Travis d’Arnaud d’Arnailing d’ingers

August 14, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball | 31 Comments

Is this heaven? I don’t know about you guys but I can’t stop thinking about that corn field game! Sweet sassy molassy! It was a-maize-ing! Never before was there a concept I thought was so stupid initially but I could not be more into when it was happening. Who would have thought watching home runs sailing into fields of corn would be so darn fun? Most surprising was not how much I enjoyed it but how much the players seemed to be enjoying it as well. I’ll admit Field of Dreams the film is “a bit much” for me but damn if I didn’t get goosies when the players walked out onto the field. What is wrong with me? I hate how much I loved it. Makes you realize how important the stadiums really are to the sport and I hope they do more stuff like this. Who wouldn’t want to watch the pros play on a recreated “Sandlot”, complete with large, scary, barking dog beyond the outfield fence. It put me in such a good mood I had to highlight a catcher this week, because I know you guys love that stuff. Well, Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud returned from a lengthy stint on the 60 day IL this week and has picked up right where he left off after his breakout 2020. He went 2-for-4 Friday night with his third home run. D’ude is a d’Arnatural! Travis was just 4-for-17 with two runs, an RBI and two walks in his stint at AAA rehabbing after thumb surgery but showed plenty of magic with Atlanta last year slashing .321/.386/.533 with 9 bombs and 34 RBI in 44 games. He was a top five catcher last year and COVID survivor, Grey told you to BUY and he said, “Do I like The French Terminator better than the aforementioned catchers? Not really.” Wow! High praise! D’Arnaud is available in about half of leagues right now but that number is climbing fast. I’d grab him wherever I needed a catcher.

Here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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#	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

Ambulance Chasers: The Return of the Sox Sale

August 14, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 8 Comments

by: everywhereblair

Of course, the first thing I check when I write this article is “What is the etymology of ambulance?” Seems like the “ambu” part is definitely from walking (like “ambulate”) and “lance” comes from King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table…or is it Lance Armstrong? ENYWHEY. It’s about combat deaths. [starts puking] Well, now that I’ve discovered that baseball is a war of attrition and we’re all the bystanders watching the battles and the war, I feel much better about my complicit participation in this 300 cosplay that we do every day. SPARTAAAAA!

Anyway, here’s the injury update:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Buying Rosario Doesn’t Take Amed Degree

August 13, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 221 Comments

by: Grey

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(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH OR $13/MONTH WITH AN EXTRA WEEKLY PODCAST.)

I keep saying it, but what’s saying it one more time! It’s so unlikely that Amed Rosario would come out of the Francisco Lindor trade with Andres Gimenez and Amed be the one with the most value this year. Like 100 to 1 odds? Maybe, but maybe what we’re not remembering is something I mentioned on the podcast the other day. Whatever burns the Mets in the most dramatic way will always happen. If it means, Justin Turner, at the age of 28, has a high of two homers in any season, then gets traded away from the Mets and becomes a perennial MVP candidate? Then it will mean that! If it means Zack Wheeler goes to a division rival and becomes a Cy Young candidate, then that’s what will happen. If it means the Mets will make a lopsided trade for a top ten bat in Lindor with a much ballyhooed prospect and a throw-in, then that throw-in will become a top producer. These are the rules of the Mets. Amed Rosario only became a “throw-in” because he didn’t live up to the hype, but it wasn’t that long ago there was hype. He was a 15/19/.287 hitter as recently as 2019, and he’s only 25 years old. We should’ve never stopped thinking Amed Rosario could be good, because he never stopped being good. Sure, he had a bad 2020 season, but everyone — including you, me and all the people we know — had a bad 2020. If Rosario’s available in your league, grab him for power, speed and average. He also brings an added special ingredient: the smite of the Mets Gods. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Points Leagues: Top 100 Hitters for the Stretch Run

August 13, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 2 Comments

by: Butters

The show marches on and we’re getting down to the final stretch of the regular season. That means we should take another look at the projections so you can make the needed moves to put your team over the top and bring home that chip. Below is the scoring format used to calculate the point totals.

Runs Scored (R) 1

Total Bases (TB) 1

Runs Batted In (RBI) 1

Walks (BB) 1

Strikeouts (K) -1

Stolen Bases (SB) 1

This time I included roster percentages so we can see if there’s anyone who might be available. With the top 100 most are long gone but there are a few guys who could be out there. And since every league is different it’s always a good idea to check the wire in case there are any surprise options available.

