Grey

Edward Cabrera, 2022 Fantasy Outlook

November 22, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 19 Comments

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Imagine sexy upside starters are a twirling jump rope, and I’m skipping right outside of the swinging jump rope, counting myself off before jumping in. Okay, the jump rope are the Marlins’ sexy, upside rookie starters and I’m, well, me. It’s so hard to know where to jump in on the Marlins’ sexy, upside rookie starters. Do I cover Sixto Sanchez (again), Max Meyer, or Edward Cabrera? Not to mention, they have five starters in their rotation that I love — Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez, and Jesus Luzardo. The Marlins are just stacked with starters. Before we get to Edward Cabrera and what he can do (or you can skip to the 2nd paragraph, but that is cheating), can Cabrera even get in this rotation? Yes. Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeees. Sandy Alcantara is the only surefire starter. As said about 168 words ago, I love the Marlins starters, but “safe” they are not. Rogers was so overworked by the end of the year; Pablo, Elieser, Jesus and Sixto might be good for 800 IP or 80. Speaking of 80, it’s how many innings Edward Cabrera threw last year because of elbow soreness. Um, cool? Well, Prospect Itch covered that, here’s what he said, “Cabrera didn’t throw much in 2020 due to recurring elbow soreness, then opened this season in the same limbo. Unlike about 90 percent of these stories, Cabrera’s did not wind up with Tommy John surgery. Instead, the thickening 6’5” righty was hitting 100 mph by midseason and combining that heat with a have-a-seat changeup at 92, a tight slider at 87 and an average curveball at 83. His slider has generated the best results thus far in the big leagues, holding opposing hitters to a .167 slugging percentage in 100 pitches. He’s thrown it 23.5 percent of the time, preferring the fastball (36.9%) and change (24.6%), each of which has been hit hard (.758 xSLG and .824 xSLG, respectively). He’s certainly a sleeper target for 2022 redraft leagues, but his command will have to take a step forward, something I think is fair to bet on given the organization’s history and the player’s baseline athleticism. Unlike Grey, who is an out-of-shape loser.” That’s hurtful, man. So, what can we expect from Edward Cabrera for 2022 fantasy baseball?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | OAK | SEA | WSH
The Itch

Baltimore Orioles Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball

November 21, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 12 Comments

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These birds are in no rush, man.

They’re just getting going on the international front, so even though we might pounce on players who sign for big deals, I’m skeptical of the infrastructure in place to ease those teenagers’ transitions to professional baseball in the states. I’m skeptical of the whole plan, to be honest, given the slow-roasting, historical-losing outcomes we’ve seen so far. If Baltimore can follow the path the Astros and Cubs laid out by being truly abysmal for a half-decade just before the dawn of a successful stretch, the fans will appreciate the end point, assuming any remain. The AL East piece suggests their hands were tied to some extent–that the only path was full-tank with no on-field investments in the pitching or hitting side. I dunno. It’s just tough for me to get super hyped about the big future all these guys might have when we’ve seen what it took to acquire them. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Roansy Contreras, 2022 Fantasy Outlook

November 19, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 13 Comments

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Since I’m focused mostly on 2022 fantasy baseball, and how guys can help us next year, whenever next year is, Roansy Contreras moved up on the radar, because the Pirates’ puzzling moves at the end of the year to bring up their guys. It was almost like a showcase for the Rays. “So, do you like Roansy for a middle reliever? Right…Who do you want to send us? Garrett Whitlock for Roansy and Oneil Cruz? Okay, but it says here the Rays don’t have Garrett Whitlock that he’s on the Red Sox. The team media guide is wrong? Okay, that sounds fair then, we’ll send you Roansy and Oneil for a player we’re not sure you have on your team.” Jokes aside, for the life of me, I can’t understand why Roansy Contreras was called up for one day at the end of the year, then sent back down a day later, but maybe someone has a better idea than me. Either way, since the Pirates did that, it means the Pirates are at least considering Roansy Contreras for the 2022 Pirates’ rotation, which puts him on our radar. So, what can we expect from Roansy Contreras for 2022 fantasy baseball?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Triston Casas, 2022 Fantasy Outlook

