Rookie Leaderboards: Home Runs, Stolen Bases, and Saves

July 22, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 13 Comments

In a blurry baseball universe, one thing that’s clear about 2020 is the numbers will look funky.

I will miss the number 30, especially.

We had some good times.

And sometimes we’d double up 30/30 . . . those were the days . . .

I suppose we could rally around 30 Runs or RBI?

Nah that’s ridiculous, and only Kyle Lewis or apex Giancarlo could hit 30 home runs in 60 games, so we should probably say our goodbyes to those curvy round benchmarks. Funky numbers only from here on out! 11? Come on down! 17? Wow that’s a lot of whatevers in 2020!!

As part of this ongoing effort to make my funk the P funk, I’m building rookie leaderboards with concrete Miss Cleo numbers. Projections, if you’re nasty.

Here’s a funky song to play while you imagine the future.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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#	MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 9/23
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| OAK

Charting the Future: Multi-Position Premium

July 22, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball | 3 Comments

by: TheTinDoor

The great Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs, The Process, etc.) recently revisited a topic that’s always ripe for debate: what kind of extra value does a multi-position player get, compared to those who only play one position? We can all agree that multi-position is better than single; quantifying that value, however, proves more difficult. A few years ago, Rudy assessed this briefly in his seminal piece, “Debunking Positional Scarcity“, and recommends adding a $1 for multi-position players.

Jeff’s article took a different approach: instead of measuring what a player’s value should be, he attempted to measure the actual impact in terms of draft cost. In other words, what premium does the market place on these players? Read the full piece; Jeff estimates ~$3.20 bump on average.

While I like the goal (understanding market premiums), Jeff’s methodology (comparing the draft cost of two similarly-projected players) was limited in scope. So I’ve set out to do additional analysis with the same goal: measuring the market premium of multi-position players.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Cardinals Baseball with Chelsea Ladd

July 22, 2020 | All Podcasts |

by: Brent

Chelsea Ladd (@chelseabrooke), from Dugout Dish joins the show to breakdown the St. Louis Cardinals squad. We find out how her baseball career got started and where she wants her brand to grow. We breakdown the old, but reliable lineup that includes Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter. What kind of impact they can have in a 60 game season? We dive into the rotation led by Jack Flaherty. Will Carlos Martinez be in the starting rotation or a bullpen piece moving forward? We discuss these topics and get to know Chelsea more with our rapid fire questions!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Heads Up! H2H Categories Week 1 – Domo Arigato Mr. Akiyama

July 22, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues | 6 Comments

by: Richardo

Baseball is finally here as the regular season starts on Friday! In this weekly article, I’ll attempt to bring to light lower-owned players that are adds to help you stay ahead of the competition and win your league. This is a sprint, not a marathon, so now is not the time to get attached to those slow starters. Normally, they’d have time to turn it around, but with a 60 game season, a couple of struggling bats or arms could drag your team to the bottom of the standings. With that in mind, here are some Week 1 options to get you started on the right path.

Shogo Akiyama, OF, CIN – 24% owned on ESPN and CBS – Akiyama is penciled into the leadoff spot for the Reds and they get six games against the hapless Tigers rotation to start the season. The other four games come against the Cubs, where they’ll face Tyler Chatwood and Alec Mills in two of those games. Akiyama has been scouted with “above average plate skills”, while most projection systems have him hovering around a 9% walk rate. With Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Nick Castellanos, and Mike Moustakas batting behind Akiyama, he should score plenty of runs out of the gate. If Akiyama is still available in your leagues, now is the time to add him.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

