RCL Update, Week 1: 85 Leagues Under The Razz

April 5, 2016 | Our Leagues | 26 Comments

That’s a wrap on the 2016 Razzball Commenters League fantasy baseball draft season. You can close out of spreadsheets and stop worrying about whether or not you should handcuff Ken Giles with Luke Gregerson (Yes, yes you should have). What’s done is done and now it’s time to prep for the daily grind that is an RCL league. So, grab your caffeine ingestion method of choice and start researching tomorrow’s batty calls.

This week, we’re going to take a look at all the draft data that all of you contributed to our leagues. We span from drafts the morning of February 28th all the way until this past Sunday afternoon. That’s just over a month of draft data to break down, dissect and tear apart. Next week, we’ll be able to focus things on you all as we’ll have a week’s worth of stats to ponder. Without further ado, let’s dig into how the RCLers drafted this year.

First of all, here is the ADP spreadsheet, all finalized for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to keep that open as you read along…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/9
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| MIL \| OAK

DraftKings: The Anti-Jerome (Bettis)

April 5, 2016 | DraftKings | 5 Comments

by: AskRotoBaseball

Did you know that Rockies starter Chad Bettis is the only major league player in history with the last name Bettis? That means he’s the best Bettis, but he’s also the worst. What a claim to fame. The most famous Bettis of all time is NFL Hall of Famer and former Pittsburgh Steelers beast, Jerome Bettis. Here is something you already know: Chad ain’t Jerome. Hell, Chad doesn’t even play football. Does Chad have a restaurant in the town where he made most of his money? I didn’t think so. Anyway, we are talking about baseball since, you know, this is only Day 3 of the 2016 season. I love early season exploitation and that’s really what this is all about. Chad Bettis is the Colorado Rockies’ number two starter. His career ERA is 5.22. Just ponder that for a couple of moments. Do you see dollar signs yet? This is my first article here at Razzball and I’m happy to be aboard. At the end of the day it’s all about the Benjamin’s, baby. So let’s dog pile on Chad Bettis and kick off the first Tuesday of the season by being ballers and shot-callers. We deserve it.

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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Podcast: “You’re Working Your Way Onto My RIGHT Hand!”

April 5, 2016 | All Podcasts | 2 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

The season is here, the season is here! Man, it’s great having baseball back, and on today’s show Grey and I chat about some of the first goings ons including some great opening day K performances and how I’m officially calling his Robinson Cano hatred wrong. Small sample my ass! Grey talks about how he likes friggin’ Zack Cozart after one game! We then check in with Rudy and talk his Yahoo Friends & Family draft (I of course ask what Grey said in the chat room when he got Albert Pujols in the 9th round) and the Razzball Tools to help you win your season-long leagues and some DFS skrillah. Cash money babay, cash money! I really am the whitest person you’ll ever meet… Then Grey and I talk about our RCL ‘Perty ‘Perts league, where Grey gets mad at J-FOH for all his sniping. Nice work, Jack full of Awesomesauce! That sounded weird… And finally we go through our 2016 predictions and Razzball Staff Picks, where somehow, without any consultation, we found out J-FOH and I made the exact same AL/NL Cy Young and MVP picks. We’re long lost twins! Except, ya know, other than being tall we’re years apart and never met in person… It’s time for a parent trap! Here’s our latest edition of the Razzball Baseball Podcast:

Download from iTunes

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Astros Choose Luke Over The Force

April 5, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 513 Comments

by: Grey

*takes a long inhale* “You smell that, Roberta? You, with the yellow-stained armpits and sweatpants, I’m calling you Roberta. That’s baseball you smell. In its infinite complexity and finite simplicity. The foul lines whiter than any Lohan mirror. The grass? Manicured better than any Vietnamese lady could. The object of the game? Accumulate the most stats so I win my fantasy league. Simple, yet complex. Like trying to understand Jeff Foxworthy’s appeal. From today forward, this is our Independence Day (from all that other shizz in our life).” The preceding was Bill Pullman visiting the set of Field of Dreams. To that end, Roberta and your long-flowing sideburns, if the idea is to win saves, that difficulty intensifies when you draft Ken Giles and Luke Gregerson becomes the closer. That’s funny, because the Astros beat writer the other day said GILES IS THE CLOSER. Caps his, not mine. I know how to shut off my caps lock. So, now that GILES IS THE SETUP MAN, I would GRAB Gregerson in EVERY league, though, if it’s competitive, he’s likely GONE by NOW. No idea why Giles is NOT the CLOSER. My GUESS is the Astros went OUT and GOT Giles withOUT their manager, A.J. Hinch, agreeing, so Hinch IS now BEING petulANT. I’d prefer if he were petulANT with A closER I DO NOT OWN. Hey, it looks like I’m typing this on a busted Smith-Corona. Fun. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Pitcher Profile: Updating JB’s Top 100 Starting Pitchers

April 4, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 94 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

The season is here baby! Boy what an awesome opening day… The Cardinals are in dead last in the NL Central! So beautiful…

Hard to believe we’re going into year 4 of the Pitcher Profiles. So much profiling! And it’s the 3rd year of the weekly re-ranks. I’m doing so much SP heavy-lifting that I might have a UCL injury!

