Grey

Lane Thomas, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 17, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 67 Comments

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You know the cinematic technique where the dolly wheels in and the camera zooms out? It’s used in films to make the viewer feel uneasy. A classic example is in Jaws:

That was me. I was Roy Scheider when I started to discover Lane Thomas. He’s just a random outfielder on a not-that-great team. Dolly wheels in. He used to play for the Cards and all ex-Cards outfielders are great. Camera zooms out. Stands up on the beach and screams to the water. “Get Lane Thomas out of there! He’s worthwhile!” Runs to the water and throws Frank Schwindel out of the way, “I have to save real sleepers!” Pushes aside Ian Happ, “Please, Ian! Not this year! You’re a sleeper every gee-dee year! Yes, ‘gee-dee’ because this movie is PG!” Paddling into the water, “Lane! Grab my hand!” On the shores, the mayor calls out to panicked tourists, “There’s nothing to see here.” So, what can we expect from Lane Thomas for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Psyche! Before we get into the Lane Thomas 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 opening a day on an advent calendar and there’s accidentally two chocolates. Anyway II, the Lane Thomas sleeper:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/11
ARI | ATH | BOS | CHW | CIN | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIL | MIN | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | WSH | ATL | BAL | CHC | CLE | MIA | NYM | OAK | SEA | TOR
Grey

Luis Urias, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 16, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 27 Comments

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Like someone practicing tantric sex, this has been a long time coming. The only thing that nearly stopped me from writing this post was because I wrote a Willy Adames sleeper, but that’s no reason to not think a Luis Urias sleeper is possible. *counting double negatives* One “no reason,” two “not think”…are “nearly” or “but” negatives too? Okay, ya know what, double or triple negatives aside, Adames’s sleeperiness doesn’t stop Urias’s sleeperitude. Not sure why this year has worked out this way, but I did a Brandon Marsh sleeper and a Jo Adell sleeper, and followed that with Willy Adames and Luis Urias sleepers. Sometimes these things happen. They shouldn’t affect us in any negative way. It reminds me of last year when everyone wanted to bail on Jose Ramirez because Francisco Lindor was traded. It didn’t stop Jose Ramirez from having a great year, and Willy Adames breaking out won’t stop Luis Urias from breaking out too, or vice versa. In fact (Grey’s got more!), one player breaking out might help the other. More offense the better! Maybe Christian Yelich can stop smelling up baseball’s whole ass, and remember how he’s better with a Launch Angle that wouldn’t be classified as “premeditated worm murder,” then the entire Brewers offense can start clicking again. Though, we don’t need other guys to be good for Luis Urias (or Willy Adames) to hit, as just mentioned with Jose Ramirez.

Last year, Luis Urias, or Lurias if you’re in a rush, went 23/5/.249/.345/.445 and a .340 wOBA. If you’ve been following Razzball for an Urban Dictionary minute, which is actually a long time, you know I’ve been loving Lurias since he went 19/7/.315 in only 73 games of Triple-A in the Padres’ farm system. Oops, I forgot, PETA said I have to call “farm system” an “animal prison complex.” So, what can we expect from Luis Urias for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Psyche! Before we get into the Luis Urias 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 randomly putting on Showtime, and Porky’s just starting. Anyway II, the Luis Urias sleeper:

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

Cleveland Guardians Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball

December 15, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 31 Comments

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Youth is power among the low-payroll clubs, and no team exemplifies that more than Cleveland, who has been mostly successful in terms of wins and losses despite constantly feeling the creep of (air quotes) market forces. After an eventful 40-man roster deadline day that saw the club turn over 20+ percent of its personnel, Cleveland is on the verge of something new in more ways than one (cue the Starlord memes). This system is loaded, is what I’m saying, and though they’ve faced a recent downturn in on-field talent, that should be short-lived, especially on the pitching side.    

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Willy Adames, 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

December 14, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 29 Comments

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So, the Steamer projections are out. They’re not done yet. Well, they’re done, as in Steamer is done with theirs, but our projections are not done yet. Our projections take Steamer projections and alter them with Rudy’s special sauce. That’s why you’ll see analysis of baseball projections and see stuff like Steamer and Steamer/Razzball projections. Here’s Jeff Zimmerman of FanGraphs doing analysis of preseason projections from the past year. To quote him, “Continuing a theme from the early season pitcher projections, Razzball absolutely crushed the innings and strikeout projections.” *Rudy does a curtsy.* Technically, when people say Steamer projections, they don’t mean Steamer projections either. They mean FanGraphs/Steamer or Razzball/Steamer. Steamer doesn’t do playing time, so there’s no such thing as, “Steamer projected Brandon Woodruff for 203 IP.” FanGraphs or Razzball might’ve projected someone for that, but not Steamer; they give rates. I bring this up, because Steamer/FanGraphs (based off their depth charts) gives Willy Adames 23/7/.252 in 143 games. (That essentially means if he saw 200 games, he’d get 32 homers.) Just to catch everyone up, this past year Willy Adames went 25/5/.262 in 140 games (497 ABs), so Steamer is basically expecting him to repeat the same year, minus two homers and some average. Last preseason, Steamer/Razzball gave him 17/7/.245, after he was coming off a 8/2/.259 season in 54 games. Lot of numbers there, but I guess my point is this: Preseason projections are great, ours are real and spectacular, but — and this is a J. Lo-sized but — projections stay close to the vest and follow a guy’s career path. If Adames had hit 17 homers this past year, he wouldn’t be projected for 24, and if he hit 35 homers, he’d be projected for more. These sleeper posts are meant to find the guys who are going to exceed their projections, which is why these guys are riskier, but also where you’re going to make it *rains dollar bills.* Turn your umbrella upside down so you can collect these dollar bills, which are still worth about .0000000000000000000000001 of a Bitcoin. So, what can we expect from Willy Adames for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Psyche! Before we get into the Willy Adames 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 The Power of the Dog. It’s on Netflix, and it was dope; you should watch. Anyway II, the Willy Adames sleeper:

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

The Not Not News Podcast: Maple Syrup Crisis in Canada

December 13, 2021 | All Podcasts | 3 Comments

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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 Thai pizza chain sells cannabis pizza and a Minneapolis man strips naked then masturbates at the airport. Then Canada has maple syrup crisis and the world’s first living robots are created.

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

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?
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?