In an incredible turn of events, I’ve done all the infield 2017 fantasy baseball rankings. Less incredible, you’ve read them all. It’s like that time your favorite team won because they played better than that other team but you convinced yourself they won because you cheered loudly. When I win the Fantasy Baseball Blogger of the Millennial in 2099, and my frozen head is accepting the award, I’m going to thank you, the readers, but I’m secretly going to be thanking myself. Without me, none of this would be possible. You’re a close second though! Okay, enough ranking you and me, let’s rank some outfielders! Last year, there was one outfielder I said I didn’t want in the top 20, Andrew McClutchin’ His Knee. This year, well, let’s save it for the post! All my projections are listed by the players and where I see tiers starting and stopping. Anyway, here’s the top 20 outfielders for 2017 fantasy baseball:
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Wooooo, the Razzball Baseball Pod is back for our first 2017 edition! Drop the confetti! On today’s show, we catch up on metronomes, the Lifetime remake of Beaches, and why critics are trying to make everyone like Westworld more than actually liking Westworld. Oh yeah, baseball! We catch up on the Edwin Encarnacion signing with the Indians, Danny Duffy‘s ranking after his extension with the Royals, and Kendrys Morales as a nice value pick in the later rounds. We also hit on some SAGNOF and our favorite Top Chef combatants. Of course there would be a big Dodgers-Rays trade right after we recorded, but that’s how it goes! …clap clap clap clap, now with better timing! Here’s the latest edition of the Razzball Baseball Podcast:
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Please, blog, may I have some more?Now that we’re four positions in we can get a sense of how deep each position is. Our thermometers? Jedd Gyorko and Wilmer Flores. If Wilmer cries, the thermometer has gone too deep. So, on the top 20 1st baseman for 2017 fantasy baseball, Gyorko and Wilmer were 26 and 41, respectively. Here, they’re 24 and 38, so we have less depth in the top 20 3rd basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball. At the top 20 2nd basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball, they are 22 and 37. So, 3rd base and 2nd base are fairly close, but, they’re all crazy close. Finally, the top 20 shortstops for 2017 fantasy baseball, only has Gyorko where he is 19th overall. So, depth rankings on infield are shortstops, 2nd base, 3rd base and 1st base, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Carpenter is 12th here, but 21st on the 1st basemen, and Villar is 5th here and at the 2nd basemen. There are areas where each infield position has its strengths and weaknesses and relative equality like I’m not sure we’ve seen before, which is what everyone says about everything. People say now we have more things we’ve never seen before than any other time in history. Any hoo! My projections are noted for every player and all positions are at the 2017 fantasy baseball rankings. Anyway, here’s the top 20 3rd basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Earlier this week, I posted the first six rounds of the Couch Managers 2017 Industry Mock Draft. You’re never going to believe this, but I’m now going to post rounds 7-12. At the end of it all, there will be four posts and 23 total rounds. It’s a lot of work, but you guys are worth it.
Here is a quick recap of the league rules for this mock:
This mock was for a 15-team, 5×5 roto, with 23 roster spots made up of 9 pitchers (9), 1 spot for each position (8), a second catcher (1), 2 more outfielders (2), one corner infielder (1), one middle infielder (1), and one utility position (1).
As I did the last time, I’ll post the rounds below with some of my thoughts beneath the picks. I’ll keep the thoughts brief since we have a bunch of rounds to get through. That pissed off at least one commenter last time who apparently wanted more Mike Maher analysis and less Mike Maher patting himself on the back. Let’s see if I can do better this time around…
Please, blog, may I have some more?The shortstops are stacked, yo. They are stacked like Dolly Parton on top of a stack of hotcakes. There is gorge as far as the eye can see. If a young boy happened upon this post, he would see love for the first time, then Norman Rockwell would paint him because it was the essence of Americana, if Norman Rockwell were alive and working as a caricature artist at a carnival. I wanna roll around in these shortstops like I’m Natalie Wood rolling away from a drunk Robert Wagner. Okay, enough hubbub! If you’re just joining us, all the 2017 fantasy baseball rankings are under that link-ma-whosie. With each player is my projections and where I see tiers starting and stopping. Anyway, here’s the top 20 shortstops for 2017 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?This Sunday I attempt to write the first Phillies Minor League Preview not from the magic fingers of former Prospector Mike. I will try my best today to carry the torch, and provide the best damn Phillies Prospect breakdown this side of Broad St. Thankfully it’s a deep system, filled with intriguing prospects with fantasy potential. The rebuild has been a slow burn in Philly, but with a young talented rotation, and a wave of youngsters in the pipeline, they’re a team on the rise. The great thing about the Philly system is the talent at every level. They have close to the majors players like J.P. Crawford, Jorge Alfaro, and Nick Williams. Players a year away in Rhys Hoskins and Dylan Cozens, and low minors prodigies like Mickey Moniak and Sixto Sanchez. Power hitters, speedsters, hit tool guys, and pitchers, there’s something for everyone. So turn on the fan, light a match, and give me five minutes while you’re on the throne. It’s the Top Philadelphia Phillies Prospects.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Ren & Stimpy. Beavis & Butt-head. Laverne & Shirley. Will & Grace. Tom & Jerry. Sanford & Son. Rizzoli & Isles. Franklin & Bash. Hollywood has always had a fascination with highlighting the relationship between two. It makes sense. The world is dualistic in nature. Yin and Yang. Good versus Evil. White and Black. Whatever the reason, that is what the people enjoy and, whatever the people enjoy, is where the money flows to. The world is such a simple place. With the inaugural baseball Bear or Bull article coinciding with the beginning of the new television season, I thought it would be appropriate to pay homage to the famous pairings of TV past and bring you pairs on a weekly basis. I am a person of the people after all. Honestly, Jay, my editor and top-10 fantasy football ranker, asked me to talk about two similar players every week. That wouldn’t make for an interesting open though. So with that said, until the regular season starts, you shall be blessed with a double shot of Bear or Bull every week!!! Who doesn’t like a 2-for-1? Well, I usually do except when that one owner offers up Kenta Maeda and Jacoby Ellsbury for Mike Trout every week. EF that guy!