Speaking of injuries, a lot has changed since I put out my initial ranks exactly a month ago, but it feels like this Spring was a little more injury-free than last year. In fact, the biggest elbow injury wasn’t even a pitcher! Take that, pitching detractors! It’s mostly been some surprise risers (my K:BB obsession gave me a Juan NicasiO-face looking at his stats!) and some guys losing their opening day rotation spot (wahhhh Paxton, whyyyyy?!). As always, green for ascenders and red for The Descenderists, who as a band should be marked in red. I haven’t heard anything about them for years!

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 GIFfing magic! Here’s my updated top 100 SP for the first week of the fantasy baseball season:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

No Whammies!, Week 1: Barnes Burner

April 4, 2016 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 14 Comments

by: Son

Press Your Luck was a game show in the mid-80’s. Contestants collected spins by answering trivia questions correctly. Then, the magic happened. I’m sure those were some of the reactions to acquiring Carlos Correa off the waiver wire last year. Think of the fantasy baseball player pool as the Press Your Luck game board. Choose wisely or… this. In this weekly series, I will pick one player from each position and try to help you dodge the whammies and win big money. I’m no Michael Larson, the man who cracked the code for Press Your Luck, but that’s like saying I’m no Grey Albright. Duh. Think of me as Tom Vu. Come to my seminar and you too will have beautiful women in your arms from all your winnings.

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SAGNOF Report, Week 1: This Dyson Can’t Suck

April 4, 2016 | Closers, Steals | 42 Comments

by: J-FOH

Welcome to my first regular season post of the year 2016. I’m moving in a different direction this season, as I wanted a new challenge and got burnt out doing the same thing every year. You gots to diversify! This will be my first season where I get to talk about pitching, but not just any pitching, bullpens! I love the pen, always have. As a kid, the Goose was one of my favorite players and seeing a game get closed out was the best feeling as a fan. Even as a kid I wanted the ball at the end of games. From age nine ’til 16, I was a solid back end option [Jay’s Note: I like your mom’s solid back end option] to take the mound and finish a game. On the unfortunate flip-side, I couldn’t start a game to save my life. I don’t even want to try and remember what the ERA difference was, but it was somewhere in the fourish range. You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with SAGNOF? Only to show you how much passion I have for the bullpen. This year I’ll be doing my best week in and week out to bring you the top speed and saves plays. For those that remember my Sunday content for the past two seasons, Creeper of the Week, this will be similar to that, with the focus going solely to SAGNOF. Unless of course I can’t resist a batty call plug that hasn’t been mentioned on the site. Hey, I’m working through creeper withdraw. I wonder if they make an alternative to help me get my fix… Mendozadone!

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DraftKings: “My Name is Max, My World is Fire and Blood”

April 4, 2016 | DraftKings | 10 Comments

by: Teddy Heater

Mad Max Fury Road was a wildly loud, hard, smoking fastball that has everything in common with our Heterochromia Max that will be starting today against the Atlanta not so Braves. Opening Day? Check. Nitromethane? Check. Mad Max? Check. Fire? Check. Blood? Ehh, possibly. I know J-Foh and I have some Nitro on tap, but if you’re only 3 for 5 don’t worry it’s baseball. You’re hitting .600 like Polanco through the first game of the season and it’s OPENING DAY! Welcome Razzballers to the first (technically the second) 2016 Draftkings Post!! There’s not going to be a ton of analytics today because ummm, it’s the first day of the season, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that should pay off for you. “You’ve got the best crew in the world standing in front of you, give them a reason to stay” Vin Diesel, Fast & Furious 6. I’m sure you’re asking yourself right now, “Why is he quoting a Fast & Furious movie?” Guilty pleasure, fo sho, but more importantly it’s a disclaimer to you, our DK readers. Sky (the DFS mastermind behind the scenes) has put together an unbelievable All-Star team of daily experts that are going to spend EVERY DAY of the season throwing down some moneymaking knowledge on yo asses. Sharpen your pencils or iPads and lets get to work. We’re going to make it real simple for you, whether you’re a first timer or a seasoned veteran. Read our analysis EVERY DAY, set your team and take everyone else’s money. Sound Good? Great, Let’s get started.

