I’m going to take a new approach with this post.  No, not because I’m typing with my elbows, but becooooze I’mmmm ryping–Okay, I am typing with my elbows, but this is also new because I don’t think I’ve ever done a post like this before.  On the heels of beginning to draft my first 12-team mixed league team of the year I realized something. (Sign up for a Commenter League too.)  There’s some players I absolutely would draft and some I just won’t.  It occurred to me when I was about to draft Eric Hosmer at the tail end of the fifth round.  Top guys on the board at the time from my 2016 fantasy baseball rankings were Pujols, Lindor, Hosmer, Maikel, Sano and Kemp.  I already had Giancarlo, so that eliminated Pujols for me, due to the injury risk; I called Miguel Sano overrated; I wouldn’t draft Kemp, per my top 40 outfielders, so that left me with Hosmer, Lindor and Maikel.  I wish I had three picks at that point, but I was on the turn, so I took Lindor and Hosmer, praying that Maikel would make it back to me.  Of course, he didn’t make it back to me.  He didn’t even last five picks later.  Then, I thought deeper about my situation like I was KRS-One, and realized there were dozens of players I could’ve chosen at that point.  Hundreds of players, really.  I mean, only 60 players were off the board.  Couldn’t I have drafted so many other players?  Actually, no, I couldn’t.  Or, I guess better, I wouldn’t.  In my top 100 for 2016 fantasy baseball, there’s 20 players I’m drafting after the top 25 overall and before we’re out of the top 100.  Why after the top 25?  Because in the top 25, I’d take anyone.  Technically, I won’t draft Kershaw where I have him ranked because he’ll be drafted already, but now you’re quibbling, you quibbler!  Anyway, here’s twenty players I’m drafting in the top 100 for 2016 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 8/5
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK

It’s going to be a tough act to follow for the rookies of 2016. After the “Year of the Rookie” in 2015, what can we expect from the freshman class this year? Will we have another deep class featuring numerous high impact players to fill our fantasy squads? Or will we scale back this year, and only have a few true must own froshes? Below we’ll dive into the high impact rookies to target in drafts, and keep an eye on for later season call ups. For these reasons, I’ve broken them into two tiers; those that should break camp with big league club, and those that should be high impact call ups during the season. Just for fun I’ve added top 5 lists from some of your favorite Razzball personalities to give you idea of what others besides myself are thinking. Enjoy!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Jay’s Note: I’m happy to present a unique addition to our preseason content, as one of the readers/commenters approached me about writing on the subject of “the Razzballer”. This story isn’t just unique to , but to all of you as well, and maybe even the most human story I’ve ever read. Okay, maybe not to that degree, I’d probably give that award to L. Ron Hubbard’s “Battlefield Earth”, but regardless, this three-part series was such a great treat to read and because of that, I invite all fans of the site to tell us your story down in the comment section… How do you prepare for the upcoming season? How do you use Razzball? So, without further ado, here’s Webelos Willie’s Razzball story, and it just might be your story too…

Be sure to read Part 1 here!

When you enter a draft, here’s my advice for you in a nutshell:

Don’t panic.

If you were an unpopular kid growing up in the 80’s-90’s then you remember this phrase from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” books, computer game, movie or, if you are a huge nerd like me… all three. When it comes to a fantasy draft, this advice is easier said than done. We’ve all been there before: it’s your turn to pick and the two players you had queued up got snatched back-to-back right in front of you. You truly have no idea who you want. You’re scanning hitters, then pitchers, sorting by ADP, clicking players’ profiles to see their stats and all the while the clock is going tick… tick… tick. You realize you are starting to sweat and your “friends” sense it and begin saying things like: “Uh-oh, I think someone’s rattled” and “Remember last year when he reached for Josh Hamilton? HAHAHA!” You want to make a pick that doesn’t cause the room to erupt in laughter but there’s only 10 seconds left now on the clock so you wind up going with the highest ranked player telling yourself “those guys at ESPN do this for a living, they must know better than me.”

