FanDuel: Give Me My Blue Blanket

June 7, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 1 Comment

Welcome back to Friday DFSers! Today, FanDuel has us set up with another massive 14-game slate. We’re just over a third of the way through the MLB season and just when you think you have things figured out Carrasco leaves, Kimbrel finally arrives, and Jake Odorizzi has the league’s second-best ERA. I’m just scrambling for stability, so I’m grabbing onto my safety blanket, Clayton Kershaw ($10,700). We have the fantasy gods to thank for a healthy Clayton Kershaw after the scare in Spring Training. Kershaw’s been the image of stability, going at least six innings in all nine starts this year, and while his strikeout rate isn’t anywhere near his prime rate (23.9%), he does have his lowest walk rate since 2016 (3.9%). On this Friday, Clayton Kershaw gets a prime matchup against the Giants in Oracle Park and thanks to the Marlins’ offensive outburst against the Brewers, the Giants now have the league’s worst wRC+ against left-handed pitching. Now that you’ve seen my blue safety blanket, let’s take a look at the rest of the FanDuel slate.

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Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 8/12
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| DET \| NYY \| OAK

Max Power Smacks Bauer A Homer An Hour

June 7, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 262 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”418565″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 11″]

It’s not easy writing a post about a hitter that went bingo-bango on your pitcher three times. Why the hell was Trevor Bauer in the game for 119 pitches? Did Bauer invite Tito Francona to his house for one of his baseball player meet-and-greets and serve him coconut water? Cause if he did that, then hell hath no fury like someone served coconut water. “Is this sweet…perspiration?” That’s me drinking coconut water. Trevor Bauer (8 IP, 5 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.93) has the Twitter handle BauerOutage and, gotta be honest, it’s meaning something that he’s not intending this season. It’s like 1977 in New York City power outage and Son of Sam is talking to his dog about what a mess my fantasy pitching is, due to Bauer. Any hoo! Max Kepler went to-the-window-to-the-wall three times yesterday (4-for-4, 4 RBIs, hitting .266) with his 13th, 14th, and 15th homer, and is doing what I always dreamt of, only I was dreaming about it in 2017. See, I’m accurate about everything, except years. Right now, on our Player Rater, Kepler is around the 25th best outfielder. However, before his home run yesterday, he was hitless for close to a week, so it shows you his hot and cold natural. Right now, it’s Max Power:

Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Bear or Bull: Dansby! That Swanson’s Sure Tastes Good

June 6, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 19 Comments

by: Son

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, homo sapiens would nuke aluminum trays of food (which I always imagined what prison food would look like) in a microwave. I was indoctrinated into this ritual when my mom brought home what they called “tv dinners” from Swanson. It looked like crap, to be honest. To make matters worse, I had to slice a hole in the film covering the meat, then poke holes for the potatoes, then cut out the section over the cranberries. Damn B! What’s up with all the fuss for something that looks like crap? The same can be said for Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves. He was much hyped, yet kind of crappy since he joined the big club. So far in 2019, though, he’s the overall number 28 player on the Razzball Player Rater! Damn B! Dansby! Let’s see if he’s a bear or a bull.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Closer Rankings: Kimbrel Clause Is Coming

June 6, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Closers | 14 Comments

by: Roto-Wan

It finally happened. A team decided to sign Craig Kimbrell! The MLB draft happened this week so the draft pick penalty has been lifted for signing a few marquee names like Kimbrell and Dallas Keuchel. The Chicago Cubs offered the most, since their payroll is jacked anyway. With the premiere of Dark Phoenix this weekend I’ve got a ranking of X-Men for the tiers.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ambulance Chasers, Week 10: 8 Man Rotation?!

