 8/1/.251 in 215 ABs. Not fair to put that all at the feet of Kirilloff or his inexperience or nerves or whatever you want to put at his feet — how about a cape so he can walk over puddles? Put that at his feet! Sorry, I lost it for a second. You can’t blame Kkiirriillooff because he was injured in May, and needed wrist surgery in July. There was talk about him returning at the end of the season. Not much talk of it, but some light speculation. I only mention that to say, if he almost returned at the tail end of last year, he should be fully healed by the time we get to March. That’s also the biggest caveat here. Wrist surgery for a hitter isn’t ideal, but he’s young (23 at time of surgery, 24 now) and should be able to heal in a reasonable amount of time. So, what can we expect from Alex Kirilloff for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Toronto Blue Jays Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball

December 8, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 32 Comments

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It’s tough to see how things get better than they were in 2021. Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien were grand slam one-year signings. Vladimir Guerrero chased a triple crown. Alek Manoah dominated as a rookie. Jose Berrios pitched well down the stretch after the club swapped two top prospects to get him. And therein lies the upside. The club was able to sign Berrios to a long-term deal, and I have a hard time imagining Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson outproducing him over the next few seasons. Another plus: this organization knows what it’s doing. This system remains solid despite the recent graduations and trades with another couple potential-star-level prospects in the pipeline and several interesting upside and depth pieces behind them. All the team’s best players are young, and the ownership group is rich enough to push anytime it wants. Perhaps Kevin Gausman will adequately replicate Robbie Ray. Perhaps Teoscar Hernandez and Vladimir Guerrero will hold serve at the levels they established in 2021. And perhaps the top guy on this list will inject enough life into the lineup that they’ll rarely miss Marcus Semien. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Andrew Vaughn, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 7, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 20 Comments

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What fun is writing up fantasy baseball sleepers if they’re all obvious. Sure, I could write up a fantasy baseball sleeper for Ketel Marte, but what fun is that? Just because he could return to a 25-homer, .320 hitter? Am I sneakily writing a Ketel Marte sleeper post right under your nose without you realizing it? No, I’m not sneaky. Are you implying I am because I’m half-Jewish. That’s anti-Semitic, and not cool. Luckily, my people run the media, so we can erase all of this later when it ages really poorly. Andrew Vaughn is the not-so-obvious sleeper. In 127 games and 417 ABs, Vaughn went 15/1/.235 with a 9.7 Launch Angle and 36.1% fly ball rate. How do I put this in the most disrespectful way possible? Andrew Vaughn sucked last year. If you abbreviate Andrew Vaughn as AV and talk about him clubbing for power, well, it would be like AV Club reviewing a film where a large man shudders, exiting a lukewarm bath in Iceland. Not great stuff! That’s what makes Andrew Vaughn a not-so-obvious sleeper, which is better for us. So, what can we expect from Andrew Vaughn for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Donkey Teeth

The Not Not News Podcast: Toy Of The Year Pulled From Shelves

December 6, 2021 | All Podcasts |

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Attention Razzballers! The Not Not News Podcast is now available 100% free of charge! Subscribe to the Not Not New Podcast here or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

It’s your favorite hour of the week!  The Not Not News is back with all the Billy Hurley jokes and Grey Albright cackles you can handle. This week, a Canadian grandmother discovers a toy cactus swears and sings about cocaine. Then a tween eats nothing but chicken nuggets her entire life and 61 people are stranded inside a British pub with an Oasis cover band.

Listen to the entire show below, now 100% free of charge!

Here are this week’s stories so you can follow along:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Jarred Kelenic, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 6, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 16 Comments

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Promise you all of my 2022 fantasy baseball sleepers won’t be “very hyped rookie who failed to live up to hype and is now priced well in drafts.” Though, how about that Brett Lawrie?! No, seriously…But what about Ian Happ?! C’mon! He had a good 2nd half. Okay, gonna stop there, since I might actually write an Ian Happ sleeper post for the fifth year in a row. So, I was looking at the top xwOBAs, which is a ton of letters to understand — yo, xwOBAs, who do you think you are, SAGNOF? — and I was sorting by who should be better in 2022 and Jarred Kelenic was in no way near the top of that (213th out of 328). Then I looked at Jarred Kelenic’s xBA and it was .215, and I started to hold my nose like I smelt a fart that was trapped under a dead body. Then I looked at his average exit velocity and that was hideous (87.5 MPH) and I began to think maybe I shouldn’t bother with the Jarred Kelenic sleeper post. There was always Ian Happ, amiright? But I can’t give up on Jarred Kelenic, not that quickly, not yet. Sure, he had the same expected stats as Alcides Escobar, but he can’t be that bad, can he? Well, he was, but will he be? That’s the real question, or this one: So, what can we expect from Jarred Kelenic for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Tampa Bay Rays Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball

December 5, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 22 Comments

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Witchcraft. That’s the plainest explanation. We need to get some ducks and a big old scale and sort this out once and for all. 

