Over the years Razzball’s founding duo of Grey Albright and Rudy Gamble have found immense success in expert leagues. With both Rudy and Grey taking down leagues in the infamous “Tout Wars” last season. In fact, the All-Time rankings for Tout came out recently, and Rudy is only third all time! So who better to interview regarding expert formats than Rudy? I guess the two guys that finished ahead, but they weren’t available. So Rudy and I dive into his recent LABR draft pick by pick, dropping nuggets of strategy gold along the way. This is an episode you’re not going to want to miss. 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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Josh Donaldson, 2018 Fantasy Schmohawk
March 2, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 338 Commentsby: Grey
This is not the only reason I think Josh Donaldson is overrated, but this is a fun one. Surrounding Donaldson in the Jays lineup is–Sorry, I just started giggling uncontrollably. Okay, okay, OKAY! Get it together, Grey! Surrounding–*giggle* Damn, it’s tough for me to get through this. Okay…*talking fast* Curtis Granderson, Justin Smoak, Kendrys Morales, Tulo, Yangervis, Devon Travis, Randal Grichuk and sometimes Y. The Y in this case is spelled why and it’s Steve Pearce. Yo, the Jays getting the Giants’ leftovers? Brian Sabean would even shudder at this hodgepodge of harsh-my-mallows and be like, “Nah, kid, they’re on the wrong side of ugly.” The Jays would be better off promoting every minor leaguer in their system whose last name starts with Guerr– and be done with it. (There’s three of them, by the way. I’m thinking the Jays might draft alphabetically.) Their minor lea-Guerrs, so to speak. Anyway, why is Josh Donaldson overrated for 2018 fantasy baseball?
Please, blog, may I have some more?
2018 Spring Training Positional Battles: NL East
March 1, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 15 Commentsby: Son
Today, we take a look at the positional battles for the National League East, a division that is quite emblematic of the US of A. The power and leadership resides in Washington DC. The New York Mets have the money, 11th highest payroll in baseball, but they are not the Yankees. Atlanta. Sorry, I mean Hotlanta, always gets overlooked, but there’s tons of talent down south. We may be seeing lots of non-Native Americans tomahawk chopping on TV very soon. Philadelphia is usually in the shadow of New York. Well, the Eagles won the Super Bowl, so suck on that New Yorkers. I kid. There’s tons of young talent on the Phillies, especially on the pitching side, but they will continue to play in the shadow of their brethren to the east. Miami. This is where things break down. A city of opulence and culture, yet the Marlins sold off all their assets like a Pookie crackhead would for one last hit. The only way I can tie this into the US of A analogy is that Miami is located in the state of Florida, a state in which the lawmakers said that porn is dangerous but refused to talk about assault rifles. Ladies and gentlemen, the NL East.
The 2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues are now open! Free to join with prizes! All the exclamation points!
Please, blog, may I have some more?
We all believe in Grey. That is why we are here. It is why we read every recap, every buy/sell, and why we all spend hours, and countless reams of paper, printing Grey’s rankings. We want to dominate our fantasy baseball drafts and our leagues and do everything in our power to humiliate and destroy our friends (which is what true friendship is all about).
Razzball was built on the power of Grey’s Greydar and his ability to spot fantasy baseball studs before anyone else. It works because Grey’s Greydar is a million times better than anyone else’s Greydar since he is Grey and everyone else is not. Keep in mind, however, that ranking players is not black and white. There are many shades of grey, which explains why Grey is the best Grey there is.
Nevertheless, even the best will have a few misses when ranking hundreds of players. This is why I have been tasked with questioning the Greyness of Grey’s great Greydar, specifically the players that Grey may have overrated for this upcoming season. We are calling this analysis: Over the Greydar.
In this first installment of Over the Greydar I focus on an older pitcher who has been dominate (most of the time) over his career and is coming off a season in which he finished 4th in the NL Cy Young race. While this pitcher needs to be ranked somewhere near the top, I think that Grey may be a little too high on him this season:
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Delino DeShields? More like Delino DeSTEALS. I know, I know. Pretty corny but it really is just so fitting. He not only stole a bunch of bases last year, but he represents a great opportunity for a late-round steal in your upcoming drafts. His amazing speed, combined with his ability to get on base and run the bases well makes him a intriguing player especially in the SB and run department.
