Luck Be a Lowrie …And The Top 100 Hitters, Week 5

May 2, 2016 | Creeper of the Week, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 62 Comments

by: M@

Ever made a girl swoon for you? Now, obviously I’m writing this from the angle of a guy, asking the question to other guys, even though if you listen to the podcast maybe we should change that direction after Grey being called effeminate in the most recent episode (haha!). But before you puff up your pride and answer that question in your head, ‘Well, yeah!’ let’s play the comparison game. Teddy Roosevelt says ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,’ and if ole Teddy is right then let me sap your joy for a moment: none of us could serenade and swoon like Frank Sinatra. Dude’s timeless, suave, and the epitome of cool. But why in the world am I beginning a fantasy baseball post by discussing Frank Sinatra’s game? Because even the best of ’em need a little luck.

Typically I argue that fantasy football requires much more luck than fantasy baseball, as the length and grueling nature of the season allows for managers to actually manage themselves into the playoffs and further. It’s a fallacy to believe that luck isn’t involved, though. In ‘Luck Be a Lady,’ one of Sinatra’s most iconic songs, he tells the story of needing Lady Luck’s presence to win his bet. In order to win your league, you better start swooning that scantily-clad dame of fortune as soon as you can. How? Nail the draft, avoid the DL, and pick up the right hitters at the right time. I’m here for the last one, you could probably use some help on the first one, and we’re gonna need a lot of help with that middle portion for this week’s Creeper of the Week (and even the honorable mention).

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Thu 8/14
	ARI \| ATL \| BAL \| CHC \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| MIA \| MIN \| NYM \| PHI \| SEA \| TOR \| WSH \| ATH \| BOS \| CHW \| CIN \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIL \| NYY \| OAK \| PIT \| SD \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX

SAGNOF Report: Can’t Santana Ya

May 2, 2016 | Closers, Steals | 39 Comments

by: J-FOH

I hate this. Stupid SAGNOF! Pisses me off to no end. The worst part of the strategy is at times, you have to own guys you may dislike, or in my case, hate. It goes with the territory and when they succeed, it takes away some of the burn of the past. But when they fail, they become deader than Randy Quaid’s career. Like this GIF, sometimes it results in a wedgie and everyone laughing at you. Thanks SAGNOF wedgie. This is what I struggle with, the unsavory characters you have to hang around and the resulting public humiliation when you fail. But when you nail it… BOOM!

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DraftKings: Mediocre Monday…. Or Is It?

May 2, 2016 | DraftKings | 2 Comments

by: Teddy Heater

I usually look forward to Monday’s during the Fantasy Baseball season, but today’s starting pitching has me a little down. Certainly, if you take a quick glance, things don’t seem so bad as Johnny Cueto, Gerrit Cole, Jason Hammel, Adam Wainwright and Gio Gonzalez are on the bump tonight. Now I know you’re thinking that some of those names are quite attractive, but unfortunately we’ve got some Buttafaces on the slate for today. Gio looks like he got his groove back until you look closer and see he’s faced Atlanta, Minnesota and Philly twice. Cueto has looked lost all season and even though he had 11 K’s and 0 ER last time out, he was facing the Padres. Waino has Philadelphia tonight and maybe he gets back on track, but with his current numbers, he needs a lot more than a solid matchup for me to throw any money his way. Cole and Hammel are facing each other, but both offenses are in the top three in runs and average vs RHP, so probably not the best matchups to jump on. Now that we’ve maneuvered through the mediocre minefield who’s left? Who can turn our Monday frown upside down? That man is Dallas Keuchel and at a reasonable $9,900, he’s our star tonight. He was great in DK last year and even though he’s been struggling this year I think tonight he gets back to his Cy Young form. All but 4 of his 5 starts have come on the road this season and if we take a deeper look into last year he rocked a 1.46/3.77 ERA split. He’s got a great match-up against the Twinkies tonight and my awesome In-Laws Tom & Cindy assured me that the Houston home cooking tonight will be on point for our boy to return to the Dallas Kyer’s Club.

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.

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Homered Once, Twice, Three Times A Lawrie

May 2, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 819 Comments

by: Grey

Could this finally be Brett Lawrie‘s post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-POST-post hype breakout? I don’t want to overrate or prorate or ameliorate a past inveterate obturate to eviscerate execrate, try not to hate, love your mate, mediate or flip through cards like Michael Hutchence forth, Sandoval’s girth, Andrelton’s not from this earth, movie remake that never went anywhere was North by North. Yesterday, Lawrie went 3-for-3 with his third straight game with a homer, and he threw in a steal on Saturday, not a liar like James Frey, in Florida I need my mosquito spray, I have three albums by The Fray, said no one that wasn’t gay, which is totally okay. I was very high on Lawrie in the preseason, and right now he’s on pace for 20+ HRs, 12-15 SBs and hitting .290. On its own this would be implausible, laughable, impossible, insoluble in water, but he hit 16 homers last year, is only 26 years old and has easy 15-steal speed, so it’s not INXS of the possible. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

