Draft This, Not That: Second Basemen

February 15, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 13 Comments

Draft This: Cesar Hernandez, PHI ~ Not That: Chris Taylor, LAD

I can’t wait to break this one down for y’all. The last paragraph is gonna be a real slap in the face! Chris Taylor played the majority of his games at OF last season (and will do so this again in 2018,) but he logged 22 games at second and for the most part that’s what I think people will be drafting him to play on their teams.

Let’s get this one out of the way. From the time he was drafted in 2012 until the end of the 2016 season Chris Taylor hit 24 HR over 1,948 ABs between the Mariners and Dodgers major and minor league systems. That is about 81 ABs between HRs. In 2017 he hit a career high 21 HR in 514 ABs. That’s 1 HR every 24.5 ABs. That is over a 300% improvement. This is where I’d insert the emoji of a guy scratching his chin. Hernandez missed 36 games in 2017 with the dreaded strained oblique. However, even in only 128 games Hernandez also crushed his career high HR in 2017 with a Ruthian 9. With those extra 36 games played, it is reasonable to believe he would have reached at least 12 HR. With Taylor’s HR expected to come down and Hernandez healthy for a full season I think a reasonable expectation is for both guys to hit about 12-15 HR.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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#	MLB Starting Lineups For Thu 8/7
	ATH \| ATL \| CHW \| CIN \| MIA \| PIT \| SEA \| WSH \| ARI \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| OAK \| PHI \| SD \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR

Deep League Thoughts: Early Re-Evaluating, AL Edition

February 15, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Deep Leagues | 12 Comments

by: Laura Holt

Last time we chatted, I talked about some National League players who, even this early in the pre-season, had already gained or lost value for me in terms of how likely I was to draft them. This time, we’ll look at a handful of AL guys. Free agents are finally signing and we’ll soon be getting all kind of reports from spring training, so player values are likely to fluctuate greatly over the coming weeks. But for now, I’m just looking at a few players who my opinion has changed on since the end of last season. I am taking into consideration anything I’ve read, or stats I’ve looked at more closely, and am paying particular attention to early NFBC ADP to see how the rest of the fantasy world’s opinion is affecting how likely I am to draft certain players. Sometimes, by the way, “bad” news on a player might, weirdly enough, make me more likely to draft him. For instance, last time out I mentioned Archie Bradley as someone I wouldn’t reach for due to several factors, including the presence of Brad Boxberger. Since then, D-Backs GM Mike Hazen has said he expects a “competition” for the closer job this spring. So while there’s no way I’d touch him at his current NFBC ADP, if others heed this warning and start to steer clear of Bradley, I’ll happily take a flyer on him if his price falls low enough. In the meantime, here are some AL guys who I’m feeling a little differently about now that I did last November:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Hey Yu Cubs!

February 15, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 234 Comments

by: Grey

As the big market maxim goes, if you can’t draft ’em, sign ’em. The Cubs have struggled to produce major league-ready pitching, and rather than rely on a solid, if unspectacular pitching staff, they signed Yu Darvish for a shizzton of money, though likely his going rate. Speaking of which, have you heard all the whispers of collusion? This one doesn’t involve Russians, unless Scott Boras has Russian ancestry. Have to check 23 and Me for that. This offseason seems to be dropping breadcrumbs towards a work stoppage in 2021. Hopefully, I’m wrong. However, when teams are making hundreds of millions of dollars, then refusing to pay free agents things start to look suspicious. Not to mention, Derek Jeter seems to have shorted Marlins stock. When you sell off the whole team to make $60 million in revenue sharing, eyebrows are raised. Unfortunately, for Jeter, it wasn’t his eyebrows, because his forehead seems to be losing hair by the day, and he could use some raised eyebrows to cover that shiny dome. Any hoo! As I said in the top 20 starters for 2018 fantasy baseball, “Yu signed with the Cubs for $126 million. If you just had Siri read that off to you, stop celebrating, and get off the phone with the Lambo dealer. It’s not you you, it’s Yu Darvish. Not saying this is everything, but I just looked at the park factors for Wrigley vs. Dodger Stadium. I mean, I knew they were grossly in favor of Dodger Stadium for pitchers, but I just wanted to confirm. And, what do you know, I confirmed it. Darvish had a 3.44 ERA in Los Angeles in 49 2/3 IP, and, while Wrigley won’t be as gentle, it won’t be any worse than Arlington, where he played previously with success. He feels like a richer Archer. Call him, Robin Hood: Prince of Ks.” And that’s me quoting me! I also updated Darvish in the top 100 for 2018 fantasy baseball, the top 500 for 2018 fantasy baseball and the pitchers’ pairings. Finally, Rudy updated his fantasy baseball rankings and Darvish moved up about 30 spots. That reminds me of the DJ Khaled song produced for the Huffington Post called, Clickbait Drop. I upped Darvish’s projections, and moved him into a more favorable tier, realizing I had been too harsh on him previously. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for 2018 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2018 Spring Training Positional Battles: National League West

February 14, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft |

by: Son

Spring Training is upon us! If I was a round pitcher filled with red liquid that could walk and talk, I’d scream, “Oh yeah!” Unfortunately, the only thing I am is round. Anyways, this time of year always reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld. We go to the doctor’s office and they tell us to wait. Then we get excited when they call our names so that we can go wait in the smaller waiting room. That’s where we are at in the baseball season. In the small waiting room. Close, yet so far. Over the next six weeks, I will be going through one division a week and will focus on the position battles for each team.

