One Man’s Trash: Tommy Ain’t Your Typical Boy

I love fast cars, fast turnaround at the buffet, and fast waiting lines, so when it comes to pitchers, it only makes sense that I’ve got the need….the need for speed. Guys…or girls…..who can throw mid-90s make me hyperventilate. Even better when they are young. Now, no need to call the authorities or anything, but I’ll admit that I’m an ageist. Once a player passes the 30-year threshold, I start giving the, “I’ll call you back when I get a chance.” So, then why do I sort of, kind of like Tommy Milone, a 33-year-old pitcher who averages 86 mph on his fastball?

Milone was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 10th round of the 2008 MLB draft. He was traded to the Oakland Athletics in 2011, where he spent two years before getting traded to the Minnesota Twins. To the New York Mets in 2017, then back to the Nationals in 2018, the Seattle Mariners in 2019, and finally ending up with the Baltimore Orioles this season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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#	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

FanDuel: Lamet, Texas Ranger

August 20, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: MattTruss

We have a rare, extra-large Thursday slate today with the main FanDuel slate featuring eight games and the all day featuring fourteen. I guess MLB has realized that if they want this season to ever end, they may have to calm down on the off days. We’ll just be focusing on the main slate here and for that slate, I’m loving me some Dinelson Lamet ($9,400,) as a pivot from Shane Bieber (more on him later). Lament is the one pitcher on the board tonight I would peg to out-strikeout Bieber and he has the advantage of home field. The Rangers have MLB’s fourth worst team OPS. Them and the Marlins (who have played five fewer games) are tied for the fewest homers hit with just seventeen (Discounting the Cardinals of course, who have played eleven games and hit twelve homers and I think are still an MLB team?). Lament has K’s for days, sporting an 11.4 K/9 and while the 1.59 ERA is a tad lucky compared to the 2.79 FIP, it’s nothing to shake a stick at and I think he’ll be just fine tonight.

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!

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The Rockies Infield Has A New Neighbor

August 20, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 408 Comments

by: Grey

Who ropes us in? Did you just answer, “A rodeo cowboy?” No, I’m talking about in fantasy. Did you just say, “My fantasies involve rodeo cowboys?” I’m saying Bud Black ropes us in…*sees your eyes start to glaze over*…like a great rodeo cowboy! Now that I have your attention, David Dahl was IL’d with something. He is Mr. Glass. I won’t hear otherwise. Earlier this summer it was reported Dahl had no spleen. I have no idea what a spleen does, but if I were a scientist, I’d be looking into how no spleen equals a litany of injuries. “Is the spleen connected to back pain?” That’s me as a scientist while not knowing anything a scientist might know. So, Brendan Rodgers was called up! I grabbed him in all leagues where I could. He could be the call-up — flashing power, some speed and solid average because, and I can’t stress this enough after saying something that is meant to stress this: Coors. In only 37 games in Triple-A last year, he hit 9 HRs and .350, and guess how many games the Rockies had left when he was called up. Ding, ding, ding — 37! Hopefully, Bud Black isn’t just roping us in again. “I caught me some rodeo clowns.” That’s Bud Black. That bastard. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Prospect News: Can Xavier Edwards Evolve into Weapon X?

August 19, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 3 Comments

by: The Itch

I’ve been awaiting this news for a while now: Tampa Bay SS Xavier Edwards has been added to the player pool party.

He’s not a redraft option, in case you think I’m trying to comb him into the stash list.

Even so, time is a factor here: by the time it’s cool in the chamber to buy Xavier Edwards in dynasty or deep keeper leagues, it’ll be too late to get any traction in trade talks.

The Rays have a history of helping hit tool guys add power, and I think Edwards is a prime candidate for the Tampa treatment.

It’s not rocket science, really. You need to clear your hips, swing as hard as you can control, and hunt for pitches in your happy zone.

Oh yeah you also need to make contact.

So okay I guess it might be on par with rocket science in the percentage of humanity capable of participating.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ambulance Chasers, Week 5: Are You There God, It’s Me Aaron Boone

August 19, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report |

by: Hammer

Welp……whatever was in the water in the Bronx last year that led to one of the most ridiculous injury riddled seasons ever apparently is still sticking around, because the Yankees just keep taking hits left and right.

Last week, we chronicled Giancarlo Stanton’s hamstring issue, and a week later, the Yankees are now down two more stars, as DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge have both landed themselves on the IL. Judge has a calf issue that SEEMS minor, but this is Aaron Judge and the Yankees we’re talking about here. The hope is that he’ll only miss a couple of weeks, but these things have a tendency to snowball in this training room. With LeMahieu, it looks like he’ll be able to avoid surgery after an initial scare with his thumb injury. His timeline is also 2-3 weeks at the moment. So all three big Yankee hitters are slated to come off the IL in 2-3 weeks. Until then, we gave you Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier last week, but adding Tyler Wade and Thiaro Estrada in deeper leagues makes sense as fill ins for LeMahieu. Guys like Miguel Andujar and Mike Ford should also see some boost to their value with an OF and DH spot opening up full time.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: Speeding Through the Season

August 19, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: Butters

Welcome back to another edition of DFS advice with Butters. This sprint of a season is in full swing and feels like it will be over all too soon, just as we’re getting a feel for things. So strap in and enjoy the ride.