Please, blog, may I have some more? Elvis Andrus, 2018 Fantasy Schmohawk
March 1, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 303 Commentsby: Grey
Sometimes you write a fantasy baseball overrated post and think, “Grey, you’re like Coolio but instead of Medusa braids, you got brains and such.” Other times, you think, “You’re a Foolio who can’t even think of something to go with brains. ‘And such?’ How about ‘dumb much?'” With this Elvis Andrus overrated post, I legit don’t know if I’m being smart or stupid. It feels smart, but maybe it’s a blindspot and I’m just being dumb. It’s definitely not reassuring that I don’t know if I’m being smart or stupid by calling Elvis Andrus overrated. Jerry Lee Lewis would definitely think it was smart, and might add in Elvis was also bloated. “That Memphis porker grabbed my spotlight with his peanut butter-stained fingers and loosey-goosey hips.” That was Jerry Lee Lewis at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. By the by, Jerry Lee Lewis is alive, and only 82 years old. That is news to everyone. Never the hoo, I’ve never seen a career year that I couldn’t squash and Andrus’s previous year is no different. Anyway, why is Elvis Andrus overrated for 2018 fantasy baseball?
Please, blog, may I have some more?
2018 Fantasy Baseball Keeper Rankings
February 28, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Keepers, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 108 Commentsby: Kerry Klug
I love keeper leagues. Love ‘em. Can’t get enough of ‘em. Redraft leagues are fine and all but with keeper leagues you become more connected to certain players and have an affinity for them over all others. They become the unofficial “face of your franchise” and are synonymous with your team. Hanley Ramirez will always be one of my favorite players because he was one of my keepers from 2007 (back when he was a 50 base stealing FLORIDA Marlins shortstop) until 2012. I grabbed 26 error third basemen Ryan Braun in 2007 and he was my ride or die until he was 61 games-played outfielder Ryan Braun in 2013. I still haven’t forgiven him for embarrassing the Roswell Aliens like that…
Keeper leagues add a new wrinkle to your draft strategy. You’re keeping Gary Sanchez? Great! You don’t have to decide whether you want to draft James McCann or Tucker Barnhart in the 25th round! Keeping one of the big-4 aces? Wonderful! You can now load up on offense early and wait to take Kyle Hendricks as your second starter.
If I were writing this article pre-season 2017 pitchers would be few and far between on this list. Only Clayton Kershaw would’ve been found in the top 25. Now, in this juiced ball era, starting pitchers find themselves a bit more valuable. Although, with this universal humidor situation it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the faces of our teams. For example, the day after the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that they would utilize a humidor in their stadium I saw a tweet that said Paul Goldschmidt fell to the 15th overall pick in one draft. If they kept Paul Goldschmidt himself in a humidor for all of 2018 I’d still draft him before pick 15.
Let’s get into my methodology here. I’m going to be mainly focusing on 2018 because the future is hard to predict. However I’m not going to completely ignore that if you’re reading this article you’re probably not in a 1-year keeper league so there will be some projecting for the next few years as well. That means age will be a factor here. Joey Votto can still smash, but is 34 while his younger brother Freddie Freeman hits just as well and is only turning 29 at the end of this season. Position will also be a factor. Needing 1 second basemen in a shallow pool means that they’re more valuable than the 3-5 outfielders you’ll need. The intersectionality of speed/power and age will also be considered. Dee Gordon is turning 30 in April — how long will his legs hold up? Chone Figgins went to Seattle in his 30’s in 2012 and his career was donezo by 2013. Injury history should also be considered. Giancarlo Stanton was an MVP in 2017, but had over 500 ABs just twice in his previous 7 seasons. As a Yankee fan I’m hoping he stays healthy, but as a fantasy baseball owner I’m cautious. Have any of you actually read any of this or did you just jump straight to the chart to find your players?
Oh well, enough jibber-jabber! Let’s get into it:
The 2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues are now open! Free to join with prizes! All the exclamation points!
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Ten Day Disabled Leagues
February 28, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 37 Commentsby: malamoney
With the advent of the 10-day disabled lists the MLB saw an uptick in the number of DL visits in 2017. But the only thing that matters to us fantasy ballers is how it affects our leagues? One initial response I’ve seem from some in my leagues is that we need more DL spots. On the surface it makes sense, but when you dig a bit below the surface, I don’t think it’s really true.
