Remember way back when, like three years ago, when the Mets “young pitching staff” was all the rage? We talked about how “setup” the Mets were for the future behind the strength of arms Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and of course their back-page-darling, Matt Harvey. While deGrom and Syndergaard seem to have overcome injuries to return to form, the same cannot be said for “The Dark Knight”. While his pitching exploits once made him the King of NYC, it’s been his off-field shenanigans that have grabbed the wrong type of headlines of late. But… with a spark in his first start vs. The Phillies, the inevitable “Is Harvey Back?” headlines and bylines popped up on the pages of print, digital, and telepathic media. (Pssst, if you don’t get your news telepathically in 2018, you’re behind the times.) Wow, if you’re waking up from a coma, you’d be shocked to learn that, A. Matt Harvey stinks (or has stunk) B. Telepathy has gone mainstream. Thanks Uri Geller! That got a bit off track, here’s what I saw in Matt Harvey’s start on Sunday night.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I don’t have enough spam, give me the Razzball email newsletter!
Weekly Razzball news delivered straight to your inbox.
Knock on wood, there really hasn’t been a season ending Tommy John surgery this year outside of Jharel Cotton. The scariest thing about that fact is the wait. Hopefully it never happens — but you know it’s going to. I’m sure all of you are now staring at your pitchers in tears “not my babies!”
As always, if you’ve got league specific questions — I’ve got league specific answers. Leave ‘em in the comments!
Please, blog, may I have some more?Hello and welcome! We’re going to take a look at the AL and NL league leaders in each standard rotisserie category after the first full week of baseball and discuss, analyze, and Razz it up! (90’s phrasing!) My favorite in the group is ONLY available when there is a tie in a category. Waiting in the weeds is a pitcher or hitter that is not currently leading the category, but could find their way into the lead soon…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Rays starter Yonny Chirinos gets a yawn-worthy matchup on Wednesday as he faces the White Sox. In fact, the Rays-Sox matchup on Tuesday was so ugly that there were reports that only 974 people showed up in attendance. Chirinos, however, certainly isn’t boring – in his last outing, he dominated a strong Red Sox lineup in Fenway Park, allowing just three hits over five innings with no walks or earned runs allowed. The 24-year-old tore up triple-A Durham last year, posting an insane 1.63 Deserved Run Average in 141 innings. Expect a nice outing from Chirinos, and target him late in your drafts. Now let’s check out some more picks…
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?You ever see something and you still don’t believe it? You distrust your own eyes. Well, I just saw a video of this, and I still don’t believe it: Mookie Betts bowls better than he hits. And he hits pretty damn good! He rolled a perfect game yesterday vs. the Yankees (4-for-4, 5 runs, 4 RBIs, and his 2nd homer), but he also rolled a perfect game in the World Series of Bowling last November. On Shabbos, no less! Half of me is expecting someone to point out that it was this other cat, Mookie Betts from Virginia, who is a white guy who looks like Ed Kemper. (By the way, you kinda know Ed Kemper reads Razzball. You just know this.) So, out of habit, does Mookie spray his baseball cleats? Does he ever beat out an infield single and want to sweep out his right heel like he just threw a bowling ball? Between innings, does he play arcade games? How is Mookie Betts a world class bowler and not Matt Albers?! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?If you thought this was a post on Aaron Judge, I don’t blame you. We here at Razzball always like to word play with the titles, but today I’m taking it next level by bringing it back to the literal. Got it? Yeah, me neither. Anyways, society is always espousing that we not judge a book by its cover. Sage advice and, since I’m a part of society, I shall pat myself on the back. In the early days of man’s existence, instantaneous judgements needed to be formulated for survival. Is that furry animal with big teeth friend or foe? As time progressed, life got more complicated. Are those breasts real or fake? Is it you or me? Taste great or less filling? No longer was life simply about eating or being eaten. Mankind has reached a certain level of consciousness to tap into the brain power that has allowed us to manipulate and/or be manipulated. Translation: not everything is what it seems. For this week’s edition of Bear or Bull, I will look at Chris Owings and Logan Morrison, two players at opposite ends of the production spectrum to begin the season. A 2-for-1 special! Who’s better than me??!! Don’t answer that.
