Fantasy Baseball Podcast: The Schlong Show featuring Lenny Dykstra

May 28, 2020 | All Podcasts | 9 Comments

Our Razzball Patreon Podcast from two weeks back was so good that we’ve decided to share it with the masses free of charge! If you enjoy this show, then we’d love for you to subscribe to our exclusive Patreon feed where you can enjoy all of our future Lenny Dykstra interviews and much more for the low low price of $5 per month. Here’s what Grey had to say about this show when it was originally released a week and a half ago:

“So, I didn’t expect much from this Patreon podcast, but, honestly, waking up Lenny Dykstra mid-nap to hear him say Ron Darling sucks d**k, well…I have to be honest here, this podcast is in the pantheon of nonsense. So, we get Lenny Dykstra on the show, for, I don’t know, maybe 15 minutes. He’s in the middle of napping-slash-having sex and he’s also very, very angry with Ron Darling, but, other than that, it was a totally normal conversation where I say 1993 Phillies players names and Lenny says whether or not they did drugs with him. Ya know, standard stuff.

Then Donkey Teeth and I dive into how my grandfather picked up a girl in the last week during a pandemic and she’s now moved in with him. Again, this is normal stuff. He’s only 92 years old with more game than any of you. Next up (this is likely totally out of order), we talk about my love for Normal People on Hulu. There’s no spoilers to say I think it’s the best show of 2020. It’s at least better than the shitshow that is the world. Finally, we discuss MLB’s plans to return and Blake Snell’s channeling of Vanilla Ice during contract negotiations. Maybe Vanilla should’ve had Blake Snell talk to Suge Knight about Ice, Ice Baby song rights. Who’s to say? Then we pimp the YouTube fantasy football show that Donkey and Boof started. Bless them and everyone who listens to this Patreon podcast. It’s five dollars per month to sign up, and every bit helps right now. Also, you can help us by subscribing to our Ad-free site.” And that’s a jackass quoting a lothario. Enjoy the show!

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 \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| MIA \| OAK

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Orioles Baseball with Alex Fast

May 28, 2020 | All Podcasts |

by: Brent

Alex Fast (@Alexfast8), with Pitcher List, joins the show to breakdown the Baltimore Orioles. We dive into their lineup to see which players can surprise people. Can Hanser Alberto, and Austin Hays keep up their .300+ average? What can we expect from Chris Davis in the future? As one of the premier power hitters in the past, he has struggled to make contact and show promise like he did in 2013 and 2015. Can the rotation keep their ERA under 4.50? John Means looks to anchor the rotation down and keep the Orioles competitive. The bullpen may be a strength of the Orioles and if given a lead could help the team win some games. The farm system is Top 15 in the MLB with guys like Grayson Rodriguez, and Adley Rutschman leading the charge.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dart Throws: Isan Diaz

May 28, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 86 Comments

by: Grey

In JKJ’s universal DH: NL East piece, he mentions some guys who the Marlins might ask to DH for them if/when the universal DH is implemented. Jon Berti, Jesus Aguilar, Garrett Cooper and even Lewin Diaz, and all of those names seem well within the realm of possibilities for the Marlins’ DH. Berti is obviously the most interesting and Cooper/Aguilar seem like strong possibilities too. I’d even consider Corey Dickerson there. So, JKJ is right, the Marlames will need someone. This isn’t a clearcut situation of this so-and-so slides into the DH spot. Berti is a waste at DH; he can play all over the field. Prototypical DHs are Aguilar and Cooper. Maybe even Matt Joyce on occasion. What I think the DH does in Miami is open an extra spot for one guy to get rest (Cooper, Aguilar, Dickerson) and Berti to play the field more. So, Berti will see more at-bats now. I’ve already given you a Jon Berti sleeper, which was from 2019 and that feels like it was about 17 years ago. Berti, Berti, Berti! He’s great! I love him! This post is surprisingly not about him. He can fill in for Dickerson, Aguilar, Lewis Brinson, Brian Anderson, everyone and no longer needs to take at-bats and play 2nd base over one guy JKJ didn’t mention, who now becomes a full-timer, Isan Diaz, the Forgotten Man. FoMa is giving me FOMO. So, what can we expect from Isan Diaz for 2020 fantasy baseball and what makes him a great dart throw?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dynasty Rankings: Top 100 Relief Pitchers for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

May 27, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 8 Comments

by: The Itch

In Sunday’s introduction to the top 50 relief pitchers for 2021 dynasty baseball, I explored how Rolaids may have played a role in early analytics by assigning point values to relief pitching events in their quest to annually reward each league’s best pitcher in the 1970’s.

