Winking is the oddest of human expressions. Physically, it looks like a fusion of pain and happiness. You’re smiling, yet utterly frustrated because you can’t complete the process of connecting one eye to the mouth on the same side, which is what the purpose of a wink feels like. I know there are examples of winks where a person just closes one eye without the movement of the mouth, but that’s just a one-eyed blink. Cognitively, winks are intentional. One cannot be tricked or scared into winking. It is not a biological response mechanism. They have a purpose, yet are difficult to deduce because of the ambiguity. You know what’s not vague? Jesse Winker (34.1% owned – increase of 17.5%) is good at baseball. 13.8% strikeout rate and 15.1% walk rate! .294/.404/.429 slash with 7 home runs. Hard hit rate of 45.1% and 5.7% swinging strike rate! Now, the power isn’t spectacular (.135 ISO) and he does struggle a bit against LHP (.218 average), but he’s still only 24 years old, so the power may keep developing. What gives me the most optimism, though, is that he is not completely inept against lefties. The strikeout rate is higher than against righties, but it’s still only 18.8%, but the walk rate is a robust 17.4%, 3% higher than against righties. The approach seems solid and the BABIP is only .250 against lefties. It’s only a matter of time. TREASURE
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Can you imagine if Kevin Pillar (OF, Sprained Shoulder) played in Boston? Yeesh. Boston Radio would be the most unlistenable noise ever recorded. “You see dat catch by Kevin Pillah?! I almost friggen ran outta my pahlah!” Pillah is going to be out 4-6 weeks after injuring the area near his collarbone. Shame. His 19 HR+SBs were looking pretty good and I think there was a good chance his run production numbers would’ve gotten a boost if he got traded to a competitor. Stash or Trash: Stash. He was having a pretty good year so far and will be back to help you for your stretch run. Fill In: Kevin Kiermaier (8.4%.) “Wait Klug. You want me to replace one injured guy…with THE injured guy?” Yea I know, Kiermaier, Shmiermaier. “I don’t want to pick that clown up just to read about him in next week’s Ambulance Chasers!” I know it’s been a lost season for KK, but he’s hit safely in 9 of his last 11 games and has a HR and two SBs in that time as well. He’s got 10 HR/10 SB capability in the second half even though, yes, he also has DL-60 capability in the second half as well.
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It’s the end of the All-Star Break, Manny Machado is now a Dodger, and earlier this week Grey bestowed upon us the Top 100 For the Second Half. With the trade finalized just hours before the show, we start the “baseball talk” portion of this episode with the Manny trade. Prior to that, we get some insight into the day to day life of the illustrious Mr. Albright, Fantasy Master Lotahrio for certain, but perhaps Renaissance man? The rest of the show is dedicated to the Top 100, going through groups of ten, discussing some of the more controversial rankings. We jam pack a lot of players into a little over an hour. And as always shoutout to our sponsor Rotowear for providing the finest shirts in fantasy sports, and beyond. Don’t forget to head over to Rotowear.com and punch in our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off all Rotowear brand shirts. It’s another episode of the Razzball Podcast:
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Greetings! Tis I, the clairvoyant savant, the heat-seeking missile of truth, the rocket of Gibraltar, the King of D-pics, ME, Beddict, BACK like I never left this BIH, and frothing at the mouth to hand out these awards as my liege lord, Jay Wrong has requested (commanded). The good Lords have given me the power to hand down the proper accolades for those who are truly deserving, and they shall be given their just due or my name isn’t Tehol Beddict, AKA Lo-Well The Messiah. All the answers you seek lie in the depths of my verbiage that resides below. Enter if you dare. Witness!