The 2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues are now open! Free to join with prizes! All the exclamation points!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Points Leagues: Hold Your Jo(r)ses

February 14, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 7 Comments

by: malamoney

It appears there is a revolution that is gaining momentum within the fantasy baseball community that is advocating selecting Jose Altuve with the first pick over Mike Trout. I’m here to say hold your horses. Or perhaps more specifically, hold your Jorses. If you can’t figure out what I’m trying to do with that word “jorses” I’ll explain it for you. The “j” should sound like an “h” as is done when speaking Spanish. If you remove the “r” you are left with “joses”, which refers to Jose Altuve. I’m guessing since I had to explain it, it probably wasn’t the most clever play of words. Deal with it.

Let’s take a look at the points before we rush to any official judgement…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Yahoo’s 2018 Fantasy Baseball Rankings Ranklings

February 14, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 220 Comments

by: Grey

My esteemed colleagues at Yahoo have put out their 2018 fantasy baseball rankings. I think I’m using the word colleague incorrectly. Does colleague mean someone you’re in a league with? Yes? No? Okay, let’s move on. I might be using esteemed wrong too. Know what? We’re moving on! The Yahoo 2018 fantasy baseball rankings are out; I’m sure about that after consulting with my hair stylist, Jeffrey, at SuperCuts. I said to Jeffrey (don’t shorten it), “Do I have dandruff, Jeffrey?” Jeffrey, digging through my full, lustrous mane, “Why do you think this horrible thing, Mr. Grey?” I replied, “I saw how low Yahoo ranked Cody Bellinger and I began to demonically scratch my head.” After a three-hour explanation of who Cody Bellinger was, what fantasy baseball is and the ins and outs of Yahoo fantasy baseball, Jeffrey responded, “That is not dandruff, Mr. Grey. I shaved my hair and donated it to a sculpture at Miami’s Art Basel, and that Cody Bellinger ranking makes me scratch my head too.” Thrilled I didn’t have a disease of the dry scalp, I was still left puzzled by some of Yahoo’s rankings. So, I figured be a Pisces and jam. For this post, I will be looking at the consensus Yahoo 2018 fantasy baseball rankings vs. my own 2018 fantasy baseball rankings.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Drafting For Holds In 2018: Relief Pitchers Tiered

February 13, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Middle Relievers | 52 Comments

by: Smokey

The most important thing in fantasy baseball relief-dom in terms of holds is consistency. Without consistency of opportunities, of placement in the bullpen, and a team’s consistent success in utilizing their bullpen to your fantasy advantage… you get left out out in the cold when it comes down to accumulating a stout holds based relief pitching corps. Until there is a shift in the utilization of bullpens for the benefit of fantasy, more so, the leagues that use the hold stat. I will admit that I am more of an eye test person than a numbers guy. Numbers scare me. They prove too many things that don’t factor in the human error factor and the good ole eye test. So against my better mental state, I used numbers from the past five years to show that the bullpens are being used more frequently. Not just by some teams, but by all teams. I know, duh. This is something that we all eyed to be happening than Smokey goes in the opposite direction like a dyslexic salmon and gets some data to prove the incline of a stat that he holds so near and dear to his fantasy bear heart. Well sit back, relax, it’s going to be a fun ride on the holds bus this week as we do some research and than put the top-50 relief pitchers into hold tiers. Enjoy!

The 2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues are now open! Free to join with prizes! All the exclamation points!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Top Shortstops for 2018 Fantasy Baseball

February 13, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 19 Comments

by: Geoff

Spring is on its way! The RCLs are up and running, Grey’s busted through his rankings, and it’s not negative 100 outside my house for once. As if the opening sentences didn’t generate enough excitement, the dynamic duo of Castle Grey-Shitz is back for another week of big audio dynamite. This time we come correct with the top 25-30 shortstops for 2018 Fantasy Baseball from the Book of Albright. We dig in on Carlos Correa’s value, debate Alex Bregman’s running ability, use our meh emojis for Corey Seager, before moving on to Chris Taylor, Xander Bogaerts, Javier Baez, Elvis Andrus, Trevor Story, and many more. Just another week here with Ralph & Grey! 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?

