Grey

Jonathan India Trying Hard To Curry Favor Of Cincy Coaches

March 22, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 277 Comments

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With Eugenio Suarez apparently the new Reds shortstop after they tried and failed to acquire every garbage shortstop this offseason, Jonathan India has been added to the top 20 3rd basemen. Now…we dance! *long involved Bollywood dance with me somehow sitting on a floating carpet* Yelling into the distance, “I love you, Pashmina!” Was about time that I gave India his due. What, am I British now? My teeth would tell you no, but my love for Olivia Colman and Earl Grey would tell you yes. Which ya gonna believe? I just recently discovered India, while standing in The Bahamas and saying, “Hey, cool, this is America and who wants to open a casino?” Was talking to Podcaster Ralph, who knows a thing or two about prospects, and he gassed my head up on Jonathan India, and I think he can now go 40/10/.260. Then, we deflated ourselves back to earth, and realism took us south, and now I’m in Sri Lanka. “Sri Lanka is better than a cup of Sanka!” That’s me just before getting dirty looks in Sri Lanka. India is a pull-heavy, fly ball hitter. How’s that sound in Cincy? Seriously, take a moment and think about it. You see how I came away with a 40/10/.260 line? Gonna put him down for realistic projections in the top 20 3rd basemen, but looking for a guy who could be 12-team mixed league relevant by May? Look no further than India, Magellan. For now, if your starter is out, outsource to India. Anyway, here’s what else I saw in spring training for 2021 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 | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | DET | OAK | SEA | WSH
Jakkers

Top 25 Shortstops for 2021 Fantasy Baseball: Spring Training

March 21, 2021 | Top 25 Shortstops | 10 Comments

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With your NCAA tournament bracket now busted due to the rash of upsets this weekend, you can turn your attention back to baseball. In fact, why was your attention even turned away from baseball? With less than two weeks until the start of the regular season, spring training starts to take on a little bit of importance. OK, who am I kidding? We don’t need spring training to know who the top shortstops are, especially in 12-team mixed leagues.

However, there are plenty of 16-, 18- and 20-team leagues and thus a much larger player pool you need to dip into. Additionally, many deep leagues still require a middle infielder in addition to needing a starting shortstop. Depth is critical in deep leagues, and finding that gem late in the draft can be the difference between winning and losing a league.

With players locked into battles for a starting job, the spring training stats we overlook could help determine if Nico Hoerner earns the starting job with the Chicago Cubs or starts the season in the minor leagues. Or maybe a player you are tracking as a sleeper is having a horrible spring and doesn’t deserve to be on your watch list right now.
However, there are plenty of 16-, 18- and 20-team leagues. The player pool you need to dip into is greatly expanded when you have that many teams. Additionally, many deep leagues like these still require a middle infielder in addition to needing a starting shortstop. Depth is critical in deep leagues, and finding that gem late in the draft can be the difference between winning and losing a league. 

With players locked into battles for a starting job, the spring training stats we overlook could help determine if Nico Hoerner earns the starting job with the Chicago Cubs or starts the season in the minor leagues. Or maybe a player you are tracking as a sleeper is having a horrible spring and doesn’t deserve to be on your watch list right now.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jeremy Brewer

Top 100 Hitter Rankings – Part 2

March 20, 2021 | Top 100 Hitters | 11 Comments

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Last week we dove into the first half of the top 100 hitters for the 2021 Fantasy Baseball Season.  This week, we will finish out the 100 completing our preseason baseline as we are weeks away from the regular season kicking off.  The themes of this sequel range between aging vets dropping down from the highest of highs to young upstarts with boundless potential.

Although we walked through tiers with the initial 50, as we move into the later portion of our rankings, tiers mean less and less.  What becomes critical at this point in our rankings is how you fill the gaps after the initial 6-7 rounds of the draft.  Did you lean towards power or speed?  Take a risk or two with the young potential star (looking at you Luis Robert)?  How about drafting 5 straight starting pitchers to start the draft like some crazy person?  No matter how you started, this portion of the draft is about shoring up your team and creating that much-needed balance to bring home the trophy.