To quote the hip-hop group Souls of Mischief, that’s when ya lost.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Well, here goes nothing.  From here on out I’ll be your RCL tour guide.  I’ll be guiding you through all the sights and sounds (Are there sounds?  The crunch of “All Dressed” Humpty Dumpty potato chips perhaps.) of the RCL season.  I, for one, am a huge fan of the RCLs, the format, the League Competitive Index competition, battling hundreds of other managers for the top of the overall standings and of course, the non stop action.  It’s kind of like pounding a pot of coffee every hour, on the hour for six straight months.  I’m also a huge nerd for all the numbers and data that gets collected from running so many leagues under the Razzball umbrella.  I will do my part to share some of these numbers with you along the way and try to glean some info from all that data.  VinWins was my hero back when he ran the RCL Updates, so I’ll do my best to be his protege.  In order to make the data pool even larger though, we need you, and you, and you too.  You see, what makes RCLs great is all of you.  Man that sounds mushy, but it’s true.  In an ideal world, every Razzball reader would head on over to the RCL sign-ups, pick a league and all would be right with the world.  For those of you that aren’t so eager, let’s sit down and chat it out.

First of all, if you’re on the fence about joining an RCL, that can’t be comfortable.  You really should hop down from there and just join a league already.  I get it though, back in the late aughts, when I first started lurking around Razzball I too was reluctant to join an RCL.  I kick myself now though for not joining in the fun sooner.  I’ll give you the reasons I was staying away and then explain why it was complete bunk.  Maybe I can sway another 2-3 of you to come join the masses.  If you have other reasons for keeping away, by all means, lay them on me in the comments.  I love talking RCLs and if we can be doing something better, I’ll be your voice to the big wigs.  So, here we go:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

*balloons fall from the ceiling, sirens go off*  Oh my God, what did I win?  Little ol’ me was the winner of the “Only Person To Put Dustin Garneau In A Headline?!”  *more sirens, more balloons*  I’m also the winner of the first person ever to mention Dustin Garneau in a lede?!  *yet more balloons, yet more sirens*  Okay, what is it now?  I’m the first person to mention Dustin Garneau three times in one lede?  Great, can we kill the sirens?  My neighbors are gonna get annoyed.  What do I win anyway?  Dustin Garneau on my fantasy team?  That’s the worst prize ever!  So, I took on the monsters of the industry in an NL Only league that was hosted by Scott White at CBS and I came away with a team that is more imbalanced than Amanda Bynes.  This league is deep so hold onto ye old hat.  (If you want a shallower league, play against me and hundreds of your closest buddies in the Razzball Commenter Leagues.)  Anyway, here’s my 12-team NL-Only team and some thoughts:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

A bullpen battle is like watching a boxing match with a blind man in one corner, and a one-legged man in the other.  The ole’ mantra of never paying for saves is the cattle call of many Razzballians, but in leagues that we all pay, in terms of saves there has to be some semblance of order, and ADP plays a huge part in that.  No one ever admits to paying up for saves, but when push comes to shove in your draft, more times than not, you are most likely jumping at the chance to own an elite closer.  I love being the fifth guy to draft a closer.  It allows me the extra round to grab another essential roster piece, and since I am awesome at my craft, I tend to get my pick of the litter of who I really want.  Listen, not everyone pays for saves, but it isn’t an awful thing to do.  They do only really count for one category, with parts of another, but in reality, so does a hitter drafted in the eighth round.  That eighth round product isn’t going to give you, at best, a five share in a points league (minus Billy Hamilton).  He is the same product that we are saying don’t pay for and falls firmly into the SAGNOF sandbox.  So I am here to tell you that paying for saves is okay, but within reason of course.  Don’t be a lemming and get sucked into a bidding war or a run scenario where it leaves you completely short after the draft without any saves to speak of.  So here are some strategies and basic ideas I like to use for approaching saves based on formats and for giggles, we’ll be looking at some ADP stuff after my advice.  Cheers!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Detroit-Tigers-Tiger-Logo-Design_9662f8d9-183f-462b-8e45-81432b69a110_1024x1024

