What’s up, everybody? We’re working our way through the shortened season while trying to avoid the COVID potholes. The Marlins will be returning to action today albeit with 19 new players as 18 players tested positive and Isan Diaz opted right on out of that clubhouse. One silver lining is the Marlins are calling up Monte Harrison to the big league club. The power/speed prospect played just 58 games in 2019 after having wrist surgery following an injury diving for a ball in the outfield. Harrison still managed 9 homers and 20 stolen bases in AAA before the injury. That’s after putting up a 19HR/28SB performance in AA the year prior. The only knock on Harrison is his plate discipline as the Marlins prospect posted strikeout rates of 36.9% and 29.9% the last two years. Although he did manage to make gains in his walk rate, raising it to 10.2% last year. With Harrison getting the call and starting his service time, the Marlins have no reason to not give him at-bats. Monte Harrison is rostered in just 1.7% of ESPN leagues and 8% of CBS Sports leagues, so if your team needs a shot in the arm, grab him now as he could help out in both homers and stolen bases. Let’s take a look at some other players that may give you a head start on your competition.
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Technically the first “week” was from (Re)Opening Day, July 23rd to Sunday, July 26th, but that was just too short, with too few games and just didn’t feel right. Instead, I’m going to combine that short week with this week to form week 1.5 of the Razzball Commenter Leagues. How has the first week plus gone for you? Are you overloaded on Blue Jays and Phillies like I seem to be everywhere? Did you draft Roberto Osuna, Nick Anderson, Wade Davis and Mychal Givens as your closers? Perfect! Unlike in past seasons at a similar point in the season we can’t really say, “It’s still early” this season, because it’s already getting late! If you are sitting in last and haven’t been trying to maximize those empty roster spots left by Mike Trout, Lourdes Gurriel and Rhys Hoskins, then it’s time to drop a would-be closer and start working that waiver wire like a boss. This is where the RCL battle is won and lost. We’ve already had races for more closers than I care to remember, the latest being Jairo Diaz and Ryan Pressly and we’ve had races for prospect call-ups in Nick Madrigal and Jo Adell. Again, there can be no resting on your laurels this season, so set those Twitter notifications and hit the wire. Let’s take a look at which RCL teams are getting an early jump on their league standings in part to streaming and batty-calling their butts off:
Please, blog, may I have some more?As we continue to make our way through this Upside Down of a season, looking around at the game we love and have come to know so well, it’s the simple things in the game that can help bring us back: The crack of the bat, a spectacular defensive play, a big league debut.
While not quite his debut, Jesús Luzardo is making his first major league start tonight. We can all look forward to watching him pitch, but at $6,100 the electric, 22-year-old lefty may offer us something more and be the best DFS option for our lineups. Coming off extended relief appearances pitch count is a concern here; he needed 67 pitches to get through 3.2 innings on the 29th, and should be capped around 75 pitches, which, in combo, significantly discounts the likelihood of a quality start or win. Caveats aside, Luzardo has the potential to mow down a lineup and return great value. This season owes us some spectacular moments. Let’s hope this is one of them.
Keep reading below for more guaranteed* money-making** DFS picks.
*not guaranteed
**we’re definitely not promising this
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Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s always hard to know if a major league manager is being sly or stupid. Guessing stupid gets you right at least 75% of the time, sly is 24%. This time Maddon might be in the 1%. Maddon seemed to indicate Jo Adell was nowhere on the radar. Was he being sly, stupid or the rare 1%? The 1% happens when someone is injured and a prospect just needs to be called up twisting the manager’s arm. Thankfully, it wasn’t Shohei Ohtani’s arm that was twisted; enough has happened to that. So, Jo Adell was called up, seemingly to replace Brian Goodwin (hopefully). Prospect Itch wrote about 1,000 words on Jo Adell at his Jo Adell fantasy (which included Luis Robert — hum-ma-na). I wrote a few Jo Adell preseason outlook posts — one last year, one during shutdown. If you’re the type who doesn’t want to look at long-form writing and prefers a quick, “Give me the Cliff Notes, dude. I ain’t got time for work.” Pick him up. Everywhere. He’s. So. Good. I’m Giving. Him. The. One. Sentence. Treatment. For. Emphasis. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
August 3-9, 2020
The Major League Baseball 2020 season is a mess, and this is a post about it. As of Saturday night, 104 players and 24 staff/training members had tested positive for coronavirus since the inception of the season, with 42 cases identified in the last week. Boston Red Sox star and former Tier 3 member Eduardo Rodriguez has been shut down for the 2020 season following myocarditis that was associated with his bout of coronavirus. 20% of MLB teams had games postponed this weekend, with the Marlins and Phillies not having played since last week. At the time of writing, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that he intended for the remaining teams to continue playing the truncated season, although there are reports that if more positive cases erupt on Sunday, then a work stoppage would follow. There’s a non-zero chance that if you’re reading this on Monday afternoon, baseball is again in a holding pattern.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Jorge Montanez (@Roto_Nino) from RotoRanks joins the show to talk about the crazy first week of baseball. We recap the players off to hot starts like Colin Moran, and Corey Seager and the players struggling to find their way so far this season. We discuss the save situation and if it’s worth trying to chase saves. We list a couple of relievers that have grabbed some saves from closers and if they are there to stay.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I’ll give the 2020 baseball season credit for this: it’s going to make us feel like it was 26 weeks. Illness, injury, and outbreak have not been in short supply. FAAB periods have been wild. Here’s my corner of the internet to help keep you afloat in this sea of change.
