We’re talking a whole lot of pitching this week, as we dive into the top arms in the 2018 MLB draft. We start the show off with a little Juan Soto and Austin Meadows talk, before jumping into this week’s 5×5, where we profile 10 top performers over the last week of minor league play. After that it’s a pitching free for all, breaking down the mechanics and arsenals of Casey Mize, Brady Singer, Shane McClanahan, Carter Stewart, Matt Liberatore, and many more. What could be better than Lance breaking down mechanics? Ice cream, but that’s it. 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 Prospect Podcast:
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In the spring of 2018, the Catholic Church summoned Father Carmen Sandiego to the Vatican to give him the job to investigate miracles, supernatural signs and apparitions. Unfortunately, Father Carmen Sandiego, who wasn’t very good with his GPS, got lost for four days in the Steven Avery car lot in Wisconsin, then ended up in Milwaukee. When he wandered into the parking lot of Miller Park, and Brewers fans tailgating with MGD and cheese curds, everywhere Father Carmen Sandiego turned he heard about the resurrected Jesus Aguilar, so he chose to investigate. He found a player who had lowered his strikeout rate 8% from last year, upped his walk rate, cut his soft contact and could be a sneaky 25-homer, .275 guy. Jesus didn’t appear to him in a vision, he was flesh and blood, like the Lenny & Squiggy cosplayers he also encountered. However, Father Carmen Sandiego didn’t report back to the Vatican, instead he grabbed Jesus for his fantasy team. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Fantasy baseball is surely a long season, but that has never stopped anyone from overreacting to small sample sizes. Once the stats start rolling in, you can’t help but notice when your star players fall short of your expectations even when it’s a few weeks in. In fantasy baseball, patience truly is a virtue. The vast majority of seasoned fantasy baseballers know you need to give your players some time to see how they gel, but frustrating starts can get the best of us. Especially when it is someone you picked to be an anchor for your team. So this week I decided to look at some studs (top 50 NFBC ADP) that all started off really slow and worried owners, but have been locked in at the plate since.
Please, blog, may I have some more?While there are many good baseball movies I was thinking this weekend about one more, a comedy based on the real life wife swap of Yankee Pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, who traded wives and kids in March 1973. You can click on the link to read more about it, but Kekich summed it up best: “Unless people know the full details, it could turn out to be a nasty type thing. Don’t say this was wife-swapping, because it wasn’t. We didn’t swap wives, we swapped lives.”
So now we have the plot and in my mind it has to be a period piece occurring in the late 1970s to early 1980s. I want to see baseball players smoking cigarettes and taking amphetamines while guzzling beers and parties of Quaaludes and a George Steinbrenner-like character who orchestrates the swap. I want a Rickey Henderson-like character that only refers to himself in the third person and knows he’s the greatest player ever.
One of the guys has to pitch on acid like Dock Ellis as Hollywood loves doing trippy scenes (that don’t match the actual experience at all). There needs to be many full-on mustaches and afros and mullets and the uniforms should be based off of the Astros rainbow unis or the baby blues of the Cardinals. The White Sox Disco demolition night has to be referenced, and we need a competing owner (and foil for the Steinbrenner character) like Charlie O. Finley of the A’s; I mean, just look at this picture:
We don’t even need MLB’s sign off and with their level of no-fun who even wants it? Who can’t imagine John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell playing the pitchers? Or pick whomever you want; let’s just find some good comedy writers and let them go to town, right?
Please, blog, may I have some more?Another happy FanDuel Friday you filthy animals! We have a lot of good pitchers out there tonight as this is a full 15-game slate and the weather isn’t going to be much of a concern. Rejoice! Picks and more to follow.
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?Visual Metaphor Alert! When a boat sinks, you can avoid sinking longer if you scramble to the stern of the boat. As the boat sinks, you will be out of the water longer. The Orioles have started playing baseball on that stern of the Titanic. Of course, then the whole thing snaps in half and drowns you anyway. “Hey, there’s Machado floating by with six life vests on, and there’s a different team insignia on each life vest! Hey, Machado, can I get the Yankees’ life vest? Machado? Hey, Adam Jones! Do you need that Nationals’ life vest? Adam? Aw geez.” That’s Dylan Bundy wearing the Orioles’ life vest, as Mancini sinks holding onto Bundy’s ankle. Yesterday, Bundy went 9 IP, 3 ER, 3 baserunners, 14 Ks, ERA at 4.45, throwing 121 pitches. *uck Showalter really wanted to get Bundy the complete game, huh? It’s not like he had a no-hitter going, he surrendered a homer in the 4th inning. The Orioles also had a six-run lead and were going for win number 16. Showalter prolly just had a senior moment. “How do you get this motorized scooter up the dugout steps and to the mound?” That’s Showalter. Bundy’s peripherals are actually gorge — 11.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 3.85 xFIP. Thus far, he’s been unlucky, which goes without saying because he’s on the Orioles. Hard for me to get excited for that reason, too. Of course, his numbers say he should be owned everywhere. Good luck with that! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s amazing the difference a year makes. Just 12 months ago the Angels had one of the most wretched farms in all of the land. A couple of intriguing talents, a lot of system depth, and tons of minor league fodder. Then came last June’s draft, where the Angels were lucky enough to land a handful of really nice talents, players like Griffin Canning, Jacob Perason, and John Swanda, but none more talented than Jo Adell. Last year’s 10th overall pick out of Ballard High in Kentucky, hit rookie ball like a ton of bricks in 2017 slashing .325/.376/.532, with 5 homers and 8 steals. So it came as no surprise that Adell was assigned to low-A Burlington of the Midwest League out of camp. Through 25 games at the low-A level Adell was once again putting up elite production to the tune of .326/.398/.611 with 6 homers, and 4 steals, while placing amongst the leaders in RBI at 29. That’s more than a steak a game! The Angels brass, having functioning eyes, saw this, and promoted the talented Adell to high A Inland of the California League. If you know anything about the Cal League, it should be this, {power + Cal League parks = Kieboom!} BTW, that’s how we say Kaboom in prospector. Going forward Adell should be viewed as a top tier prospect, a player capable of pushing his way to the Top 10 by season’s end. In my most recent update of my top 25, Adell leapfrogged up to 21. He should be owned in all dynasty formats, and is a player worth targeting in trades for rebuilding teams.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Jo Adell’s 5th homer of the year ?(5/18/18) pic.twitter.com/50yv3cc74w