November 18, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 28 Comments

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There’s likely a lot of factors that go into fantasy baseball prospects, but here’s two I look at:

1. Ready and it’s up to the club.

2. Not ready.

Frank Voila! That’s it! Well, maybe not it it, but it is close enough to it. That it is in the It Crowd. In the big broad, general sense. If the player is in the 2nd category, then I’m not going to cover them. It’s why we have Prospectors Itch and Hobbs. They’ll tell you the guys who will be ready, eventually. My job is to tell you the guys who are ready, then leave it up to the team on whether or not they’re going to promote them. Triston Casas aka The House of Triston, as he’s known to George RR Martin, is ready. Honestly, Triple-A is a way station, in general. If a guy is in Triple-A, he could be in the majors. There’s no more “learning” for Triple-A guys. Maybe some are just not good enough for the majors, so they sit in Triple-A for years, but even those guys are Quad-A guys, not Triple-A guys. See, there’s no such thing as Triple-A. You’ve been woke’d up. You’re welcome. This doesn’t mean the Red Sox will call up Triston Casas, just because he’s in Triple-A. But they could at any time. So, what can we expect from Triston Casas for 2022 fantasy baseball?

Psyche! Before we get to the rest of the post, just wanted to announce that we’re doing an NFBC league. Originally, we were talking about starting an NFBC Draft Champions league (slow draft, you don’t have to be at your computer) on Black Friday, but I forgot I had family in town for Thanksgiving, so I set the league up to draft starting the following Monday at noon EST. That’s the Monday after Thanksgiving (11/29). It is a slow draft league; you don’t need to be at your computer to draft. Yes, I said this already five sentences ago, so sue me! First person to sue gets Razzball, 2nd person gets Cougs, 3rd person to sue gets my car — it needs oil! The league will be the Draft Champions format, $150 to join, and you can win $1000, or $350 to place, or $150 to show — overall prize is $30,000, 2nd place is $7,500 etc. You can find the prizes at their site. The link for the league is here, NFBC LEAGUE. This 15-team league has no waivers and is Draft and Hold. This league already has quite a few people who have joined, because I opened it to our Patreon a few days ago. I’m going to start rolling out my rankings there soon too. Anyway, back to Triston Casas for 2022 fantasy baseball:

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

San Francisco Giants Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball

November 17, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 26 Comments

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My primary strategy for escaping the moneyball mindfuck that is being a baseball fan in the Manfred era is that I root mostly for individuals. I love to see it when players make it big. Get that money, if you can, while you can. I love to see it when front offices that have good processes experience enough success to fund more of that good process. Farhan Zaidi and company have good processes in place in San Francisco. One example is the Brandon Crawford contract. Guy earned it, was willing to stay, and the team accepted the risk of inking an aging player before any kind of deadline spurred action. The real examples, though–the best examples–are all the players succeeding up and down this system. If a free agent signs with the Giants, bump him up on your draft sheets. A similar rule applies to their prospects now as the organization seeks to join the top tier of baseball-development firms.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

eDETuardo Rodtigeurez

November 16, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 57 Comments

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The Tigers must be picking my brain, because Eduardo Rodriguez was on my short-list for a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper post. I am asking the Tigers politely: Please, stop picking my brain, after just recently going on a Scarecrow-esque spiritual journey of going from no brain to a half brain to a full-full brain. People with full-full brains call them “full-full brains,” right? Yes? Cool, thanks. So, last year, Eduardo Rodriguez went 13-8 with a 3.32 FIP, a 10.6 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. If you’re like me — a full-full brain person — then you’re likely thinking, “Hey, this guy never mentioned his ERA or WHIP!” Smart, we are. Talk like Yoda, I do. I didn’t mention those stats, because I wanted you to see how good Eduardo Rodriguez was before telling you how bad Eduardo Rodriguez was. If you just saw those numbers, you’d be like, “This guy with a full-full brain is telling me Ed-Rod is good, and those numbers are showing me Ed-Rod is good-good, so how would he even be a 2022 fantasy baseball sleeper?” Good question for someone who doesn’t sound full-full in the head like me. Ed-Rod had a 4.74 ERA last year in 157 2/3 IP. Ha, that’s awful, and why I think a lot of people will be ignoring him. Eduardo Rodriguez was very unlucky in 2020, then in much different ways he was unlucky again in 2021. Focus on his xBA numbers, because that’s what’s gonna f**k us (pun points!):