ESPN’s 2018 Fantasy Baseball Rankings, White Snake And Underwear Sauce

February 13, 2018 | 2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 304 Comments

by: Grey

Our 2018 Razzball Commenters Leagues are in full signup mode. I even heard there were a few people from Anonymous that signed up! They said, “To the world, I’m Anonymous, just another white man who sits in parking lots with binoculars watching women.” Man, that Anonymous guy is depressing! As we always do about this time, I eviscerate the haters and complicators! I eviscerate the not-knowers and the over-knowers! I eviscerate the ESPN goers and the garden hoers! I overuse a word like eviscerate that I just learned! I am the Fantasy Master Lothario (don’t abbreviate it) and I’ve come for your children! See, because blog writing doesn’t pay so well, I’ve taken a second job as a bus driver, so I’m literally here for your kids. Like a baller! A shot caller! An “I’m outside of Hot Topic at the maller!” My eviscerating (I’m conjugating my new word!) today comes at the expense of ESPN and their 2018 fantasy baseball rankings. To the tune of Baby Blue (Feat. Chance the Rapper) by Action Bronson:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Early Showdown: Razzball vs. NFBC On Yelich And Buxton

February 12, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Streamers | 23 Comments

by: Lance

42 days into the new year and 50 percent of you abandoned your new year’s resolution. Last year, according to sources that don’t exist, our attrition rate on things you shouldn’t need an arbitrary date to commit to, sat around 55 percent. I’m proud of you all for the improvement. Your reward is Grey’s fantastic videos which we’ve embedded into his positional rankings, enjoy!

My resolution was to exercise more. But instead, I’ve opted to toy with semantics and perform more exercises, like the one we’re about to coast through: comparing Razzball’s Player Rater ranked auction values for 15-team NFBC leagues, to NFBC’s average draft position (ADP).

Is this comparing apples to oranges? Kind of. I’d say it’s comparing opples to aranges, which are two fruits I just made up and am sure exist (confirmed). The value here is highlighting who the Player Rater is actually bullish or bearish on, and by how much compared to where they are going in the upper echelon of industry leagues. If our Player Rater has “Player A” – one of my sleepers this year – inside the top 50 in terms of production, but Player A is going outside of the top 100 in NFBC leagues, it might be valuable to look at the dissenting opinions.

Below, my “difference” is calculated by subtracting NFBC’s ADP from the Player Rater’s ranking of the same player based on their total dollar return. Players with positive values mean Razzball is expecting the player to produce more value than NFBC’s ADP is suggesting.

This edition features two outfielders – Christian Yelich and Byron Buxton – who have values that differ between our two sources of information. I plan on publishing multiple versions of this column with different players before the season starts, but if you just can’t wait for more value differentials, take a look at the aggregated list by following this link.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues Primer: Strap On Your Fantrax Pants

February 12, 2018 | Our Leagues | 22 Comments

by: Dokken

Greetings, RCLers! Razzball has decided to move the Razzball Commenter Leagues from ESPN to Fantrax this season, and I’m here to show you around the place. I’m Nathan Dokken and I not only write for Fantrax, I have been playing on Fantrax for many years. It’s definitely a little different than ESPN, but once you know your way around I think you’ll find it to be a great platform for fantasy. So come on in, take off your shoes (and those JNCO jeans…you’re embarrassing yourself), put on your adventure cap, and let’s take the tour!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues

February 12, 2018 | Our Leagues | 312 Comments

by: Grey

If you’re like me most days, you’re sitting in your car beneath an underpass and writing ALF fan fiction, but today we have a different type of fantasy for you to engage in. No, not your fantasy where it’s you and that girl from high school in a tub of Alphabet Soup and you write her a love letter on her back in noodles! This is a fantasy baseball fantasy! Because you know what would be really cool? If you could join a fantasy baseball league that was against, like, 1000 other fantasy baseball teams. But not a 1000-person league, where people are trying to figure out who the back-up third baseman is on the Single-A Astros affiliate, the Corpus Christi Amscrayers. No, this is a 12-person league designed so you compete against eleven other people in your league, then 90 other leagues of twelve. That would be cool. Oh, wait, we’ve done that. It’s called the Razzball Commenter Leagues, and they’re back, and you don’t even have to be a commenter to join it! For a limited time only, get your loved one a fantasy baseball league! That’s right, your hearts go pitter-patter or you’re dead on the inside (my condolences). Since back in June when you abandoned your fantasy baseball team because it was totally sucking and you returned to your cubbyhole of leftover Chinese food and Teddy Grahams, you’ve longed for this day. As Bob Marley sang, this is your redemption song, mon. Or womon, for our five girl readers. It’s time again to join some fantasy baseball leagues!

Please, blog, may I have some more?