The Spring has sprung and real baseball is here! That fake stuff and all its glorious research has come to a head and later this week, that team that you built will go to battle. Don’t go into battle with a little extra ammo in your tool belt though. We all know who the steals candidates are and where to draft them by now. The names are familiar, and if you drafted them, you are hoping the results that they have promised with our expectations. My post this week is instead taking a look at the reflexive of the actual base stealers, and since the end of this week we’ll actually have counting stats, why not look at the pitchers and catchers that have the propensity to give up the most frequent of thievery? It is often a very overlooked facet of the game. We always see the counting stats of the perennial stolen base leaders, but never hear a peep about the pitchers who give up the most, or the catchers that are god awful at throwing them out. I get that other forces of baseball nature encompass both of those factors of caught stealing and pitchers tendencies for base thefts, but if numbers don’t lie, let’s take a look at them and see who has the “better”chance for giving up the stat. So here is this week’s SAGNOF report, basically picking on guys who do nothing but aid us in the stolen base category. Cheers!
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Bumgarner Breaks His Engine Throttle Hand
March 26, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 425 Commentsby: Grey
I only wish Madison Bumgarner fractured his hand after every single person drafted, because I knew I was never drafting him. Terrible thing to say? Perhaps, but I’m not the poor schnook who was still drafting him after I said for the last three months to not draft him. I even put him in a tier originally in the top 20 starters that said, DO NOT DRAFT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Okay, not in that tall of a font, but the sentiment was all over that tier. I said specifically, “This is just like the above tier, and I will be avoiding it, but rather than the above guys who I actually like, just won’t draft, I do not like the guys in this tier, and would never draft them at their price. So, while I wouldn’t draft the above guys, I really wouldn’t draft these guys. Got it? Cool.” And that’s me quoting me! Of course, I can’t claim prescience that I knew he’d be hit by a comebacker, but will I anyway? Hmm… Why not?! Prescience ain’t just a word on my Word of the Day calendar that I got in a Secret Santa! So, I’ve dropped Bumgarner in the rankings, and adjusted his projections accordingly. My Fantasy Baseball War Room gets updated on the reg, as well.
This is the point where people get pissed off when I say I told you not to draft Madison Bumgarner. YOU COULDN’T HAVE KNOWN HE WOULD GET INJURED. Cool. Still said not to draft him.
— Razzball (@Razzball) March 24, 2018
Anyway, here’s what else I saw in spring training for 2018 fantasy baseball:
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RCL Update: 2018 Writers League Draft Recap
March 25, 2018 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 5 Commentsby: MattTruss
Twelve fantasy writers in one league and you thought we weren’t going to take this opportunity to hear ourselves talk (type)? Well, then you thought wrong! We’re all loaded with hot fiyah taeks! This isn’t the ‘Perts League that Grey hosts, this is just anyone that writes for Razzball and wanted to join an RCL. Way back on Saturday, March 3rd at 9:30pm EST, we all (well, most) settled in for an early season draft. You can check out all the draft results HERE to follow along. This season’s participants in RCL draft order are:
Dokken – Writer of Team Previews and FanTrax Tips
Jimothy – Writing all about the sleepers you need to know
Yost – The H2H guru
Kerry Klug – The local ambulance chaser
MattTruss – DFS and RCLs are my game
Victoria B – DFS Writer/Editor extraordinaire
MB – Two sport star covering NFL and MLB like a boss
Viz – Our resident Hockey enthusiast
SON – Another two sport star, running the basketball side of Razzball and writing Team Previews for MLB
Laura Holt – Deep and Only leagues are her jam
Smokey – Our soccer wizard and baseball SAGNOF expert
Phil B. – OPS is his bag
Now you know who is in the league, next we’ll hear what they had to say about it. I interviewed each writer with some questions; some personal and some generic and here’s what they had to say:
2018 Fantasy Baseball Team Previews: Tampa Bay Rays
March 25, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Team Previews | 7 Commentsby: Dokken
Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. As we’ve been doing the last few months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…
Well, it’s been an offseason, hasn’t it Rays fans? It’s hard enough to compete with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox in general, but the Rays also have to do it with one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. They have shipped off the likes of Evan Longoria, Jake Odorizzi, and Steven Souza. They even went so far as to DFA Corey Dickerson, who was eventually dealt to Pittsburgh. They lost Lucas Duda and Logan Morrison in free agency, who hit a combined 68 home runs in 2017. They lost Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon to Tommy John surgery already this spring. Sounds like they should just put the Trop up for sale and pack it in, right? Well, you’d think this season would look like a total dumpster fire, but they did bring in CJ Cron, Carlos Gomez, and (I guess he bears mentioning) Denard Span. In fact, PECOTA actually has the Rays winning 83 games, which would put them in the Wild Card game according to their projections. The Rays will be a very interesting team to watch this year, but for fantasy purposes we turn to Adam Sanford of DRays Bay to illuminate us on some of the most interesting situations in Tampa.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Top 150 Fantasy Baseball Prospects
March 25, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 60 Commentsby: Geoff
We’re moving slower than expected, so instead of the next 100 prospects, I’m cutting it into two posts of 50 prospects. Disappointing? Possibly, but you still got 6500 words to read, ponder, debate. It’s all there for the taking. What am I talking about? Honestly I’m not sure, I’m writing this at 3 AM, delirious from the research, coffee, and myrcene rich leaves. It’s the next bunch of blokes with big dreams and lots of upside for your fantasy roster. I’ve tried to get a little more “groupie”. Wait, what? I tried to group similar types together here. There’s an insane amount of upside guys in this post. So if that’s your jammy jam, you’re going to be pleased. Or maybe not, possibly you’re always grumpy, but that’s not my problem. Editing these posts is my problem! AHHHHHHH PROSPECTS. For the Top 100 Fantasy Baseball Prospects. Here’s the Top 150 Prospects for 2018 Fantasy Baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Top Ten Strike Out Pitchers for 2018
March 24, 2018 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 15 Commentsby: Ricky Olshansky
Hen (Hen) Ry (Ry) Row (Row) En (En) Gart (Gart) Ner (Ner). No, Henry Rowengartner is not on this list, but I imagine he would have been if his arm was still broken and his tendons were still too tight. I could picture the 100 mph fastballs working fairly consistently, but the famous floater pitch that hasn’t been seen since Scuffy McGee wouldn’t last long, even in a 12’’ softball league. “Ffffunky butt-loving!’ ‘Did he just say funky butt-loving?” Enough about one of my favorite baseball movies from the ‘90s. We’re going to take a look at the top ten pitchers to lead the league in strikeouts for the 2018 season. Let me know who you like, who I missed, who deserves an honorable mention, etc. Do you want “Big Sexy” Bartolo Colon on the list, because he mesmerizes you with his athletic figure? He would make a great figure skater or rhythmic gymnast, right? I can’t place him on this list, but he deserves to be on some sort of list somewhere. Maybe I’ll make a list of the ten most entertaining MLB players, I’m sure he’ll make that list. All opinions are welcomed, and encouraged so let’s dive right in and see what happens! For the purpose of this post, we will be using Grey’s 2018 Pre-Season Projections and FantasyPros ADP.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
The season is now just days away… We all have either drafted or are just about to and Spring training positional battles are in their death blows as expected starters have gone down with injuries throughout. Certain players we were excited about are now sitting in one of those DL spots, and we need to find those few players that everyone overlooked during the draft, some that could be nabbed off the waiver wire in a few weeks. I found a handful of players that fit the bill, all of which Grey ranked in the late 200’s or much later. Give these guys a look and consider adding them to fill up those new empty spots before the rest of your league catches on!
