OPS Leaguers Unite! OPS Stars of Spring!

March 22, 2018 | OPS Leagues | 9 Comments

Spring training is such a good time in the life of a baseballer; everyone is refreshed, excited to see each other, its prime weather, there’s golf outings every other day, the standings reset to zero, or, even better there are no standings as the games don’t count (then why aren’t they free?). Wouldn’t you like to do that at work? Three months off and then its hugs, high fives, welcome breakfasts and happy hours; no one is mad about your TPS reports from last year; it’s all new TPS reports this year! I’m all for it.

Some in fantasyland value spring stats more than others, it’s true. Me? Spring stats are to build a guy up, not tear him down, because he’ll do that all on his own, and literally get sent down to the minors.

So let’s dive in to the top OPS guys this spring:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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#	MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/16
	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

Getting Ahead: H2H Corner Infield Value Picks

by: Yost

At this point everyone knows who they want to target in the early rounds, but the middle/late round picks to fill out your roster can help make or break your team. Last article I explored some undervalued middle infielders that I think could be solid value picks in upcoming drafts. It felt natural to work my way inside out and cover some corner infielders that could provide a great return on investment this season. You won’t be getting much speed from these guys, but they are all capable of helping you out in various other categories.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Outfielders to Target, 2018 Fantasy Baseball

March 22, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 292 Comments

by: Grey

We (me) have gone over the catchers, 2nd basemen, shortstops and 3rd basemen to target, cause I have to do everything around here! Look at me, throwing shade like a beach umbrella! That makes sense…if you don’t think about it! That’s what I want my bumper sticker to say, and then when I step out of my car, I want my clever t-shirt to say it too, “That makes sense….if you don’t think about it.” How can I arrange my life so this happens? I need a personal assistant. “So, it says you worked as Kanye’s assistant and you bought mirrors for nine months straight….” That’s me checking the CV of my favorite imaginary assistant. Okay, so this post is all the outfielders that are being drafted after 200 overall that I have uber-sexy feelings for. Last year, I featured Aaron Judge, Domingo Santana and Joc Pederson, who I’ve featured every year since 1924, but not this year! Now, this is a (legal-in-all-countries-except-Canada) supplement to the top 100 outfielders for 2018 fantasy baseball. Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2018 projections. Anyway, here’s some outfielders to target for 2018 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ambulance Chasers, Preseason: Red Knees And PEDS

March 21, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 12 Comments

by: Kerry Klug

The most depressing column on Razzball is back! The one everyone dreads reading week to week! That’s right my little Chasers — I’m back and I’m covering every turf toe, every Tommy Johns, every blister, and every Dodgers starting pitcher DL-stint!
Each week I’ll be covering all injuries major and minor for your players. I’ll be letting you know whether I think you should stash ‘em or trash ‘em. Stash them in your DL spot or throw them back to the waiver wire trash heap. Along with that, I’ll provide a replacement player who is owned in less than 50% of leagues that you can add as a replacement. Every injured player will be placed in alphabetical order by last name so you can quickly find your guy. Just a heads up — if a player isn’t owned in over 5% of ESPN leagues — I won’t be covering him. If you own a player who is less than 5% owned — first, why? Second, leave a comment and I’ll help. One last thing: I also won’t be covering players who just have diarrhea and will be missing a game or two. They’ll be fine. Their facilities manager on the other hand — yikes.
As always with the Razz family of products — if you’ve got league specific questions — throw them down below and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Enough banter — let’s get chasing!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Points Leagues: 2018 Predictions, The Bold And The Less Bold

March 21, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 44 Comments

by: malamoney

The part I like the most about making predictions is that it’s my opportunity to get my gut feelings out on paper in way where it won’t jeopardize the success of my fantasy teams. What I mean is that when it comes to draft day I will only act on my instincts and select a certain player when the decision is between two relatively similar players. I am a person of numbers. I spend a shitload of time preparing and fine tuning my estimations and league specific rankings for the exact purpose of sticking to the results on draft day. Winging it just isn’t in my game plan. I play it pretty much by the letter. I do allow for some wiggle room in the later rounds of the draft, but early on and mid-draft there is something a bit robotic about my choices.

