Now that we’re in the regular season I get to actually discuss injuries that will have immediate impact on fantasy owners. For each player I will discuss whether you should stash the player in your DL spot or if you should trash them back to the waiver wire. This decision is going to be based on the talent of the player and the length of their DL stay. If I recommend that you stash a player in your DL spot, I will offer a few players who I think are good fill in options at that position. I will be determining these fill-ins based on their percentage ownership in ESPN leagues and a similar skill set…
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After fourteen drafts/auctions I am finally done selecting players. It was a long (and tiring) stretch of two weeks, but I don’t regret one thing. Although give me a few more days of watching my pitchers get knocked around and I might have a change of heart. The aforementioned drafts consisted of four points league auctions, one points league snake draft, five various mock drafts with the fantasy baseball gurus over at CBS, and four Razzball Commentator Leagues, concluding with the Razzball Experts league. Towards the end, my selections almost began to feel robotic. Something akin to a human auto-drafter. And while we’re discussing auto-drafting, I’d like to announce that I hate auto-drafters. Not the actual person, but the act of auto-drafting. Unless you’ve actually taken the time to legitimately rank your players, your presence (or lack there of) at our draft annoys me. And if you end up with two or more catchers or a handful of middle relievers/closers I’m talking about you.
Of all the drafts/auctions I participated in the one I’d like to discuss is the experts points league auction for the league known as The Points League. I’ve accepted that points leagues are the red-headed step child of fantasy baseball, but the bottom line is that many do play the format. Despite this fact most “experts” refuse to give points leagues much, if any, attention. And if they are in a points leagues, they generally don’t publicize as much. I bet the number of closet points league players is staggering. It’s 2017 people, you can come out of the closet.
A few weeks back I decided I was going to attempt to organize an experts points leagues by inviting some very smart, and mostly respected, fantasy baseball analysts/writers from across the online world of fantasy baseball. When all was said and done, and the league was filled, here are the fierce competitors vying to be the champion of The Points League:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
[Editor’s Note]: Greetings, Razzers, it’s that guy Sky you all maybe kinda remember from that one post about that one guy from that one time. I’m telling ya, it was memorable! But even if not, I wanted to slide into your interwebs for a minute and let you know we’ve got a new bag this year with DFS as we’re working with FanDuel Wednesday thru Saturday, breaking down the slates on the daily with our usual mix of bad grammar and unbridled enthusiasm that you’ve come to love. I for one welcome our new DFS overlords…please come along with me and welcome them too!
Welcome everyone! The Collector here, breaking down this beautiful Wednesday slate on FanDuel for you! If you don’t play on FanDuel now is the time to sign up and play. I first want to say how happy I am baseball is back, I’ve only been waiting 6 months for this (you can only play so much dfs hockey/pga). I’m first going to break down exactly what I will be doing for you guys this season. I’ll be giving you guys gpp plays, and try to avoid chalk (though that’s not always possible). As a gpp player I think I can help those out who want to play gpps as well. You won’t be seeing me say “Play Colorado in Coors” (BORING) or “Play Kershaw against the Padres” (ok this may happen but I’ll try really hard not to go there).
Today we have a 12 game slate, biggest one to date. At first glance this seems like a solid slate with very little weather issues (besides in Cincinnati). Let me breakdown my chalk plays real quick at each position
SP J Degrom (9800) R hill (9600)
C G Sanchez (3400) B Posey (3300
1B P Goldschmidt (4300) either E Thames (2400) or T Joseph (2000)
2B R Odor (3500)
3B N Arenado (4100) M Machado (3900)
SS T Turner (3700)
OF M Trout (4800) B Harper (4600) M Betts (4500) A Eaton (3500) A Benintendi (3300) J Pederson (3100)
Now onto the picks…
New to FanDuel? 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! ‘But I already have a FanDuel account’, you say? Well our FanDuel link ALSO shows you care by leading you to a daily $3 contest, letting them know that we let you know about it and them through us. It’s, like, totes radical!