This Week In Razz, Week 4

May 1, 2016 | Daily Notes | 15 Comments

by: Viz

At this point, we’re almost a month through the 2016 MLB season. We are getting close to the point where patience is wearing thin on players who have started slow. I’m looking at you Justin Upton! Upton is far from the only player who has struggled through the first month of the season and I’m sure everyone has at least one player on their roster who is letting them down. That said, I’d still give it a couple more weeks before I made a big trade to shake things up. Let’s take a look back at every article that went up this week on Razzball and a brief look at the week ahead:

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OBP Leagues, Week 5: It’s Gonna Be May

May 1, 2016 | Uncategorized | 27 Comments

by: Hodysseus

Soooo, I conveniently left my weekly statistics on my work computer that tracked how my suggestions have fared thus far in the season, so you will have to wait until next week to see. However if you followed my Week 3 post, you already know they were border-line atrocious.

But I am here to TOTALLY REDEEM myself in Week 5 and get you some sexy stats out of some not so sexy players. Or maybe just a bunch of players that were sexy back when NSYNC was popular. And in JT’s honor…we celebrate not only a new week, but a new month…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

DraftKings: Which Ace Do You Want?

May 1, 2016 | DraftKings | 3 Comments

by: Zach

Hello everyone, Happy May and welcome to Sunday! We have another large slate, with 15 games on the All-Day docket, and 10 games on the Main Slate.

We have a interesting case on our hands today, as there are many games Vegas lists at 6.5 O/U. Why is this? Well, that’s because we have a slate full of many high-priced aces, as Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, Danny Salazar, Clayton Kershaw, and David Price, all above the $10,000 salary range, are all scheduled to start today, which begs the question, which Ace do you want? I don’t need to get into a ton of statistics and heavy in-depth research, because arguments can be made to start each guy on any specific night, and you already know why these guys are so dominant. However, we can still get to some digging and eliminate pitchers that we don’t want, digging some more, eliminating more guys, so on, and so forth.

First up, what about the higher-priced guys? Yes, all are expensive, yet are you comfortable with selecting Clayton Kershaw (#1 cash option without thinking), at a crisp $12,300? If the answer is yes, you should also be fairly confident that he should pick up the win against the San Diego Padres, not to mention his elite strikeout upside and low walk rate, but you already knew that. What about Madison Bumgarner? Well, his biggest strength is his low-walk rate (4.5% in 2015) and his 3.00 SIERA in 2015 as well, but he is facing the Mets, which is not only tough, but he has to manage a win behind an offense facing Noah Syndergaard, and the same thing for him, as Thor has to muster a win against Mad-Bum. No thanks. I feel it is much more efficient to find cheaper options to solidify those stud bats we can roster, instead of having to pay for these top studs who are very likely to record multi-strikeout performances, yet equally have the potential to not collect the win, and to record a poor outing.

So who’s up next? There’Let’s get to it.

New to DraftKings? Just remember to sign up through us and hop on in! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.

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RazzNasty League Update: Mentok The Mind Taker

May 1, 2016 | Our Leagues | 86 Comments

by: Geoff

There’s embarrassment and then there’s having to cover in detail a fantasy baseball league you’re nearly dead last in. So begins our first monthly update on the in house dynasty league “The RazzNasty”. For those of you that are new here, “The RazzNasty” is a Razzball founded dynasty league made up of Razzball writers, readers, commenters, and Methodists! It’s a 16 team roto with semi-weekly adds/drops via blind auction. We have 30 man MLB rosters and 10 man minor league rosters. Since we last updated you in early March there’s been a flurry of activity including trades, wire adds, a second commissioner switch, and a banana or two in the tailpipe. So yes it’s more or less high stakes Mario Kart.

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Two-Start Pitchers, Week 5: The Dark Knight Returns

April 30, 2016 | Two Start Starters | 50 Comments

by: M@

“Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you.” Woo. Woo. Woo! Welp, I don’t know that even Joltin’ Joe could help the Yanks this year, but across town in Flushing ole Simon and Garfunkel may change their tune, because baseball nation is awaiting the return of one of its aces. New York’s in need of a hero (aren’t they always?), and I’m not talking of the Norse god variety. No, they need someone who speaks them, looks like them, gets them…someone who is them. The Dark Knight himself: Matt Harvey.

In 400+ IP from 2012-2015 his ERA never crept above 2.73, including 2.71 in 189 IP last season after fully recovering from the ol’ TJ surgery. He’s been as dominant as it gets, and should be the anchor of a nasty Mets rotation. But 2016 has been nothing of the sort. Yet. His 4.76 ERA is the ugliest thing in his life these days, because you know he can date whomever he wants in NYC. Just like how Batman always a lady friend stalking him, Harvey’s gotta have strong offerings galore. If only ‘strong offerings’ were also indicative of his pitches in 2016. Despite all other peripherals remaining consistent from years past, his bread and butter, the fastball, dropped a full MPH in velocity. Harvey needs his stuff to return, and fast. Well, to fast? And it needs to be fast, yes, but really it must get to its previous fast. Yeah…that works. And with a little luck, mixed with some well-timed visits from a few special opponents, I believe the Mets Dark Knight will be returning from the ashes soon. Really soon.

