Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: All The Pitchers Are Hurt Except Jacob deGrom

August 21, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 3 Comments

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A very special week on the podcast, as I’m just hours removed from attending our producer Andy Singleton’s wedding in Brookyln, New York. Is he our producer? Kind of (totally), but either way, I’m fresh out of NYC, avoiding any conflicts with 6ix9ine, and I’m ready to talk some baseball. We dig into the Ronald Acuña beanball fallout, what we think a fair punishment for Jose Urena would be, and the idea that this is an example of “old school” play. We then jump into a little head to head player debate, pitting Vlad Jr. vs. Eloy Jimenez, Acuña vs Juan Soto, and Jack Flaherty vs. Walker Buehler. Then we jump into the modern marvel that is Jacob deGrom’s 2018, before diving into all the player injuries, and news of note over the last 7 days. It’s another gem for the hommies! It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast. As always, go and checkout our sponsor Rotowear.com and use our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off all of your purchases.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | OAK | SEA | WSH
Son

Bear or Bull: Yes, Jose. Saves Can Have a Face

August 21, 2018 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 7 Comments

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Life is about value. If something is rare, then it’s value increases and the owner will be reluctant to part ways with it. If something is in abundant quantity, then the value decreases and spending above market value price on it is sub-optimal. Since we are in the heart of fantasy football draft season, it only makes sense to talk about the late-round quarterback strategy. In leagues that require only one quarterback, it doesn’t make sense to spend high draft capital at the position because A) it is the most predictable position B) it is matchup dependent C) even if every owner in a 12-team league drafted two, that still leaves nine starters on the waiver wire. The same concept applies to Grey’s SAGNOF theory, except for slightly different reasons. Paying up for saves doesn’t make sense because the position is volatile with tons of turnover. Therefore, saves can be found on the waiver wire. In both instances, They Ain’t Got No Face because we have no issue using ’em, them losing ’em. But that doesn’t mean we can’t fall in love. That’s the ultimate, right? Like going to the club and, instead of a one-night stand, you find the partner that you want to spend all of eternity with. You say no way Jose? I say hip hip Jose, as in Jose Leclerc.

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MattTruss

RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 20, 2018

August 21, 2018 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 13 Comments

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A familiar name is back atop the Razzball Commenter Leagues Master Standings, that of your humble RCL Update host.  It’s been since week 8 that I’ve finished the week in the top spot, but with 6 weeks to go, it’s not a bad position to be in.  I’m still fighting that ugly LCI of 99 and with 0.2 RCL Points separating first from third, it’s going to be anyone’s game. Even the lightest slip up and you’re out of it.  I think it will take one of the high LCI teams reaching 106+ or a low LCI team such as mine reaching 110+ to win this thing but either way it should be a fun finish! I’m not the only Razzball writer with a shot at overall RCL glory either, Laura Holt continues to put on a shot in the Writers League and is currently in third place, just 0.2 points behind my squad.  Laura is getting dinged by some pretty terribly win-luck as she’s only got 59 Wins in her 976.1 IP. Watch out for Laura if her win-luck turns around down the stretch. She may end up pulling double duty on Razzball after that, Deep Leagues and RCL strategy! Click below for more on the Master Standings and the rest of the week that was, week 20:

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Roto-Wan

Draft: Scooter Dangerfield

August 21, 2018 | DFS, Draft |

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It’s a good night on Draft.com. Outside of a Coors game, there’s not that much chalk, especially with starting pitching. It’s a perfect night to dust off guys like Scooter Gennett, who don’t get much respect. A touch of contrarian play could go a long way here.

New to Draft.com? 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!

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Grey

Wouldn’t It Be Bryse If Atlanta Brings Up Wilson

August 21, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 354 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”280818″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 21″]

The Braves called up Bryse Wilson, their third starter who is under 21 years old (Soroka, Allard) and 4th player (Acuña).  Mean’s while, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. just collected his 3,000th minor league hit.  By the time Vlad Jr. is called up, he will be Vlad Sr.’s brother.  Didja you know in Latin America junior is a term of endearment like when you call that old lady in your family ‘aunt’ even though she’s unrelated?  That’s why so many Jr.’s get to their 2nd year of pro ball and drop the junior.  Right, Raul Mondesi Jr.?  Any hoo!  The Braves called up yet another gorgeous, young prospect.  “That’s what I love about these Braves starters, man. I keep getting older, they stay the same age.” — Matthew McConaughey seeing Bryse Wilson.  Prospector Ralph just gave you his Bryse Wilson fantasy.  He’s also in his top 500 fantasy baseball prospects.  Previously, he said, “A 4th rounder in 2016, Bryse Wilson rode his plus sinking fastball to one of the bigger breakouts of 2017.  His four-seamer sits 92-95 with sink, and commands it extremely well.  His secondaries are far more raw with a power 12-6 curve, and a fringe changeup.  Speaking of Wilson, I’d like to spike Grey like a volleyball.”  Okay, not cool!  Yesterday, Wilson went 5 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks, as the Braves bumped everyone in their rotation back a day.  The big thing that struck me about Bryse is he looks like he’s been doing it for years (which could be said of the other young Braves players).  About to call him Poyse Wilson.  Seems weird to call him up to just send him back to the minors, so gotta expect him to stay up.  In shallower redrafts, I’d view Wilson as a streamer, but I did grab him in two mixed league redrafts.  He’s obviously a decent keeper in deep leagues (10.8 K/9, 0.9 BB/9 in only 20 Triple-A innings), especially now that’s he’s up with rest of the Braves’ Poyse of Summer.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Lance