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RCL Update: The First Half That Was, 2018
July 18, 2018 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 16 Commentsby: MattTruss
Happy All Star Break my fellow RCLers. The Razzball Commenter Leagues can take a toll on your time, you social life and your personal hygiene. I hope you’re using the break to take a shower, get out of your sweat pants and get reacquainted with your roommates, also known as, your family. They’ve missed you. Spend a moment and remind them that you are in fact, alive and well. Show those that love you that you haven’t been lost in the wilderness for the past 15 weeks, being cared for by a pack of wolves. In fact, you’ve just been winning fantasy baseball leagues. You know, just like your idol, Grey Albright. Actually, right now your idol might be Ralph Lifshitz, current ‘Perts League leader, or maybe the STL Squat Cobblers, current Master Standings leader. Perhaps you’re partial to your RCL Update host, currently in second place in the Master Standings, or maybe you look up to Laura Holt, deep league writer extraordinaire and current fourth place finisher in the Master Standings. Check out this and the rest of the All Star Break standings in the week that was, week 15:
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(614), (594), (567), (568), (606) and (609). This is a list of the batters with the most fantasy points in the last six seasons. Did you notice that there’s one name noticeably missing from the list? If you were thinking , you’d be wrong. By the way, with a name like that he’s got to […]
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Bear or Bull: Duffy the Something Something Slayer
July 18, 2018 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 24 Commentsby: Son
To slay evokes feelings of power and always denotes conquest. There is no better description of victory than, “he/she slayed their opponent.” Well, filleted also works, but that just gets me craving for sashimi. Anyways, one of the cute things about the tv show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, outside of Buffy being cute, was the dichotomy of the feminine and masculine morphing into one. Or maybe it’s just sex sells. Whatever. What hasn’t been cute, though, are the many ways Danny Duffy has been…..a slayer of WHIP and FIP. Grey hates him. Should you?
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Top 100 for 2nd Half of 2018 Fantasy Baseball
July 17, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 671 Commentsby: Grey
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”272107″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Special Edition”]
Welcome, prematurely balding men and five women who are married to prematurely balding men and decided if you can’t beat them, join them! Make yourself comfortable, this is gonna be a long post. Here, enjoy some coffee. Oops, you just drank rat poison. I should’ve used different mugs. Don’t worry, it can’t be worse than owning Byron Buxton in the 1st half. Oh, you owned him and that’s why you drank the poison! Now, I’m following! Hey, I’m supposed to be leading! Before we get into the top 100 for the 2nd half of 2018 fantasy baseball, let’s just be glad our 18-year-old selves can’t see us now, we’d get beat up! But our twelve-year-old selves would think we’re the coolest! So, as with all of the other 2018 fantasy baseball rankings, take this list with a grain of salt. If you need a 2nd baseman, but an outfielder is above him that doesn’t mean you can’t trade that outfielder for that 2nd baseman. Also, things change in fantasy baseball. Daily. I could put Jose Ramirez number four on the top 100 list for the second half of 2018 and he could pull a–Well, we won’t even mention an injury with Jo-Ram. Why soil a good thing, ya know? This list is a road map for where I think guys are valued. It’s not the Holy Grail in the Church of Grey, that would be my mustache. This list is NOT (caps for emphasis, not aesthetics) where I see guys ending up if you were to take their first half and combine it with the 2nd half. This is simply a list of the top hundred fantasy baseball players if you were to pick them up today. So while Bryce Harper did not have the greatest first half, he will appear on this list because, well, we have to believe in miracles — my 12-year-old self would want that, and to sleep with Cher. The projections are not their combined 1st half and 2nd half numbers; these are their projections for the 2nd half of 2018. I also liberally used our rest of the season Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. That’s right, we have a Player Rater that tells you what players will do. It’s like that camera from The Twilight Zone. Welcome to the future! Anyway, here’s the top 100 for fantasy baseball for the 2nd half of 2018:
