Is this the end for our hero? Jesus Aguilar has made Ryan Braun (1B/OF, back strain) obsolete at first. Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Eric Thames/Domingo Santana/Keon Broxton have made Braun expendable in the outfield. He’s not helping his own case with a .235 average and a multitude of injuries. Stash or Trash: This is a tough trash because Braun has been one of the best fantasy contributors of the last decade, but I think we’re seeing the final step in his decline. He’s hurt, he’s under-performing and the Brewers have too many players at positions Braun can play. Replacement:
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After spending about seven weeks on the disabled list possibly sipping rum through a paper straw, Wil Myers appears to be making up for lost time. Please note that Wil uses paper, not plastic, straws because he cares about the environment. You should too. Public service announcement… Check! In the last week Wil posted 45 fantasy points. If the season began at week 14 he would be the top hitter along with Alex Bregman. Do you breg to differ? I didn’t think so. Considering Myers only played ten games before returning at the end of week 13, you could say that his season really did start in week 14. It’s unlikely that he will keep up this pace of 0.76 points per plate appearance, but it’s worth keeping an eye on Mr. Myers moving forward. If you’ve had him stashed all this time, it might just be about to pay some hefty dividends. However, with all of that said, given his injury history, I’d seriously consider selling high. Tim Lincecum just traded him in every league he owns him. Even a few he doesn’t.
Please, blog, may I have some more?“Kenta, do you love me? ‘Cause I want ya, and I need ya.” Kenta Maeda will be doing his own In My Feelings challenge as he takes on the Padres in what could be the most valuable start of the night on Draft. Maeda has incredible numbers this year, with a 28.7% K-rate and a 2.89 FIP, which makes it really surprising to see guys like Freddy Peralta and Luke Weaver projected for more points. Furthermore, Maeda has the best matchup that any righty could ask for at San Diego – their .287 wOBA versus righties is dead last in all of baseball, and their 25.9% is second-highest. As Drake would say, I’m down for ya always.
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Please, blog, may I have some more?[brid autoplay=”true” video=”270190″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 15″]
Yesterday, Trevor Bauer continued to keep the drool moist on his owners’ chins — 8 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.30. The other day some ‘perts listed their biggest surprises of the 2nd half, and one (maybe more) talked about how surprised they were about Bauer. Yeah, shocker. *insanely long pause, staring straight ahead* Really, really surprised. *just a dead-eyed stare, slowly picks up Capri Sun, sips real slow on tiny straw, lets out long burp* Yup, no one saw that coming. Yesterday, it was too bad, Cody Allen had an epic Kazaam — 2/3 IP, 6 ER, moving his ERA up to 4.66. I’m just going to sit down for a second. Aw geez, it hurts to sit. I’m going to lie on my stomach. Make the pain go away. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s just another week for the “Illest Pert In Nebraska”, fantasy master, Lothario 16, party crasher, AKA The Grey, AKA Grey Albright. The two of us trade rhymes like Red and Meth in their prime, as we delve into all the hot topics of the last week. We talk Machado trade, Enyel De Los Santos and Kyle Tucker’s call-ups, the plague of Zombino pitchers currently performing beyond expectations, and a host of other shizz. BTW, if you live in LA, drive a DeLorean, and recently had a douchey run-in with a handsome mustachioed gentleman in a pimping Saab convertible. Speak now, so I can make you my new podcast co-host. You out Grey’d, Grey. Well done! As always show some love to our sponsor Rotowear, by heading over to Rotowear.com and use our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off the highest quality t-shirts available anywhere. New designs on the daily, and plenty more to come, check out Rotowear, because I said so.
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Please, blog, may I have some more?Billy Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds is in fact Billy R. Hamilton. I’m going to assume the R stands for Ray, as my internet sleuthing skills could not uncover this greatest of mysteries. Billy Ray Valentine is one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite movies: Trading Places. The similarities between the two Billy Rays are obvious. There was a time when both could not walk. Getting to third base? Couldn’t even get to first. Both are quick….witted for Valentine and twitched for Hamilton. Finally, luck has played a big part for both. Valentine got picked for the “experiment” while Hamilton is so fast that people just see a blur when looking at his batting stats. Since the beginning of July, though, Hamilton is batting .409, has stolen 6 bases, and has a 11.5% strikeout rate in 26 plate appearances. Will we get another Billy Ray happy ending?
