I am, what I’ll refer to as a graybeard millennial, one of the first ones in. So the TV show All In The Family was before my time. However, my Dad would watch the reruns of it and especially its spinoff, The Jeffersons, that was more successful (and funnier IMO) than the original. Many of you probably have no idea what I’m talking about so I’ll lay it out, it was basically Family Guy before Family Guy. The main character, Archie Bunker, is a bartender dad who is very outspoken, not the smartest, narrow-minded, and often judges everyone based on stereotypes/racism (back when that was funny, good times huh?). Their nextdoor neighbors were the Jeffersons, a black family whose father George was a friend of Archie despite his bigotry and often called out his BS. The Jeffersons spinoff is basically when George’s business takes off and he’s able to move the family from Queens to an upperclass apartment in Manhattan and GTFO and away from Archie. Upward mobility.
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Keston Time to Save Your Season
June 1, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 46 Commentsby: Dan Pants
Friday night, Milwaukee Brewers’ newest phenom/heartthrob/infielder Keston Hiura went three for four with his fourth home run and three RBI. Keston case you were wondering, Hiura is slashing .296/.345/.537 with four homers a steal and seven RBI through his first 15 games in the majors with two of those dingers coming in the past week along with a .353 batting average in that stretch. Did I mention he has a four game hitting streak as well? Well yes. I just did. Hiura has arrived, folks. Grey gave you his Keston Hiura fantasy a few weeks ago, and when he didn’t Austin Riley rake out of the gate, excitement seemed to cool a bit for the 22 year old 2nd baseman. But now’s your chance. He hit .333/408/.698 in 37 games at AAA San Antonio with 11 home runs, 26 RBI and four steals. I liked everything about that last sentence. Of his 43 hits, 24 went for extra bases. Sure, the 40 strikeouts in just 129 ABs is a bit concerning but when you’re fishing for rookie upside you casually ignore little warning signs like that. Here’s what Grey said about Keston, “He was striking out way too much in Triple-A to hit .333 in the majors, but 18/7/.270 sounds about right from this point forward with a chance for more. Maybe he could even be the NL MVP.” Methinks Grey just likes him because of his mustache, but honestly, what’s not to like! He should only be better when Milwaukee comes to their senses and moves him into the heart of the lineup. Hiura/Yelich sammys anyone? He’s currently criminally under owned in many leagues and I’d add him everywhere he’s available. This kid’s gonna be a star! Ha-cha-cha!
Here’s what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
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FanDuel: First Base Bonanza
June 1, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 5 Commentsby: Thomas Howland
Sometimes on a FanDuel slate the starting pitchers aren’t the shiniest objects. Yes, there are Aces, but first basemen are the main attraction. The stats are just too compelling. And when it comes to production stats, ISO (Isolated Power from Fangraphs), combined with our awesome Razzball tools, is the straw that stirs the drink. That production leads to scoring on FanDuel, which leads to winning. More after a word from our sponsor.
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Baseball Podcast: Griffin Canning Can
June 1, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Ditka, Razzball Podcast | 2 Commentsby: B_Don
Polish, Italian, Kielbasa, Chorizo: there’s a vast array of exquisite sausages to be discussed on the world’s foremost fantasy sausage podcast. Instead, B_Don and Donkey chat about baseball on this week’s show. DT shares one of his better terrible ideas for speeding up pace of play before the guys grind in on two rookie pitcher profiles.
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Going back to one of my old favorites, that I didn’t like for awhile, then did like, then loved, then hated, then should’ve loved but hated, then was nonplussed about, then Googled nonplussed to make sure I used it right, then thought about how I went through all of these emotions in, like, two weeks, then took a nap, then clapped my hands, then shot up out of bed and wrote a strongly-worded letter why there should’ve only been one season of Killing Eve, then scrubbed my undercarriage with my Q-Bert loofah and sat down to write about why you should buy Scott Kingery. In my head, I hear Tyler, the Creator, “I think I’m falling in love, this time I think it’s for real,” and he’s singing about Kingery, isn’t he? I THINK so — Tyler’s caps, not mine. From 2016 to 2017, Kingery made adjustments that led to more power, put his swing more in line with Alex Bregman:
That’s who I want him to be. Put it out in the universe and it will come true, that’s The Secret. Last year, he was beat by fastballs, sliders, cutters…Okay, you name it. This year, he’s been positive on all pitches and he’s making way more hard contact. Now, is most of this Buy simply because Odubel Herrera needs to go Saynerrera because he’s a knucklehead? Though, knucklehead might not be the best choice of words in this instance. So, if nothing else, Kingery has short-term value because he should play every day for at least the next few weeks. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
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We’re one-third of the way through the 2019 baseball season, and let’s remember one thing: it is really, really difficult to predict what major league baseball players are going to do. I just looked up the stats on starting pitchers this year in terms of who has provided the most standard, 5×5 fantasy baseball value so far in 2019. I am now going to jot a few names down to keep with me at next year’s drafts, as a reminder that no matter how dire things look in the middle of a draft or auction, there are options out there, even in the deepest of leagues. So far this season, Justin Verlander ranks number one in 5×5 fantasy pitching value so far, which is not a huge surprise. He is followed by three players who may have had injury/age concerns, but whom we all knew could be great: Hyun-Jin Ryu, Zack Grienke, and Stephen Strasburg. Then, things get interesting, as the next three guys probably were not even drafted in standard leagues: Jake Odorizzi, Lucas Giolito, and Matthew Boyd. Are all three of these guys overperforming and due for some serious regression? Perhaps. (Though I’ve become a pretty big Matthew Boyd fan and am heavily invested… fingers crossed). But even two months of top-10 level production from them is enough to make a huge impact on a deep-league fantasy team, as those of you who own any of them probably know. Just something to keep in mind in future drafts, while for now we stay focused on 2019 and look to see who might be out there that could be of interest to those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.