Please, blog, may I have some more? We’re All On A Break (But Matheny’s Will Be Longer)
July 16, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 363 Commentsby: Grey
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”271292″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Week 16″]
*visoring your eyes with your hand, squinting at the light as you emerge from your mother’s basement* “Hey, mom, it’s the All-Star break and I thought I’d come up to say hello.” Where the house once stood, it’s now a Whole Foods, and you’re standing in the cheese aisle. Confused, you approach a man in Birkenstocks, “Excuse me, is this 450 Palm Terrace Road?” “It is.” “Wasn’t there a row of houses here?” “Back in March, they bulldozed this area when the yuppies won a city ordinance that says there needs to be a Whole Foods within at least three-quarters of a mile of another Whole Foods.” You reel back, overwhelmed with how your family is gone and how you’ve been living in a Whole Foods basement. You turn to an employee, “I need to sit down, and can I get a free sample of any cheese?” You smile, revealing Cheetos-dusted teeth, and thus begins your All-Star break. Tomorrow, I’ll drop the top 100 for the 2nd half, then there will be a Buy/Sell again Friday morning. One guy who will have extra time this All-Star break will be Mike Matheny. Last week it was revealed, Mike McNulty set up a sting operation in the Cards’ bullpen to see if everyone was doing their best with Bud “Bubbles” Norris as his informant. Then when the Cards fired Donnie Brasco Matheny, he might’ve took his informant with him, because Jordan Hicks (1 IP, 1 ER) got Sunday’s save and Norris came down with mysterious arm concerns. I’d absolutely grab Hicks. You know what’s the difference between Hicks and Norris? One makes you say, “Ooh MPH…” The other makes you say, “Oompha.” Also, usually I ignore trade rumors, but at this time of the year, you should be extra vigilant about backing up closers because at any point in the next two weeks a closer could get traded and you don’t want to leave it up to getting to the waiver wire before everyone else. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
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Top 100 Hitters, Week 16: Queer Eye for the Baseball Guy
July 15, 2018 | Uncategorized | 21 Commentsby: Kerry Klug
This lede is for Eric Hosmer’s (1B, #94) eyes only. Everyone else can scroll down to the rankings and comment on how Scooter Gennett deserves to be #1 overall. Is it just Eric and I now? Okay good. Eric. E-Dog. HOZ. My guy. You’re 94th. On a list of 100. If this keeps up–you’ll be #101 on a list of 100. That means you aren’t here. Or maybe you are if I can’t limit my list to 100 again for some reason. You have four hits in July. Four! That’s the same amount of Emmy nominations Queer Eye for the Straight Guy just got! For the Queer Eye squad, all things just keep getting better! For you, if you don’t start hitting less ground balls (62%!!!) things will just keep getting worse! If you keep striking out at the highest rate of your career (22.6%!) things will just keep getting worse! And if you don’t go back to your former approach to hitting — things will just keep getting worse for you…
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Well here we are, it’s the final Top 100 before the All-Star Break. It’s been quite the ordeal trying to keep tabs on every starting pitcher in baseball, but I look forward to writing this every week and I hope you enjoy reading it as well. It’s a bit of a wonky weeky with some players temporarily optioned to Triple-A over the break like Freddy Peralta and Shane Bieber. They’ll be back though, so I left them on the list. Unfortunately, Garrett Richards won’t be back, as he’ll go under the knife for Tommy John surgery. On the bright side we got Thor back, along with a couple of other less impactful arms like Trevor Cahill, Masahiro Tanaka, and Brent Suter. We lost Junior Guerra to the DL with a mysterious forearm injury, which is more worrisome than wearing white pants the day after hot chili night. No word yet on how Senior Guerra is taking the news. Enjoy the All-Star Break, everyone!
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MLB ballplayers may be set apart as a different breed in terms of talent, but men finding out they’re going to be a father? That’s an almost universal boost of pure “life is good” feeling. Add that to Justin Verlander‘s normal ace of all aces bag of tricks, and today could be one of those sublime virtuoso performances. He’s 9-4 with a 2.05 ERA and .83 WHIP and facing the bottom-dwelling Detroit Tigers. If that’s not a number one pick, then I’m a Chinese jet pilot. Now let’s look at a few more early-, middle- and late-round picks for your Draft…drafts!
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