The Phils have a game plan, and it looks a something like this: trade and/or sign washed-out AL East starters. Worked last year with Jeremy Hellickson, and now they’ve traded for Clay Buchholz. This is the first trade where I can declaratively state both teams won and I don’t even know who Josh Tobias is, the infielder the Phils sent to the Red Sox. Yes, I used declaratively. Watch out, reading comprehension! Looks like Tobias has some speed, but it doesn’t matter. The Sox needed Buchholz off their team because they have a set rotation without him, and the NL East is about as good a landing place can be, even if Citizens Flank is slightly offensive-minded, and I don’t just mean the insults that rain down from the stands. “The only time the Phils ever strung three W’s together is with their website.” That’s a Philly fan. “Now lean down so I can puke on you.” That’s the same Phils fan. Buchholz looks to be in possession of all his pitches that he had when he had a 3.30 xFIP in 2015. Of course, those pitches couldn’t have looked more pear-shaped than last year with his 5.32 xFIP. Honestly, I think he could be anywhere from a 3.50 ERA pitcher to a 4.50 ERA one. Is he a mixed league starter? Maybe as a streamer, or if he starts off well, but not out of the gate, as they say in horse racing. For NL-Only, I’m going to like him as a late-round flyer. For 2017, I’ll give him the projections of 8-10/4.07/1.31/117 in 145 IP. Anyway, here’s what else I saw in the offseason for 2017 fantasy baseball:
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You may want to plan on a second poop if you’re going to read this entire post. Let that be my warning to you, before we begin my latest adventure in verbose prospecting. Today we tackle arguably the best system, certainly one of the deepest systems, in all of baseball. For today we discuss the Top Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects!!! You may say to yourself, “Hey self”, (then punch yourself in the face for saying self) where have I recently seen…or HEARD (big clue) someone talk about the Top Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects before? Hmmmm, maybe on the Razzball Prospect Podcast last week. You would in fact be correct, we even had a guest no-show us with a mysterious aliment. Last time I trust Michael Lohan. Either way, we talked about it once, and I’ll write about it now. The Dodgers have become a player development machine. They draft well (Kershaw, Pederson, Seager), they win the international market (Urias, Puig, Maeda), and most of all they develop players. They spend the most of any team on scouting and it shows. In the last few years they’ve nailed picks all over the draft, including picks in the 20+ rounds with players like Jose De Leon, and Jharel Cotton. This is a well oiled and functioning farm system, with players of interest and excitement across every level for dynasty owners. Sometimes when I’m writing these I know I’m highlighting several future fantasy relevant. This is one of those times. It’s the Top Doyers prospects.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Sure, you can consider Devon Travis injury prone. You can also consider Rob Kardashian the hot Kardashian. This is no sweat off me. Labeling any player under 27 years old injury prone is a mistake, which is different than Ruth Chris, she’s Ms. Steak. I’ve been guilty of labeling players injury prone in the past. For years, I called Ian Kinsler injury prone because up until the age of 26 he missed around forty games a year for three straight seasons. Now, Kinsler has three straight seasons of 150+ games and in five of the past six seasons. I did the same thing to Nelson Cruz. In his first few seasons, he averaged about 108 games a season. He now has three straight years of 152+ games. I also think Nelson Cruz was only injury prone when he was Nelson Cruz Jr. No idea if the weight of his pops’ shadow played into this. Not all players are injury prone across their entire careers like Glass Chipper. Devon Travis had one major injury in 2015, a shoulder injury. He returned from that injury and hit for power and average (11 HRs, .300 in 101 games). He’s had the usual nicks and bruises here and there, he’s even dealing with a knee thing right now which should be fine by February, but one injury does not make an injury-prone player. I guess you can consider him injury prone, but if you believe his shoulder is all good to go now, there’s no injury, there’s just prone, and I’m prone to like that. There’s no reason to think Travis won’t play 150+ games this year. In 163 major league games across two seasons, Devon Travis has a stat line of 92/19/85/.301/7. Now, we’re talking my language. So, what can we expect from Devon Travis for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?Technically, Charlie Tilson could’ve been listed in my fantasy baseball rookie