Grey

White Sox Get Buried In The Meadows’ Lands

April 10, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 661 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”401910″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 3″]

Opens an envelope, and, inside, is an invitation.  “Wow, what gorgeous calligraphy.  Someone took their calligraphy class at 8 PM every Wednesday for six weeks at a local college very seriously.  Patrick Bateman would be jealous of that raised font.”  Reading, “Please join us, the Tampa Bay Rays, for the Star Mitzvah of Austin Meadows.  On Tuesday, the ninth of April, two thousand and nineteen at twenty-four minutes after two o’clock in the afternoon at Temple Fantasy Tova Those Other Outfielders.  A reception to follow at one of the 37 local Hooter’s restaurants in the Tampa area.  Rather than gifts, please bring Cash.  Our manager, he gets lost.”  How sweet is that.  I wonder if I was invited because I wrote an Austin Meadows sleeper this preseason.  Prolly.  Sound the shofar, Meadows is finally breaking out!  *remains super calm, then screams*  I TOLD YOU!  Yesterday, Austin Meadows went 4-for-5, 2 runs, 4 RBIs and a slam (3) and legs (2), hitting .308.  Hopefully, this is the start of the big things I imagine for him, and, finally, he becomes a man.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sun 8/3
ARI | ATH | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | ATL | CIN | OAK
Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Week Two FOMO

April 9, 2019 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 4 Comments

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With the season in full swing and fantasy baseball well underway, Grey and I are feeling the early season blues. An off-season of hope and promise has turned into a week of despair. Instead of wallowing in self-pity like a Morrissey song, we hit the wavier wire and talk about some of top adds you should be scooping. Then we let out all the feels as we talk about our FOMO players for the upcoming season. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Baseball Podcast!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
MattTruss

RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 1 (Plus), 2019

April 9, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 9 Comments

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First of all, a big thank you to Rudy for getting his Razzball Commenter Leagues robots crunching numbers even faster than last year.  We have real, live standings in what is really the first full week of games! It’s awesome to have a starting point for the Master Standings in week 1.  I hope your first full week is going better than my team that owned Trea Turner, Giancarlo Stanton and had snagged Ryan McMahon to replace Matt Olson. Yikes.  I also don’t own nearly enough shares of Cody Bellinger this year. I am excited for Ronald Acuna to visit Coors this week though. There are simply not enough eggplant emojis in the world.

It’s the silly season for our leagues at this point, where we can have huge swings in the standings based on 2-3 good days of stats.  So fear not if you’re off to a slow start. Who’s the number one team after the first week (OK, week and a half) of the season? You’ll have to click below to see that.  Let’s take a look at the standings, the top teams in each stat category and some trades in the week that was, week one plus in the RCLs:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
TroyKlauder

FanDuel: Pham-Lay Freestyle

April 9, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

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It was 17 years ago that Virginia rapper Fam-Lay hopped on Clipse’s debut album Lord Willin’ and spit a fire verse on the seventh track. Today, Rays outfielder Tommy Pham ($3,200) is in a spot where he can perform just as well as Fam-Lay, batting second against Ervin Santana. The 36-year-old Santana is making his first start of the year and is projected for a 5.49 ERA by Steamer. Tampa’s lineup should have a big day against him, so Pham will be in a spot to score runs out of the two-hole. He’s already got five steals this year and is worth a look in all contests at this price.

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?
Grey

Daniel Is Bringing Vogelbach!

April 9, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 579 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”401910″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 3″]

Daniel Vogelbach (1-for-2, 2 runs and his 5th homer, and fifth in his last five games, hitting .471) is man-hot.  Daniel Vogelbach is the Jelly Donut of Swat.  Daniel Vogelbach looks like a beer keg with legs.  John Kruk and Matt Stairs had a baby, and that baby’s name is Daniel Vogelbach.  Daniel Vogelbach is one part mayonnaise, one part ketchup, and his secret sauce is Sexy, and he puts it on everything.  “Why, Fantasy Master Lothario (don’t abbreviate it), did Daniel Vogelbach spend 12 years in the minors if he’s spurting Sexy sauce on everything?”  You ask, while batting your eyelashes.  You have to subtract one of those years, young buck, because Daniel Vogelbach was once confused for a refrigerator and spent a summer in a Hyannis Port Sears showroom.  Mansplainingly, subtract, like, ten of those years because he couldn’t play defense and he was in the NL.  He’s done nothing but hit rockets like he’s groupies of Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.  Last year, he hit 20 HRs and .290 in Triple-A with a 15.6% strikeout rate.  He could be an actual breakout and I would grab him, even if his playing time might become cramped with the return of Kyle Seager or he might just be platooned.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Donkey Teeth

Top 100 Starting Pitchers: Oh Boy, Oh Boyd!

April 8, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 73 Comments

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Not Your Grandfather’s Top 100 Starting Pitchers…

Overreaction is part of human and donkey nature. Recency bias is unavoidable. But in a world where those who adapt not only survive, but thrive, could the risks of overreaction be outweighed by the rewards of adaptation? Good question. You have a lot of good questions.

I remember a few years back when Grandpa-Donk smuggled a three pound rib-eye steak out of the grocery store under his shirt, even though he had $200 burning a hole in his pocket. Did my family overreact and make gramps come live with us? Of course not; we all had a nice laugh over some grilled rib-eye and went on with our lives.