Without further ado, here are the full top 100 hitters for the 2021 Fantasy Baseball Season:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
JKJ

Ambulance Chasers: Carlos Carrasc”oh no”

March 20, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 13 Comments

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Howdy, folks. As my lil’ bio snippet below says, I am in fact drinking a good dark beer as I touch this up for publication. This eve’s beverage of choice: New Belgium’s 1554.

Okay. Bear with me for a sec, but this is just truly the best time of the year. My men’s Hogs are a 3-seed (for the first time since I’ve been old enough to care) and have at least punched their ticket into the Round of 32. My lady Hogs are a 4-seed and look to do the same Monday afternoon. My Blues are not playing very well, but they’re still in the playoff hunt, by golly. My Liverpool Reds are kinda trash this year, but it’s a lost season with injuries anyway. And my Cards are getting closer to the games actually counting. Point being, all my teams are currently in action! Plus, March Madness has returned! (It’s super weird to think it’s been two full years since we’ve gotten March Madness action, isn’t it?)

Anyway, now that you’ve got the unwanted JKJ’s teams sports update, here are the updates you’re actually here for:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jay

Alcantara For Your Thoughts

March 19, 2021 | Sleepers | 6 Comments

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Yeah, it’s a reach, I’m not sure in what universe “cantara” is anyway in shape or form like a “penny” but to get the quote completely wrong, we’re not doing this live so ef it. Yeah, apples to oranges reference, but at least it’s still a fruit, amirite? So, ahem, what’s up with Sandy Alcantara? I mean, I’m not saying there’s been a headline you missed or some big news about this or that, but I’m just asking, why is Alcantara continuing to fly under the radar? Well, that’s an actually easy question to answer, it’s probably because he’s just a dude who throws two pitches with control issues. Maybe the next question might be for me, as in why am I covering a pitcher and to one go one step further (NOT TWO STEPS YOU GET ONE) why am I covering pitcher that you might not want to care about? And that answer is obvious too! I care! Therefore, by the rule of content creation, I believe you should care too, and if you do care, you should join me after the jump! (No physical jumping necessary.)

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Butters

Points Leagues: The Top 100

March 19, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 4 Comments

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I’m sure many of you have spent countless hours pouring over Grey’s 2021 fantasy baseball rankings to see who he’s got way higher than anyone else. Grey’s rankings are great but they’re focused on categories so they don’t tell the whole picture for points leagues. For example, average isn’t important for points. Yes a higher average means more hits but you also get points for walks as well. What we’re really looking for is total bases. I still highly recommend that you check out Grey’s thoughts because he knows what he’s doing, but mostly he’s pretty entertaining. 

Now onto points leagues. I crunched some numbers behind the scenes to see who should get shifted in the ranks. Basically made my own simplified version of malamoney’s spreadsheet using the Razzball/Steamer projections and what seems to be the standard scoring system. The result is some cold hard data on who’s going to do what this season. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Torres

Mapping out the NFBC Main Event, Part 3

March 19, 2021 | NFBC | 2 Comments

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One time. That’s all I’m asking for. One time where all the BABIPs and xWOBACONs in the universe align to propel me to the $150,000 grand prize in the NFBC Main Event. I understand that I’m a huge long shot, especially given the fact that it’s my first time in this contest. But remember that movie Little Giants, where a bunch of rag-tag underdogs coached by Rick Moranis went on to beat the clearly superior Cowboys? That movie gives me hope that even the biggest long shots can come through sometimes. One of the pivotal moments in the Giants’ upset victory was when Rudy Zolteck let out a huge fart and cleared the running lanes for Johnny “Viper” Vennaro.  I may not be planning to let out any massive farts during the draft (unless I accidentally pick Hyun-Jin Ryu) but I do think there’s a path for things to fall into place and for me to take down the overall. Another thing Little Giants taught me is the importance of preparation. While they had the Annexation of Puerto Rico playcall queued up for the game’s most important moment, I’ll have my “Mapping out the Main Event” pulled up throughout my draft.  This is the 3rd and final installment of that series, where I take you through rounds 9-1 and provide you with the finished hypothetical product. If you’ve missed out on the first two parts of this series, check them out here and here. Remember y’all, we’re building this team backwards with a focus on constructing a balanced team that can compete in all 10 roto categories. I’ll give you my main target in each round as well as outline  one back-up option if I miss on my main target. Let’s get to it. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Yahoo Friends & Family Draft Recap: Getting Dangerously Close to Declaring a Fatwa on Pitchers