However, when it comes to predictions, I am free to toss out any crazy idea I might have. I’d like to preface the upcoming predictions by saying these shouldn’t play more than a coin toss role in your decision making on draft day. What that means is that you shouldn’t use this information to make any serious choices when it’s your turn to pick. However, if it comes down to a toss up between player A and player B, feel free to consider my thoughts when deciding whom to pick. And if that’s not the proper use of “whom”, I don’t care.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Razzball DFS HQ: We Got You

March 21, 2018 | DFS, Draft, DraftKings, Fanduel, FantasyDraft | 1 Comment

by: MattTruss

Opening Day is almost upon us and with it will come day one of the greatest daily fantasy sport around, Daily Fantasy Baseball. No more will you be forced to put the rent on a small sample size of sixteen slates, instead you can put ¼ of the rent on seven slates per week! If you’re a practitioner of the “Process Over Results” (Promo code: SAGNOF) mantra, MLB DFS is for you. If your process is solid, you’ll win more than you lose and we here at Razzball DFS HQ are here to help you hone that process. For those that are new to MLB DFS, we’ll cover the basics below, for those that are chiseled vets of the game, we have some new wrinkles. We’ll be covering a little bit of everything this year. We’ve brought on a new DFS partner, DRAFT.com (More on that later with VictoriaB) that adds something new and different to the DFS game. We’ll also be covering FanDuel.com and FantasyDraft.com a few days per week. We’ll be giving you plays of the day seven days a week from our various DFS writers but the real gem of DFS on Razzball is Rudy’s DFS Tools. This is where you can make your money and we have a way for you to get a month or two absolutely free. Everyone loves something for nothing! So, my fellow degenerates, let’s hop below and go over all the juicy details of this year’s Daily Fantasy coverage:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Baltimore Cooking Up Some Cobb Cakes

March 21, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 337 Comments

by: Grey

Alex Cobb woke up in the middle of October and told his significant other that he was happy to be moving on from the Rays. It was time to get out of the AL East. Sure, Tropicana Field wasn’t unfriendly to his needs as a pitcher. Over his career, he had a home ERA of 3.10. But, ya know what? It was time to move on. Then, he woke one day in December, and told his significant other that at the Winter Meetings, NL teams would be ‘chomping on the Cobb.’ Then, off her reaction, he asked if she’d excuse the pun. Then, one day in January, as he scratched his flip-flopped feet on the deck of his boat in the Gulf, he thought about how maybe the Rays weren’t a bad club to pitch for. Then, in February, he called the Mariners’ front office with a voice modulator asking them if they needed a veteran starter. Then, in early March, he bought a Korean language Rosetta Stone as he prepped to play overseas. So, Alex Cobb signed with the Orioles, and *sighs* starts against the Yankees and Red Sox still, but now in Camden. His starts are gonna be like this: pitch is thrown, batter swings bat and screams, “Nailed it!” This feels like a move that could lead to a 4.05 ERA or a 4.85 ERA. I’m no longer interested in owning Cobb and have moved him into my top 100 starters and down the ol’ top 500 overall. Anyway, here’s what else I saw in spring training for 2018 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2018 Spring Training Positional Battles: AL East

March 20, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Team Previews | 5 Comments

by: Son

The AL East is “big boy” baseball. Four teams from the division ended 2017 in the top 10 for home runs in all of baseball. The Yankees were first with 241, the Orioles were fifth with 232, the Rays were sixth with 228….Hold up. The Rays? Yes, the Rays. The final team was the Blue Jays with 222. With great power, comes great responsibility. Unfortunatley, there was a lot of DGAF’ing, as the Rays were second in MLB for striking out and the Orioles were eighth. From a pitching perspective, it would makes sense then that three of the teams (BOS, NYY, and TOR) ended top 10 in strikeouts. TB ended 11th. Big boy baseball indeed. To cement the point home, four of the teams (BOS, BAL, TB, and NYY) were bottom 10 in sacrifice hits. TOR was 13th. Small ball, schmal ball. Chicks dig the long ball. Ladies and gentlemen, the AL East.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

