The Hunt For No October with Joe Ryan

September 2, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 138 Comments

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In a deep Scottish accent, the Twins’ Triple-A manager said, “You’re comin’ up tae join th’ club, Joe Ryan. Ur ye excited?”
Joe Ryan paused, then asked, “What are you saying?”
“Aam Sean Connery an’ aam daein’ a Scottish accent. Ur ye excited, certainly, Jack Ryan?”
He scratched his head, then, “Huh? Oh. My name’s Joe Ryan.”

So, Joe Ryan was called up to start on Wednesday, and I settled in to watch. He was one of the pieces the Rays sent to the Twins for Nelson Cruz. Since the Rays sent him away, I expect he’ll spontaneously combust during his next start or suddenly lose command of his pitches and return in 2022 as a middle infielder in Rookie Ball. If that doesn’t happen, we should all be super interested. I’m intrigued, y’all! Yesterday, Joe Ryan went 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 baserunners, 5 Ks, and looked much better those numbers. Outside of one inning in the 3rd when he ran up against the red-hot Schwingdel, he looked like every great command pitcher, who can also induce strikeouts. Prospect Itch said of Ryan, “I have high hopes for Joe Ryan, another dynasty trade target if you can get a decent price. His 30+ K-BB percentage across three levels in 2019 was pretty loud, but some of the clamor might’ve died down since Ryan was kept under training site wraps for all of 2020. His best trait is a true-spin four-seamer he can command across the zone, and that’s a great base from which to build an arsenal in today’s game. Tampa’s coaches have praised Ryan for his aptitude for new pitches and approaches, particularly his feel for spin. I get giddy just thinking about him and punching Grey.” Okay, not cool! Ryan continued to carve up hitters in Triple-A this year while maintaining elite command. This is potentially as good a prospect arm call-up as we’re getting the rest of the year. I added him in a few deeper leagues. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/2
	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

Prospect News: Keibert Ruiz Unlocks His Future, Joe Ryan Brings Joy

September 1, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 13 Comments

by: The Itch

Anyone getting called up for some September playing time is part of the Opening Day picture for 2022. The only real incentive to promote a player now is that it’ll be the same difference, service-time-wise, as breaking camp with that player on the roster. So although some call-ups this week seem on the surface like they’re too little too late for our fantasy purposes, they’re right on time to get us fired up about drafting these prospects as rookies in 2022 redraft leagues.

Enter Keibert Ruiz, the primary return for Washington in the trade that sent Trea Turner and Max Scherzer to the World Champion Dodgers.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Bear or Bull: Cup of Joe

September 1, 2021 | Bear or Bull | 8 Comments

by: Son

The expression “cup of coffee” entered the sports vernacular when a minor league player would only be in the majors long enough to drink a cup before getting sent down. What if someone nurses their coffee for a long, long time? What size is the cup? Why can’t Starbucks just say small, medium, and large? Is it really necessary to go with Demi, Short, Tall, Grande, Venti, and Trenta? F Starbucks. Anyways, I could get into some nasty South Park ideas but I don’t want to get fired so I’ll leave it in imagination land. Fine, organizations are ruthless and toothless so they don’t care about any of that. When they feel it’s time for someone to get booted, they will do it without remorse. But if a player produces, the barista will continue topping off that cup. In today’s Bear or Bull, we will discuss a cup of Connor Joe who has produced an impressive line in 196 plate appearances this season: .280/.367/.470 with a .190 ISO, 11.2% walk rate, and 19.9% strikeout rate. He has eight home runs, 21 runs, and 34 RBI. As a result, he’s been added in 7% of ESPN leagues and is rostered on 22.2% of teams. In NFBC leagues, he’s rostered on 98% of teams. Will this cup of Joe continue getting refilled?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Top 25 Third Basemen Rest of Season – Nine Lives Left

September 1, 2021 | Rest of Season Rankings, Top 25 Third Basemen | 2 Comments

by: Richardo

Welcome to September. In four short weeks, the MLB regular season will be over. The majority of teams have just nine series left. For some, nine lives left to lock up that playoff spot. More importantly, in seven days, my kids (and wife) return to school, and the magic that is a silent house returns. While this final list will cover the rest of season rankings, I want to take a look at some of the biggest movers from the beginning of the season. We’ll talk about the breakouts and the busts and see what went right (or wrong). Without further ado, let’s take a look at the list:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: Scherzer Skins

September 1, 2021 | DFS, Fanduel |

by: Barrelman

We are scheduled for a 10-game slate, however, I think that will be 9 with rain forecasted all night in Philly. It’s a tough slate to gauge. Carlos Rodon and Chris Sale continue to work their way back off the IL, Rodon will be on a pitch count, Sale has hovered around 80 pitches in the last couple of starts. Aaron Nola is likely not an option because of the weather, leaving the rest of the starting pitcher pool fairly bare in terms of depth.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Diamondbacks Hate the Snell of No-Hit in the Evening

