I used to love watching Scooby Doo when I was a kid. That love was taken to another level when I discovered trees and magic mushrooms. Man, if I wasn’t married with two kids, I would have moved to Colorado yesterday. Anyways, when something bad was about to happen on the show, Scooby Doo would go “Ruh Roh”. Well, when I dug into the numbers for Ronny Rodriguez of the Detroit Tigers, who was one of the hottest hitters over the past week, the Ruh Roh-ing of Scooby Doo kept echoing in my head. Should we be worried?
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Bullpen Report, Week 8: How Bazaar
May 16, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Closers, Middle Relievers | 15 Commentsby: Roto-Wan
It’s getting ugly in the reliever market. Injuries, ineffectiveness, and promotions have wrung much of the top talent out of the scene. Much like the bazaar in Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle there’s stuff everywhere, but it’s hard to find what you need. Also, there’s a basket with a cobra in it. You just have to hope the Rock shows up and start throwing people through walls. I don’t actually know what the fantasy baseball equivalent of that is. I’ve gotten off track here thinking about the Rock’s ridiculous biceps, as per uzhe. I’ll wrap up this lede in ramble with a comparison Jumanji’s theme: the only way to win the game of relievers is to play and win.
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B_Don returns triumphantly from Puerto Rico, just in time for a flurry of prospect calls ups. The sausage lovers kick the show off by going over each of the recent promotions, giving their thoughts on Keston Hiura, Austin Riley, Oscar Mercado, Willie Calhoun, Nicky Lopez, Corbin Martin, and several others.
During the profiles segment, Donkey Teeth breaks down post-hype breakout candidate Lucas Giolito, while B_Don shares his thoughts on rookie stud Mike Soroka. Find out what to expect from each of these youngsters moving forward and how you should be valuing each in the fantasy game. The sausage fest is topped off with some Dijon mustard and a flurry of pick up recommendations. Grab a wiener and get comfy, summer is coming!
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One of the season’s surprise breakouts Jorge Polanco (SS: $4,300) is not showing signs of stopping or even slowing down. On top of the power, he finally added his first steal. Because of the weather concerns, I’ll give you a bonus. You could certainly do worse than Adalberto Mondesi ($3,900) as he’s been lighting it up no matter how much you doubt him. Power and speed to spare, what more do you need? The only reason I wasn’t going to include him is that I’ve written about him before and figured it’s time for someone new. Mostly I’m just hoping that there aren’t any last minute IL announcements like Buster Posey last week.
Thanks for taking a break from watching playoff hockey to play a little fantasy baseball DFS. You won’t find any shorthanded goals here (because that’s not a thing in baseball)
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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”413335″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 8″]
Sorry, but first I must purge myself of all Yu song references. If you don’t like that, Yu Can’t Always Get What Yu Want, but, if Yu try, Yu might get what Yu need, because all Yu Need Is Love, and I Wish Yu Were Here. Yu Give Love A Bad Name, but I’m gonna Run to Yu. Even if Rick rolled, I’m Never Gonna Give Yu Up, and shut don’t go up, but Yu do. Yu Take My Breath Away when Yu pitch well, but Yu Never Give Me Your Money, which makes sense since Yu Don’t Know Me. Without or Without Yu Yu (stutterer!) can put together a solid rotation, but Yu Light Up My Life when it’s the Best of Yu. Have I Told Yu Lately he needed to cut down on his walks? Yesterday, he went 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 11 Ks (zero walks!), ERA at 5.14, and I Know What Yu Did Last Summer (disambiguation: song), but what about now? Don’t Yu (Forget About Me). Did the Rangers closer, Chris Martin, Fix Yu? Remains doubtful, but no walks is Arthur’s Theme (Best Yu Can Do). Any hoo! Yu Darvish might’ve been dealing with a mechanics issue, and maybe now that’s fixed. He does have a near-12 K/9, the only bugaboo is his 7+ BB/9, but if he can tame that he immediately shoots to at least a number two, and stops plopping out number twos. Do Yu Understand (ft Tory Lanez & Gunna). Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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Prospect News: Six For Sixto