— Prospect Gifs (@prospectgifs) May 19, 2018
The value of Pi is unknowable, which makes it an “irrational number.” 3.1415926535897…..Computer scientists have calculated billions of digits of Pi without discerning a recognizable pattern. To infinity and beyond! This concept of irrationality has made many of men mad. On the flip side, Vetta is a Sanskrit term that means “knower” in Hindu philosophy, as in someone who has a deeper or higher spiritual knowledge. The dichotomy and duality of life. It is presented to us everyday. So, it would only make sense that Nick Pivetta (54.8% owned – increase of 24.3%) would be the literal poster boy. Against righties, 30.3% K-BB rate and 2.39 xFIP. Against lefties, 14.3% K-BB rate and 4.29 xFIP. At home, 2.80 xFIP and 26.4% K-BB rate. On the road, 4.33 xFIP and 14.9% K-BB rate. The overall snapshot, though, looks amazing. 10.19 strikeout rate with a 2.04 walk rate. 3.29 xFIP and 0.85 HR/9. The hard contact rate is only 27.1% and the swinging strike rate is 11.3%. Granted, the sample size is small and last season Pivetta was worse against righties. I like Pivetta, as he throws mid-90s, has good control, and can miss bats. Just be aware that there is more under the hood than what the overall numbers are showing. With that said: TREASURE
Please, blog, may I have some more?We’re going to get right to it this week, kids, and I apologize if today’s post doesn’t have as many exciting, last-minute updates as usual. Since I’m sure you’re wondering why it won’t have said exciting updates, I will tell you: it is because I will be attending the live taping of the Survivor finale, and will be going off the grid completely starting mid-day Wednesday. Yes, I’ll be in the same room with TV’s Jeff Probst, one of the few celebrities (along with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Doris Kearns Goodwin, FYI) that I am interested in being in close proximity to, but don’t you worry: I’ve actually been in the same room as Mr. Probst before and I barely even did anything embarrassing, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to keep from humiliating myself. That’s actually more than I can say about the time I had a brief conversation with Ms. Kearns Goodwin, where I was as tongue-tied as I’ve ever been in my life. I have yet to cross paths with Mr. deGrasse Tyson, which is probably just as well for all concerned.
Please, blog, may I have some more?We are now eight weeks into the season, so who’s ready for the current roto category leaders? A few slight changes between the AL and NL, and trade season coming up could have a major effect on leaders. So get out your scoop and let’s dig in to the kitty litter box!
Please, blog, may I have some more?Today is a 3-game slate. Playing cash is going to be fairly ridiculous – it’s going to be lineups that are almost entirely the same except for 2 or 3 players. Your entire lineup will feature 6 guys who are so chalky that it doesn’t even matter if they play well as everyone else will have them – the entire day will come down to who you picked for the final 2 or 3 spots. FanDuel could have mitigated the absurdity of this slate by moving it up an hour (thus allowing the Houston-Cleveland game to be added to the slate). This would have added some interesting plays – you would have had Morton as a pitcher, plus both teams have plenty of interesting bats. But apparently FanDuel thinks it’s more important to start at 7pm regardless. So that’s what we’ve got. Maybe you like the idea of having the entire contest come down to whether you picked Jay Bruce and Xander Bogaerts instead of J.D. Martinez and Orlando Arcia (because both lineups share the exact same other players across the board). Everyone knows I’m a professional at these DFS Picks articles, so I’ll continue to show up regardless of the absurdity of the slate and give you a professional performance.
On to the picks…
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!
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Yesterday’s Yankee/Rangers game started with a 1st-inning blast from Didi Gregorius (1-for-5, 2 RBIs, hitting .246) and his 11th homer. The return of The Gregorius D.I.D. giving fantasy owners one more chance to tell trade partners gimme the loot, gimme the loot! Also, in this game, Aaron Judge (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, hitting .284) went bye-bye now with his 13th; Neil Walker (2-for-5, 2 runs, hitting .220) said get those tennis balls off my feet and hit his 2nd (this week); Nomar Mazara (2-for-5, 3 BRIs, hitting .274) said two teams can play that game and hit his 11th, and Ronald Guzman (2-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) hit his 5th homer, and his third game in a row, and the two time in a row I said to pick him up. Rinse, repeat. Also, in this game, Aaron Judge–Sorry, got carried away with the repeat gag. Speaking of gags: Fister, I hardly know ya! And I wish you BCC’d me on Sabathia. But the real news, Gleyber Torres (1-for-5, 3 RBIs, hitting .323) hit his 8th homer, and his 5th homer in five games) had his star mitzvah this week. Were you invited? Lou Bega performed. They had dreidel piñatas. The pot roast was cut-your-mouth dry. All the fixins! I know someone who wasn’t invited, Aaron Boone. Has to explain how Gleyber’s still hitting 9th. Can someone mansplain to me what’s going on? Did Neil Walker win a Boone family egg toss so he has to bat so high? Maybe if Boone’s entire coaching experience wasn’t hitting a walk-off homer, we’d have some idea how this should play out. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?