Please, blog, may I have some more? 2018 Fantasy Baseball Team Previews: Boston Red Sox
March 24, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Team Previews | 2 Commentsby: Dokken
Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. As we’ve been doing the last few months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…
It turns out trading for Chris Sale was a good idea. Who knew. The 2017 Red Sox won 93 games and the AL East crown came along with it, although they would be swept by the Astros in the ALDS. This offseason they brought back the likes of Mitch Moreland and Eduardo Nunez to help keep their MLB core strong, but that’s not all they did. They ponied up for the biggest bat on the market, signing JD Martinez to a surprisingly reasonable 5-year, $110 million contract. He’ll provide some much needed thump to a lineup that was lacking power following the retirement of David Ortiz. With a young core of hitters, a good bullpen, and a top-heavy rotation, Boston will look to repeat as champs of the AL East in 2018. I spoke with Sean Penney of Fansided’s BoSox Injection to parse out some of the most relevant fantasy questions surrounding the Red Sox this year…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Sometimes you record a podcast and you’re so aroused by your subject that you need to take a shower after recording. Not saying I have to, specifically, but the collective we. This week on the Prospect Podcast we just so happen to have one of those arousing topics. No, we did not invite Lisa Ann onto the show. Instead, Lance and myself dig into the very exciting Oakland Athletics farm system. We talk all the top talents from Jorge Mateo, to A.J. Puk, Franklin Barreto, and all the top names soon to hit Oakland. 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:
Please, blog, may I have some more? Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2018 Fantasy Baseball
March 23, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 113 Commentsby: Geoff
Does anybody else remember the Adventures of the Gummi Bears? It was on the Disney Channel back in the day and it was THE Saturday Morning jam. Medieval, personified bears, that bounce like kangaroos. Where do I sign up, right? In one of the sloppiest and more unconnected openings in Razzball history, starting pitchers are nothing like Gummi Bears. No, they are not my Saturday Morning jam. They’re my Saturday Morning job, digging into numerous deep dives, for hours on end, trying to figure out which players are trending where. The results of these Saturday Morning exercises are below. As a reminder these rankings are for 5×5 roto with value focused on rest of season value for 2018. So, a player like Michael Kopech is ranked for his value over the entirety of the 2018 season. Not just the next month. In previous seasons, this post was a weekly ranking with a pitching profile included. This year we will continue the weekly pitching profile, but once a month we will update the rankings. Because honestly, how much can happen in a week? One or two starts? So there’s changes coming for 2018, but they’re slight, and you’ll still get the same quality profiles, notes, and ranks. You might also get a cupcake or a venereal disease, but no telling which one. The expiration dates will just be a little longer. On the rankings not on the cupcakes or your fresh batch of herpes.
Here’s my Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2018 Fantasy Baseball.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Earlier in the preseason, I delved into the holds tiers for fantasy bullpens. It exists right here in the Fantasy Relief Pitchers for Holds. That was more a broad brushstroke of fantasy bullpen goodness that goes on here at Razznation. Now that we are thumbs deep in draft season and the players being more prominent in roles are starting to show their purpose we can get a better grip on who to won and who to covet for the ugly step sister of saves the hold stat. In more cases than not, following a “drafting for holds model” holds true, but holds are such a fluid stat… more fluid than the closer role. So drafting the elite guy every year looks like a great idea, but name the guy who lead the league in holds multiple years in a row or, hell, twice in their career? It’s a short list, whose names are not that awesome or even around anymore. So for drafting for holds, whether it be in a straight holds league or a saves+holds league having the edge up on bullpenery is key. The strategies for each of those leagues is basically the same as the elite holds category earners and they should be drafted after the last “donkeycorn” closer to come off the board. If you draft an elite closer, always cuff your closer with the top holds candidate on that team. Next, do what I just said twice and grab your second closer’s backup/holds guy. That will give you two closers, their back-ups for the “just in case” moments and holds. Then your last pick for your bullpen will be an independent guy that has a K/9 rate over 9. That is my finite strategy for drafting holds in any league. It gives you five guys that you can bank on every day in a “set it and forget it” type situation. Don’t fall in love with your options, as like I said, bullpen fluidness is blah and you can find a hot hand on an off day. So now that strategy is out of the way, let’s look at the more finite tiers of holds!
Please, blog, may I have some more?
The season hasn’t even started, and I’m so exhausted from trying to predict what’s going to happen this year that I thought I’d change it up a little for the last week of the pre-season. This time, I’m starting with what I think won’t happen and working backwards, and ending up with things that could happen but almost certainly won’t. Or something like that. Sometimes I think with my heart instead of worrying about numbers when I’m looking at fantasy baseball, but if there’s a time in fantasy baseball to let your emotions take over, it’s probably when you’re talking about deep-league dart throws. All I know is that I’m sick of KNOWING that there will be a Tommy Pham out there every year, but not being able to figure out who the heck it is. Although, I believe I did tell you to pick up Tommy Pham in early May last year, so even you shallow-league types never know when you’ll pick up an interesting kernel of info from us deep-league freaks. Just sayin!
We’re gonna stay in the American League today, with some NL thoughts to come next week, perhaps. So here are some deep-league predictions for 2018, some much sillier than others, AL version:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
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