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Let’s kick off the weekend shall we. I’d gotten so used to writing for short slate Thursdays that I was almost overwhelmed at all the choices. Without further ado let’s start this weekend off by taking a trip to LA.
First up, the curious case of our boy Joc Pederson, OF: $3,800. Lets phone a friend and see what Son thinks about him: “Even though Pederson sits against lefties, he absolutely mashes righties, to the tune of .280/.401/.704 with a .424 ISO!” Last time I checked Jake Arrieta is right handed. Joc has been rolling this week and should once again find himself batting leadoff. That makes him well worth his price tag. Also in LA (kinda) we have, Shohei Ohtani, OF: $3,200. Sadly we missed out on the Ohtani vs Yusei Kikuchi matchup yesterday because, well Brad Asmus. He claims it was because Kikuchi is a lefty. Talk about a missed opportunity. The chance to see two stars from Japan face off wasn’t that great anyways…. I guess. There’s hope that we’ll get to see them square off later this year, but with Asmus, who knows what could happen. Regardless, Ohtani should find himself penciled in today and will look to shake off some of the rust. Get him on your lineup.
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Dahl Finally Has A Giant Peach Of A Game
May 31, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 400 Commentsby: Grey
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”416471″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 10″]
Since the season started, us fantasy baseballers (<–my mom’s term!) have been listening for one distinctive sound. The sound of TSSST. The sound of TSSST is not a snake with a lisp. That would be pfft. No, no, the sound of TSSST is the sound of a Coors being opened in the summer. A soft sizzle sound. Yesterday, we heard our first TSSST of Coors. Pitchers pitchslapping pitchers; hitters hitting bloop singles because everyone needs to defend against the double; ten lords of leaping onto home plate for both teams. This is why I keep saying buy David Dahl (4-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 5th homer); buy Trevor Story (4-for-6, 3 runs); buy Daniel Murphy (3-for-5, 1 run, 3 RBIs); by Ryan McMahon (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 6th homer) is hopefully Brendan Rodgers (0-for-1). If baseball is bizzonkers for home runs this year, and it is, can you imagine what Coors is going to be like? Every visitor is going to have a great day, whether it’s Christian Walker (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 9th homer) or Eduardo Escobar (2-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 14th homer) like yesterday. Though, I still wish The Grand Cronyon was in the lineup hitting them to Boulder! (By the way, seeing a box score with Walker and McMahon both having HRs as a multiple owner of Cron/Rodgers is like seeing a picture of two guys high-fiving while treating a loved one like a Chinese finger trap.) More on Kevin Cron in this afternoon’s Buy column because my favorite movie is Die Hard With Old Habits. Speaking of buys (can you believe the smoothness of these segues?), buy all hitters in Coors. Not even Daniel Murphy, but especially Daniel Murphy. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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I was born in the good ole’ US of A, but my parents immigrated in the 1970s. They were educated and relatively liberal, so I was not deeply rooted in Korean culture, which has huge Confucianism influences. One of which is that age determines the level of respect you receive in society. The basic thought […]
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Bullpen Report, Week 10: Bargain Brand Bandages
May 30, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Closers, Middle Relievers | 13 Commentsby: Roto-Wan
I don’t know if there’s a more frustrating pursuit than finding enough pitching in fantasy baseball. Usable middle relievers used to grow on trees. Now the good ones are picked and what’s left probably tastes sour. Nevertheless, we forge ahead trying to find a bandaid for our fantasy staffs where we can. In deeper leagues those won’t be brand name, rather bargain brand bandages. At least we’re far enough into the season that some early injuries have healed.
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Since many of you play in highly competitive or deeper leagues, this week I wanted to focus on players in 10 or 12 team leagues that will almost assuredly be available on your waiver wire. For deeper leagues, these guys will most likely still be available as they are all owned in under 2% of ESPN leagues. I noticed I accidentally unfairly discriminate against deeper leagues in my pieces, so I wanted to make sure I am giving player recommendations for those that play in them. So here is 3 From Me: deep dive edition.
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FanDuel: Flanders’ Leftorium
May 30, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 7 Commentsby: Richardo
What do the fantasy gods have lined up for my Thursday debut? How about a 7-game FanDuel slate with two potential rain games? Both the Red Sox/Yankees and Brewers/Pirates games look risky, with rains potentially not stopping until after midnight, so play at your own risk; however since it’s such a short slate, I’ll still recommend any plays that stand out from those games. Surprisingly, we have a trio of lefties on today’s short slate that are my favorite arms. Numero uno is the new and super improved Mike Minor ($9,200). The change actually began in the second half of 2018 when Minor increased his changeup usage while fading his slider and curveball some. The result was an increased strikeout rate (18.9% to 23.8%) and a vastly improved wOBA allowed (.336 to .267). Minor’s strikeout rate in 2019 has spiked to a career-best (as a starter) 25.5%, which is supported by his 11.2% swinging-strike rate. Today Mike Minor gets a matchup against the Kansas City Royals, who have the 27th best (worst?) wOBA and ISO against left-handed pitching. Let’s take a look at the other lefties on today’s FanDuel slate that are stored in Flanders’ Leftorium.
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