Yost

Getting Ahead In H2H, Week 12: Midway Point, Impressed & Depressed

June 16, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues | 9 Comments

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Sunday marked the end of Matchup #10 for Head-to-Head leagues. Standard H2H regular seasons are typically 20 matchups long, so we have just passed the halfway point of the season! We now have 2 1/2 months of statistics and data to look, and numbers are starting to stabilize. By now you should have a feel for your team and which of your picks have panned out, and those that unfortunately haven’t. Since we just passed the halfway point, I thought it would be appropriate to go through each position and see what the best and worst picks have been thus far in respect to average draft position. I will be factoring in their performance relative to their NFBC ADP, and their production across the standard H2H categories.

I have labeled the best picks as someone who has “Impressed” owners and the worst picks as someone who is leaving their owners “Depressed.” I have kept it to one each per position (except for OF and SP) with some honorable mentions sprinkled in. Of course I will not be able to touch on every player that has impressed or depressed, so feel free to leave some of yours in the comments!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/2
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK
Dan Pants

Johnny Lasagna Saucy In Debut

June 16, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 43 Comments

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All gravy as us Italians-Americans say. New York Yankees rookie flamethrower slash phenom slash spot starter Jonathan Loaisiga made his major league debut Friday night pitching five strong shutout innings, giving up just three hits, four walks and striking out six for his first MLB vicky in ever. Called up from Double-A Trenton Johnny was 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 58/4 K/BB ratio through 45 innings. If that K/BB just made your eyes pop like mine did, it’s because the four walks he issued last night in his debut are the same number he’s walked all season in AA. Perhaps some of the struggles he had with his control Friday night were more nerves or jitters and less indicators of what’s to come from Loaisiga. Despite the four free passes, he was excellent out of the gate, Johnny Lasagna layered on the cheese, striking out four in the first two innings with his real pretty mid-90s fastball mixed in with his slider (17 swings and misses induced) and was helped out by a couple double plays. He hit some trouble in the fourth, but managed to pitch his way out of a sticky bases-loaded two-out situation by striking out Christian Arroyo. Yankee fans are calling him “Johnny Lasagna” because he’s a-spicy meatballs-a! Mama mia!  Rays manager Kevin Cash called him Little Riviera. That seems a bit over-the-top as well. Either way, I am calling him a player to watch after that performance. Lil’ Jon is telling you to Get Loaisiga, but Jon always jumps the gun on these rookie pitchers. Loaisiga’s first major league stint might be a short one, but I could see him sticking around for another start or two while Masahiro Tanaka is still on the DL and much like this whole Yankees team, his future is very bright. He lines up for another home start next week versus the red-hot Mariners, and I could see streaming him there and for the short term. Add him or no, Johnny Lasagna is not just Garfield’s new favorite player, he’s a name fantasy baseballers are going to hear a lot going forward. He was a BUY and he’s worth a grab for the upside alone, the layers of cheese and pasta are all just bonus.

Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
VictoriaB

FantasyDraft: Turn The Dial To Max

June 16, 2018 | DFS, FantasyDraft |

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“It’s not a good-looking city. It’s not a good-looking town. You’ve got all the worst architectural fads of the 20th century. That’s crypto-fascist Bauhaus. Mussolini would have been perfectly at home in that one. Looks like every public school in America. And every third-tier public library” (Anthony Bourdain, The Layover Toronto). Here’s hoping Max Scherzer continues to like Toronto better than Anthony did, as he cruises into the Rogers Centre for his first start there since 2014 (when he held the Jays to 1 ER). A look at why you should try to get Scherzer into your FantasyDraft lineup today, and some other options because you probably can’t afford him, after the jump.

New to FantasyDraft? 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?
Geoff

Prospect Podcast: Lance’s Big Scouting Adventure

June 16, 2018 | Prospect Podcast, Razzball Podcast | 34 Comments

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Imagine if you will, Lance Brozdowski. Flowing golden locks, neatly tucked under a baseball cap. He’s driving on the open road, listening to a collection of Megadeath, Pantera, and My Morning Jacket (I have no idea if he likes any of this). This is Lance, he’s on a journey, a scouting journey. A week’s worth of travel, hitting stops in the Midwest, International, and Carolina Leagues. Seeing such players as Blake Rutherford, Hunter Greene, Nick Senzel, Seuly Mattias, and others in the flesh. Heck, he even interviewed Nick Pratto. Needless to say I shut the heck up and let the man talk. Endless takes from first hand accounts. We jump into our weekly 5×5 later in the hour jumping around MiLB. It’s a show for the ages, catch this one. As always, big shouts to our sponsor Rotowear! You can order the Rotowear Classic shirts I spoke about on the show by heading over to RotoWear.com and entering promo code “SAGNOF” for 20% off the highest quality t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Should I Buy Into The Rising Healy? Umm I Guess So