- Turns out Craig Kimbrell is shot after all. Rowan Wick is the assumed closer now, though Jeremy Jeffress has a recent save and will be called on for high leverage spots, as well. There’s more strikeout upside to Wick.
- James Karinchak did, in fact, eat a save opp from Brad Hand last week. Karinchak is going to have to show he can consistently control his wipeout stuff. But if he does… Please, blog, may I have some more?
Well, the season’s been as weird, wild, and worrisome as expected so far. We’ve seen some horrific starts from first round hitters, and, not as surprisingly perhaps, some ridiculously good starts from some of our under the radar deep league hitters. Assuming that major league baseball games are still being played this week, let’s look at some of those good starts, with an eye to the future and who might be able to keep it up for 2020 and perhaps beyond.
Colin Moran. I drafted the Pirates third baseman in a deep league or two because I thought he’d get more playing time than he deserved (he has), not because I thought he’d be leading the league in homers (5) as of Saturday (which he is… which I guess proves me wrong about that whole deserving playing time thing). I’ll hold tight in the leagues I own him, and hope this is a sign to come for 2021 since one of those leagues is a keeper league, but I’m not going crazy over him in standard leagues. I’ll be rooting for him, sure, but I can’t imagine he’ll have another week and a half of production this year that matches his huge start to the season.
Please, blog, may I have some more?So, several of your fantasy baseball league-mates have discovered Razzball and keep stealing your players? Or you just want more of Grey’s awesome fantasy advice NOW? Well good news, Grey has begun releasing his weekly buy/sell articles one day early to all of our valued Patreon members! Plus you’ll get our weekly comedic podcast (members only!) delivered directly to your email inbox each Monday. Support your favorite fantasy baseball site by joining the Razzball Patreon now for just $5/month and help fund Grey’s purchase of an Andre the Giant cardboard Dodgers fan wearing a Razzball shirt!
On this week’s podcast episode of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Not News with world renowned comedian Billy Hurley, we talk about even more offbeat news stories. And you won’t not believe them!
But wait, did you catch the Billy-Ivan episode a couple weeks back? Here’s a teaser if you somehow aren’t sold yet:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Morning Y’all! Today’s FanDuel slate is shaping up to be an absolute cluster. Well, every day so far this season has been one. At this point, any game can get called on a moment’s notice so make sure you are following the news throughout the day. John Heyman and Jeff Passan are two guys I follow a lot to make sure games have been called due to, and I quote Cardi-b, “Coronavirus”. Besides the rona, we have several of the 8 games that will have potential weather impacts. Keep an eye on NY, ATL, CHI, and also COL. With that out of the way, let’s jump into today’s slate. Several dynamic offenses have really good matchups. Colorado, Philly, Minnesota, and to an extent the A’s.
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?On Saturday, Isan Diaz opted out of the season. Someone doesn’t want to sneak out to the strip club anymore. Then, on Sunday, the Marlins said they would bring up Monte Harrison and summon a bunch of journeymen to Baltimore for their next series, starting on Tuesday. I don’t care if they have one player, as long as that player’s Monte Harrison. Outside of Harrison, it sounds like their lineup might be filled with Matt Joyce, Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla. “Bah gawd…it’s Ricky Nolasco’s music!” Last year, Harrison went 9/20/.274 in 56 Triple-A games. *does the robot as I head to my waiver wires to pick up Monte Harrison in every league* Robot voice, “Don’t…mind…if…I…” Damn, I was messing around, and someone got him before me. Stupid slow robot! So, grab Monte Harrison in every league for some power and great speed, though he might hit .210. I’d wait and see on Jorge Cantu. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?The season is teetering on the edge. I mean the absolute razor’s edge. The commissioner is rattling his sabers about canceling the season in light of the challenge of Covid-19. But as of now baseball is still being played all over the county, even with some games getting postponed. There will be 7 inning makeup games and more and more chaos everywhere. There are players coming and going from the IL, players treating a positive test as if it’s nothing and others going out on paternity leave. On the positive side there will be playoff chases galore for the whole season with more than half the league going! With all that said we do have a Top 100.
You can find last week’s list here. Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:
Please, blog, may I have some more?