During these years, Rolaids commercials claimed that their company name spelled relief. Now I know it was just a bit for a commercial, and I appreciate Rolaids bringing shine to an oft-shadowed position (especially to that point in baseball history), but I don’t appreciate—as an English instructor and father of an almost two-year-old human—that a company can build its core marketing strategy around obfuscating the spelling of words. Morphemes matter, y’all. Mastering the English language is heartburn-inducing enough without Rolaids playing fast and loose with phonics.

This reminds me of major league managers playing fast and loose with bullpens while the rest of us scramble to figure out how that team is going to spell relief for the next few weeks.

But scramble we must, and relish the hustle I do, so let’s get to the list.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dart Throws: Nick Madrigal

May 27, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 52 Comments

by: Grey

How do the White Sox justify not starting Nick Madrigal from the first game of the season now that they’re starting the year in the month of Who Knows When and on the date of TBD? Such firmness with the MLB, huh? All you have to know about whether MLB owners are negotiating in good faith is they had the month of May to come up with a proposal and they submitted it to the players on May 26th. MLB owners negotiate like Kevin Spacey in Seven mixed with Robert Redford in Indecent Proposal. “You have 48 hours to come to the table or we will have Avisail Garcia screw your wife.” Well, whatever happens happens as they say say. Once baseball returns, it will come back with larger rosters. I’ve heard some describe this as taxi squads. The team will have, say, 30 men on the roster, but there will be another fifteen guys on a taxi squad who can be called up at any time for injuries. Nick Madrigal shouldn’t even be on the taxi squad. He should be on the MLB roster. Back, during Spring Training 1.0, we were expecting Madrigal to get called up around the end of May. Well, that came and went, huh? So, back to my original question, how do the White Sox suppress Madrigal from the majors now? To get Leury Garcia time at 2nd base, where he’s started eight total games since 2015? Don’t be daft. Madrigal is the starter at 2nd base, when the season starts, and I’ve begun drafting him, as such. Yes, I’m currently taking part in fantasy baseball drafts. I have a problem! So, what can we expect from Nick Madrigal in 2020 fantasy baseball and what makes him a great dart throw?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Bear or Bull: He May Not Be the Sharpest Tool in the Shed but…..

May 26, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Bear or Bull | 13 Comments

by: Son

….I sort of Long for him. How this website remains free is beyond me. Anyways, here’s a thought experiment for you. Say you were out shopping for shoes and you see a pair of Nikes for $150, while the Mikes are right next for $15. Which do you buy? Even if the quality of the two products are similar? For those who buy shoes for the status symbol, then the Nikes are the obvious choice, but for the practicality-inclined, the Mikes are the no-brainer. For fantasy baseball, there are some who draft players on name value, which is fine, but sometimes the name becomes a blinder which prohibits the eyes from identifying similar, yet cheaper players. Shed Long of the Seattle Mariners may be just that player, as he is being selected as the 418th overall player in NFBC drafts from 3/1/2020 to 5/24/2020. You won’t believe who the Nikes to Long’s Mikes is.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: The Resume of Grey Albright

May 26, 2020 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 2 Comments

by: Geoff

This week we were stood-up, forgotten, left for dead. They say never meet your heroes, and for Grey and I that will not be a problem. Where art thou Adam Richman, patron saint of hungry men! So, in other words no Adam Richman this week, but don’t be upset, turn that frown upside down kemosabe. Grey and I are back and we tackle the tough questions like “what frivolous purchase would you make with $10 million dollars at your disposal?” We follow that up with one of the more fascinating topics we’ve ever covered on the show. Grey Albright’s resume pre-Razzball, pre-FML, hell it’s even pre-Cougs! So strap in and expect to laugh, expect to be confused, and expect to be Albright’d. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Podcast.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dart Throws: Franchy Cordero

May 26, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 48 Comments

by: Grey

Franchy Cordero receives a value increase in a roundabout (not a rotary!) way due to the universal DH, because Wil Myers seems more likely to head to the DH spot now vs. sharing playing time with Franchy in right field. With Myers sharing DH duties (hehe, I said duties) with another red, white and blue flagger with no stars. Not Franchy, but parlez vous français…? How do you say in French, “What France hopes for in every World Cup tournament?” Ty France! That’s their GOOOOOOOOOAL! Sorry, when it comes to Ty France, I’m no Francophile. One thing Franchy Cordero and Ty France might have in common, besides being direct descendants of Robespierre, is they might be Quad-A players. You say Franchy, I say Ty France, let’s call the whole thing off like the French call off their military. But, if I’m being generous like the French with body odor, Ty France had no value prior to the universal DH, and now he’s at least worth a flyer for power — he had seven homers in 69 games (nice!), but hit .234 and we’re here to talk about Franchy, not France. Sorry, to misrepresent what I was baguette’ing at. Today, I’m donning a Franchy jersey, saying in my mirror, “I’m Franch dressing.” Don’t you relish me; that’s thousand island. So, what can we expect from Franchy Cordero for 2020 fantasy baseball and what makes him a great dart throw?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