Please, blog, may I have some more?As we creep up on the All-Star Break, one team has separated themselves from the rest of the Razzball Commenter Leagues pack. It’s a bit unprecedented for a team in a league with a very high League Competitive Index to win in the Master Standings. Typically a league with a high LCI is filled with active managers that makes the league race very tight, which limits how far out in front a team can get. Teams have done it before, Cram It comes to mind in 2015 when the FCL had an LCI of 112. Other than that, the highest LCI of a #1 team was Josh Hamiltons Fake Stache in 2013 when League: Cracking the WHIP had an LCI of 105. Every other #1 team has been in a league with an LCI of 100-102. That brings us to the STL Squat Cobblers who currently sit with 108 league points in ECFBL with it’s 106 LCI. That’s enough to create a 5.4 RCL Point cushion over the second place team. If the Cobblers keep this up they’ll be looking at reaching rare waters indeed. Granted, it’s only a little over halfway through the season, a lot can happen, but it’s still fun to extrapolate. Let’s look at the rest of the Master Standings and the week that was, week 14 in the RCLs:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Now that America has celebrated its birthday, the temps will only get hotter. Along with the weather, we’re going to start to see the usual second-half hot streaks emerge. The poster boy for that the last few seasons has been Brian Dozier. Take advantage on Draft.com of those poor season-long numbers to pluck some mid-year turnaround values.
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!
Please, blog, may I have some more?[brid autoplay=”true” video=”270190″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 15″]
With Aaron Nola, I should likely talk about Zydeco, but he reminds me of Paul Simon’s quote about Graceland. Vampire Weekend was criticized for copying his signature style, which is absurd since he copied it from African artists, and Simon copped to that. He said, “In a way, we were on the same pursuit, but I don’t think you’re lifting from me, and anyway, you’re welcome to it, because everybody’s lifting all the time. That’s the way music grows and is shaped.” Without every great pitcher to come before, would there be Aaron Nola? I know what I know, and I lost Nola this year. Like I lost Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber previous years. I long for them when the diamond’s on the sole of their shoes. Every year, I have guys I’m targeting as my ace whose preseason prices aren’t out of control yet. Well, Nola went from fringe Grey-ownership this year as possibly my ace to not going to be able to own him until he falters one year down the road. That sucks, and not sucks as in good, but sucks as in bad. Yesterday, Nola went 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 10 Ks, to lower his ERA to Marla Gibbs’ address 2.27. When he’s on other people’s teams next year and I say I would never draft him because his price is too high, remember, I see losing love is like a window in your heart. Everybody sees you’re blown apart, everybody feels the wind blow. In Nola, in Nola. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?I am bringing back an oldie-but-goodie for this week. Pitcher Thoughts was initially a Razzball column idea that I periodically spun-off into a subset of my podcast (I do another one with Ralph too!). My intention was to give readers more information about a pitcher’s performance (or lack thereof) past the simple baselining of FIP versus ERA and the standard jargon. I’m a sucker for pitch mix and predicting what might change and why. This also allowed me to gain an understanding of a specific pitcher far deeper than I would otherwise considered. A mutually beneficial column is always good. It’s a no-brainer that another iteration was necessary. Our pair for today is Mariners southpaw, Marco Gonzales, and Brewers righty, Chase Anderson.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The only way to compare things is to look in the past and see how we match up to the year previous. For pace reasons, for setting your mind at ease, and to basically not bore you to death, I am only going back one year because I have gone over the decline of the ever loved “stolen base” as a cumulative stat. So in 2017 through the first 81 games of the season, (roughly… because every team plays different amounts of games) there were a combine 1,405 steals by all MLB teams. In 2018, we currently sit at 1,310. Now remember games for AL teams are off a bit, but still, we are sitting at 95 stolen bases fewer than the year previous. That is an eye catching number, even when you break it into a smaller number like percentages it still sucks for the SAGNOF love. Just to delve into it further, there were three players with 30-plus steals and three above 20 steals at the All Star break last year. (With the leader, Billy Hamilton garnering 38.) This year, there are only six players above 20, and none above current theft leader Michael Taylor with 23. The downward trend, the going away from using the steal as an asset in fantasy is a dying trend that we are lucky to be apart of from a draft usability standpoint. I am more of a “see what I know baseball guy” rather than a number cruncher, but nobody uses the steal effectively to set the pace of a game anymore. Now for fantasy it sucks that we are mimicking real life, as a grab the best players to accumulate stats to fill our rosters mentality is the M.O., but I would be interested to see how your league standings are reflecting this downward trend in steals and how much the league leader in the category has, and if you think it is worth chasing as a catch up stat for the second half of the year. So give me some feedback, and here’s some charts of catchers to steal on and pitchers to exploit. Cheers!
Please, blog, may I have some more?B_Don is joined by special guest host, The Itch (@PartyLikeMayans), host of the Fantasy Futures Baseball Podcast, take a look at the Domingo German vs Sean Newcomb match up and Jose Peraza. Keeping true to his name, The Itch has to scratch at a number of different topics and we chase them down the rabbit hole while Donkey Teeth is off connecting with his inner spirit animal, or something like that.
Please, blog, may I have some more?