Please, blog, may I have some more?In our never ending quest to cover every single farm system in baseball, uncover every sleeper, upside youngster, and great name in the minor leagues. We bring you the Oakland Athletics for our watershed 23rd Episode. Let it be noted in the annuals of history that the most important thing to happen on January, 20th 2017 was Halp and Ralph’s discussion of Jharel Cotton’s changeup. Truly a great moment in Podcast, Fantasy Baseball, and American history. I mean what’s not to love about a Jharel? Or Cotton, I mean have you slept on Cotton? Come on in and learn about the Semi-Pro Wrestler I beat up as a child or why Franklin Barreto might be an underrated fantasy prospect. We do it all! We talk Puk, Chapman, Nunez, and Frankie Montas. As well as any A’s prospect worth discussing. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Nothing against Benintendi, but the primary reason he is the centerpiece of today’s post is because his last name gives me an easy transition to talk about the Nintendo Classic. Those of you that follow the football side of things here at Razzball likely also know that the good guys that run this site are crazy enough to let me share my ideas with you there as well. I guess you could say that I go both ways. On second thought, I’d prefer you didn’t. Today’s rant is actually part two of a rant I began about seven weeks ago in a football post. Grey can correct me if I’m wrong, but I might be the first Razzball writer to start a post on the football site and finish it on the baseball. Yeah, I get it, whoop de doo. Regardless of what you think, I can appreciate my own creativity. After all, if you don’t enjoy your own brand…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Our 2017 fantasy baseball rankings are humming right along. The last post, the top 20 1st basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball, was the longest post ever written on the internet by a relatively sane person. The post before that, top 20 catchers for 2017 fantasy baseball, was the longest post ever written by a relatively insane person. Incredibly, these are the same person. Glass half sane, glass half crazy, nah mean? So, without further hubbub on the tomfoolery, the top 20 2nd basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball was shallow like how Altuve likes his pool water as recently as two years ago, but that was not the case last year, and almost rivaled 1st basemen for depth. So, that’s the same again this year, right? Well, let’s see about that. As always, my projections are included and I mention where I see tiers starting and stopping. Anyway, here’s the top 20 2nd basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?To be a follow up on Grey’s post months or weeks ago, Position Eligiblity can be a sexual and quite tantalizing thing, especially when it correlates into what I am going to talk about. So taking from the list that he concocted and then applying it to mine, and voila! Your needs as it relates to SAGNOF are fulfilled! The “S” that we’re referring to this time out though is steals. For those new to the term, get familiar, as it means “Saves (and Steals) Ain’t Got No Face”. Because in reality it is basically a 2 AM lights come on picking fest, and whomever gathers you the stat is good enough. Just gotta be fast to the waivers or some other speed miner will scoop them up. So now back to how speed and multi-eligibility is a fantasy boon to your usability for them come draft time. Granted, it is way early to start looking at trends and expert advise on the matter because, well, it is way too early. I just said that, making me say stuff twice. So I have scoured what information I have gathered and used my own super secret rankings in seeing who falls where on draft day, has multiple positions, and can be an asset in the steals department. I personally like reserving one to two spots on my roster, taking in mind the multi-positional speed guys. They fill in the spots of the MI, sometimes CI, and definitely the Util spot. Steals can get scarce later in drafts, but we here at the “Razz Central speed and Saves Department” don’t care. It don’t got no face, or an English degree in how to say that in a way that sounds logical without double negatives. So to keep pace with what’s going down as I awake from my winter’s hibernation, speed and multiple position eligibility and some savings on draft day is what it’s all about to be about!
Please, blog, may I have some more?Yesterday, I went over the top 20 catchers for 2017 fantasy baseball, and, today, you guessed it (if you didn’t read the title and just fell here from outer space), it’s the top 20 1st baseman for 2017 fantasy baseball. Something weird happened last year — okay, a lot weird happened last year, but I’m going to focus on fantasy baseball. Middle infield got deep and 1st base got shallow. I have some theories why this happened. First theory, a lot of kids who are playing now grew up watching Bret Boone and Alex Rodriguez and their frosted hair and, like a moth to a flame, or peroxide to a hairstyle, kids became middle infielders. Second theory, it happened just cuz. So, I don’t have a lot of theories on it, per se, but offense is deep this year, but not 1st basemen. My projections are included, and here’s all of our fantasy baseball rankings. Anyway, here’s the top 20 1st basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball:
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