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 25 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?

Never Mind The Pollocks, Here’s The Opening Day

April 4, 2016 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 590 Comments

by: Grey

It’s Opening Day, so what better time to start an “I Told You So.” Sure, any time is a good time for an “I Told You So,” and that doesn’t just hold true for So Taguchi. Though, that “I Told You So” rings true, as well. That’s if you did indeed tell So something, and he doesn’t heed your prescience. Oh, and don’t be scared, Carl Everett, prescience isn’t science from before science. So (Taguchi), A.J. Pollock has a fractured elbow. I told you not to draft him. Of course, I didn’t say he’d fracture his elbow; my Magic Eight Ball isn’t that precise, but I did say to avoid him in drafts. If you would’ve just followed that, we’d all be okay. You didn’t listen because you know better, and I’m not talking about that Armenian dishwasher you befriended at the bus stop, Better Vardanyian. You might know that Better, but you didn’t know better than to draft Pollock. For you drafters of Pollock, I’ll pour some of my “I Told You So” juice out that I’m marketing with So Taguchi. By the way, So Taguchi — retired for seven years, but a major part of the Opening Day roundup. Good for So Taguchi. And great for us, we got baseball! And not great for Pollock, he’ll be out for the better part of the year, if not the whole shebang, to quote Ricky Martin. I grabbed Socrates Brito in one league because he’ll be facing the majority of pitchers (righties). He was in my top 80 outfielders. I’m a big fan, though not as a houseguest. Wearing nothing but a toga on a couch is a little gross. He has solid speed and some power, think 10 HRs and 22 SBs. A poor man’s Pollock, I will call him Warsaw Ghetto. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend for fantasy baseball:

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Nine Bold Predictions For 2016: Tag Team Style

April 3, 2016 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 117 Comments

by: J-FOH

What’s a happenin’ Razz-stuff? FOH, the player slayer, is at the helm for my first and probably last bold predictions post. I only call it my last because after this one, I’m confident that I won’t be allowed to be bold again. Kidding… sorta. I get bold from time to time, but usually play it more conservative and pick my spots. I’m getting an assist on this one, as I have everyone’s favorite commenter doing a pop-up like a rogue restaurant or a children’s book. You have to follow me after the jump to find out who it is, but I’ll give you a hint: He sets his clock to Pacific time. No fancy intro needed here… Let’s get to some predictions for the 2016 season!

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OBP Leagues: First Week Match Ups

April 3, 2016 | Uncategorized | 26 Comments

by: Hodysseus

If you haven’t noticed by now, I freaking love stats. In fact, one of the few things I love more than stats is fantasy baseball. And luckily the two go together like lamb and tuna fish. So I decided to dedicate my weekly release to something new. As many people spend hours upon hours analyzing batter vs pitcher and other split stats, I am going to focus on what is truly important to your roto success: categories.

Each week, I plan to give you an idea of which teams have the most favorable and least favorable match-ups by looking at their opposing scheduled starters for the week. I do this by taking each opposing pitchers’ stats and giving you an idea of which teams should expect to score the most (and least) Rs, HRs, RBIs, SBs, and highest/lowest OBP for the week. I will then give you some suggested spot starts for the week based on the categories (players owned in less than 50% of leagues).

For the first full month of April, I will strictly be using starting pitcher statistics from last season to project out the week. However, as we move forward throughout the season, I will transition to the starters’ 2016 statistics so that I can give you the most accurate and relative numbers to help you win your roto league!

So sit back, crack open a coldie, and let’s nerd out with our bird out. It’s time to play some damn baseball!

(Keep in mind, the categories analyzed are for a 5×5 OBP format.)

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Guess Who, The Fantasy Baseball Guessing Game: Round 3

April 3, 2016 | Y to Z | 18 Comments

by: malamoney

Guess who’s back. Back again. The guessing game’s back. Tell a friend. That’s right, it’s time for round three of everyone’s favorite fantasy baseball guessing game. For those of you that missed out on the first two rounds you can find out how this game works by clicking here. For those that need a refresher you should click the link too. Let me start by saying that I have proof read today’s edition tree times. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any mistakes, but at least I made an effort. In all seriousness, this should be spot on. So let’s get guessing.

Please, blog, may I have some more?