Before I make any official statements let me say that this all depends on the composition of your league’s roster definition. How many players in your active lineup, how many bench players and how many DL spots do you already have. In most cases I don’t think the introduction of the 10-day DL changes things. That is, of course, unless your league’s settings already had you on the fence or you were already in a compromising (under-benched) situation.
In one of my leagues there have been a few requests for an additional DL spot in response to the 10-day DL. When considering how to deal with this, here is how I decided to proceed.
Carlos Correa, 2018 Fantasy Schmohawk
February 28, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 359 Commentsby: Grey
Yup, I’m going for the stars of schmohawks this year. What fun is it pussyfooting around saying some guys are overrated whom no one is drafting? By the by, there’s millennials right now squinting at my use of pussyfooting, thinking, “That’s not a very woke word. Can’t we make that word more cisgender, non-binary? How about codpiecefooting? Ken Doll’s groinfooting? An innie-on-the-no-no-touch-area-footing?” However you want to get to that word is on you. Or is it “howmever?” Never the hoo! Carlos Correa is the latest guy to get clowned and frowned on. To get the sour candy face. To get the head nod, then when I pass them, I fart. All that’s left to draft in the first two rounds is Mike Trout and Jose Altuve. Mea culpa, my Latin friends. Ain’t how I drew it up originally, but the more I dug into the numbers it was where I ended up and…*bangs phone* Why did Waze take me down a dead end?! So, what can we expect from Carlos Correa for 2018 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?
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RCL Update: New Strategy, Same As The Old
February 27, 2018 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 22 Commentsby: MattTruss
Last week we covered why you should join a Razzball Commenter League, so this week let’s start covering what to do once you’re in there. To be honest, most all of this has been covered somewhere on the site over the years, most often by Rudy. If you haven’t been playing in Razzball Commenter Leagues though, I could see how some of this has been glossed over, so I’ll try to consolidate some info for the newbies. Even with the recent rule changes, I don’t think the strategy is going to change a ton. We’ll all be learning and adapting to the new format together though, so even RCL rookies will be on an even playing field to start. If you disagree, or think my strategy is whack, let’s talk about it in the comments. Like I said, we’ll all be trying out the new format for the first year together, so let’s see what we dig up.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Top 40 Outfielders for 2018 Fantasy Baseball
February 27, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 40 Commentsby: Geoff
Fresh off the Aaron Judge Schmohawk backlash, Grey Albright AKA “The Fantasy Master Lothario” returns for another week of “Grey’s rankings on audiobook” otherwise known as the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast. This week on the show Mr. Albright and I dig into the top 40 Outfielders for 2018 Fantasy Baseball. Listen as we go player by player through Grey’s outfield ranks. We talk Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez’s fit in Fenway, is Tommy Pham overrated? We play Starling Marte vs. Andrew Benintendi, and then I blow my top discussing my love for both Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain. We in fact cover 40 outfielders on this show, so strap in and get ready for the speed sermon. 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? Tommy Pham, 2018 Fantasy Schmohawk
February 27, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 212 Commentsby: Grey
*karate chops the air* HiiiiiiiiiiYA! Chopping down overrated players with the quickness and I’ve set my sights on Tommy Pham. Speaking of karate, you have to bow if your opponent bows, right? So, I’d be a World Karate Champion by bowing non-stop with a sneak attack worked in. They’d call me, Bowing Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I’d be fierce. *wavy lines signaling dream sequence* I bow, opponent bows, I bow again and opponent knocks me out with one kick. *wavy lines signaling end of dream sequence* Damn, I can’t even make myself a karate champion in my dreams. You know what? I don’t need kay-ROT-té! I have fantasy baseball! However, what I don’t have on my fantasy baseball teams this year is Tommy Pham. “Land mine, right ahead!” That’s the remake of the Titanic after a nuclear holocaust and someone and someone accidentally merges the Titanic wiki page with Princess Di’s. By the way, imagine watching Survivor after a nuclear war. “Um, yeah, so they’re starving, so what? So am I!” Am I the only excited for the new season of Survivor? Prolly, unless a time traveler from 2002 is reading this. Any hoo! I didn’t think I was gonna have to write this post, but I see some very smart fantasy baseball people being trip-wired by Pham, so I need to lift the haze. Illuminate the love story in the genre-bending, The Crying Game, and make the world less Phambiguous. Ignite a roadside flare in your brain. So, what can we expect from Tommy Pham for 2018 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?
Please, blog, may I have some more?
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