Me watching Lance McCullers:
The genius thing in that gif is the moment where Tom doesn’t seem like he knows which way to twirl the pool stick, looks about to mess up, and crack a smile, then spins and starts walking away. Scorsese likely had cleaner takes, but it brilliant that he uses a slightly flubby take because the character Vince is so full of himself even when he shouldn’t be. There were no such flubs in Lance McCullers’ start yesterday (6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks). May your God strike me down if this guy isn’t so butter that I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter sees him and says, “You are more butter than I can ever hope to be,” then I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter bows repeatedly, backing out of the room, saying, “Your butterness, I am not worthy.” As I said repeatedly in the preseason, I was thisclose to putting McCullers in my top 20 starters overall, but his health deterred me. Well, de-turd this, because he looks healthy and I wish I owned McCullers everywhere. If he throws 180+ IP, he could be a top ten starter. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
In order to mark the glorious return of baseball, I thought it only appropriate to pay homage to one of the greatest movies of our generation: Bloodsport. If you are one of the people that agrees with the 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes, then I’m going to have to fight you. Disclaimer: I’ve watched the movie hundreds of times, so that pretty much means I have a black belt in all the martial arts disciplines and will no doubt kick your ass. How could you not like a movie with lines like this or or scene with this? C’mon man!!!
Please, blog, may I have some more?
RCL Update: Crushing Drafts
April 4, 2017 | Our Leagues, Razzball Commenters League | 16 Commentsby: MattTruss
Draft season is done and over. Did that seem to drag or what? I’m pretty sure I had a draft every night for about 11 straight days there. I’m ready for real baseball. You can close out of your cheat sheets now. Take a breathe….OK stop….time to get on the RCL grind! Grab your caffeine vessel of choice and start researching tomorrow’s batty calls.
We’ll be looking at all the draft data that all of you contributed from the evening of February 22nd all the way until this past Sunday night. That’s just over a month of draft data to break down, dissect and tear apart. Next week, we’ll be able to dig into all those RCL teams a bit, but this week, it’s all about those drafts. Without further ado, let’s dig into how the RCLers drafted this year.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
FantasyDraft: It Really Ties The Team Together, Man-aea!
April 4, 2017 | DFS, FantasyDraft | 8 Commentsby: Ignacio
So maybe the first day of a full slate didn’t go your way; the beauty of DFS baseball is that it is a daily grind. Tuesday offers an 8 game slate with some very solid pitching options such as Johnny Cueto, Carlos Carrasco, Lance McCullers Jr. and Matt Shoemaker. One young arm that stands out and could provide options to build around, though, is Sean Manaea. Priced only at $14,800, Sean allows you to pay up for some top bats. Manaea was the top Pitching prospect in the Oakland A’s organization last year before getting called up at the end of April. His season was the tale of two halves as he had a rocky start to his career. Carrying a 5.24 ERA through his first 12 starts, he was able to turn it around in his final 12 starts and recorded a 2.67 ERA, finishing with a 3.86 ERA for the year. The promising prospect looks to improve and become the Ace for the A’s. He is squaring off vs. the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night, an offense that can be neutralized. They ranked towards the middle of the pack in most offensive categories last season. Oakland is a -110 favorite and the run line is set at 7.5, not a lot of offense is expected. With that, lets take a look at the rest of the picks.
New to FantasyDraft? 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?
The season is here! Finally real games to talk about! Unsurprisingly, Grey and I’s (sic) motors get going with an action-packed Pod breaking down the Sunday games, plus the first half of Opening Day from yesterday. Should be “Opening Days”! So confusing! We catch up on closers being terrible, a big start for A.J. Pollock, and C-Mart pitching more like K-Mart. The show then wraps with a run through of our 2017 Staff Picks, and man did things look great for Grey right after we stopped recording! Literally minutes after we finish recording Rougned Odor hits his first homer, then 30 minutes later his second! Yeesh Kubot. Reboot! Reboot! Here’s the latest edition of the Razzball Baseball Podcast:
Download from iTunes
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Yas & Joc Go Rock & Jock On Friar Suck
April 4, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 498 Commentsby: Grey
When did Opening Day for the Padres become a laugher? Was it when Corey Seager (2-for-5, 3 RBIs) homered off Christian Bethancourt? You might remember Bethancourt was a catcher last year, but the Padres brought him back this year as a reliever. If the Padres are going to make every one of their terrible hitters a reliever, their bullpen is going to get crowded. Maybe that wasn’t the moment it became as cringeworthy as Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie’s romance. Maybe it was the moment Jhoulys Chacin was pulled after giving up nine earned in 3 1/3 IP. Considering this was the Padres’ best starter, the game score for their fifth best starter is going to be 38 to 1. Maybe the moment an 0-162 season became a possibility was when Yasmani Grandal (2-for-5, 3 RBIs) hit his 2nd home run, tying Madison Bumgarner for the major league lead. Or maybe it was the moment Manuel Margot (1-for-4, 1 run, hitting leadoff) tried to take first base after three balls, because he was facing Kershaw, and no one wants to face Clayton Kershaw (7 IP, 1 ER, 2 baserunners, 8 Ks). Kershaw must’ve felt like Meatloaf when he mowed down Dan Cortese’s 1999 Rock n Jock team. Oh, and haven’t even mentioned Joc Pederson (1-for-3, 5 RBIs with his 1st homer, a grand slam). He never gets any love in the preseason, but I can’t ever (I mean never) move past that he was the first 30/30 guy in the PCL in 80 years. Kinda wish I owned Pederson in more (any) leagues. Well, looks like LA now owns San Diego’s Chargers and Chacin. Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles might be the next beneficiary. Though, if LA takes San Diego’s navy, it’ll prolly only be used in a West Hollywood musical featuring Village People songs. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Baseball is back! Our long wait through an absolutely ridiculous winter (in pretty much all aspects of life) is finally over!
