[brid autoplay=”true” video=”255110″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 11″]

“Lower the koozie a little bit.  No, a little bit more.  Okay, now spray some mist on the outside of the can to make it look like it’s sweating.  Now rub your finger from the D in Dr. to the R in Pepper.  This is romance!  For me!”  That’s me explaining to Cougs how I want her to seduce me with a visual metaphor of Juan Soto.  Or as I like to call him, Sexy Dr. Pepper.  Last night he hit two more homers (2-for-3, 4 RBIs) and now has five homers on the year, hitting .344 since his call-up and he’s only 19 years old.  *puts handkerchief to head, faints*  He was the first 19-year-old to homer at a Yankee Stadium since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1989.  He is the fifth youngest major leaguer with a two-homer game (Mel Ott, Danny Murphy (not that one), Griffey, Andruw Jones).  He is the third youngest major leaguer to show up at Yankee Stadium and say, “A concession guy offered his wife to me for sex.” (Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich)  Not to put the hype too much to eleven, but he is blowing away what Bryce and Trout did when they were both 19 years old.  19-year-olds who hit a home run in the last 40 years:  Soto, Bryce, Trout, Justin Upton, Andruw, Griffey and Juan Gonzalez.  Betting on a 19-year-old to fail who is already up in the majors succeeding is betting the Don’t Pass line, and no one likes that guy.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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

This article originated as a Paul Goldschmidt buy low article. Unfortunately the Gold Rush was on last week in San Francisco and Colorado as Pauly went 16 for 28 with 4 homers, 10 extra base hits and 11 RBI over the six game road trip, ruining any semblance of a buy low opportunity that remained. The moral of the story? Donkey needs to learn to write d*ck jokes quicker if he wants to publish any future buy low articles.

On the plus side, a new glossary term was coined during the process. Blue Balls: When you’re trying to buy low, but the player breaks out before you’re able to close the deal [credit: Walter McMichael]. As the Goldschmidt window slammed shut on my fantasy blue balls, the idea hit me to instead analyze a bit of the effects of the new Chase Field humidor through 10 weeks.

Fortunately, prior to the vicious window slam, my blue balls had already stored the following home/away statcast exit velocity data for the five Diamondbacks players who have been active with Arizona for large portions of the last three seasons (as of 6/6/18):

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Welcome back to Perception Vs. Reality. These last few weeks have been absolutely brutal when it comes to injuries to baseball’s young stars. Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch again this season, which is really unfortunate because he was a ton of fun to watch pitch for a couple of months. Our player rater leader, Mookie Betts, was taken off of the disabled list on Monday and is being brought along cautiously with playing time. Ronald Acuna Jr. might start a rehab assignment this upcoming weekend, but he has certainly been missed the last few weeks. But a fantasy playa gotta play. Let’s see if I can help you out at all and lets take a look at the player rater.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I’ve been telling anyone that will listen not to be concerned about Paul’s slow start. In fact around the end of week 8, he might have been the best buy low candidate in years. Seriously. Coming into the season many were stricken with fear over the installation of a humidor in Arizona which was followed up by a pitiful start. I can’t tell you how many questions I’ve gotten in the last couple of weeks about trades people were considering in which they traded him away. Paul Goldschmidt is a stud. I could have just written that today and been done with the Paul Goldschmidt blurb, but that wouldn’t have satisfied my need to give the man a big ole bear hug. As I said two weeks ago, and repeated last week, “Excluding an injury shorted 2014 in which he was on pace for over 500 points he hasn’t scored less than 500 since 2013“. Last week Goldschmidt led all batters with 58 points. He went 16 for 25 with five singles, six doubles, a triple, four home runs and eleven RBIs.

Let see who else had a strong week eleven.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Drafting Anthony Rizzo is the first step in the blueprint for success on Wednesday. Rizzo has been getting busy in the last 15 days, batting .327 with a 1.094 OPS and five homers. He gets to take advantage of one of the best hitter’s parks in the league in Milwaukee, where he already homered on Monday. Rizzo should have the opportunity to drive in plenty of runs as the Cubs cleanup hitter against Jhoulys Chacin, who has a 4.75 Deserved Run Average this season. I’d try pairing Rizzo with a teammate like Kyle Schwarber, but even as a standalone play, Rizzo is worth an early pick on Draft.

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=”255110″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 11″]

*life flashing before eyes right before death* Wow, that’s a lot times I picked up and dropped Chase Anderson.   Is it weird I can understand where Mike Tyson was coming from when he said he wanted to eat Lennox Lewis’ children?  Some of these players — Sonny Gray, Jon Gray, Chase Anderson — come to mind that make me want to eat someone’s children.  Not really (yes, really).  Why couldn’t Chase Anderson do this when he was on my team?!  *lines tacks up on desk, slams head down*  I’m okay!  *blood dripping from forehead like Abdullah the Butcher*  I can’t see!  *screaming at intern*  Getmeahandiwipesoicansee–Okay, I can see again.  I’m still seeing blood though.  Yesterday, Chase Anderson went 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 2 walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.13.  The peripherals are still not there for Anderson — 6.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 5.17 xFIP — so I won’t be going back in on him.  That doesn’t mean it won’t make me think about salt and peppering some kids if he pitches well again.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Was this the worst week of fantasy baseball in history? When was the last time we dealt with so many catastrophic injuries to big names? Pitchers going down left and right, literally. Hitter/Pitchers getting injured! Top prospects shutdown for weeks at a time? I spent the weekend drowning myself in cigarettes and booze. Do I feel better now? No! But that’s why I turned to Grey, his cackle, and nose for a good replacement in a 12 team mixed league. He’s not too shabby with the NL only leagues, if you know what I’m getting at… Regardless, we talk injuries this week, and some of the in-house replacements (i.e. Seth Lugo and Ross Stripling breaking ball love). Finally, please make sure to support our sponsor 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 Podcast:

BTW: Get your Prospect Jesus and Grey Albright Tout Wars Champ shirts here!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Last season, Gary Sanchez clubbed 33 home runs with a .278/.345/.531 slash. As a result, fantasy players were drafting Sanchez with the 34th pick on average. Cue the Grey cackle. What What???!!! When our mustached leader descended from the peak of Mt. Tout, he read these words from the tablet that was being carried in the hand that wasn’t holding his boba drink: Thou shall not draft catchers early. Now, I know there are sinners among you. It’s ok. We are not perfect beings and many of us succumb to temptations. What’s done is done. That’s right. Not only did you sin, but you’ve been experiencing a Dirty Sanchez up to this point, as Gary is batting .190/.291/.430. What to do? What to do?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I hope you all had a wonderful tenth week of the Razzball Commenter League season.  The injuries seem to really be piling up for my squads. I’ve got Acunas, Buxtons, Pollocks, Hills, Rays, a lot of Andrew Millers and now an Ohtani on various teams.  Ohtani stings since FanTrax was the one place you could utilize his dual-eligibility. I know Grey was touting the “I told you to avoid/sell him” game the other day, but with Ohtani’s horrid spring training, he actually came at a discount later in the draft season.  He went from being drafted between pick 55 and 80 early on to being drafted after pick 100 and even as late as 213 in one league (ECFBL – Nice grab Ralph!). After pick 100, or about the 9th round, I don’t consider this a make or break point in an RCL draft. Losing Ohtani won’t kill your season unless you traded away your entire pitching staff or something.  It sure stings to lose a dynamic player though, especially one you grabbed at a decent price who was out-performing that draft day price tag. As I said, I liked Ohtani in this format with the new moves limit for the flexibility he gave on short schedule days, etc. Maybe Ohtani can rest this off like Tanaka has managed to do, but either way, it’s to the DL and look on the bright side, now you have a streaming spot available!  Hello Jack Flaherty. Now that we’ve lamented our week 10 loses, let’s take a look at the rest of the week that was in the RCLs:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Did you know a barium enema involves x-raying your colon after it has been filled with a contrasting liquid? We have no such procedure for fantasy baseball when a player like Jaime Barria posts excellent numbers with questionable supporting stats, like a low BABIP and high FB%. Do we use him on Draft.com tonight? We’ll have to find our own way to look under the hood, so to speak.

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=”255110″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 11″]

Said like DJ Khaled, “Another one.”  The Rays called up Willy Adames (1-for-2, 2 RBIs) as they placed Daniel Robertson on the DL.  You might remember him better as Commander Willy Adames of the Battlestar Galactica.  S’nerdy.  “Hey, Grey, if your mustache wasn’t so full and well-groomed, I’d noogie you so hard.”  That’s you reading my Battlestar Galactica reference.  Sorry, guys and girls, there’s space for both of us.  Bam!  A line I think I’m quoting but prolly not.  Any hoo!  Captain Adames is a Xander Bogaerts-type, according to Prospector Ralph.   On the top 100 fantasy baseball prospect list, he wrote, “One of toughest types to rank on top prospects lists. The middle infield prospect, who has always been young for his level, with advanced hitting, but neither standout speed or power. Adames might take a few seasons to find mixed leagues relevance, but he should develop enough power to be a very viable shortstop option by 2020.  By which time Grey’s a distant memory and I run this ‘itch!”  What is up with that, man?!  Adames is the kind guy hard to get excited about if he’s a 15/10/.280 hitter, but since he’s only 22 years old, if he grows into more power, he could be a future high-end shortstop.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Afterthoughts on draft day, or sleepers that only the select few stick with for SAGNOF?  The realm of SAGNOF rotates around the perplexity for steals and the hotness of said player when garnering the stat.  Leonys Martin is one of those guys this week that I’ll be focusing on.  Draft season, he was an afterthought… or was he a deep sleeper?  Being drafted in the 400’s overall and basically being drafted around Lonnie Chisenhall.  Which if we are all paying attention, is good for you,  but bad in terms of name value to stat value ratio currently.  Over the last 13 games, Martin has been unleashed, scoring 12 runs, swiping 4 and slashing a very unusual Martin line of .294/.379/.647.  For someone who’s career slash line is a fraction of said mark, the small sample size for the mini-fortnight breakout is welcoming.  He was a stolen base darling… four years ago and now that he has been given a chance to shine at the top of the Tigers lineup in front of quality hitters like Castellanos and the like, is this a growing SAGNOF trend that we can buy into?  I am saying yes on the short term, long term?  We know what Leonys is.  He is a .250 hitter with questionable on-base potential that has two feet and can run effectively given time and consistency.  If he is lying around in your league on the waiver wire, give him a shot as the Tigers do score some runs and the lineup behind him has shown some decent skills at moving runners over and doing all the things needed for Martin to be successful in the short term. More SAGNOF-dom charts and tidbits after the jump!

Please, blog, may I have some more?