If I Didn’t Have Bad Lux, I’d Gavin None At All

July 22, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 271 Comments

by: Grey

I never really liked Gavin Lux. Never drafted him before. Not the kind of guy I buy usually. I want big power or speed upside from my rookies. Especially speed. Five category? Well, Luis Robert can canoodle my noodle any time. Nick Madrigal? Okay, fine, but his hit tool is insane. Carter Kieboom? More like a Kie-fizzle in that platoon. I want dem wheels or dem big muscles. Gavin Lux does what? Few homers and a few steals, and hits maybe .260? I never draft that! Dot dot dot. Usually. I can’t believe I’m rostering that ess oh bee on my Tout Wars team. I think I was price enforcing, that’s at least the story I’m going with and don’t end sentences with with — dah! If Chris Taylor really does get 60-games’ worth of ABs over Lux, it doesn’t make him a posh upgrade, but simply a good flyer due to lineup, i.e., counting stats vs. a Taylor H.A.M. sighting. I moved down Gavin Lux in my top 500 and top 20 2nd basemen. Hopefully, Gavin Lux is up after only six games to a week, due to service time. He must’ve ruffled some feathers when he complimented Lasorda by saying he really liked the “sauce” at the team’s quarantine spaghetti dinner. IT IS GRAVY!!! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2020 Razzball Fantasy Baseball Staff Picks

July 21, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball | 24 Comments

by: Jay

Welcome to another season of Razz-matazz Fantasy Baseball. Now with more social distancing! (Jokes on them, basement social distancing is easy!) So despite the pandemic, here we are with another year of staff picks. So what’s the goal with this? Hashtag content, baby. (That’s the technical term.) There’s another goal though, one less self-fulfilling, unlike your mother. Despite the modern advancement of technology and science, we still have no way to have every writer provide their extended take on every single player in the MLB. We try though! And so we have this quick-and-easy (I regret burning my “yo momma” joke now…) presentation that provides you, the Razzmatazzball community a viewer-friendly and succinct breakdown of how we feel about the upcoming season. The general gist? WEAR YOUR MASK. True MVP’s stay together people.

So without further ado, here are our Official 2020 Razzball Picks! (Be sure to share yours in the comments section!)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: On The Eve Of The 60 Game Sprint

July 21, 2020 | All Podcasts | 1 Comment

by: Geoff

Where will the Blue Jays play? Who will close for the Pirates? Will Yasiel Puig suit up in 2020? Will A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo ever pitch for the Athletics? Kieboom to Kie-toon with Asdrubal Cabrera. All this and a breakdown of the top FAAB bids in TGFBI this past weekend. There’s a lot to cover and half of it won’t be true by Saturday. The wackiness of the 60 game season is upon us. If you’re like me you’re strapping on your helmet (mandatory I wear one while using the inter-webs per my doctor), and getting ready for more twists and turns than any country road. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Podcast and I lost my car keys.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Bear or Bull: Fo Shogo

July 21, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Bear or Bull | 20 Comments

by: Son

I usually have FOMO when it pertains to Japanese imports: cars, video games, sushi, anime, toilets, and baseball pitchers. I just learned that there’s a concept called JOMO, which is the joy of missing out. L. O. L. Well, I get JOMO when it comes to Godzilla, radioactive fish, and baseball hitters from Japan. But, but, but….there are always exceptions to the rule. Hideki Matsui, coincidentally nicknamed Godzilla, was amazing and so was Ichiro, but the rest of the list is the aftermath of eating that five-eyed fish. So, where will new import, Shogo Akiyama, fit into the spectrum?

Akiyama is 31 years old, 6′ 0″, 190 pounds, and bats from the left side. He played nine years in the JPPL and put up some impressive numbers. In 2015, he had 216 hits in 143 games and, over the past five years, has always produced over 170 hits per season. Over the last three seasons, he’s clubbed over 20 homers, stolen at least 10 bases, had a batting average over .300, and OBP hovering close to .400. He has five-category skills, but it’s the JPPL, so that sort of production is unrealistic to expect his first season in MLB. So what can we expect?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

