Mike

Prospect News: Gormania!

April 10, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 33 Comments

by:

Nestled between Moldova and Romania, Gormania is also known as the land of offense. Its lone citizen – Nolan Gorman – rules this tiny country with a mighty bat. Some say he was born human. Others say he emerged fully grown from the earth – eyeblack applied. Still others remember seeing him appear one night in a glowing crater, as if sent from some far away planet where he was weaned on Dubble Bubble, Skoal, and beer by the baseball gods. Wherever he came from, Gorman appears to be special. After hitting two more homers – in consecutive innings – on Monday, Gorman is now slashing .306/.393/.605 with 19 home runs in 298 minor league plate appearances dating back to last summer. He’ll turn 20 in a month, and my guess is the Cards will push him to High-A by the end of this season. Here’s what else is happening in the minor leagues…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Learn more about our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!

The best daily/weekly player rankings/projections (hitters, starters, and relievers) for each of the next 7-10 days + next calendar week starting Friday. Kick-ass DFS lineup optimizer and projections for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo!.

I don’t have enough spam, give me the Razzball email newsletter!

Weekly Razzball news delivered straight to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/11
ARI | ATH | BOS | CHW | CIN | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIL | MIN | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | WSH | ATL | BAL | CHC | CLE | MIA | NYM | OAK | SEA | TOR
Kerry Klug

Ambulance Chasers, Week 2: It’s Dahl Downhill From Here

April 10, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball |

by:

I was low on David Dahl going into the season for just this very reason. Here’s what I wrote in the comment section on why I had Dahl ranked as my 90th ranked keeper:

“2015: Spleen, knee
2017: Ribs, back
2018: Foot

The injuries are just stacking up with this guy unfortunately. He’s like Eugene from Hey Arnold!

Even if he is claiming he’s 100% I worry about any adjustments/over-compensations he might do to avoid getting hurt again. Some players are just injury-prone unfortunately regardless of how skilled they are.”

Early reports from the Dahl household are that he’s only going to miss the 10-day minimum with this abdomen injury, but he’ll likely get hurt again.. Pick Up: Kevin Kiermaier (20.5%.) Replace one power/speed oft-injured outfielder with another? 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Yost

Getting Ahead in H2H: Baby Got ‘Bach

April 10, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues |

by:

Daniel Vogelbach has long waited to get consistent at-bats at the major league level, and he finally seems to be carving out a significant role in the Mariners offense. In his past four games played, he is 8-for-13 (.615) while hitting 5 home runs, driving in 9 runs, and scoring 6. Over those four games he has walked four times while striking out twice. Vogelbach has proven to have a keen eye at the dish across every level he has played at. In his 68 games of limited MLB action over the past couple years, he has walked at a 13.5% clip. Last year at AAA his walk rate was an impressive 20.4% over 84 games, and was 14% in 125 games at AAA in 2017.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
cinthree

FanDuel: The Long View

April 10, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by:

If you are reading this article, it’s a safe bet you follow Major League Baseball, and it’s also a safe bet you know about the plight of Chris Davis. So I don’t need to get into the details of how historically bad he’s been. What I do need to get into is something that anyone playing today’s slate must be aware of. Chris Davis is priced at $500. That’s right, $1500 below the standard minimum price. This has happened before, either by accident (Kike Hernandez was $220 one day a few years back) or due to FanDuel running a silly promotion (on Alex Rodriguez’s final game, they made him $660). This is the first time FanDuel has priced a player at this low a price simply as a strategic/gameplay decision. So, what do we do? Well, first, there’s the chance he is not in the lineup. If that’s the case, he’s not a play even though accepting a 0 for $500 can allow you to get an extra high end bat or two. The lack of a truly expensive pitcher, the lack of Coors Field bats (since they’re on the early slate, and that’s if they even play since Denver is apparently going to be completely destroyed by a bomb cyclone snowstorm this morning) means that you simply won’t need to take the automatic 0 if he’s not in the lineup. But what if he is in the lineup? Absent an unusual amount of quality value that isn’t tied to the underpricing of a player currently failing at an historically bad rate, I think he’s a lock. Simply put, he’s a snap play regardless of whether you think he is truly this bad (not -76 wRC+ bad, but pitcher level bad), or whether you believe it’s simply impossible for him to be this bad and he will likely recover to below replacement level, but better than a pitcher. Let’s start with the easier case after a quick word from our sponsor.

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

White Sox Get Buried In The Meadows’ Lands

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

by:

[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?
Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Week Two FOMO

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

by:

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

by:

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 |

by:

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

by:

[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

by:

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

by:

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?