RCL Update: SAGNOF ADPs

March 20, 2018 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 22 Comments

by: MattTruss

We have another week’s worth of draft data to work with and only one week left of the Razzball Commenter Leagues draft season. All public drafts wrap up on Sunday, March 25th, so if you’ve been waiting to join a league, wait no more! We learned a valuable lesson this past weekend, Razzballers start their St. Paddy’s day binging pretty early! All but one of the early St. Patrick’s day drafts were mostly empty. Noted for next year. Also, if you were in one of the buy-in leagues that didn’t fill, everyone has been refunded to your FanTrax account. You can join another league or you can simply withdraw the funds. We’d, of course, prefer you join another league. For all the votes these money leagues got, they aren’t filling up very fast. There’s a $20 league drafting tonight that only needs three more managers. Go get that money! The sign-up sheet is linked at the end of this article, but first, let’s dive into our RCL ADP and see what Razzball Commenters are drafting so far.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2018 Fantasy Baseball

March 20, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 27 Comments

by: Geoff

We’re finally wrapping up the rankings podcasts this week, as we roll through the Top 100 Starters according to the Legendary Grey Albright. That’s not all though, oh no! We start the show off with an in-depth, 15 minute breakdown of Grey’s NL-Only Tout Wars draft. The wall shalt be defended!!!! Then we move into a tier by tier breakdown of Grey’s top pitchers, hitting the high notes, but only when we squeeze our junk. But really tho… We cover 60+ pitchers in this episode, with the goal of helping you navigate through the draft. 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?

3rd Basemen to Target, 2018 Fantasy Baseball

March 20, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 332 Comments

by: Grey

Excuse the exposition and this clunky intro into aforementioned exposition, but here’s the catchers to target, 1st basemen to target, 2nd basemen to target, shortstops to target and something to stick to your dartboards to target. These 3rd basemen to target are being drafted after 200 overall. Keep in mind, nephew (and five niece readers), your Uncle Grey likes to have a corner man drafted by the time these guys appear, so you’re looking at potential utility men more than anything. Now, this is a (legal-in-all-countries-except-Indonesia) supplement to the top 20 3rd basemen for 2018 fantasy baseball. Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2018 projections. Speaking of baseball (best segue ever!), the Stream-o-Nator, Hitter-Tron and DFSBot are now available, i.e., the Razzsubscriptions. Anyway, here’s some 3rd basemen to target for 2018 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Tunneling Our Way To SP Value

March 19, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 34 Comments

by: Lance

I become obsessed with things. Sometimes it can be a particular food or an album (this Jimi Hendrix “vault cleaning” as Rolling Stone describes currently has my ear). Other times, as my mind is often tuned to baseball topics, I incessantly think about a concept from the diamond or evolution of a new statistic. Pitch tunneling is the recent topic earning a spot in my head.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gravitated towards pitch tunneling. Last year I wrote a column about Dylan Bundy’s cutter-slider, it’s usage, and why that pitch is one reason I irrationally like his volatile arm. As I’ve rekindled my interest in the concept, it was time for a refresh after Baseball Prospectus’ recent update. My motive was simple: combining what we know about a pitcher and what we can learn from tunneling might provide us with reasons for optimism.

I’ll admit, this post might get a little bit convoluted, so if you’re not in the mood to try and understand pitch tunneling and determine how much you value it, feel free to hop to one of my last three Razz articles – there’s something for everybody (On Scott Kingery; On ADP discrepancy; On Michael Wacha). Or just skip down to the heading for Patrick Corbin. I’ll try my best to keep things as simple and concise as possible. Teaching a concept is often a great form of learning, so I’ll admit that writing this post, in a way, helps me to understand the topic and its associated statistics better.

Please, blog, may I have some more?