But when Gramps-Donk caused a 12 car pile up on Dixie Highway, without a license, in a car he “borrowed” from his neighbor, that’s when we knew it was time to make a move. So we did what any good family would do and threw the old goat into that nursing home from Happy Gilmore. Adapt and thrive.

I’ll now relate this insensitive and poorly thought out analogy to starting pitchers in fantasy baseball. After a month of overreacting to mostly meaningless spring pitching performances, we finally have a two-start regular season sample for many pitchers; the March days of experimenting with drugs and new pitches are over, these guys are now trying their best to get hitters out. Two-starts may seem like a small sample, but in an age when most starting pitchers will only reach 25-30 starts, two-starts is actually 6-8% of their season. It’s time to start reassessing.

Before getting into some of my early season risers and fallers, I do want to address the Bartolo Colon sized elephant in the room: The re-juiced baseballs. Small sample sizes and that’s what she said jokes aside, I fully believe we’re headed for record power numbers this season. What does this mean for us as fantasy baseballers? I think it means the elite top tier arms are even more valuable than they already were. With a surge in power we can expect increased pitching rates across the board, meaning a guy who gives you 200 IP of sub 3.00 ERA can really move the needle. Just some food for thought as we monitor the ever changing landscape.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Roto-Wan

SAGNOF: Them’s The Breaks

April 8, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, SAGNOF | 7 Comments

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Do you own Trea Turner, he of a broken finger? Welcome to the chase for speed with the rest of us schlubs. So much changes in just a week this early on. Keep that in mind as the season unfolds. Too often owners look to trade a strength that can become a deficit with a single poorly gripped bunt attempt. Dig for steals and saves at every turn. It’s SAGNOF time!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
wander34

FanDuel: Put Down Your Coors

April 8, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

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When playing DFS and the slate has a game at Coors Field, DFS players on Fanduel have a decision to make. Do they be contrarian and fade the thin Colorado air, or do they chase the chalk up the Rocky Mountains? If there was a time to pass on loading up on a Coors’ game, it might be today.

Both pitchers scheduled to pitch in this one have been fairly successful in Colorado. The Braves’ Julio Teheran has pitched in Coors’ Field four times and has yet to allow a home run. In fact, he has held the Rockies to just a .313 OBP, .348 SLG and a .661 OPS in these four appearances.

And for the home team, Kyle Freeland has been very successful in Colorado. He had a 2.40 home ERA in 2018, while limiting opposing teams to a .226/.298/.393 slash line in those games.

When building cash lineups you may want to pluck a few Braves and Rockies. But for GPPs, fading Monday’s game could give you an edge on the competition.

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?
Grey

F**k Gary Kill(ed) Or Simply FGK

April 8, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 681 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”400575″ player=”10951″ title=”FantasyBaseball2019BuySellHold2″]

Yesterday, Gary Sanchez went 3-for-6, 6 RBIs with his 4th, 5th and 6th homer, hitting .258.  “Thanks,” said Gary Sanchez’s owner from 2018, and I believe he was being sarcastic. You know how when you’re walking on the sidewalk and try to avoid stepping on the cracks because of the harm it will cause to your mother’s back?  Then as you’re OCD-stepping around the cracks, you get off-step and start only stepping on cracks, and your mom texts you, “My back!”  That’s what it must feel like for Sanchez’s 2018 owners.  I know how you feel because that’s how it feels right now for me with Rougned Odor.  I’m out in 2018 when Odor is decent, then in for this year’s abomination.  When I’m supposed to avoid, I don’t and, when I’m supposed to be in on them, I’m not.  FMFBBL!  If you have Sanchez, well done, it looks like you’re back in for the good Gary.  “Did someone say ‘back?'”  Sorry, mom!  Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
B_Don

Two Start Pitchers, Week 3: Can You Snell, What the Rays are Cooking?

April 7, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers | 10 Comments

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Thank goodness that first week of 2 start pitchers is over and done. Early season rain outs, 5th starters being skipped, 6th starters and openers being utilized, all played into the scheduling. It is important to remember early in the season that these 2 start guys may or may not make both starts due to any of these factors. However, the advantage of getting the extra start for the innings, strikeouts, and hopefully ratios, is generally to much to ignore. Plus, if they fail to be 2 start guys this week then you get them as 2 start guys the following week more than likely.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Kerry Klug

Top 100 Hitters: Double Turn!

April 7, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 34 Comments

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It’s the most glorious weekend of the year — Wrestlemania weekend! You know what that means: wrestling themed blurbs!

On the Double Turn…

Two players in my pre-season top-5 are trending in opposite directions, but I don’t start freaking out too much until tax day. A lot of experts were calling for Jose Ramirez and Christian Yelich to regress from their MVP-caliber seasons last year. Well Yelich came out swinging an angry stick hitting a homerun in four straight games to start the season leaving him ranked third on the Razzball Player Rater so far. He’s reached base successfully in every game so far and is on his way to competing for the MVP again in 2019. Jose Ramirez? Not so much. For some players we like to point out how they’re “continuing their hot hitting from the end of 2018.” Ramirez is doing the opposite. He ended 2018 with a 40 game slump hitting .166 with a .597 OPS. He also only hit .231/.646 in the minors. His BABIP is currently sitting at .150, he only has 3 strikeouts to 2 walks and he’s hitting a higher percentage of fly balls from 2018 (small sample size) so maybe he’s just getting a bit unlucky in the early going. However, it’s enough to make me flip these two in the rankings.

Please, blog, may I have some more?