RCL Update: FanTrax Adjustments

July 21, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Our Leagues, Razzball Commenter Leagues | 5 Comments

by: MattTruss

It’s hard to believe that there will be some real baseball being played in just a few days. I still feel woefully unprepared as I feel like teams have hardly any clue who is starting Opening Day. We’re still getting opt-out news for crying in the clouds! We just found out a couple days ago that the Nationals could play Opening Day in their park and we have no idea where the Blue Jays are going to be playing, AH! Regardless, we soldier on and make the best of what we get, I’ll be watching Thursday night because I’m a sucker for baseball and because I have about 30 Razzball Commenter Leagues to try and manage this season. Speaking of which, we have a league, drafting tonight at 9 PM ET and you can click HERE to join and draft one last team this season. What’s one more at this point? If you’re just coming out of your long spring stupor and starting to check your RCL team pages again, I have a few tips and tricks below on how you can customize your teams to make viewing things easier. Unfortunately, there is no way to copy settings from one team to another, so if you have many teams *raises hand*, you’ll have to do these steps on every one. Let’s get to it!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Scott White Stops By

July 21, 2020 | Razzball Podcast |

by: B_Don

Scott White, Sr. Writer for CBS Sports, talks with B_Don and Donkey Teeth about the shortened 2020 season. The guys ask Scott about his expectations for his Braves for both hitting and pitching. We ask Scott about his thoughts on Mike Trout as he comes in at 5 among his rankings.

The guys then move on to discuss the recent CBS roto auction. Scott criticizes DT and B_Don’s approach in the auction grabbing 3 top hitters in Ronald Acuña Jr. ($49), Cody Bellinger ($44), and Chrsitian Yelich ($56). The podcast hosts then explain their thinking toward the full stars and scrubs approach.

We move on to Scott’s team and how he planned his team prior to the auction. We get his take on Francisco Lindor and his possibilities of being traded, and his expectations for Mike Soroka.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Corbin Burnes So Hot He Gave Brett Anderson A Blister

July 21, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 208 Comments

by: Grey

Brett Anderson hit the IL with a blister on his finger. Shame really. Super, super sad news. *watches two-hour VHS titled, “Fist Pump Like Tiger Woods,” ejects the tape, stands up awkwardly, raises hand and FIST PUMPS* I’m doing it! I’m fist pumping! So, little ol’ Anderson was willing to play through it but the coaches were worried the compromised grip would affect him. Little ol’ Anderson said, “Gonna have to leave it to the other four horsemen.” Corbin Burnes wasn’t in my rankings, but if I were adding people, I would add him. (At this point, I’m only removing opt outs and seriously injured players, because it’s too late in game to be adding guys for drafts. If you’re following along, you know which guys I like more now.) So, Burnes works off three-point-seventy-five pitches. Not quite four, and operates in the fast lane with a 95+ MPH fastball, and a babymaking slider that produced a 52.1% strikeout rate and .188 BAA. The Milwaukee Burnes’ers’ Burnes had a 12.9 K/9 last year and has great command, though he didn’t show it. Looking for a breakout that is likely available in most shallower leagues? Burnes said, “Say goodnight, Bretty,” and you say hello to Corbin. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Top 100 Starting Pitchers: Summer Training Week 4

July 20, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 10 Comments

by: everywhereblair

Top 100 Starting Pitchers Graphic

July 20-July 26, 2020

Well, hello everyone and welcome back to your favorite place to hear about split fingers, Razzball’s Top 100 Starting Pitcher List! If you’ve been a good fantasy baseball manager, you’ve already bookmarked the previous article while you were drafting your teams and social media should be cheering your wise moves. If you’ve been a bad manager and Grey put you in his basement, well, you’re probably sitting next to me right now eating from a hoarded supply of Pop Tarts. Leave me the strawberry!

Before we get to the list, let’s check up on a couple of important news bits. If you follow me on Twitter @everywhereblair, some of these updates are already old stories for you. In case this is your first time here, I’ll catch you up: I update the Google Doc below daily in response to hearing about Covid news, rotation management, and summer training performances. Bookmark this page and check it out to get the most up-to-date pitcher rankings for your drafting needs. By following me on Twitter, you’ll hear first when I update the Top 100 Starting Pitcher List.

Please, blog, may I have some more?