June 6, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 2 Comments

by: Kerry Klug

After the worst start of his year (4+ IP, 7 ER) Matt Strahm was placed on the DL with a rib strain. This seems to be a minor injury and might just be an easy, smart way to manage his innings. The most innings he’s thrown in a single season was 102 way back in 2016. Last year he threw 61.1 innings and he’s already sitting at 60.1 this year. Ruh-roh. The Padres are only 2.5 games back in the NL Wild Card so managing the innings of Strahm, Cal Quantrill, Chris Paddack, and Dinelson Lamet is going to be key for their playoff hopes. Replacement: The award for most unlikely, unexpected and unbelievable late-career resurgence has to go to Anibal Sanchez (6.6%.) The 35-year-old, 14 year veteran inexplicably and probably accidentally had one of the best seasons of his career last year with a 2.83 ERA and 1.083 WHIP (lowest of his career!) In his first 5 starts of the season Sanchez returned to the rotten pumpkin we knew him as: 27 IP, 18 ER (6.00 ERA.) However, things have improved in his 6 most recent starts. He’s allowed only 7 ERs in 21.2 IP (2.91 ERA.)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: As the Wheel Turns

June 6, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 1 Comment

by: Butters

Trading prospects is a big part of baseball. Contenders give up you talent to try and win now. And why not? So many prospects fail to pan out that a sure thing is often better. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but some trades hurt when you look back. Take Zack Wheeler (SP: $10,200) – Watching him blossom into an ace and dominate opposing hitters is great because he’s finally realizing his potential. Today it’s bittersweet as he gets the Giants (who traded him to the Mets for Carlos Beltran) and their inept offense. All of this makes me sad because the G-men could really use an ace right about now. He’s in line to dominate and should be well worth the high price tag. Yay.

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?

My Kimbrel Town Chicago Is

June 6, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 422 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”418565″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 11″]

Handed down through the generations from Hammurabi to Hammurabi was a code of SAGNOF. It read, “Yo, Hamm-whaaaaaazzzzzup-be?! Don’t pay for saves, dem shizzes are free on waivers.” It read a bit like a text message, tee bee aitch. But that was the code as written. Cut to 14,000 years later, and I received this code in a dream after ingesting a massive amount of peyote. I would’ve discarded it like the iguana I also received, but there was something to this code, and from that day forward I forbade myself from paying a lot for saves. Then March came and Craig Kimbrel was falling and I was like, “Ain’t ever gonna get a price like this again!” and drafted him, and not listening to Hamm-whaaaaaazzzzzup-be really effed me. Thankfully, my long national nightmare is over and Craig Kimbrel signed with the Cubs. Does this negate all the leagues where I have Pedro Strop? *Lisa Simpson grumble* Yes, appizzarently, it does. I’d imagine Kimbrel will need at least two to three weeks of minor league games to get up to snuff, but closers can get stretched quicker than starters, obvi. I wouldn’t drop Strop until I saw a Kimbrel save, but he’s coming back. Finally. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

One Man’s Trash: Austin Riley Has Powers

June 5, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 59 Comments

by: Son

Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves has taken the league by storm. He’s clubbed eight home runs in his first 17 games of MLB action, which has resulted in him being named NL Rookie of the Month. Yeah, baby! You make me very horny. But then I became very conflicted, as perusing the advanced stats brought me to one conclusion, while observing the at-bats on YouTube took me in another direction. Not so shagadelic. Let’s see if we can determine if he’s trash or treasure.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Getting Ahead in H2H, Week 10: 3 Under 30%, Out For Some Pop N Speed

June 5, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues | 5 Comments

by: Yost

If you know me then you know I’m a sucker for guys with a Pop N Speed combo in H2H leagues. By having a lineup full of guys that can sprinkle in some HR and SB any given matchup, it maximizes your chances to compete for these categories week in week out. While 15 HR and 10 SB over the course of a year may not sound like a lot, having a bunch of guys that can hit those marks certainly adds up. Stolen bases are a tricky category to try to focus on so I like to have many guys that won’t necessarily get one every week, but have the ability to record one any given week. It may not sound like much but with speed down league wide, many weeks are decided by a single SB. Here are some guys that are pretty widely available in ESPN leagues that display the beloved power/pop combo.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: The Shaw Man