Shortstop is pretty top heavy today and thins out quickly after that. That leads us to Jonathan Villar (SS: $2,700) if you want to save some cash. Aside from average he’s been posting solid numbers and at this price that’s more than enough. Despite playing what feels like half as many games as the rest of the league he’s flashed his speed from atop the order, he’s tied for the league lead. Even with an ace on the mound, he can still come through for you.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Using Fly Ball Exit Velocity

August 19, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 12 Comments

by: Dan Richards

Barrel rate is an excellent tool for evaluating the true power-hitting ability of a slugger. But barrel rate does take about 50 batted balls to stabilize and most hitters do not yet have 50 batted ball events.

Even after a hitter’s barrel rate has likely stabilized, however, there are signs that it could improve or decline. One such sign that I use, particularly in the early going, is fly ball exit velocity. If a hitter has a lot of home runs supported by a great barrel rate, but he also exhibits poor fly ball exit velocity, there might be imminent regression to both his barrel and home run rates. Conversely, if a hitter isn’t hitting many home runs and has a poor barrel rate, but he hits his fly balls really hard, he might be getting unlucky.

To provide some context to early-season barrel rates, I’ve identified a few examples of both types of guys.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Jayce Tingler Sounds Like A Sex Toy

August 19, 2020 | All Podcasts | 1 Comment

by: Geoff

In the aftermath of 3-0-gate, Grey and yours truly jump into the fray, and give our on the whole silly Tatis granny. As if you needed another opinion on this. Don’t you worry we quickly get it out of our systems and move onto the good stuff. No, not the 30 year old scotch in your desk drawer, we’re talking oodles of fantasy baseball jewels for your noodles. We talk Reds postponement, Oscar Mercado’s demotion, Mookie’s continued success in Hollywood, and Grey finally admits Corey Seager is good at hitting baseballs. It was like group therapy with less trust falls! After we run through all that we jump into the trio of Tigers promotions before rounding it out with injuries and hot schmotato talk. It’s another week of the Razzball podcast but with 20% less fat!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

U Kenta Touch This

August 19, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 296 Comments

by: Grey

My, my, my my hitters can’t hit so hard! Makes me say, “Oh my Lord!” Thank you for blessing me, but please! I didn’t sneeze! Okay, okay, OKAY! Let’s bask like a Spanish omelette (that might be Basque) in Kenta Maeda. Yesterday, was nearly the best start of the year until Taylor Rogers did the doo-doo after being told “don’t do doo-doo.” Maeda went 8 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.27. By the by, you can see all the top 100 starts of the year under that linkiemajiggies. (I say ‘nearly’ because that page updates after the start, and Rogers blew his win.) I called Maeda a sleeper for a good four months this preseason. Here’s a brief snippet of me back in February, “Traded to the Twins, because all, and I mean, all things I touch turn to gold. *touches lamé jumper* I’m Beyonce, snitches! This can’t be bad for Maeda. If you want, like, actually facts, fine. Maeda’s about to be a top 20 starter.” Then I went on for about 1500 words across five different starter sleeper posts about Maeda’s swinging strike rate and how much I loved Maeda. If you didn’t draft him, that is really more on you. You could’ve touched him, now you Kenta’d. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Bear or Bull: A Time to Kill Grisham?

August 18, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Bear or Bull | 27 Comments

by: Son

Never judge a book by its cover. An age old mantra yet one that is often dismissed. There’s a reason the advertising industry is a billion dollar one, and that Karen in marketing is cashing fat checks. We judge from the cover in all facets of life. Because of that, we make irrational decisions at times. No different in fantasy baseball. We get swayed by the batting average plastered on the MY TEAM page or the constant zeroes from what you thought was your fantasy hero. Sometimes digging deeper can shed some light upon the situation. Trent Grisham of the San Diego Padres has been dropped in 13.7% of ESPN leagues over the past week. Why? Is it a time to kill Grisham or keep reading?

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Heads Up! H2H Categories Week 5 – Attack of the Bullpen

August 18, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues | 1 Comment

by: Richardo

We’re about a third of the way through the season and time is just flying! So, I guess I’m having fun. This week, we’ll take an alternate look at finding low owned hitters that could help lead your team to victory. Being a Phillies fan, I realized just how many hits/runs/fantasy stats the bullpen was allowing since the arms were pitching like hot garbage. So I started working my way backward in finding hitters to stream by finding bullpens to attack. I don’t want to stream hitters against the Brewers or Dodgers because once the starters are out, my bats are going up against sub-2.50 ERA arms. So let’s take a look at some teams to stream hitters from this week.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 3, 2020

August 18, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Our Leagues, Razzball Commenter Leagues | 5 Comments

by: MattTruss

Welcome to week three of the Razzball Commenter Leagues! We are now one third of the way through our season. That’s just wild and I have the feeling there isn’t enough time to correct the ERA hole some of my teams have dug. Yikes. A huge thank you goes out this week to Rudy and his FanTrax data-mining robots who were able to snag all our RCL data. That means, we have real, live standings. Week one and two I simply had to take whichever teams had the most roto points, but this week to get to factor in League Competitive Index or LCI. This system rewards players who are in harder leagues for eeking out those extra points. We also get to factor in the Master Points. Master Points are basically like you’re playing in a 924 team roto league. If you have the most HRs in the RCL-universe, you get 924 points, if you have the fewest, you get 1 point. Pretty cool, huh? For more info, you can scroll to the bottom of the MASTER STANDINGS page and read all about the secret sauce that is the Master Standings. This also means, we’ll have weekly leaders starting next week. Of course, there will only be five weeks worth of weekly data, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Hmm, that sounds like it has potential to be the new MLB slogan!

Please, blog, may I have some more?