So what jumps out from these projections? Remember that these are solely based on what guys will do from this point going forward, not what they’ve done so far. The top looks similar to the second half projections but there are always a few surprises.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: The X-Man

August 13, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 3 Comments

by: TroyKlauder

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts ($3,600) headlines the Red Sox as tonight’s highest upside stack, taking on the Orioles’ Spenser Watkins. Watkins has a rough 5.18 SIERA and just a 16.2% K-rate, so expect Bogaerts and his teammates to be spraying the ball around a hitter’s park in Fenway. Bogaerts is crushing it this season with a .304/.371/.509 line and is in the heart of the order batting third. He can be paired with value bats like Jarren Duran ($2,500) or expensive mashers like J.D. Martinez ($4,000) for an effective stack.

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?

Pina & Urias Take Hendricks All Along The Dongtower

August 13, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 137 Comments

by: Grey

Burps for five minutes, then sloppily places a lei on a waitress. Unable to resist the primal urges of being drunk and a man, he leans in to kiss the waitress, but, before landing the smackeroo, two bouncers drag him out of the tropical-theme bar and grill. As he’s dragged by the elbows, he screams, “Your burgers at Islands suck!” A very somber Eric McCormack enters, and we see it’s a PSA. Eric addresses the camera, “This is what happens when you have too Manny Pina’s.” Yesterday, Manny Pina went 3-for-6, 3 runs, 6 RBIs and his 8th and 9th homer. I’m really starting to come around on the idea presented by a commenter that said instead of drafting a catcher, you draft a team and get that team’s catchers. Like drafting a defense in fantasy football. Also, in this game, that was Kyle Hendricks’s worst nightmare (4 IP, 9 ER,, ERA at 4.15), Jace Peterson (5-for-5, 3 runs, 4 RBIs) came a triple short of the cycle. Hendricks’s previous worst nightmare was getting caught in an elevator with a hungry Daniel Vogelbach. That’s every player’s worst nightmare. Moving on! The other big star yesterday was Luis Urias (5-for-6, 5 runs, 5 RBIs) hit his 15th and 16th homer, and I just added him to the Buy column coming later today. Pretty goofy that he’s only rostered in 30% of leagues. On the Player Rater, Christian Yelich is over two hundred spots lower in value than Luis Urias. Take me to the top of a 100-foot wave in Nazaré, Portugal and throw me into a barrel. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Keepers: Top 200 for 2022

August 12, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Keepers | 43 Comments

by: Nuke Laloush

Howdy Razzball Community!

I’m new around these parts, but you’ll be seeing plenty of me. Scouting is my great passion (besides Annie Savoy), and therefore I’m going to be taking a look at keepers and dynasty leagues. Some of the best times to make trades in these leagues is just after the season ends. You can gain value by projecting for the future, as well as prey on the instability and desperation of your league-mate’s disappointing finish.

Obviously in keeper and dynasty you are looking ahead, but these rankings are situation-dependent . Flags fly forever, and I’m all for trading future assets if your window is open. Conversely, don’t get stuck in the middle! If your team has hit a ceiling, don’t be afraid of a rebuild. I’ll make it a general rule that these rankings are for 3-ish year windows, with youth obviously ascending and the old guard declining. Ian Anderson may not be better than Yu Darvish in two years, but in four?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

One Man’s Trash: Say Hello to Jo Adell

August 12, 2021 | One Man's Trash | 2 Comments

by: Son

Language is such an important aspect of society yet we underrate how difficult it is. One can learn the fundamentals of any language yet change the intonation, add a punctuation mark, spell it differently, and/or tweak the context and the Tower of Babel arises. Tell the homies that you’re going to go out and ball? No one bats an eye. Tell them you’re going out to bawl, then everyone loses their mind. When I’m an idiot and pick up the phone from an unlisted number, hello? The crush calls? Heeeeeeelllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. You see the ex on the street and hello can mean many things. If someone just started playing fantasy baseball this year, then it’d be all about heeeeeeellllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo to Jo Adell of the Anaheim Angels (I refuse to acknowledge that the Angels are from Los Angeles). In 25 plate appearances, he has a .304/.360/.478 slash with a 20% strikeout rate and .174 ISO. For the grizzled veterans of the game, then it is hellsno to Adell as they remember last season’s appearance in The Show: .161/.212/.266 slash with a 41.7% strikeout rate and .105 ISO in 132 plate appearances. So, which hello is it going to be going forward for Adell?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Getting Ahead in Head to Head, Week 19: Never Trust a Man with Two First Names