series, and Tom Murphy could’ve been listed in the fantasy baseball sleeper series, and Jason Heyward could’ve been listed in the “I will never draft him again” series if there was a “I’m never going to draft him again” series, but here we are. When I first heard of Charlie Tilson, I thought it was a mispronounced dinner reservation for the former Dallas actress. “Is there a Charlie Tilson here? Your table is ready.” “It’s Charlene Tilton.” “And this is P.F. Chang’s, so you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t care.” Damn, P.F. Chang’s needs to watch their customer service! By the by, P.F. Chang’s might be the only restaurant where I look more forward to the free sauce they mix at the table than their actual food you pay for. Me going there is like someone going to Burger King for their ketchup. Okay, Charlie Tilson, or as you like to call him, “Who the fudge is Charlie Tilson?” He’s the guy that stole 46 bases in Double-A in 2015 and was traded to the White Sox for Zach Duke. He’s also penciled in as the White Sox starting center fielder. Oh, and if you haven’t heard, the White Sox have already punted 2017. So, what can we expect from Charlie Tilson for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?In what figures to be the shortest minor league system review of the offseason, today we tackle the Angels system. It’s not so much that the Halos have no prospects as it’s the Angels have bad prospects. It’s almost as if they used every ounce of player development ability to churn out the greatest player of a generation, and then followed it up with nothing. Well maybe nothing is unfair, but it’s been almost half a decade since the likes of Trout, Kole Calhoun, and Garrett Richards broke through to the bigs. The addiction to bad free agent contacts has left a once proud organization decimated. The money spent on Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, and Albert Pujols hasn’t paid off the way they expected, and the years of lost draft picks has left the system bare. For the first time in a few years the Angels have a handful of interesting prospects, and the organization seems more focused on player development under former Yankees executive Billy Eppler. There’s only a handful of interesting players to discuss here, and a couple who could develop into impact fantasy bats. It’s the Top Los Angeles Angels Prospects.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The Halph is back and we brought our show mascot Stabby the Cat! Don’t ask for an explanation just listen. This week on the Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast Michael Halpern of Imaginarybrickwall.com and I dig into the Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects. It’s a very solid system with players like Jose De Leon, Cody Bellinger, Willie Calhoun, Yadier Alvarez, and a whole lot more. We were supposed to have Razzball locale yocal J-FOH, but he’s a coastal elite and decided to bail on us. So we were left to our own devices trying to sound out hispanic surnames. This did not go well. We still found time to review about two dozen players that should be on your dynasty radar. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Any reasonable man (which, technically, I am not, alas…) would tell you Jake Lamb is not a 2017 sleeper. Last year, he had a line of 81/29/91/.249/6. That alone should mean he isn’t a sleeper. On our Player Rater, he was a top 15 3rd baseman last year. I’ve seen him drafted after 200 overall already, so some have forgotten about him. I’m not pointing any fingers, which is difficult because I’m wearing a giant, pointing Hulk Hogan foam finger. Perhaps Lamb was too closely associated with Passover and, hence, ignored. I think this is religious mores or less inaccurate. If you think it has something to do with Lamb’s 2nd half, you’re getting shawarmer. But his 1st half had us screaming, “Shanks, Lamb! You’re my gyro!” When the summer hit, Lamb was baaaahd in August and September, but wasn’t he mint in the sprig? So mint, he was making others jelly. All right, I’m gonna eat lunch and come back for the 2nd paragraph. So, what can we expect from Jake Lamb for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?The Razzball Baseball Pod is back! Returning from our winter doldrums, we’re ready to talk trades and signings thus far in the hot stove. Still some big pieces still left to fall! It’s great to be back with Grey who is continually turning more and more into the crazy Jersey grandpa he is, and on today’s show we recap the Chris Sale and Adam Eaton trades, Ian Desmond going to Coors, and like, 30 or 40 other trades and signings. Gotta be sure to derail this to get to all my Brewers talk! We’re going to pick up the Pods again in January, so have a happy new year, shop around for some winter trading in your dynasties, and get ready for more Grey-crazy in 2017!