March 19, 2021 | Our Leagues | 247 Comments

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I don’t get it. This…this…this “pitchers have to be drafted early” …thing! Am I the only one who lived through the last baseball season? Even if you were to say to me, “I always draft starters early,” I’d say you’re living in some kind of goofball world made out of unicorns and iPhones that don’t correct the F word to duck. But fine! If this were a normal year. “If this were a normal year” is the ying, the yang, the sun and the moon. No pitchers are going to throw a lot of innings. Less innings means Gerrit Cole, if he’s the best pitcher, and the tenth best starter are going to be closer together. Pitchers as pancakes. Have one, and it’s Yum City, population: You. Have two, and it’s solid, great. Have three and it’s, “Do you have blueberries or something for these?” Have four and it’s, “Well, I liked my first two.” Have five and it’s, “I want bacon.” Have six and it’s, “I don’t even remember liking the first two anymore, and I never want to see another pancake.” All these guys taking starters crazy early are eating pancakes. Before I even drafted a starter, one team took Cole, Woodruff and Glasnow! “Cole…cool, cool. Yum City!…Woodruff…Um, yeah, but maybe I can get some blueberries or something…Tyler Glasnow? Stop! I’m diabetic!” For those unfamiliar, this is a standard 5×5, 16-team league, and, since it’s Yahoo, it’s 4 outfielders and two UTIL. As always, I used Rudy’s War Room, which is available with a subscription to our Razzball Tools. Anyway, here’s my Yahoo Friends & Family draft recap:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Hobbs

Collegiate Corner: Diving Deeper

March 18, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 7 Comments

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Now that we are officially in the third month of March, I can finally “celebrate” my one year anniversary as a Razzball staff writer. I began this beautiful journey back on March 19 of 2020, when the world was falling apart and I subsequently decided it was the perfect time to break into the fantasy writing realm with my top 10 college prospects to target in dynasty leagues. For those of you who are extra particular, yes, technically my one year anniversary is still one day away, but considering the last year has felt like 12, we’re counting it. Since then, I have engaged in deep dive after deep dive into the world of college prospects, at one point going so deep I got lost underwater and spent several days sparring with a giant squid named Edmond. That same aquatic journey continues on today, as we check back in with some of the top draft-eligible prospects in college baseball, while also examining some lesser known names as well as one player from the 2022 class. We’ll begin with the usual suspects (Rocker, Leiter, etc.) and move into more unknown waters thereafter, so be sure to pack your scuba gear and perhaps even a scimitar of some sort should we happen to bump into that nasty Edmond.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Son

One Man’s Trash: Raimel Tapia

March 18, 2021 | One Man's Trash | 16 Comments

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The crack of the bat when barrelled, the smell of my significant other (why am I craving Korean BBQ all of a sudden? I kid, I kid), watching a 6-4-3 double play being turned, and hugging the kids. These are all definitions of perfection. At least to me. They could be another person’s worst nightmare, hence the concept that perfection does not truly exist. It is but an abstraction of our minds. Now, there are things that are closer to perfection than others, but nothing can truly be perfect. We just decide what is and isn’t important. For fantasy baseball, those drafted in the first round are deemed as closest to perfection because of their elite production and having fewer flaws than the others. As you venture deeper into a draft, the imperfections rise like a pimple that hasn’t been cleaned for a few days. Some of those warts are deemed worse than others, which provides value and opportunities to be mined. Raimel Tapia of the Colorado Rockies is being drafted as the 231st overall player and 60th outfielder in NFBC drafts. There’s a reason why I’m writing him up. Let’s see if he’s treasure or trash.

Please, blog, may I have some more?