Welcome back to Perception Vs. Reality. Baseball is in full swing as we sprint towards the middle of May. The sample sizes are becoming clearer and there is not such a big jump each week in the player rater which we are going to take a look at. A couple of the players that struggled early such as Trea Turner and Jose Ramirez are starting to creep up the player rater board as they are looking like themselves and then there are some surprises that we are going to get into. Let’s start with a player who isn’t a surprise performer, but health is always an issue.

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

Mike Moustakas is one of DFSBot’s top five hitters for Draft contests on this Wednesday for his matchup at Baltimore. Moose has been unstoppable against right-handed pitching this season, putting up a .326/.376/.709 line with just a 9.7% K-rate. He’ll be batting third in the Royals lineup in Camden Yards, one of the best hitter’s parks in all of baseball. Orioles starter Andrew Cashner has a 5.82 FIP with a 2.09 HR/9 this year, making him one of the top pitching targets on the day. Moose is a play you don’t want to miss out on. Here are a few more of my favorites…

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!

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James Paxton went from a 16-K game last week to a no hitter.  *genuflects*  We’re not James Worthy.  We’re not James Worthy.  That’s how one genuflects in Los Angeles, by the way.  You seeing someone doing it any other way, report them immediately to the nearest out-of-work actor.  You can find one of those anywhere.  *checks kitchen cupboard*  “Hey, weren’t you a guest star on Boy Meets World?”  So, Canadian boy does good in Canada, with James Paxton throwing the no-no.  Unlike a Canadian pitcher earlier in the day who did a “No! No!” and did bad.  Paxton’s line — 9 IP, 0 ER, zero hits, 3 walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.40.  It was almost like something clicked with him and he realized if he strikes out less guys, he can pitch deeper into the game, as he also secured his first complete game.  The no hitter was prolly the highlight though.  Paxton can easily be a top ten starter this year with the asterisk that is always on him, *assuming healthy.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Last week, an official member of the Razzball Commenter Crew (It’s free to join!) asked if I could do a Bear or Bull on Jorge Soler. I immediately responded with “Bareback?” and “Are you Japanese by chance?” Ok, I lied. My first response was “Sure,” but that doesn’t get clicks!!! Plus, my jokes come out as fast as a sloth takes a dump, but hey….eventually both come out. Anyways, Soler has been a hot topic recently. I’ve seen headlines circulating all over the internet, but like a psycho child that doesn’t take a peek at the hidden Christmas presents, I refrained. I wanted an unadulterated look. So, here it goes…

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Five weeks are now in the books.  With twenty to go, quick math tells us we are ? of the way through our season.  To those ahead in your Razzball Commenter Leagues, that might be exciting, but to those at the bottom of the barrell, that could be unwelcome news.  Is it possible you’ve already accumulated ? of your final stats for the season? The Inning Pitch limit should be easy to plan for, you should be right around 280 IP right now.  If you find yourself a bit behind, stream an extra starter or two per week to pick up the pace. If you are way over-paced, maybe add some high strikeout middle relievers I talked about last week.  It can be much harder to make up ground in the Games Played race though. This is an area where having some lineup flexibility is key. With just three bench spots, you have to use them wisely. I like to think of the waiver wire pool as my floating bench, always there with a batty call when needed.  I routinely rotate out between 3 and 5 positions on my team for this purpose. Do I occasionally miss out on a break out player? Maybe. I was streaming J.A. Happ the first few weeks of the season before he was added and held. I’ve also added and dropped Jake Junis a hand full of times for streams, never once did I think about holding him.  I’ve added Jeimer Candelario more times than I can count and Matt Adams has been a recent hot add as well. The next time ol’ Matty Adams has an off day or is out of the lineup, guess who’s heading back to the wire? It’s a fine line, but I tend to never fall in love with a batty call, there’s always someone out there producing and keeping the flexibility to make these moves is key in the daily format with no GS limits.  There are free counting stats out there for the taking, you just need to find them.  Now, for the rest of the week that was, week 5 in the RCLs:

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Guess what? All the top stories are about GROINS!!! But in all cereal-ness, we don’t get soggy in milk, and we take you through the plague of injuries throughout MLB. We discuss the DL stints of Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto, Jacob deGrom, Miguel Cabrera, and Jake Lamb. The rest of the show is dedicated to a celebration of diversity. No, that’s not right, it’s actually just Grey and I talking Jake Faria’s renaissance, Domingoat German’s Sunday start, Walker Buehler’s long term value, and our thoughts on Mike Soroka’s first two MLB starts. There is even more Jelly in these donuts, Frank. So stay tuned! 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!

