Your Favorite Rookie Sleeper’s Favorite Rookie Sleepers Volume 1

March 3, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 39 Comments

I play in some deep dynasty leagues. The kind where every at bat has value. Every pulse has value. In leagues like these, guys like Gio Urshella, Mike Yazstremski and Tommy Edman get picked up before their first big chance. I love these large player pools and have discovered something of talent for climbing aboard the airbus just before real helium hits for the Trent Grishams, Randy Arozarenas, and Jake Cronenworths of the world.

I’m not suggesting the players in this series are locks to produce like those names in the intro. I am however saying these are the freemium-level dynasty and draft champions pieces I’m acquiring now in as many leagues as possible because I love their intersection of proximity, opportunity and talent.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Wed 8/6
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| DET \| OAK

SAGNOF: Give Me the Green Light

March 3, 2021 | SAGNOF, Steals | 6 Comments

by: Kerry Klug

Steals might ain’t got no face, but team stolen base attempts definitely do got yes face. (Totally crushed this lede!)

Today we’re going to get into something that normally makes fantasy baseball FAR superior to fantasy football in my opinion: coaching decisions. You could have the best wide receiver in the game, but whoopsie daisy — Mike McCarthy decides he wants to run the ball a lot today. Now you’re out $500. At least with fantasy baseball, the manager will always put his best lineup on the field and it is completely up to the hitter to do his job. The coach isn’t telling him “Hey you, I don’t even want you to swing up there.”

Today’s article deals with managerial decisions on the basepath — specifically the stealing of second base. I’m going to let you in on some secrets on which managers have itchy trigger fingers when they have a runner on first with an empty base 90 feet away and those who are a bit gun shy when it comes to sending their runners. (Wow with all the violent imagery. What is this, CPAC?)

First, some alarming data — here are the average manager second base stolen base attempt percentages from the past 10 years. (Analytic nerds will soon refer to this stat as MASBSBAP.)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Kyle Tucker, 2021 Fantasy Schmohawk

March 3, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 199 Comments

by: Grey

C’mon, what are you making me do here? A Kyle Tucker overrated post? *sucks teeth* Damn, I’m disappointed with myself. I was the one telling you to draft him last year. Now, I have to tell you not to draft him. Then tell you to draft him again next year? Then don’t draft him in 2022? Then draft him in 2023? What, am the Bret Saberhagen of fantasy ‘perts? You’re making me embarrass myself. Why do you do this? Does it inflate your ego at the expense of mine? Fine, but remember that when you’re hanging out with your new girlfriend you picked up based on your newfound confidence that you discovered from roundly trouncing someone you don’t know personally on the internet about Kyle Tucker. I’m helping you get laid! You’re welcome. My job is done here. Oh, yeah, Kyle Tucker. His ADP of 29 overall is the one of the more puzzling things in the 2021 fantasy draft season. Last year, he went 9/8/.268 and…what is going on here? I mean, I like him too, but the collective you boosted him 220 draft spots from his ADP last year based on that? By the way, the Collective You has some great adult contemporary songs like, “Paying the Bills with an SBA,” and “It’s Trash Day Again?” Just absolute adulting like no one else! So, what can we expect from Kyle Tucker for 2021 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Top 50 Outfielders for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

March 2, 2021 | Podcast, Razzball Podcast |

by: Geoff

Who doesn’t love a cliffhanger ending? I still recall every sitcom I’ve watched in my life that kept me hanging for a full week before the ongoing crisis is resolved. Can Uncle Phil and Will save their relationship? How long will Cherry be stuck in the old fridge? These are high water moments in entertainment. We at the Razzball podcast are no different as we present the first part of our run through the top 100 outfielders. Quick math, half of 100 is 50! Suck it common core! We take you through all the guys to draft, who to avoid, and this year’s high value outfielder going after pick 100. It’s another week of the Razzball podcast. Mount up!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Top 100 Outfielders for 2021 Fantasy Baseball: Preview Edition #2

March 2, 2021 | Rest of Season Rankings, Top 100 Outfielders | 17 Comments

by: Coolwhip

Okay now that I got that load of laundry out of the way (we discussed per game values here), we can go back… to the future! Looking ahead to this season and what lies before us. How can it be ahead and before? Don’t ask me, English is a tortured and butchered language that is an amalgamation of West German, Norman, Saxon, and broken Latin. Nothing makes sense. But I’m sure you didn’t come here to hear me rant about linguistics, you are here for outfielders, and of those we have plenty.