Please, blog, may I have some more?This is a post that isn’t about Shohei Ohtani. Welcome back to Perception Vs. Reality where we take a look at the player rater and try and find trade value or players who might be overlooked on the waiver wire. Last week we took a look at: Gregory Polanco, Matt Davidson, Tim Anderson, Cesar Hernandez, and Jose Martinez. We will bring in some fresh faces this week now that the MLB has more games under its’ belt. Also, the names up at the top are a lot different than they were last week when each team had played three games or less.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The Razzball Podcast is back in this bee-yatch with an action packed program for the fiends. Yes, all of my intros are stolen from skits first heard on mid-90’s rap albums. Sorry, we keep feeding you, and feeding you… nuggets of knowledge to help you take down the fantasy crown. Speaking of fantasy crowns, I have the reigning Tout Wars NL-Only champion in tow, as Grey Albright blesses us with his magical pipes, hot boba takes, and fantasy baseball wisdom. We talk Shohei Ohtani, Rhys Hoskins joining elite company, wavier wire targets, and why Grey loves him some Gregory Polanco. We also sit down with former NFL player and commissioner of the Fan Controlled Football League, Ray Austin. How about that? 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:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Technically the first “week” of the Razzball Commenter Leagues was from Opening Day, March 29th to Sunday, April 1st, but that was just too short, with too few games and just didn’t feel right. Instead, I’m going to combine that short week, with this week to form week 1.5. How has the first week plus gone for you? Are you an Ohtani owner jumping for joy and retweeting every Ohtani GIF, stat and record broken so far? Or maybe you are a Joey Votto owner, quietly crying and gently rocking in the corner. Either way, you can all use the same mantra, “It’s still early”. Everyone wants to start the first week leading their league, but only one team can. I always dream of going wire to wire, but it’s a long season, plenty of time to win these things. Jose Ramirez won’t hit .061 all season. Just in case, let’s form a prayer decagon, shall we?
Already the RCL battle has been waged on the waiver wire as the race to grab that sweet SAGNOF started early. Mark Melancon made a surprise DL appearance and Hunter Strickland was the first add of the year for those seeking cheap saves. Corey Knebel collapsed in a heap and the race was on for the next Brewer fireman. This, of course was followed by the great “Jacob Barnes lockout” of 2018. More on that below, but maybe FanTrax was trying to tell us something. Let’s take a look at that as well as which RCL teams are getting an early jump on their league standings:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Tonight is the first night of the season I actually feel really good about playing some DFS. So much so that I don’t feel the need to take up space with witty filler. A multitude of SP1s, like Jacob deGrom (more on him later), will make it easier than usual to get your hitters first on Draft.com. There’s a game in Coors Field and finally some warmer weather. On top of that, we have plenty of mediocre left-handed pitchers to target. Those are the staples of DFS lineup building.
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?Yesterday, it was a good day (freaking brothers every way like M.J.) to be an ace. Corey Kluber went 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 1 walk, 13 Ks, ERA at 1.57, pitching against the Tigers. One of the best, if not the best, pitchers goes against one of the worst, if not the worst, hitting teams, and you have a masterpiece by the pitcher. Just be clause. Qualifying, that is. To not be outdone, Max Scherzer went 9 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 0 walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 0.90, and stole his first base. Take that, Ohtani! Scherzer has 80 grade speed if he’s in a DeLorean and wants to go back to 1955. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?If all the experts in the world had baby T-Rex arms, no one would be able to pat themselves on the back. I am lumping myself into the SAGNOF love fest that the grand master Lothario himself, Grey, was part of and preached in the preseason on why Tim Anderson was the mac. Or the PC, whatever your preference in lapputers is. I not only loved the guy two months ago, I love him more now that he is living up to the steals hype and maintaining other stats that make him basically a eight-games-into-the-season stud. Looking over his stats and nothing jumps out as a SSS type thing… Is the OBP higher than it will be in 20, 50, or 80 games? Maybe, but are we certain that he can’t maintain a .350 OBP moving forward? Looking at the back of his baseball card, speed has always been there. As he develops into his body, considering that he is only 24, the power was going to develop from what we saw in the minors. His high total for any other season besides last year was 13 combined for 2016 that encompassed AAA and 99 games with the Sox. But this is the SAGNOF corner of the world, taters are good, but swipes are delicious. He has 5 steals in eight games, and is on pace for a whole lot more if he can keep that vital OBP to a respectable number. He has the license to steal and should continue to do so…but it could get better. He hasn’t hit anywhere but the bottom-half of the order. This has eerie similarities to what we saw last year from Merifield. Sustain great number from the bottom and then boom, move up the order and become an even better kleptomaniac. So while the steals now are fantastic and a boon to his draft day value (thanks Grey!), keep an eye out for if/when he moves up the order and his numbers could from what they are now to even better. SAGNOF rant over, let’s get to the tidbits, and the bits of tid that keep all the girls squirrely. Cheers!
Please, blog, may I have some more?