I looked back at my re-ranks from last year to kick off the season, and can you believe this is Year 5 of the Pitcher Profiles?! Who woulda thought Grey would let me write these silly things this long?! I’m in my 5th year though, have a lot of seasoning, I’m ready to hit my prime!
As always, a lot had changed in the past month+ since I put out my ranks in late February, with big names falling to elbow issues/concerns this time out vs. a fairly injury-free 2016. My Alex Reyes dynasty team weeps for this offseason! Plus ya know, massive changes after opening day. Drop Masahiro Tanaka everywhere! Yeah, if I were in any schmohawk leagues, I’d offer buy lows non-stop for Tanaka. Wait, I am in the Perty Perts league, I’ll try there! Haha I keed, I can’t walk the walk, not like I’ve topped the Perts league my first two years against Grey’s 1,000+ moves every season…
We’ll be getting into the Profiling next week (everyone watched those first 3 games, seems silly to profile any of those Opening Day guys), so get ready for some mad GIFs! And going to try a little something new for the GIFs too! Hopefully you like em…
Here’s my updated top 100 SP for the first week of the fantasy baseball season:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
A Titanic Mishap: The Draft Chronicles of Beddict
April 3, 2017 | Our Leagues | 21 Commentsby: LT Murray IV
Long ago, when I was but a young boy, I would decipher Matthew Berry articles on ESPN, strategizing for my fantasy baseball draft with all my closest associates, writhing in anticipation. Soaked like I was just urinated on by a large pack of giraffes, waking up from dreams soaked in sweat, I wasn’t sure if this was all real or not. Did I really help cover up the murder of a stripper last night? Did I sleep with Anna-Nicole Smith? Isn’t she dead? I just adored fantasy baseball! Anyway, this went on for a few years until a grand man by the name of Josephine Morris told me of a certain gentleman, a mustached little man who curiously resembled Don Mattingly. Josephine told me:
“You, Tehol, my closest and must trusted friend, have mastered fantasy baseball. That is, mastered it against peasants like our peanut-brained friends… but if you want to go to another level of metaphysical wizardry, well, then you must go to a a little place where the beer flows like wine and the seagulls flock like the salmon of Capistrano… a little place called… Razzball.com…”
The rest is history. But now you know there was a man named Grey Albright and he saved me… in every way a person can be saved.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
What I’m Watching, Week 1: Yu Should Check This Out
April 3, 2017 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 12 Commentsby: Lance
It’s really hard not to overreact, I understand.
With that said, I think that it’s best Madison Bumgarner was the human highlight reel of opening day as opposed to somebody like Mallex Smith or Tuffy Gosewich(!!!).
The early season star of 2016 was the pun machine himself, Trevor Story. I’d consider him a best case scenario for any early season performer. Six homers in his first four games, on his way to a 27 home run season over less than 400 ABs. Story was a top 30 pick this year, all after that early season explosion, and I’ll admit, there was a league where I paid that price for him.
With Bumgarner holding the headlines for the next few days, there is no need for overreaction and desperate projection for his rest-of-season value. We know what he’ll give back. Very, very good value.
Is there a chance somebody else stands out? Of course, and you’ll likely have to make a tough decision to give up that ’25th’ man on your roster as sacrifice if you want to believe in the hype…
Please, blog, may I have some more?
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