The outfield is a position that is easy to punt in the earlier rounds as there are so many, even 4 of the top 5 bats in the game are outfielders, if you take one of them it is isn’t hard to move on and address other areas of need before going back in. However, in some leagues you will need to roster five at a time so you mustn’t wait too long; but, there are plenty of solid options after pick 100. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

RCL Strategy 2021

March 2, 2021 | Razzball Commenter Leagues | 11 Comments

by: MattTruss

Last week we covered why you should join an RCL, so this week let’s start covering what to do once you’re in there. To be honest, this has all been covered somewhere on the site over the years, most often by Rudy. If you haven’t been playing in RCLs though, I could see how some of this has been glossed over, so I’ll try to consolidate some info for the newbies. Grizzled RCL vets can feel free to skip this and just go sign up for leagues at the end of the post. We’ll just be covering the basics for anyone still timid about jumping in the RCL waters.

QUICK NOTE: With Drafts going off daily now, we’re trying our best to get every league filled, but if you are in a league where someone bails late or it looks like it won’t fill, let us know. Jump in the comments or let us know on Twitter: @Razzball and/or @MattTruss and we’ll try to work some magic.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Rolling In The Deep: An Early(ish) Look At Cheap Shortstops

March 2, 2021 | Rolling In The Deep | 9 Comments

by: Laura Holt

As I’m writing this, I’m realizing that, gloriously, it’s not all that early any more (hence my last-minute title change). Players have not only reported to camp, spring training games are being played and Opening Day will suddenly be here within a month. Those of us who are already drafting are no longer in the bubble of being able to avoid “best shape of his life” comments from players and remarks from managers about bullpen or starting position battles where a few words may lead to a huge ADP rise or fall for certain players. After looking at second base last week, we’ll begin March by shifting over one spot on the diamond and concentrating on shortstops outside the top 150 players being drafted according to current NFBC ADP. Since the position is stacked once again this season, I suspect most of us, even in very deep leagues, will have splurged on an expensive or early round stud and will have short covered by the time we get this late in a draft or auction. But it’s always nice to know what our fallback/back-up/bench depth/lottery ticket options might be, which leads us to the following list of names.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dominic Smith, 2021 Fantasy Schmohawk

March 2, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 164 Comments

by: Grey

Last year’s schmohawk posts were Alex Bregman, Joey Gallo, Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Kris Bryant. Welp, four out five ain’t bad. I crushed four of those so hard it was like I Mola Ram’d my hand into their chest so decisively, some of them were unable to come back from it. Somewhere, Kris Bryant is still walking with his head lowered, kicking rocks at some of the weak-sauce grounders he’s hitting to the 2nd baseman. Imagine you could ruin careers with your typed words — THAT IS MY POWER! I am a responsible enough adult that I can handle doling out this sort of punishment, but I promise you, I go to sleep every night, praying each of my schmohawks will be able to start up a new career after I decimate them with my (s)words.