August 12, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues |

by: NateMarcum

In the ’80s and ’90s, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was a staple of my childhood. The show starred Joel Hodgson as Joel Robinson, a janitor stuck on a ship forced to watch B-Movies with his handcrafted robot companions. The show was pretty much just Hodgson and his robotic friends riffing on the terrible movies from a silhouetted view for about 2 hours. The show received Time’s 100 Best TV-Shows awards and was nominated for multiple awards. I would love to put together a fantasy baseball show of Gray playing the role of Joel with his robotic companions. They would just sit back, watch glorious highlights of Giancarlo Stanton, Mark Reynolds, and other Razzball heroes. The riffing would be at any elite SP who underperforms or gets “Gomber-ed”.

Wait, where was I? I got teleported back to the early ’90s as I reminisced about my youth, thinking about drinking an Ecto-Cooler, having some Dunkaroos, and playing clairvoyant to how we all will lose our minds watching a player slide into home on a never-ending loop. So let’s get back to the Man with Two First Names. Joel once said to never trust a man with two first names, especially if one of them is a girls’ name. Well, it’s 2021, people are named after anything they want, and it is acceptable to have two first names, as in the case with Connor Joe. But before I ruin the anticipation, let’s get to the players who will help you win your Week 19 H2H matchup

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fanduel: Webb Gem

August 12, 2021 | 2021 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 1 Comment

by: Butters

Welcome in to a brand new edition of Butters does DFS. Let’s get after some pitching today, which leads us right into…. Logan Webb, SP: $7,600 – This is a juicy matchup for him. His last three starts have been quite good and the Rox on the road is usually good for pitchers as they have the worst team batting average outside of Coors. Combine that with Webb’s price and we’ve got a very compelling option.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Lewis HR’d, Brinson Repeat

August 12, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 273 Comments

by: Grey

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Before Lewis Brinson (3-for-4, 3 RBIs) homered twice (6, 7) on Wednesday, I wrote him up for the Buy column this week — which is available now on the Patreon. I had included him, because I saw recently that Lewis Brinson was hitting near-.350 in the last two weeks, and had hit some homers, so I was pumped to open his Statcast page to see improvement and! And! AND! Well, no, not entirely. He’s been better than he has been for Launch Angle, getting good wood on ball and xBA is up, but, damn, he still misses so much. If you lift balls with good wood–Wait, are we still talking about hitting? Right, right. Yes, good things will happen. Brinson is hitting balls as hard as Tatis, Verdugo, Story and Walsh. Clearly, great guys to be mentioned in the same breath, but they all make far more contact, and have three-plus times as many at-bats. This last few-week stretch has been great, but when I called him recently Byron Pennieston, because he was a poor man’s Buxton, it still applies. Of course, I’d still grab Pennieston in any league. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Prospect News: Jorge Mateo All Set to Snag Some Five-Finger Discounts

August 11, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 26 Comments

by: The Itch

Baltimore SS Jorge Mateo has lived multiple lives on fantasy planet, first as a beloved but complicated Yankees farmhand, then as the primary rerun for Sonny Gray in Oakland, then as a utility piece scrambling for ar bats in San Diego, and now as a human being with a pulse in Baltimore. I’m eager to see how this plays out. None of his previous organizations is particularly adept at actualizing their own prospects at the big league level. Baltimore isn’t the cat’s pajamas either in this regard, but unlike his previous clubs, the Orioles are in position to really invest in Mateo, both in terms of playing time and big league coaching. For his part, Mateo might well understand this could be it for him as a big leaguer. I wouldn’t say he’s had any singular career near-death experience, but he’s certainly been passed around enough to understand his clock is ticking. I’m not comparing him to Anthony Santander or Cedric Mullins, necessarily, but he’s in that mold as a player with talent that nobody expects to become a major league mainstay, and I think his natural gifts measure up well against either. He’s a buy for me in just about every league until proven otherwise.

Please, blog, may I have some more?