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You’ll have to forgive me for any shortcomings in this Draft article. I’ve spent the last two days going down a Childish Gambino rabbit hole (I still can’t believe this is Donald Glover singing Redbone). Glover is one of the most versatile performers going right now, much like A.J. Pollock is one of the most versatile baseball players in the game at the moment. Power, speed, clean-up spot: Pollock is a fantasy triple threat.

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?

Zach Eflin has to be one of the Phils fans favorite pitchers.  His last name just rolls off their tongue.  “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”  “You’re Eflin right!  And I’m kissing her right now.  On Facetime.  She’s a Merchant Marine, and stationed overseas.  It’s actually very sweet how we kiss.  With SnapChat filters.  That dresses me in a baby bonnet.  TMI?”  Sure, it was a short schedule day, so this might have something to do with my joy at Zach Eflin.  Yesterday, he went 6 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 0.71.  It’s only through 12 2/3 IP so o?ekávání.  I know.  That’s what I thought too, but then I started looking at his numbers, and, ugh, it’s 12 2/3 IP, but you gotta be Eflin kidding me?  He has a 9.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 94 MPH fastball, that is up two miles from last year.  Maybe this is a blip, but maybe this is encouragement you receive to burp from your Facetime’ing mom.  Also, in this game, Odubel Herrera hit some ding dongs — 2-for-3, 3 runs, 5 RBIs and his 4th and 5th homer — because ODB waited until everyone was out on him after last year.  Damn, ODB, why you gotta ad-lib some fire after I’m no longer invested in you?  ODB with more ad-libs than Quavo after a fifth of Cuervo, and Columbus, Ohio seeing the Cleveland Indians and being like, “Yo, I descubierto’d.”  (I really had to fight for that third rhyme.)  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Baseball Twitter is one of my favorite things in the world. It’s often full of interaction between analysts and fans, even analysts and other analysts, but every so often, we’re graced with the thoughts of major league players. Those we covet for their statistical production on our fake baseball teams sometimes descend from olympus to dwell amongst us fans. Sometimes that interaction is jovial, leaving us all with fuzzy feelings of joy and hope for a better world. Other times it’s between Trevor Bauer and Lance McCullers.

Last week, the topic was spin rate, and how one can increase it. I’ll do my best to plot this spat out as concisely as possible, with links to tweets.

  • Bauer insinuates the Astros are using pine tar to increase spin rate.
  • McCullers calls foul.
  • Bauer says his issue is with the MLB, not the Astros; claims pine tar increases spin rate.
  • Alex Bregman calls Trevor, “Tyler” Bauer.
  • World asks how Bauer knows pine tar increases spin rate (no tweet, “the world” doesn’t have a Twitter account… or does it… @KanyeWest).
  • Bauer quite possibly uses pine tar in first inning of May 2 start to prove point (successfully).

We need more of this. We need all of this, all the time. Dam, I love baseball.

You’re here for fantasy content, however, so why does spin rate matter for your fantasy baseball team?

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SAGNOF info is the best way to get a leg up on the SAGNOF trade.  (I challenged myself to use that anagram twice in the same sentence.) Challenge accomplished, and in the first line too! Wish I had longer arms than those baby T-Rex arms because the pats on the back wouldn’t stop.  As I continue the back lauding, the week upcoming is a bear market in steals.  The year is mimicking the previous year’s steals downward trend, as it is down almost 8% of the pace from last years total to date.  So if you have a valuable piece of steals bait that isn’t doing so great, let’s say his name is “Billy Hamilton” and you are having trouble getting ample trade value for him…  read this post so it can be explained that despite his sub-200 average and lower than expected 5 steals to date, he still has stolen base value.  Yes, you are going to have to trade for 75 cents on the dollar, but explain this to someone looking for steals and are down on Billy that he is still top-20 in steals and with that 5 steals total, he would be at 20% of most teams total steals on the year in fantasy.  That number obviously changes by league type and such, and I took an average of all the leagues I myself compete in (median is 31).  So while I sit here and let you either figure out how to sell high or buy low on Billy Hamilton, continue the read and learn about the steals that will come, have happened, and the week’s thievery to be.  Cheers!

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Another week, another FAAB run. Happy Cinco de Mayo for those of you who remember what happened this weekend, and Happy Cinco de Cuatro for fans of Arrested Development. As with every week, I bring you my five FAAB picks. These are players that most people will be looking at this week along with others that can be had for cheap, off-the-radar, stabs. I will also provide a few names for those ONLY-league players at the end. All FAAB percentages can be applied to leagues with any budget.

Please, blog, may I have some more?