May 15, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 74 Commentsby: Mike
Well, we’ve had quite a week, eh? Lots of sexy promotions. Being a prospect writer is a touch bittersweet. It’s like watching a child grow. Once they graduate to the bigs in real life, they kinda graduate here too, moving up in the world of blog posts from minor league reports to the Grey League. Good luck Keston and Austin…I know you’ll make us proud. Back in the minors, our good friend Sixto Sanchez got a promotion to Double-A. His debut went swimmingly – even for a Marlin – striking out seven batters in six shutout innings. I was conservative in my ranking of Sanchez in the preseason, so if he continues to pitch well in the upper minors he’ll be a big riser when the midseason rankings come out. Despite the early promotion, I don’t think we’ll see Sanchez pitching meaningful innings for the Marlins this summer, if only because he hasn’t built up enough innings in previous seasons and the Marlins have other options such as Zac Gallen and Jordan Yamamoto in hand. Next year, Sanchez could be a very interesting flyer though. Here’s what else is happening around the minor leagues…
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Ambulance Chasers, Week 7: Urshela, Queen of the NY-Sea
May 15, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball |by: Kerry Klug
After missing all of April and then some, Miguel Andujar (3B, Shoulder) apparently returned prematurely for 34 disappointing ABs and is now back on the DL with his shoulder MRI not looking any better than his last MRI. I’m thinking the Yankees bite the bullet and put Miggy Andy under the knife especially with the emergence of… Replacement: DA GAWD GIO URSHELA (6.9%.) I hate naming the obvious same-team injury replacement, but I can’t help myself this week. It seems like for every Javier Vazquez, Carl Pavano and Kevin Brown there is a Gio Urshela — a guy who thrives under the big city lights of NYC. Can he keep this up? A career .270 hitter batting .341? Yea and monkeys might fly out of my butt. But is he due for a ROS amount of ABs behind a slowly healthy Yankees lineup? Definitely. He’s also hitting a 4th best in the league 7.9% soft contact rate — tied with a young slugger named J.D. Martinez. He’s not hitting a lot of fly balls (26.3% — would be bottom 20 if he was eligible) but is hitting a fair amount of lasers (28.9% — would be 12th best if he were eligible.) He’s probably going to cap out at 10-15 HRs this year, but with a good place in the Yankees lineup, he could get a fair amount of runs and a sneaky solid amount of RBI.
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You hear that? It sounds like the Angels may actually be forming a respectable lineup around the best player in baseball. Over the past few years critics have rightfully been pointing out that Trout’s prime years have been going to waste due to lack of a supporting cast. The Angels still have a ways to go if they want to fulfill our wish of seeing the best player of this generation back in the playoffs, as his lone appearance in 2014 isn’t enough. However, as of late his supporting cast has been putting forth some under-the-radar production to help the Fish Man out. Ohtani’s 2019 debut was much awaited to help give Trout some additional protection, and the Angels have won 5 of their 8 games since his return to the lineup.
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As we move into Super 2 season, we are coming to the point of the season where there are going to be a lot more call ups and you’re going to see names that you may or may not recognize but you should know to succeed on FanDuel. Obviously you will know who Keston Hiura is, but there are a couple hundred players who might get called up due to injuries or just dominating performances. Do you know who Oscar Mercado is? Cleveland called him up after he hit .294/.396/.496 this year in AAA. Given how bad Cleveland’s offense is, he could easily be moved up to the 2-slot sooner rather than later, and I doubt his price will be particularly high. Do you know who Charlie Tilson is? He can’t hit, but he steals bases as good as anyone, and the White Sox called him up and threw him right into the leadoff spot on Monday (and he was $2,600). Do you know who Shed Long is? Yes, that’s his actual name.