September 1, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 211 Comments

by: Grey

Saw Blake Snell had a no-hitter through seven innings, but with 107 pitches thrown and I was like, “He can’t throw 90+ pitches so this will be quick,” then I remembered he threw 122 pitches in his last start and 100+ pitches in four of his last five starts, and I began to imagine the unimaginable. *wavy lines* Hey, is this imaging the unimaginable? Cool! Whoa, it’s a party in my honor with a very much alive Rowdy Roddy Piper? This is amazing. Wait, what are you doing? Don’t smash me over the head with a coconut! *wavy lines* Imaging the unimaginable stinks and the unimaginable never happens! They pulled Snell at 107 pitches. Why when he just threw 122 pitches last time? I don’t have the answer. I am the one asking the question. Blake Snell finished with 7 IP, 0 ER, zero hits, 2 walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 4.31. Snell ended the month of August with 1.72 ERA in six starts, and was his best month since 2018. If he did it last year, he would’ve won a Mickey Mouse Cy Young. But what about 2022, and why does it feel like Blake Snell is so unpredictable he’s become Robbie Ray pre-2021? He can be wildly lights-out or just wild. Maybe Blake Snell can be 2021 Robbie Ray in 2022 as long as it doesn’t mean Robbie Ray becomes pre-2021 in 2022. Why are they even connected? Again, I asked the question, that means I don’t know the answer. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Rolling In The Deep: Feels Like We’re All Otto Roster Options

August 31, 2021 | Rolling In The Deep | 2 Comments

by: Laura Holt

It’s a new week, but the theme remains the same. As we wait to turn the calendar page to September, the free agent pool in your average deep league remains weak, to say the least. I think this weekend was the first time all season where I didn’t even make a single bid in our weekly FAAB bidding in either my deepest AL-only or NL-only league. Part of that is because, unlike the last few seasons, I’m not in a situation in either league where a point or two in a given category might make a difference for me in the final standings. But for those that do find themselves in such a situation as we head into the last month of baseball in 2021, let’s take a look at some players, all 5% owned or less in CBS leagues, that might be of interest to those in AL-only, NL-only, or other deep leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Way-Too-Early Top-Five College Prospects for the 2022 MLB Draft

August 31, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 2 Comments

by: Hobbs

We’re all enthralled by the likes of Elijah Greene and Termarr Johnson, but who is best-positioned to be the first college prospect off the board in the 2022 MLB Draft? 2022 will be nothing like 2020 in terms of the college arms that come off the board, but could the top-five collegiate prospects ALL be position players next year? That’s the way I have it drawn up as of right now, with Florida’s Hunter Barco, Arkansas’ Peyton Pallette and Alabama’s Connor Prielipp representing the arms most likely to break into the top five. But for now, it’s all bats — and as always, I have some bold opinions in my prospect rankings. So let’s get to ’em.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Nobody Beats The Wis(Dom)

August 31, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast |

by: Geoff

Wait another former Cardinals prospect is tearing it up with a team that isn’t the Cardinals? No way, that’s never happened before, or even over and over again over the last few seasons. We’re of course discussing Patrick Wisdom. It’s gotta sting that he ended up with the Cubs, no? This run doesn’t even make sense. So Grey and yours truly talk about it, we mix in some talk of Starling Marte’s unbelievable season and a handful of names to grab over the final month. It’s the latest Razzball podcast!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 21, 2021

August 31, 2021 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenter Leagues | 9 Comments

by: MattTruss

As the air starts to turn a bit cooler, the calendar flips to September and a large group of fantasy baseballers turn their attention to fantasy football. Go ahead, wave at Donkey Teeth. There are only five weeks left in the fantasy baseball season but what an important five weeks they are. As the rest of your league checks out to go play the fantasy sport that requires only one day per week of roster setting (or as I like to refer to it, chess vs. checkers) the true competitors remain to grind it out for Razzball Commenter League glory. Right now only a few points separate the top teams in the Master Standings, so we should be in for a heck of a finish. This week, we’ll take a look at the year-long RCL records and what teams have a shot at setting new ones. Does your team have a shot at the RCL record books? Find out this and more in the week that was, week 21:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fanduel: Even Schmohawks Have Their Day

August 31, 2021 | DFS, Fanduel |

by: everywhereblair

The thing about the future? It’s unknowable. Some things we can know with pretty good certainty, like the weather. You can see a hurricane forming because it’s the size of a small country, but you still can’t predict with utter precision where it will make landfall because the air masses over the continent are different than those over the ocean. Basically, ya gotta wait until go time to see what happens. The same thing applies to baseball, only on a much more volatile scale. Players have a certain trajectory, but sometimes they do things to intervene in that trajectory: they train in a different way, they find the right coach, or they eliminate parts of their game entirely (see Ray, Robbie). With that, we highlight Schmohawk of the Year, Teoscar Hernandez, who could finish with a 30/10 season with 100 RBIs. Even the baseball card lovers like that stat line! Teoscar Hernandez has a ridiculous split in his favor today: a .400 wOBA home/away, a .480 split vs hand, and a .400 ISO vs lefties like Brady Aikin. Let’s hop into our DFS picks for today:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I Bert, He Bert, Keibert

August 31, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 200 Comments

by: Grey

The power-hitting catcher prospect, Keibert Ruiz (1-for-4), was recalled to step behind the plate, and yesterday his job was to catch another former Dodger, Josiah Gray. Call them the Nots. The Notionals? No, what’s that? Some kind of potion? Nots is short for the Not Dodgers. From the Freeway to the Beltway. Keibert Ruiz is gonna have a new way of life to learn. Los Angeles has a bunch of people who exaggerate everything and you can’t tell what to believe. Phonies, all of them! Luckily, he’s now in Washington, D.C. where there’s nothing but salt-of-the-earth brokers of honesty. So, I talked to Prospect Itch on the phone yesterday, and the conversation ended with him saying, “I’m outside your house with a sledgehammer,” but prior to that he said he thinks Ruiz has changed dramatically since his last big top 100 fantasy baseball prospects update and he likes Ruiz way more now. He’s found more power. Ruiz, not Itch. I hope. Could see grabbing him in a few places if you need power. Still Ruiz, not Itch. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?