According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), clerical workers comprise around 15% of the work force, the highest of any group. Yet, they are often the faceless members of society. Get your mind out of the Game of Thrones gutter. The pay is low and the recognition is light, but they provide value and are an important aspect of society. Since you are a loyal Razzball reader, you know that Saves Ain’t Got No Face, as the position is so volatile and the closer carousel keeps going round and round with players shuffling on and off, that one does not need to get emotionally attached and splurge on a ring for saves. With that said, saves still constitue one category and are important. Well, Jose Leclerc was one of the most dropped players in ESPN leagues over the past week (decrease of 13.9%), as he was stripped of his closing responsibilities for now, so let’s give this Leclerc some attention and see if he deserves some love.
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This is the time of year when I like to take a peak at what players are killing your Razzball Commenter Leagues teams and what players are boosting your teams up the standings. I usually take the RCL ADP and compare that to the Razzball Player Rater. Well, low and behold, Rudy Gamble and went and beat me to the punch this year, releasing THIS little gem of a spreadsheet on Twitter the other day. By the way, go follow Rudy on Twitter if you’re not. Anyway, if you take a look at that spreadsheet, you’ll see all the players who are owned in each of our 73 leagues. The next column over will show you the average standings points of each team that owns said player. For example, if you own Christian Yelich, you should have, on average, 80 points in your league. Having 6.5 in every category is average, so a score of 65. That means Yelich is 15 points above average. Makes sense, right? If you had started your draft back in April with Yelich, Bellinger and Mondesi, you’d be sitting pretty right about now. On the flip side, if you started with Manny Machado, Francisco Lindor and Corey Kluber, you’re crying in your beer right about now. I’m going to include a quick chart with our consensus first rounders and how they weigh out with Rudy’s spreadsheet after the jump. All that and the rest of the week that was week 5 in the RCLs:
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Red Sox outfielder J.D. Martinez has had an interesting 2019 campaign. His power output has been less then what owners should expect. But Martinez is rocking a curiously low 14.2% K-rate, which is the best mark of his career by a wide margin. Martinez still has an outstanding .392 OBP, and is racking up counting stats as Boston’s three-hitter. Once the power comes back around, Martinez will return to his status as a true fantasy stud. Martinez has a tremendous power opportunity tonight against David Hess, a pitcher that only Baltimore is desperate enough to roll out. Hess has a 6.01 FIP with a 2.37 HR/9, and Baltimore also happens to be one of the most hitter-friendly environments in the league. Consider stacking cheaper Red Sox bats like Rafael Devers and Mitch Moreland along with Martinez.
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That Twins Pitcher Is Starting To M Perez Me
May 7, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 570 Commentsby: Grey
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On a new true crime podcast, Murdered By The Numbers, the host and a former FBI agent discuss the murdering of baseballs. A serial offender coming into this year was Martin Perez. “The recidivism rates for Perez were due to his 5-ish K/9 and high-3 BB/9,” the host points out. Then the FBI agent takes us through a personal anecdote about how he captured The Golden State Killer, which ends in a Blue Apron ad. “The bloody body laid there like a halibut in a summer tomato bouillabaisse, which is just one of their great options!” Yesterday, Martin Perez showed us once again that no one is too old to be new again. Except Felix Hernandez, he’s not getting new again. Perez went 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.83, as he changes all preconceived notions. His velocity is up 2 MPH and his cutter looks filthy, a pitch he is throwing nearly 35% of the time this year, because of the results he’s getting. A pitch he added just this year. See how obvious this narrative is? Pitcher adds filth and gets results. He’s not quite an under-3 ERA pitcher, but he’s usable for all leagues. He left his old crew in Texas that was a bad influence and he’s now done murdering baseballs. From RIP to rehabilitated FIP. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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Not your Grandfathers top 100 starting pitchers…
It’s been a rough month for Grandpa-Donk. The old Donk isn’t supposed to be climbing ladders in his advanced age of 90, but the garage roof needed to be tarred and he felt he was the only donkey for such an urgent task. You guessed it, gramps fell off the garage roof, but somehow he escaped with only a broken wrist. A couple weeks later, while in a cast, G-Donk decided to use that same hoof to hammer some nails into his barn. This resulted in a second trip to the veterinarian for the stubborn old jackass.