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Please, blog, may I have some more?I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to get into the mood to write this post. As fun as a system like the Astros or the Braves is to write up, is as painful as a system like the Royals is to do the same. Then it hit me, the Royals system is your hometown bar. You know the dingy one with a name like Home Plate, Donovan’s, or The Old Mill. Not because you need to be drunk in order to even go in there, though alcohol certainly helped write this. It’s because you’ve been avoiding it like the plague every time you venture home. But one night in a moment of weakness one of your old high school buddies talks you into going. So you get over your irrational fear of seeing the girl that dumped you for the guy that only got his name right on his SAT’s, and that once popular jock that’s gained 60 pounds of Burger King breakfast, and has gone from filling up stat sheets in his glory days, to filling up sweatpants and rap sheets with petty misdemeanors. In other words, everyone in the Royals system is 25 and watching their once promising futures vanish with each passing Jager-bomb. That’s not a joke, this has to be the oldest group of hobos I’ve ever covered. I hesitate to say I’m talking about Kansas City Royals Prospects as much as I’m talking about washed up Kansas City Royals Prospects. Amirite?
Please, blog, may I have some more?Josh Rutledge steps forward. A hush falls over the crowd. Delino DeShields stops obnoxiously sucking on his soda straw when he realizes the crowd has silenced. Rutledge continues, “At one time or another, we’ve all been sleepers. Some of us never reached our potential. Others have, but are still forgotten.” Rutledge taps his chest with his fist and motions towards Brad Miller. “While most of us have seen our best days pass us by without making good on being sleepers, one of us still has one year left to be a post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-hype sleeper.” One man stands from the crowd, but Rutledge quickly gets annoyed, “Not you, Brett Lawrie.” Lawrie shrugs and sits back down. “No, I’m talking about you.” Rutledge points into the crowd, realizing he’s not pointing at the right person, he asks, “Adam Eaton, could you move right or left?” Finally, we see Rutledge is pointing at Leonys Martin. He’s surprised to be singled out. Martin tentatively stands, “Me?” The preceding took place in The Tomb of the Forgotten Sleeper. We’ve been here before with Martin, and this, I promise, will be our last time. A’la Q-Tip, “All you bad sleepers, you must go…” So, what can we expect from Leonys Martin for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?Well, you knew this one was coming. If you heard me once expound on the greatness of Maikel Franco, you’ve heard me expound on his greatness dozens of times and I have to say, I need to expound on how much I love this Word of the Day calendar. It’s expounding my vocabulary! I used it wrong there, didn’t I? Let’s backtrack to the most basic common knowledge we have about baseball players. They all spit. Okay, Random Italicized Voice, let’s fast forward a bit. Hitters sleep with a wOBA? Now you’ve lost me. Good, stop following me, you creeper! Players usually take a few years to get comfortable. Guys don’t usually peak their first full years. Last year, Maikel Franco had a line of 67/25/88/.255/1 as a 23-year-old in his first full season. Okay, so there were so many homers last year that David Eckstein would’ve hit 30 homers if he was still playing. Fair enough, but you can’t possibly think Franco was a disappointment with 25 homers in his first full season. On our Player Rater, Maikel Franco was ranked 154th overall. Better than Marcell Ozuna, Dexter Fowler, Matt Carpenter, Craig Kimbrel and Joc Pederson. Sure, bit apples and oranges, but orange you glad I told you? Okay, for that, I’m going into the pun penalty box for three minutes. *sits in penalty box, smiles showing missing front tooth* Okay, I’m back! So, what can we expect from Maikel Franco for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Please, blog, may I have some more?It seems like only yesterday the Astros were the laughing stock of the AL. Times were lean, with very little talent and a decade of futility, there seemed to be little to no light at the end of the tunnel. In just a few short years General Manager Jeff Luhnow has turned around both the farm system and major league club, to the point that each is bursting at the seams with talent. The last two years have brought about the dawn of a new era in Houston; defined by young talented players all over the field, and an aggressive approach in free agency, the trade market and draft. In the last two seasons alone the Astros have welcomed multiple impact rookies in the form of Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers, and Alex Bregman. With a host of others not too far behind, the ‘Stros look set to compete for years to come. Seriously, you can’t imagine how much work it is to do a Podcast on Houston Astros Prospects and follow it up with a magnum opus post about Houston Astros prospects? They have so much dynasty goodness it’s unbelievable. I’m not joking when I say I feel like I could just draft Astros players and manage to field a solid squad. Albeit one that needs to trade some of it’s prospect depth for pitching, but that’s besides the point. This is a long one, so enough with the small talk let’s discuss some Houston Astros Prospects! Wooooooo!!!
Please, blog, may I have some more?