McMahon Isn’t Hitting Fastballs and I Don’t Care

August 20, 2018 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments

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A prospect who will play his home games at Coors Field with formidable ISO numbers in the minor leagues? Sign me up. Sign everybody up.

It was easy to buy in, but McMahon hasn’t lived up to the hype.

With Rockies prospects in particular, evaluation is difficult. At nearly every level of the Rockies minor league system there is a park that heavily inflates home runs for a particular handedness according to Stat Corner. McCormick Field of the Asheville Tourists is advantageous for left-handed bats. The Hangar of the Lancaster Jethawks is one the most home run-inflating parks in the minors for either handedness of hitter. Dunkin’ Donuts Park for the Hartford Yard Goats is great for right-handed bats. Isotopes Park of the Albuquerque Isotopes is in the Pacific Coast League, which is all you really need to know. Memorial Stadium of the Boise Hawks is neutral for home runs, yet my conversations with an individual in their media department gave me the perspective that even in Boise, balls do carry.

This makes live looks at McMahon essentially to fully understanding the level he is playing at and what he projects to be. The funny thing is that I got live looks at McMahon in Double-A when the Yard Goats were homeless, playing an entire season on the road despite a few games in Norwich, CT.  I bought fully bought in at the time, but I may have been overzealous.

McMahon graded out as a 60 raw power bat with discipline that miraculously improved as he graduated through the minors. His swing has always been silky smooth, even with its length. A strikeout rate around 20 percent now feels like it will take some work rather than the 50th-percentile outcome it once felt projected to be. The hype around McMahon decayed because he couldn’t steal consistent playing time in 2017, ending up with only 24 plate appearances after the Rockies signed Ian Desmond to play a mix of first base and outfield. I tend to defer to organizational assessments of players when a signing blocks a prospect the industry determines “ready.” (This goes back to how important it is to refrain from aggressive stat-sheet scouting with Rockies prospects). The Rockies didn’t think McMahon was ready last season and they were probably right, even if the Desmond contract looks terrible at the moment. This season has been much of the same with small windows of playing time starting to shape the road ahead.

With those small windows McMahon has developed… in weird ways.

Each of the last two seasons in the minor leagues, McMahon has struggled versus left-handed pitching. This season has been oddly different.

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Smokey

Bullpen Report: Thanks For The Memories

August 20, 2018 | Closers, Middle Relievers | 53 Comments

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This post won’t be much about bullpens this week, unfortunately.  So for those of you that are greedy for fantasy bullpen goodness, this life is not up your alley. This post is more about a goodbye. That goodbye is from me to all the avid Razzball readers and followers. This is my final post across all formats on this site as I retire from writing. It has been nine years and close to 900 posts since Grey picked me up from my last day at the “College of Fantasy Baseball”, which he jokes is in Charleston, South Carolina. Funny part of that whole story line is I actually went to COC.  Funny part of irony is the irony itself!  So thank you Grey for giving me a chance to wax poetic in a style of my own for as long as I have, cheers. To the friends I have made here along the way… you know who you are and you have my number.  And a special thanks to the most important of all fantasy people, you, the readers. Especially the Razzball readers, because you are all cut from a different cloth. Sharpest, smartest bunch of nerds I have ever had the company of being in an imaginary room with. So I leave you with the finality of the bullpen reports, something I myself took pride in bringing you.  Thanks for everything Razz-verse!  I’ll be around and about on Twitter if you need me @FPL_MMOP so feel free to say hi or send me nudes.  So here it is folks, the haves and the holds from me for the last time.  The pleasure has been all mine. Cheers!

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Butters

Draft: Wheeler Dealer

August 20, 2018 | DFS, Draft |

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Wheeler dealer: the big man who makes things run (says a handy Google search. What the hell did we do before Google? Lived in ignorance, that’s what). Of course I’m hoping that Zach Wheeler makes your DFS team run on Draft.com today, not the Giants’ hitters. But over the last month, he’s been wheelin’ and dealin’, giving you innings and K’s, so I fully expect that to continue against the Giants, whose offense has been anything but giant. You may not be looking at a win, as the Mets have offensive struggles of their own, but he should have no trouble mowing down the Giants bats. Let’s take a look at who else is out there.