A hero is only as good as his villain, and Batman’s had his fair share. However, not all stack up the same, so let’s have some fun with the Week 5 Rankings by categorizing them by the best Batman villains. And no, don’ get confused, we’re not ranking the pitcher’s opponents, but man, when looking those two up against Harvey, his turn around happens now or it may be time to turn in the cape on 2016.

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You Conley Live Once

April 30, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 132 Comments

by: Dan Pants

Adam Conley threw 7 2/3 innings, of “exciting” no-hit baseball Friday night, striking out seven Brewers en route to his first win of the season. Manager Don Mattingly pulled Conley after 116 pitches and left it up to Miami’s bullpen to blow Conley’s no-hitter. Sigh, the Miami fan(s) need someone to cheer for now that their star player Dee “I Didn’t Know We Couldn’t Do That” Gordon betrayed them. And I won’t even mention that other power-hitter outfielder (a complicated restraining order actually prevents me from mentioning his full name, let’s just call him G. Stanton–or better, Giancarlo S.) Adam ain’t worried about it. YOLO. Speaking of YOLOing, how about that new Drake album? Uh, singasongmuch? Please stop. I get the whole calypso/R&B/I’mdoingthistobangRihanna vibe the album has and I’m not feeling it. Meanwhile, Mr. Drake, you are depriving fans of some of the best Canadian rap the world has to offer. Oh, hey tangent, we were talking about Adam Conley! The lefty now possesses a 3.67 ERA and 1.22 WHIP through four starts with a 28/12 K/BB rate (9.33 K/9). Mmm, strikeouts. Adam’s 72.2% swinging strike percentage (including 14 in last night’s game) suggest that the strikeouts are for real. That could help your fantasy team. Like Drizzy’s new album, he’s been a bit inconsistent, but Conley gets Arizona next week, he’s available in over 80% of fantasy leagues and he could be worth a pick up in deeper mixed and NL-Only leagues. Why not take a flier–you only YOLO once!

Here’s what else I saw Friday in fantasy baseball:

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DraftKings: #LATOS

April 30, 2016 | DraftKings, Fantasy Baseball DFS | 4 Comments

by: MattTruss

If you happen to be a non-millennial reading this then you remember a time when # meant “Pound” and didn’t mean “Hashtag”. If you are a millennial you’ve likely already skipped this intro and skimmed the rest of the picks. After all, you’re entitled to win at DFS with minimal research and time invested. The DFS sites owe it to you, just like your boss owes it to you to give you that raise despite the fact you don’t actually do any work all day. We’ll be using the pound sign today to discuss how the O’s are going to # on Mat Latos this evening. I’ve had issues with Latos for some time, I mean, what self-respecting Matt goes by Mat anyway? This year though, the issues with Latos are greater than ever. This guy has the nerve to masquerade as an ace with his sub 1 ERA and WHIP. We here at Razzball aren’t fooled however. We see the real numbers under those fraudulent ones and we are ready to pounce. The 4.8 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 tell the real story, as does his 3.56 FIP. The regression fairies are just dying to pay Latos a visit, right after they finish cutting off all their jeans into shorts for the summer. I, for one, want to be there when this correction happens, and not just for the cut off jean shorts. Chris Davis will be heavily owned but if Pedro Alvarez finds his way into the lineup tonight, he might be an under the radar play that could pay handsome dividends. The Orioles don’t have much else in the way of lefty batters however Mat Latos hasn’t really shown a dramatic platoon split in his career, so just load up on every O you can get your salary cap around and enjoy the #ing.

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

OPS Leaguers Unite! Hot Dog Breath Or Hot Dog Breath? (And Go Get Ben Paulsen.)

April 30, 2016 | OPS Leagues | 20 Comments

by: Phil B.

My wife and I have a long running joke on what’s worse, Hot Dog breath or hot dog breath? Hot dogs are a requirement for me at the ballpark, but the last time I was there, I gleaned some interesting information about the difference between the jumbo dog and the regular dog. That is, there is no difference. At least not at my local stadium, named after a terrible beer. I asked for the jumbo dog, didn’t have enough cash for it, and asked for the regular. They were the same size, except one was in silver and blue foil, the other in silver and red. I asked the woman at the counter what’s the difference? She smiled and said “nothing.” I appreciate that kind of candor and told her so; so I took my regular hot dog, covered it in mustard and onions, and enjoyed my favorite food at the ballpark.

Furthermore, the breath you get after eating a hot dog isn’t great. On the flip-side, in the middle of summer after taking the dog on a long walk, yields some strong hot dog breath. Is there a difference? Sure, but not too much. So I pop a mint, the dog takes one of those dog improving breath treats, and we move on. What did all that have to do with fantasy baseball? Uh…not much, so take the hot dog tip, avoid hot dog breath in all cases, and add Ben Paulsen to your fantasy teams.

Please, blog, may I have some more?