Look at those xBA’s. That’s crazy. Every single pitch should’ve produced better results, except his slider (more on that in a second). His velocity was down a hair in 2021, but it was really down in April, after a full year off, then it hovered up. Not quite reaching 2019 levels, but close enough. I’m not worried about velocity losses. Fenway is not a great park for BABIPs, so can dismiss some his bad luck across the board, but *that* much bad luck? Did he walk under a ladder on the way out to the mound every game? If he were traded after 2019, and he had a new home park in 2021, I might say these BABIPs might not regress, but this guy is clearly being unlucky and that will correct itself. Quick take away unrelated to the xBA numbers is he’s starting to figure out his slider, which has been a long time in the germination pod. Since 2015, he’s been throwing a slider and the values that it’s produced are all negative, which makes me chuckle a little. He’s still trying it, and it still is not great. Either way, last year was the best, uh, negative it’s been at -0.14. To give you an idea of how to compare that, in 2019, it was -2.31. That’s very bad. Don’t think that means a lot, but if his slider becomes a positive pitch for him to go with his cutter, fastball and change, three pitches that were all extremely positive as recently as 2019, Ed-Rod’s not going to be a sleeper that becomes a number two, but he’ll be an ace.

I’ve been a fan of Ed-Rod for so long, I painted his face on a kitchen cabinet that I call my Ed-Rod cupboard and it’s where I store my Top Gun-themed collectible Big Gulp cups. He’s rewarded me with two seasons of 3.82 and 3.81 (who are you, Khris Davis with the number .247), then I was out last year, due to him missing 2020, but it’s time to get back in. 2022 might be the year where we finally see him realize the immense upside. For 2022, I’ll give Eduardo Rodriguez projections of 14-7/3.77/1.24/217 in 191 IP with a chance for more. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for 2022 fantasy baseball:

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

The Not Not News Podcast: Astronauts In Diapers

November 15, 2021 | All Podcasts |

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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 drunk man joins the search party for himself and an artist charges $84,000 for two blank canvasses calling them “modern art.” Later, a man builds a rotating house for his nagging wife and astronauts return to earth in diapers!

After you listen to the podcast, we’d love to hear any feedback you might have for us down in the comments!

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

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Jose Barrero, 2022 Fantasy Outlook

November 15, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 35 Comments

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Earlier this year, the Reds called up Jose Barrero, formerly known as Jose Garcia, formerly known as Jose Garces, a former Iron Chef–Okay, being told he is not a former Iron Chef. Jose Barrero is a shortstop by trade, but was called up to play some outfield for the injured Nick Senzel. Nick Senzel injured? No way, Jose Barrero! Barrero ended up playing 2B (2 games); SS (9) and OF (7) in the majors, and some 3rd base in the minors, which shows the Reds are ready to play him anymore. With great reason:  In Triple-A, 13/8/.306/.392/.594 in 45 games, and he’s a five-tool guy, which takes no air out of this Cuban raftee, only buoys the hype. Here’s what Prospect Itch said about him, “The team’s best position prospect found himself blocked by a career-best stretch from Kyle Farmer, so much so that he split time between short and center field while he was with the big club in September. That’s okay. Barrero can handle either spot, and while he might not be a gold-glove-level defender in center the way he was on the dirt, his physical gifts will help him improve quickly as he goes along. Cincinnati doesn’t have anyone else there, so Barrero has a good shot to open 2022 as the captain of that outfield. He came into his own on offense in 2021–his fourth season in the states after signing out of Cuba, slashing .303/.380/.539 with 19 HR and 16 SB across 85 games in the minors (40 at AA and 45 at AAA). We’ve long been Barrero believers here at Razzball and can’t wait to see how his power plays in the Great American Drive to Deep Left, and Grey’s an idiot.” Okay, end part wasn’t cool, but I agree with Itch. I love me some Jose Barrero. So, what can we expect from Jose Barrero for 2022 fantasy baseball?