New to Draft? 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 Try To Stop The Bleeding By Inserting Kopech

August 20, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 393 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”279908″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Week 21″]

Guess I pointed you to the wrong White Sox prospect in Friday’s Buy.  Hahaha, no.  I didn’t.  I pointed you to a top hitting prospect that can help you this year.  Michael Kopech is a rookie pitcher.  A boneheaded one.  He used to date the daughter of the crazy white lady from The Real Housewives of Atlanta, then he started that girl from Riverdale, and I guess when I say Kopech is boneheaded, I should explain I wouldn’t mind boneheading like him.  Yo dude is a baller!  He’s also legit dopey.  At one point, he broke his hand by punching his teammate.  This guy has years of ridiculousness headed our way, and we should be grateful for that.  As grateful because he’s the top pitching prospect on Prospect Ralph’s top 500 fantasy baseball prospects, and PR’s said, “Kopech is in my opinion the top ‘fantasy baseball’ pitching prospect in the game. What I mean by that is, on, say, a mainstream list (see: BA, BP, BABP, Fangraphs, etc.) they’ll focus more on the risk vs. upside balance.  Me, I’m going upside, as you always should with pitching prospects in fantasy.  Kopech has the potential to lead MLB in strikeouts one day, with his plus-plus triple digit fastball that runs in on righties, a plus slider that flashes plus-plus at times, and an improving changeup. Kopech has all-world stuff, unlike Grey who has all-stupid stuff.”  What the hell, brah?!  Real world comparison, Kopech is Syndergaard with command issues right now, but those could clear up quickly; he’s only 22.  He’s a grab in all leagues, but as I said in the opening, rookie pitchers provide headaches, so expectations in Czech.  (Damn, should’ve never bought that discounted Siri.)  Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Psyche!  Before we get into the roundup, just wanted to point out our fantasy football leagues are currently signing up, you have a one in three shot of winning $250 (odds may vary depending on if you’re calculating odds correctly.)  Anyway II, the roundup:

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Dokken

Top 100 Starting Pitchers, Week 21: I’ll Die On This Cahill

August 19, 2018 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 20 Comments

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I typically come in here flinging jokes and happiness around like a monkey with his poo, but this week I’m distraught. This list is decimated. As most of you know by now, I don’t rank injured players, and with that angle there are plenty of shlubs at the back end of the list that are barely rosterable even in deep mixers. At this point, I can’t even just say that about the back end. The grossness keeps rising. This week alone we’ve lost (take a biiiiig breath): Chris Sale, Trevor Bauer, James Paxton, Ross Stripling, Kenta Maeda (to the pen), Tyler Skaggs, Jeremy Hellickson, Dereck Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman, Mike Montgomery, and Carlos Martinez (to the pen like Maeda). To make matters worse, we are approaching September when virtually no one is placed on the DL – they just get skipped. That reminds me of what Big Pun’s catchphrase would be if he were a pitcher; instead of “I ain’t a player I just crush a lot” he would tell folks “I ain’t on the DL I just get skipped a lot”. Catchy tune. So anyway, it’s pretty hard to trust anyone on this list beyond the top 15, and I just can’t remember a year when pitching was this bad. But we will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanish without a fight. We’re going to live on. We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!!

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Paul "The" Martian

FAAB Five: *Insert Corn ‘Cobb’ Pun Here*

August 19, 2018 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 1 Comment

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The first two recommendations this week may seem slightly dull, but bear with me. Cory Spangenberg (1% FAAB) and Kolten Wong (1% FAAB) are producing two of the most exciting plate discipline numbers over the past 14 days. Spangenberg is known for chasing at pitches, striking out, and never fulfilling his power/speed upside. Wong is relatively the same player except for his plate discipline, which was always slightly above average. That small edge Wong had in patience is now becoming extreme with the 1.27 BB:K ratio he’s posting over the past fortnight.

Spangenberg is still striking out a quarter of the time, but it now comes with a chase% that is decreasing significantly. He is showing patience that may not be permanent. However, at this time in the fantasy season, we are trying to predict hot streaks before they happen. Spangenberg is walking about 20% of the time which shows a clear distinction from his past samples. He must be changing his approach to stay alive within the MLB, and this could be one of the last chances he has for everyday playing time. Saving FAAB on players before they take off is a key when the budget begins to dwindle in the latter months of the season. These two players are on hot streaks that will only enhance fantasy rosters with a few more counting stats.

(Post Article EDIT: Monitor the Kolten Wong injury situation that cropped up Sunday, 8/19)

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