While We Wait: Pitching Winners and Losers

May 25, 2020 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 9 Comments

by: Pat

I’ve been really struggling on a monthly basis to write these articles. It isn’t because my love of baseball, or sports is gone. It’s simply from waiting with anticipation for an entire month to get a confirmed framework for a season to provide true actionable information to you the reader, and then as the article deadline slowly approaches… once again… nothing. So I bite my lip and carry on into the great speculative arena of a potential MLB season as we are all doing. Ironically, the approach the MLB and the players association are taking to negotiating a 2020 season seems to be the root cause of this push the article, get nothing, write speculative article cycle. The two sides are going to take this negotiation down to the last minute and play deal or no deal. I don’t blame either side. It’s business, from both the owners and players perspectives, and there are A LOT of moving parts here. However, I do believe we are coming down to the wire and the MLB can ill afford to miss the natural bump they would receive in even a partial season in viewership. As this deadline is trickling down it seems that the framework for the season is becoming even more narrow. At this point, we haven’t heard any other speculation since the 3 division 10 team proposal approximately a month ago. In my mind, this must be the working plan for the 2020 MLB season going forward. In analyzing these divisions, considering the addition of the designated hitter for the NL teams I see some clear winners and losers:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2020 Fantasy Baseball Team Preview: Miami Marlins

May 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Team Previews | 10 Comments

by: The Real Joey Bart

Why did I choose to preview the Marlins? This team is terrible. The good news is that they appeared to hit rock-bottom last season and might see some improvement this year. They made some interesting signings to fill their lineup and have a talented, young pitching staff to work around. The shortened season is actually a perfect thing for an organization like this too because it speeds up their development period and it allows them to get free agents on the cheap next season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of their statistics from last season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Patreon Podcast: Very Special Guest Prospect Itch

May 25, 2020 | All Podcasts | 16 Comments

by: Grey

Sadly, we talk a lot about baseball this Patreon podcast. I know, I know, I KNOW! I’m sorry. You don’t pay us the very, very small amount of sixteen cents per day to hear about baseball. You want dong talk! Well, you’re not getting much of it this week. Less schlong, more baseball, that’s what I always say after reading that line off a bathroom stall. To discuss baseball, we welcome our very own prospect writer, Prospect Itch. During our spirited chat, we wrestle with some questions like: When will baseball return? What will it look like when it does return? And, perhaps most importantly, what will the fantasy baseball prospect rankings look like if — heaven forbid — there’s no baseball season?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dynasty Rankings: Top 50 Relief Pitchers for 2021 Fantasy Baseball

May 24, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 29 Comments

by: The Itch

I take a lot of antacids.

Rolaids created an award (not for me)–a gold-plated firefighter’s helmet–to honor baseball’s best relief pitcher every year from 1976 to 2012. The history behind this fascinates me. Feels like some seeds of analytics were born in the bowels of Rolaids’ 1970’s corporate office.

Relief pitching events were each given a point value. Three points per save. Two points per win. Two points per loss. The biggest end-of-season number won, period.

Blown saves (-2) were introduced in 1987.

Tough saves (+4) came along in 2000. Surprises me that I’ve never seen this as an option by fantasy providers, especially in points leagues or daily games. An antacid company was using it 20 years ago ffs. Refers to any time a reliever enters the game with a tying run on base and secures a save.

Relievers might be my favorite thing about fantasy baseball, for reasons I can’t explain except to say I love games that resist attempts to shrink/minimize/categorize/rubricate them. The more multi-layered the better. And saves bring that to fantasy baseball. (As do stolen bases.) I also love Holds leagues because they throw the math off a nudge further and open another market of elite players who just happen to pitch the not-ninth.

Ranking RP’s is kind of a paradox. It might be the least accurate yet most useful of any positional ranking, especially for dynasty leagues.

So that’s the caveat.

These rankings are for standard 5×5 leagues, btw. Would look totally different in a holds league.

Relief pitching is a strength for me in fantasy, year over year. I tend to trade from it and trade for it on a regular basis, sometimes within the same week. Still, I’m a little leery to put fingers to keys on this one. The yearly upheaval at this position is like no other, so I’m not surprised there’s very little on the market right now covering relief pitching in dynasty leagues.

The very thought of the task has my hand reaching for the (insert highest-bidding antacid company here).

Kidding. I love this stuff. My full geek breathes fire when researching the K-BB % leaders across all leagues, digging into their game logs, skipping to their innings, even watching/reading an interview here and there.

Let’s get to the list.

Please, blog, may I have some more?