June 15, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 370 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”256152″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Week 12″]

Off the album, Get Hits or Buy Ryon, 50 Cent sung about Many Men at a corner spot, rapping, “Many men, wish Joe Mauer on me, have mercy on me, many men.”  Then on his other chart-topping song off that album, In Da Club, he rapped, “You can find at my corner slot, some schlubs.  Look, mami, at my corner infidel slot I got X, if you’re into scrubs.  I’m into havin’ specs, I ain’t into a corner man who’s known for his glove, so come give me a hug, if in my corner slot I got Cory Spangenberg’s mug.”  He followed those up with 21 Questions, when he sang, “Would you leave me if your father found out my corner man was scrubbin’?  Do you believe me when I tell you, I thought Josh Donaldson would be more than nothin’?”  Then, after all those, 50 Cent managed one last smash hit with P.I.M.P., where he rapped, “I don’t know what you heard about me, but a Mitch can’t get a FAAB dollar out of me.  No Kingery, no Sano, you can’t see, that my corner man is P.I.M.P.,” where P.I.M.P stood for Please, I’M Playing (Ronald Guzman).  So, Ryon Healy has been one of the hottest corner man over the last week, but beyond that, on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater, he’s the 17th best 3B this year, in front of Kyle Seager, Longoria, Devers and Carpenter, who are all owned in more leagues than him.  Healy’s also on pace for 28-31 homers with a decent-enough average.  There’s no reason why he’s on waivers in any leagues.  Take 50 Cent’s word for it, Get Hits or Buy Ryon!  Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell for this week in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Smokey

Closer Rankings, Week 12: World Coup Of Saves

June 15, 2018 | Closers, Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Middle Relievers | 13 Comments

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Tis that season!  Whether you are a football fan or not, and not that football fan…  Though the crew over on that football site do an amazing fantasy job.  So for the few of you that aren’t totally dizzy by my words of soccer, then let’s roll baseball into soccer and let the fantasy good times roll.  So for the next month the world, not ‘Mericas, will be casting its gaze on the beautiful game.  So while half the population is watching futbol, you can expand your bullpen horizons and deepen your reliever core.  The trade winds for relievers are already blowing and with just over a month to go before the trade deadline, grabbing the relievers that are secondary or even tertiary now (ones that won’t kill your rates) are all the rage with millennials AND baby boomers.  Situations to monitor and use to your advantage?  The Padres, Royals, and Tigers.  We all own the closer likes of Brad Hand, Kelvin Herrera, and Shane Greene.  But what are the ownership rights to Craig Stammen, Kirby Yates, Kevin McCarthy, and Joe Jimenez?  Way slimmer.  And combined like Voltron, their ownership for all four of those secondary relievers is less than one closer.  So basically free.  The key to mid-season closer acquisitions is being first.  Save that beloved FAAB kitty and be early rather than later.  So if you are looking at your roster, it was rhetorical… I know you are, get rid of that sixth SP or that bench bat that does nothing and play the reliever wait game.  Save now to help later.  Cheers!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Son

One Man’s Trash: My Favorite Martin?

June 15, 2018 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 12 Comments

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The first Martin that popped into my head was Martin Lawrence. Bad boys, bad boys. What you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you? To be honest, I never really liked Lawrence the movie star. Stand up comedian Martin? Wasn’t the best, but that always got a chuckle from me. After doing extensive due diligence…..typing Martin into Google….I’m truly ashamed of myself. How could I forget the good reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King? He’s my favorite Martin for sure, but you are here to read about baseball. Since catchers are…..my momma said to STFU if you ain’t got nothing nice to say about someone, so I’ll talk about Leonys Martin (32.4% owned – increase of 15.2%). I definitely have a type, as I pimp Brett Gardner too much for anyone’s liking. Anyways, Martin won’t bat for a high average, think .255 range, but he will hit some home runs and steal some bases. The projection systems have him ending with 18 home runs and 18 stolen bases. Not bad. Last season, 24 players in all of baseball went at least 15/15. He’s not a prodigious walker (currently 8.9% but career rate of 6.6%), but the strikeout rate is a manageable 20.3% and the hard hit rate is a robust 38.6%. His position atop the Tigers lineup is favorable. Now, he’s turrable against left-handed pitching, and correspondingly moves down to 6th or 7th against them in the batting order, but he plays and that’s half the battle. Will Martin be a league winner? Naw, but there’s a place for players like him. TREASURE