June 5, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 2 Comments

by: cinthree

The Marlins shocked the world and put up a 16 spot vs the Brewers last night, but the Brewers should get their revenge tonight. Sandy Alcantara is going to be briefly on the mound for the Marlins. And the reason he’s going to be on the mound ‘briefly’ is because his overall numbers of 16.9% strikeouts, 12.9% walks and 46.8% groundballs are quite bad, and worse vs lefties. Alcantara turns the crappiest of left handed batters into studs. He strikes out 11.9% and walks 14.8%. He does get ground balls vs lefties with a 49.1% rate. Luckily the Brewers have a lefty who is good who you may have heard of. Travis Shaw historically has been a good hitter with a career .335 wOBA, and the last 2 years he’s had wOBAs of .361 and .351. This year, however, has been a completely different story. He’s “hit” for a .254 wOBA, and thus his price has dropped to $2,200. His statcast numbers are similar to previous years where he’s ranged from 88.3-88.6 exit velocity, and from 14.6-16.6 average launch angle. This year those numbers are 87.6 and 21.8. Given the sample size, we’re talking about minor differences, and he should continue to be the hitter he was the last 2 years. And at $2,200 he’s a fantastic play. Also, Didi Gregorious is $2,000 and will be returning to the field Friday. FanDuel almost definitely will not fix his price before then. I told you I would bring this up each week until he returns.

On to the picks…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I Knew It Was Bad When Andrew Started McCutchen His Knee

June 5, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 679 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”418565″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 11″]

Andrew McCutchen is out for the year with a torn ACL. To borrow a phrase often quoted in the White Sox bullpen box score, that’s A. Bummer. On the bright side, Cesar Hernandez (1-for-5) isn’t some obscure Roman emperor, you’re thinking of Nero Antivirus and Flavor Flavius! Last year when Cesar Hernandez had 563 at-bats in leadoff, he was a sneaky top 50 bat. Before last night, he had only 5 at-bats at leadoff. Well, all that’s about to change for the better. Then you have the new Phils’ outfielder, Jay Effin-Up-My-Paddack Bruce (3-for-4, 3 runs, 6 RBIs and his 15th and 16th homers). Also, Adam Haseley (0-for-4) suddenly has value as the Phils’ center fielder, when two days ago you thought Haseley was the singer of Ghost. You say you’re no good for me, I like it ANYWAY! What, I have to work the five-lady crowd too. As I said yesterday, “(Haseley is the) Phils’ 2017 1st round pick. Prospectonator doesn’t love Haseley, giving him 15/7 with little average over the course of a season (by the way, if you click on Haseley’s name, his projections are there for free — like every player). I will say this for Haseley, he looks ready to contribute in the landmark case of sooner vs. later since he played college ball. In NL-Only leagues, I’m interested since McCutchen looks out for a while, but wait and see in mixed.” And that’s me quoting me! The Phils also said (This Phil character has a lot to say!) Scott Kingery (2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 4th homer) will be getting regular starts at 3rd. When asked about Maikel, they said, “…” Oh, now you have nothing to say! But Maikel hit a pinch-hit homer, his 9th. Still nothing? “…” Damn. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Week 10: Matt Striker Body Slams Grey Albright

June 4, 2019 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 5 Comments

by: Geoff

Are you sick of the cackle? Have you grown tired of Grey’s antics? Us too! So, in true bully beat down fashion we brought on Razzball writer, fantasy baseball master, and former WWE athlete Matt Striker to teach ole’ Grey balls a lesson. I’m lying, Matt came on to talk about fantasy baseball, life in the WWE, Grey’s former protege The Boogeyman, and which parts of Queens Grey knows and doesn’t know. It’s an all around raucous experience with some fantasy talk mixed in. We touch on all the news from the last week from Carlos Correa’s aggressive masseuse, to players coming back from injury, and ask “Why do the Brewers hate us?” It’s another week of the Razzball Podcast!

Please, blog, may I have some more?