It’s no exaggeration to say the Rays have changed baseball. Has there ever been a more successful stretch by a team who didn’t win a single World Series? Perhaps, but probably not if you’re giving them bonus points for thrift, which I think we should probably stop doing at some point. We’re just really into discounts, is all, so when we see a team win as something of a walking clearance rack, we like that. It’s hard-wired. The success here is built from the ground up–a long-term developmental outlook that perennially puts Tampa in the top tier of minor league systems. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Jesus Sanchez, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 3, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 49 Comments

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Went back and searched my posts for every mention of the word “sleeper” until the All-Star Break. So, if I said, “(player’s name) was going to be a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper,” I made note of it with a slash. By the time, I was done, well, put the Jesus Sanchez slashes on a tree, and it would look like Tom Hanks in Castaway. It was like this over the last few months of the season, “I gotta write a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper for Jesus Sanchez,” “How long until I can write a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper for Jesus Sanchez?” “Have I written a Jesus Sanchez 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper or have I just mentioned it so much that it feels like I’ve written it already?” By the time I was done searching three months of daily roundups, it felt like Jesus Sanchez wasn’t a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper anymore, but ya know what? Eff that, bros, four sisters and one sista! I’m highlighting this em-effer!

So, guess what, snitches? We’re done with the fantasy baseball rookies and onto the 2022 fantasy baseball sleepers! Can I get a what-WHAT?! No, the 2nd “what” is louder, not from the standing position. That’s what caps mean:  louder. You thought caps meant it was said while wearing a baseball cap? You have a malfunctioning brain. Okay, forget it! I’m moving on! Across two levels of baseball last year, Jesus Sanchez went 24/1 with a .348 average in Triple-A (37 games) and a .251 average in the majors (64 games). I separated the averages for the two levels rather than average the, uh, averages together because:  I’m lazy. Okay, also, because Triple-A was an insanely high BABIP and he’s not a .348 hitter. If you were to combine his Triple-A and majors numbers, I’d say he went 24/1/.251. That’s what he’s closer to. Well, that and God himself! Jesus, take the steering wheel! Nah, seriously, I need both hands to try to dig around for this last boba in my drink. *tires screech, car flies off a cliff* So, what can we expect from Jesus Sanchez for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Psyche! Before we get into the Jesus Sanchez sleeper post, just wanted to announce that I’ve begun to roll out my 2022 fantasy baseball rankings on our Patreon. It’s an early Hannukah miracle! Well, late Hanukah miracle this year. The Jews should really decide on one day to start Hanukah each year, and stick with it. It’s better for branding. Anyway II, the Jesus Sanchez sleeper:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Tigers Hoping They Don’t Javy Baez Remorse

December 2, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 62 Comments

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Figured if I heard the first part of the sentence, “Finally, the Tigers went out and got their man,” it would be followed by a story about how a few tigers dressed up as humans, went to visiting hours at Joe Exotic’s jail and ate him. It didn’t mean that, but if the Tigers sign Carole Baskin, the Pirates will trade Bryan Reynolds to the Tigers for her. So, the Tigers signed Javier Baez, and I love it. Tigers are sneakily becoming my “Pick it to stick it!” Which translates to a team I put hundred schmools on to win the World Series, and they just miss the playoffs. Javier Baez is defined, for better or worse, for his lack of walks — wacks? Hey, that’s actually pretty good. “Baez is too reliant on wacks to be a reliable batting average guy.” Wacks seems to give off a negative connotation in the mind of fantasy baseballers (<–my mom’s term!). If you’re in an OBP league, then I get it, but I’m not talking about OBP when I say Baez is continually underrated, which, brucely, is one of the weirder peccadillos in fantasy. By the way, never say “peccadillo” aloud because that would give someone the right to punch you in the nose. I say it’s weird because Baez is exactly the type that most love more than is deserved in real baseball. It’s truly bizarre. Real baseball people love Baez, even though he is a liability with his wacks, but, for fantasy, he’s underrated. I see Baez and want to “wacks” poetic. Comerica isn’t particularly fun-loving, so Baez has gone from Friendly Confines for power to neutral in Metco to a team whose player most synonymous with home runs was Matthew Boyd. Still, a guy who averages 27/15/.265 has my attention, and I’m ready to get my Baezian wacks. For 2022, I’ll give Javier Baez projections of 84/25/91/.257/14 in 541 ABs. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for fantasy baseball:

Psyche! Promise you sleepers are starting tomorrow, unless there’s some other big signing during the lockout, which is illegal, but what are legalities except illegalities that wear frilly shirts. Also, I’ve begun to roll out my 2022 fantasy baseball rankings on our Patreon. Anyway II, the roundup:

Please, blog, may I have some more?