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

San Diego Padres Top 10 Prospects for 2022 Fantasy Baseball 

November 14, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 17 Comments

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Feels like I should say something about MacKenzie Gore here, but I don’t know what to say that might be actionable for fantasy purposes. You probably can’t trade for him, nor should you want to, probably. If you have him already, you may have tried to trade him away. I hope you hit the timing just right on that if so. He’s not a spent asset by any means, but he’s been managing multiple deliveries for so long now it’ll be inconveniently tough for him to repeat any of them like an MLB starter. He’s still young though, and this system is about more than Gore. Even as it’s been strip-mined so AJ Preller could chase the playoffs (and the headlines), this Padres minor league group offers potential impact in both the short and long term. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: CBAs, Lockouts, and Goodbyes

November 12, 2021 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 8 Comments

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Dear readers, listeners, and friends this is my final post on Razzball. After years of working a variety of jobs here I have taken a full-time role with Baseball America. So this is a emotional podcast for me and not just because we discuss the CBA! I want to thank everyone for their support over the years. Soooooooo… anyway, we invited on Tipping Pitches (@tipping_pitches on twitter). If you’re not familiar Alex and Bobby discuss the labor element of baseball. The guys were great sports as Grey and myself (two men of below-average intelligence but above-average looks) pepper them with questions about the CBA and potential lockout. It’s an all-time classic!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Reid Detmers, 2022 Fantasy Outlook

November 12, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 38 Comments

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This young Angels starter, Reid Detmers, isn’t also a great hitter so why do we care? In this 14,000 word essay, I will explain to you how Reid’s not Ohtani, but he is Okay-to-me! Okay-i, first-y thingy first-y, let’s read Reid, reed, read, Reid, read, reed–What’s wrong with you? Broken record-itis? Here’s what others before me have said on Reid Detmers, then I will rejoin you on the other side (it’s a lot, but what the heck, let’s do it). Here’s Prospect Hobbs from the top 10 college prospects to target in dynasty leagues, “Several players on this list would be ranked ahead of Reid Detmers if this were solely about upside, but it’s not. I’d be hard-pressed to tell you to pick up and hold a prospect not destined to reach the pro circuit for several years. So although many feel Detmers projects as a middle-of-the-rotation guy who sits around 90-94 MPH with his fastball, he has elite command and pitchability and should move more quickly through the minors than many of the arms that are drafted before him this June.” Side note from Grey, Hobbs was right that Detmers would move through the minors fast. Detmers debuted in the majors this past year to garbage results (7.40 ERA), but it was only 20 2/3 IP and he’s still 22 years old. So, what can we expect from Reid Detmers for 2022 fantasy baseball? Or, rather: Let’s get back to Hobbs!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Grayson Rodriguez, 2022 Fantasy Outlook

November 11, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Rookies | 19 Comments

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Here’s Grayson Rodriguez, and we’ll pick up everything we know on the other side of feasting your peep-holes on him:

Especially like the pitch towards the end that the catcher can’t even get a glove on. That’s filth. That’s what an ace looks like in the minors. His minor league results: 23 GS, 2.36 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 2.67 FIP, 40.5 K%, 6.8 BB%, 14.1 K/9, 161 K in 103 IP between High-A and Double-A. He won the Jim Palmer Award for the MILB Pitcher of the Year for the Orioles. They presented him with a pair of Jockey underwear. The bad news that I’m omitting here is–No, not that the Jockey underwear were previously worn. That I don’t know, but maybe they were since it’s the Orioles, which brings me to my problem that I omitted. This was the 2nd year that Grayson Rodriguez won the Orioles’ MILB Pitcher of the Year award, which is such a joke. The Orioles are cheap eh-eff. This kind of bee ess really needs to end, so I can stop spelling out cuss words. There should be zero incentive for a MLB team to keep a prospect in the minors if he’s ready. Grayson Rodriguez prolly could’ve had a season as good as Alek Manoah last year, but he’s throwing darts in the minors. So, what can we expect from Grayson Rodriguez for 2022 fantasy baseball?

Please, blog, may I have some more?