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Please, blog, may I have some more?[brid autoplay=”true” video=”413335″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 8″]
My preseason NL MVP pick was Travis Shaw. *turns to a mirror* You’re handsome, but hella stupid. My mirror reflection separates from my body. The apparition picks up a see-through suitcase, “I think it’s time we went our separate ways.” But how will you get along out there without me? Can an apparition order Chick-fil-A or boba? “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” It was one bad call. “Tell that to my teams with Travis Shaw and Daniel Palka.” Nooooooo!!! Any hoo! My soul left me after I told it to draft Travis Shaw, and I can’t blame it. What a garbage call. Maybe Shaw will return as Travos so we can “see worth.” It’s a game of puns! With the Brewers moving on from Shaw by sending him to the Ineffective List, they called up Keston Hiura. I know I say this shizz three times a week, but he could be *the* call-up of the year. Here’s what I’ve said in the past, “One scout said this offseason at the Arizona Fall League, ‘We all talk about the bat of Vladdy, with obvious reason, but outside of Vladdy, I’d call Keston Hiura the purest power bat I saw out in Arizona. He’s just a special, special kid.’ The scout continued, ‘Have you seen my chew?’ turning his lip inside out, ‘Ah, there it is,’ then after a pause, ‘I’m big league, baby!’ I actually have owned Huira for the better part of two years in two separate NL-Only leagues, and I’m a fan. Think there’s a chance for a 18/7/.270 season. That sounds downright–Don’t say Jed Lowrie, don’t say Lowrie, don’t say Lowrie, don’t say Lowrie– Led Jowrie! (What’s worse, I thought of saying ‘what Brett Lawrie was supposed to be’ — woof!) In Double-A last year, Hiura hit 6 HRs with 11 SBs and .272 in only 73 games, but his bat will play, and, as mentioned above about how he looked in Arizona, he destroyed the AFL, getting better and better.” And that’s me quoting me! He continued to get better this year, hitting .333 with 11 HRs in 37 Triple-A games, while chipping in four steals. 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. I’m kidding, apparition! Please, come back, I’m empty inside!. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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One Man’s Trash: Is it Wong to be Open to Kolten?
May 14, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 2 Commentsby: Son
Emotion is both a blessing and a curse. Without it, one would not be able to experience the full gamut of what life has to offer. Because of it, though, drives many of us to do questionable things. For example, look how many manage their investment portfolios: sell the winners and hold onto the losers, for the fear of losing gains and hoping losses turn into winners. That’s completely backwards. The same principles apply to the fantasy baseball universe, with one fundamental difference. Variance. When Amazan hits a homerun on quarterly earnings, it’s a no doubter. If Mike Trout hits a ball that’s headed for the stands, there’s a chance it goes foul….or a fielder robs him….or a gust of wind knocks the speed and trajectory of the ball down. Things happen within a small sample size which are not necessarily indicative of past, present, or future results. With that said, when people throw in the towel and capitulate, that could be the sign of a bottom. Over the past week, Kolten Wong has been dropped in 12.9% of ESPN leagues, to bring his ownership to 51.6%. Is now the time to be open to Kolten?
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Week 6 is about the point that we can stop saying, “it’s early” and it’s about the time I assess and start cutting bait on underperformers. I’m not saying this is the right way to do things, it could be way too late on some guys, but it’s what I do. This week I dropped Joey Lucchesi in most of my Razzball Commenter League teams. He’d been pretty bad and was starting in Coors this week where I wasn’t starting him. Naturally, he went out and pitched a gem. This will most likely be his turnaround and he’ll be a top 20 pitcher from here on out. Your welcome. Jose Peraza is officially gone as is Yuli Gurriel. I ditched Eric Hosmer right before he hit three homers in five games. Fortunately, he’s gone back to being terrible, but doesn’t that figure? Have you raged dropped anyone yet? Is there an underperformer you just keep hoping will turn it around (Vlad Jr.)? Let’s commiserate in the comments, misery loves company and with any luck our complaining will jump start some of these guys. Now, for the rest of the week that was, week 6 in the RCLs:
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