Welcome to the 2016 Razzball Team Previews! You’ll find everything you need to know about each team to get yourself ready for the upcoming fantasy baseball season. And I mean everything, folks. We’ve got line-ups, charts, Slurpees, lube, a guide for beginner electricians, and even a cactus! Well, that’s a lie. That’s what Jay had last year sitting in front of him. This year? Um…a little less lube? Take that as you will. But hey, we’ve got teams to preview and questions to ask, so let’s hop to it. We a very special guest for this post… Rob Rogacki, to provide his take on what the team has in store this season. Now enough rambling, let’s see what 2016 holds for the Detroit Tigers!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Grey and the crew are back from the desert, and ready to give us the lowdown on Spring Training performances! Unfortunately, it sounds like Grey didn’t see anyone too good, except we do get a nice under-the-radar sleeper at OF. We then talk the Brett Anderson injury and the impact on the Dodgers rotation, Aroldis Chapman‘s suspension, and some sneaky speed that was just signed in ChiTown. We did too much agreeing on this podcast, I need to get Grey fired up again next show! Commenters – let me know if Grey ever got irked at any of your comments to him, and I’m going to fuel the fire! Here’s our latest edition of the Razzball Baseball Podcast:

Download from iTunes

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Here, friend, are some catchers that I will be targeting at my 2016 fantasy drafts after the top options are gone.  I’m not going to get into the strategy of punting catchers.  Been there, half-drunkenly wrote that years ago.  Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2016 projections.  This is a (legal-in-most-countries) supplement to the top 20 catchers of 2016 fantasy baseball.  Now, guys and four girl readers, I am not saying avoid catchers like Matt Wieters if they fall, but to get on this list, you need to be drafted later than 200 overall.  And, to preemptively answer at least seven comments, yes, I will go around the entire infield, outfield and pitchers to target very late.  Anyway, here’s some catchers to target for 2016 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

For years, Grey and I have been thinking about what would be the perfect low-stakes paid league complement to our free Razzball Commenter Leagues (sign up now).

In 2014 and 2015, we co-sponsored 15-team $150 NFBC leagues (50 round slow drafts) and got a positive response from many of you. I cannot say enough good things about NFBC – great service, great people, great site. Unfortunately, we did not get anywhere near the turnout we get for RCL leagues (100 leagues vs 3?!) which puts us in a Field of Dreams-esque position when it comes to lobbying/negotiating a format more attractive to Razzball readers. No offense to people who love that movie but ‘build it and they will come’ does not work very well in the business world.

I mentioned this dilemma to my buddy Dr. Roto when he told me that Scout.com – which has hosted the Fantasy Football World Championships for years – was contemplating Fantasy Baseball paid leagues for 2016. A partnership was born….

Here are the rules for the $88 Scout MLB Razzball Pennant Leagues that are available NOW and will feature Razzball writers + Scout.com Fantasy experts.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

How many of you have played the old school game Guess Who? For those that haven’t, the premise is simple. It’s a two player game where each player has a board with 24 different people displayed. Both players pick a card from a pile of cards containing the same 24 people. They then take turns asking “yes or no” questions about their opponent’s selected person. Based on the answers they eliminate options until they are left with one. The first player to guess the identity of their opponent’s person wins. I played this game as a kid, and 30 years later I still own it today. It’s a simple, yet entertaining game.

I thought it might be interesting to attempt to incorporate the concept of Guess Who? in a blog about fantasy baseball. Here’s how! In this series, I will post articles in which I compare two players. In the post they will be referred to as “player foo” and “player bar”. Their actual names will never be mentioned. It is your job to try and figure out their true identities. To do this, you are encouraged to ask me as many yes/no questions as you like in the comments section. The first commenter to guess each person will score one point. At the end of the season the person with the most points will win a Razzball t-shirt (special thanks to Jay!).

Here are the rules in brief detail…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dodger-hat_logo-woolennium-Flickr

Welcome to the 2016 Razzball Team Previews! You’ll find everything you need to know about each team to get yourself ready for the upcoming fantasy baseball season. And I mean everything, folks. We’ve got line-ups, charts, Slurpees, lube, a guide for beginner electricians, and even a cactus! Well, that’s a lie. That’s what Jay had last year sitting in front of him. This year? Um…a little less lube? Take that as you will. But hey, we’ve got teams to preview and questions to ask, so let’s hop to it. We a very special guest for this post…Daniel Brim, to provide his take on what the team has in store this season. Now enough rambling, let’s see what 2016 holds for the Los Angeles Dodgers!

Please, blog, may I have some more?