Please, blog, may I have some more?
MattTruss

FanDuel: Stripling For Cheap

June 15, 2018 | DFS, Fanduel |

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Alright, maybe Ross Stripling ($9,100) isn’t that cheap, but I still think he should be a bit more expensive.  Sure, his Points Per Game aren’t as high as the others on the slate, but he’s got five straight starts of 42+ FanDuel points.  Your options tonight are a super-expensive Corey Kluber, a middling Charlie Morton ($9,600) or Ross Stripling. Paxton is facing the Red Sox, no thank you and I just can’t get behind Gio Gonzalez in Toronto.  Stripling is at home against he rival Giants who will be without Evan Longoria after the broke his hand. San Fran is currently the third most strikeout prone team in MLB and Stripling with his 10.8 K/9 should take full advantage of that.  Save a few bucks and take some shots on offense with Stripling.

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

You Want Sano Something? Miguel’s Now Like His Surname – Single-A

June 15, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 383 Comments

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The Twins organization removed one white glove, and smacked it across Miguel Sano‘s chubby cheek.  So disrespectful.  Not even Triple-A.  They demoted him to Single-A.  Not completely surprising.  Let’s recap Miguel Sano’s last few months.  He showed up at camp in shape.  Unfortunately, that shape was of a beach ball.  Coaches weren’t sure what to make of him, asking, “Are you ready to play?”  Sano put it into reverse to face the coach who questioned him, and his reverse lights came on but not his newly installed reversing truck beep, which sent him into a backspin, literally, for most of the spring.  Then, he came out of camp, looking ready to eat baseballs for dinner rather than his usual Triple-triple-double-triple-double-triple-single-triple meaty-meatburger, but that was short-lived, and he hit the DL towards the end of April with a hamstring injury.  At that point, Sano said, “If I had known I had a hamstring in my leg all this time, I would’ve eaten it.”  He then motioned for a tuxedoed waiter to pepper mill his leg, and asked for parmesan.  He told the waiter, “I call this hamstring carbonara.”  After about three weeks out of commission, he returned, but didn’t look fully recovered, because he’s in terrible shape, then he hit .162 in June and got demoted.   Hey, Sano, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t take the clubhouse refrigerator with you either.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Geoff

Minor League Update: McKenna, Ryan Kick it? Yes He Can! Gets O’s From The Crowd

June 14, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 38 Comments

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If you google Ryan Mckenna without specifying Orioles, baseball, or something to that effect, you get some kid that took a selfie with Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl. The kid was from Massachusetts so OF COURSE it’s a way bigger deal than it should be. Then again, here I am writing more about the selfie kid than the actual prospect at hand. That of course would be the baseball playing Ryan McKenna. The former fourth round pick from the New Hampshire prep ranks Ryan McKenna. The very same Ryan McKenna that was largely ignored by the industry, my self included, coming into the season. So much so, that he was left off the Baseball America system Top 30 entirely. That’s the Orioles list too, which coming into the season looked as barren as too be expected, outside the top 5 particularly. McKenna’s made a huge leap at the plate this year, in large part to improving pitch recognition skills. It’s not completely out of nowhere either, if you were paying attention to Delmarva late last season. He finished the season on a hot steak over his final 9 games hitting .324, before getting pegged in the back in the penultimate game of the season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Laura Holt

Rolling In The Deep, Week 11.5: Beating Murphy’s Law

June 14, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 4 Comments

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Since we’re slowly but surely inching forward to the halfway point of the baseball season, I’m going to toss out a friendly reminder to pay attention to your categories. In standard format leagues, you probably know by now where you can gain points and where you just need to maintain your numbers. In one of my shallower leagues, I was looking at 2-start pitchers heading into the week in a standard attempt to pad my stats, and realized I hadn’t closely checked the standings in a while. Lo and behold, I have a rather comfy lead in both wins and strikeouts in that league (but could use a little help in ERA and WHIP), so at this point it makes no sense for me to go for quantity over quality. I’m leaving Jake Odorizzi and his 2 starts on my bench this week so that I could get Hector Rondon in my lineup, since I do need saves and I don’t trust Odorizzi to do enough in the ERA/WHIP department this week where I’m comfortable he’ll help me rather than hurt me in those categories.

Please, blog, may I have some more?