“Lord, I know you are busy, but please, if you have a moment, let Joey Gallo start a career as a pretzel salesman at a well-attended circus. Or whatever he wants to do. Thank you, and keep in touch, big homey!” That’s me knelt by my Cal-King, 45,000-count linen sheet-covered bed. Just an adult, doing adult shizz. Now, allow me to unsheathe my adjectives, unholster my nouns, something-something-out some verbs! Today’s dressing down comes at the expense of Dominic Smith. En garde! is what I scream as I eat a Snickers bar, while perusing Statcast. You’re done for, pal! So, what can we expect from Dominic Smith for 2021 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Charting the Future: SP Strength of Schedule

March 1, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy | 9 Comments

by: TheTinDoor

A lot of pitcher fantasy analysis centers around pitcher quality: Velocity, stuff, BABIP, Statcast, recent performance…balancing out all of the available metrics to determine cost (draft slot, $ value) is the name of the game. Today we’re going to look at a metric I rarely see discussed in the pre-season: strength of schedule (SoS).

In-season, starting pitcher matchups are gold, whether you’re playing the streaming game or DFS. But pre-season, I rarely see analysis go any deeper than AL-vs.-NL comparisons. At the individual-SP level, this makes sense: projecting out specific full-season matchups for an SP is impossible.

At the team level, however, we can get get a pretty good handle on who may have advantageous matchups and who has a tough road. More specifically, we’re interested in the extremes: How frequently will each team face really tough matchups, or really easy ones? The middle 60% will be mostly based on pitcher quality; at the margins, we have actionable start/sit decisions.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The RazzSlam Guidebook: Sluggers Edition

March 1, 2021 | RazzSlam | 2 Comments

by: everywhereblair

Do you want to do better in the 2021 RazzSlam? I finished ranked in the 80s last year in the main even, and 40s in the qualifier. I certainly want to do better! I did a similar study to this after a dismal finish in the 2019 RazzBowl fantasy football tournament, improving my RazzBowl finish by nearly 200% and ultimately winning the DataForce Charity League against 12 of the best fantasy football minds in the business. I wrote up my findings in the 2020 RazzBowl Guidebook and my article How to Win an Industry Fantasy Football League. Last week, I showed you my methodology and findings on How to Draft Starting Pitchers in an Industry Fantasy Baseball League. This week, let’s take a look at the hitting landscape, and the strategies that succeeded for the best RazzSlam teams.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Patreon Podcast: Sexy Snowmen Take Over Canada

March 1, 2021 | All Podcasts |

by: Donkey Teeth

Razzball Patreon members receive our weekly podcast where Grey cackles about the funniest news stories we’ve found over the past week, plus you get that warm fuzzy feeling of supporting your favorite fantasy sports site in all the land.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Ten (10) Razzball Patreon members will randomly be selected to compete against Grey, Rudy and a slew all the biggest names in the fantasy baseball industry in this years RazzSlam. Note your Patreon membership at the bottom of your RazzSlam Signup Form.

Now, without further ado, it’s your favorite hour of the week! I Can’t Believe It’s Not Not News is back again with all the Billy Hurley jokes and Grey Albright cackles you can handle. First we report on the sexy snowmen who are haunting a Canadian town and then Billy heads to Louisiana to cover Cajuns bathing their kids in seafood boilers. Later we get the scoop on Hello Fresh’s accidental urine delivery and an Alaska woman bitten in the butt by a bear.

Find all of this week’s stories here:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2021 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Rankings Ranklings

March 1, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 207 Comments

by: Grey

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Hello, or hola, as I learned during my 13 years of Spanish. Welcome to my critique of Yahoo’s 2021 fantasy baseball rankings. Or as I sometimes call it, “I don’t know what they’re thinking, but the longer I think about it the more it hurts my brain, so let’s just shrug through this without acquiring a tumor.” Let’s not have my obit be, “Grey is survived by a much older wife, Cougs, and Yahoo’s fantasy baseball rankings.” We’re gonna bury them, they’re not gonna bury us! Uh, me! See, we’re putting things in perspective, my over-the-internet friend. I have my aggravation ratio down to 3:2. For every three rankings I don’t agree with, I’m only screaming twice. It’s very freeing. I feel light as a feather. A very toxic feather. Anyway, here’s a totally impartial look at Yahoo’s 2021 fantasy baseball rankings vs. my own 2021 fantasy baseball rankings:

Please, blog, may I have some more?