Clayton Kershaw reminds me a little of Grandpa-Donk. I mean, minus the senility, reckless abandon, and tail. Kershaw suffers from a herniated disc in his lumbar spine (lower back). While I’m not a doctor, I have been called “Dr. Donkey” several times; and I think that’s qualification enough for me to assert that, while the symptoms may subside, a disc herniation will not heal without surgery. Mr. Kershaw has had no back surgeries.
All of this is to say, I trust Clayton Kershaw to stay healthy about as far as I can throw him. Which isn’t far, because I’m a donkey, I can’t throw anything. While Kershaw has looked very good so far this season, and I do have him ranked at #10, I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before Kershaw finds himself on the shelf for another two month stin,t or worse. If I happened to own him, I’d sell him for any arm in my top 20. You should be able to get a useful piece added on if you’re forced to settle for one of those back end top 20 names.
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Opposing baserunners must circle a series with Mets on their calendar. It’s like a lion staring a slab of meat. Even a half decent defensive catcher in Wilson Ramos can’t keep the Mets pitchers from handing out speed like Bobby Brown. Every week injuries seem worse than the week before. Grab a fill in that can pad your steals category.
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There are a lot of potential starting pitcher options for tonight’s main slate on FanDuel. But after a pretty dominant performance in his last start, Jacob deGrom has to be one of the few guys at the top of the list. Despite some struggles early, the New York starter still has a 34.8% K rate on the season. Look for another dominant showing from him in this one. The Padres’ have a 26.9% K rate versus right-handed pitching, while having just an 83 wRC+ against righties. Las Vegas agrees with this assessment as the Mets opened up as road favorite.
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Please, blog, may I have some more? Maybe You Can Teach A Dietrich To An Old Dog
May 6, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 616 Commentsby: Grey
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”410040″ player=”10951″ title=”FantasyBaseball2019BuySellHold6″]
On April 7th, Derek Dietrich admired his 3rd home run of the season for an ungodly amount of time. The last straw for the opposing team was when he paused before running to first, placed a Craigslist ad, waited five days for a sketch artist to respond, then had the sketch artist draw him rounding the bases. Then when he got to third and saw the first draft of the drawing, yelled, “No freakin’ charcoal,” and paused for another few days to find someone who worked in pen. After that display, everyone was calling Dereck Dietrich a hot dog, even the world’s leading critic of hot dogs, the guy driving the Weinermobile. Of course, none of this was blown out of proportion like Tim Anderson. Cut to weeks later and we’ve realized why Dietrich wanted to study his home run trot. He was perfecting it. On Friday, he hit his 6th and 7th homers, then his 8th homer on Saturday and his 9th homer on Sunday (1-for-3, hitting .257). I doubt it continues, but I also can’t imagine a reason to not ride the hot schmotato while it’s going on. As 50 Cent’s fantasy baseball team is named: Get Dietrich or Dietrich Tryin’. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
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I’ve never been that high on Corey Seager. Back in February I only had him ranked 52nd on this list. Back then I said, “A 25-HR bat with a .300 average? That’s not bad — but boy if he could even just manage 10 stolen bases I’d like him more.” Seager owners are probably begging for a 20 HR bat with a .250 average at this point. Long term? I think he’ll be more Corey Seager 2016 than Kyle Seager 2018. I still worry about that power cap and complete lack of speed though.
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After our most successful article last week, we’re going to keep riding swiftly down the stream. While the pitching landscape has made it one of the most difficult seasons to stream, that means it’s more imperative than ever. Getting those quality innings into your lineup can help limit the blow from some of your regulars getting shelled and I feel as though we have a great crop of guys this week who can boost your ratios. Quite simply, I have an offer you can’t refuse…
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Good Sunday to you!
We have eight games on the FanDuel Main Slate today. There are a few potential rain concerns, so we’ll need to keep our eye to the sky and avoid those PPDs.
We need to always avoid PPDs. But what’s the best way to do this? Abstinence? Sure, that’s always the safest way to go. At the same time, you’ll miss some opportuntiy there, which can lead to regret. Sometimes we need to take risks, we just need to be smart about it.
We need to have a process.
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Prospect News: Nate The Great
May 5, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 52 Commentsby: Mike
Nate Pearson has enjoyed a strong start in the Florida State League, and the Blue Jays rewarded him with a promotion to Double-A on Friday. Pearson was 3-0 with 35 strikeouts and just three walks in 21 innings pitched in the FSL. He gave up just two runs. In the offseason, I wrote about how an injury in 2018 shelved him for about a month and could cost him an MLB promotion in 2019, but this start and the quick promotion might put the bigs back in play this summer. Here’s what else is happening around the minor leagues…
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