Masahiro Tanaka hit the DL with a strained forearm. It’s not related to his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. So, here’s my question? Why not just play through the forearm strain too? That’s where he draws the line? It’s like, “I was fine sleeping with my wife’s sister, and having a baby with her that no one knows about, and plotting to kill my wife on a weekend jaunt to Mexico, but I will not jaywalk. Those people in New York are crazy!” You have nothing to lose, Tanaka, get in there and shank someone in the yard and Hacky Sack the ball to the plate! The Yankees haven’t announced how long Tanaka will be out, but maybe they’ll try to sneak in Tommy John surgery while he’s sleeping. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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One Man’s Trash: Addicted to Addison
April 28, 2015 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 73 Commentsby: Big Magoo
Everyone loves rookie nookie. Male upperclassmen scout the incoming class of freshmen girls like a hungry pride of lions stalking an oblivious herd of wildebeest and then pounce when the first opportunity presents itself. Fantasy baseball owners are the same way. They’re predators who stalk their prospect prey until call-ups are announced, and then the feeding frenzy on the waiver wire begins. This week’s prized target is Addison Russell (+66.4%), the new jewel of the Chicago Cubs minor league system ever since Kris Bryant was promoted just a couple of weeks ago. Due to the recent injury to Tommy La Stella and the early struggles of Arismendy Alcantara, Russell got the big league call and many a race to the waiver wire ensued. After all, young middle infielders with power and speed who possess ceilings as high and beautiful as the Sistine Chapel don’t come along every day. Those in redraft formats might want to take a cold shower though. Entering yesterday’s play (22 PA), Russell was sporting a .136/.136/.227 triple slash and had yet to draw a walk except for a dozen back to the dugout (54.5% K%) thus far. His plate discipline numbers make this approach look effective. Small sample size to be sure, but Steamer isn’t terribly optimistic as far as his ROS projections go: 35/9/38/10/.235 in 362 PA. Hang onto Russell for the upside if you have him, but don’t expect a fantasy superstar this season. Those who own him in dynasty leagues can party like it’s 1999. Or roughly 2025. You know what I mean. Here are a couple of this week’s other big adds and drops in fantasy baseball:
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Welcome back my friends and opponents to the best RCL coverage on the net… hey, wait, didn’t I say that last week? Get some new tricks J-FOH! Oh hi there Sky, how did you get into my post? I don’t appreciate you telling everyone that I’ll be jumping out of a cake. You know I hate cake and consider myself a pie guy. Sorry, but I thought the pie trick would be messy. Would you prefer if I have you jump out of an over-sized keg? Perfect, as long as it’s half full, now carry on. [Jay’s Note: I’m pretty sure he would demand that it be a fad microbrew instead…] Thanks for coming in Sky. Okay, now back to where I talk about you readers. It’s still early and it looks like some of you are going into panic mode and that’s one reason why I’ll be highlighting some trades that have gone down this past week that show how hard people are reaching… (these views and opinions do not reflect Grey Albright Inc./Razzball and any affiliates and/or subsidiaries). Not all of them are reaches, but I wouldn’t make some of these trades. I hope some of the traders read this and come in and talk about those deals. As usual, we have the leaders of the week, the leaders of the pack (the top-10) and a new twist on an old staple where I highlight a random league for the whole world to see. You better put your pants because you never know when I will be popping in to take a snap shot. Oh, who am I kidding, who wears pants when they play fantasy baseball? I literally wear the same basketball shorts and sleeveless shirt all season. I wash it during the all-star break.
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I’ve heard many a person say something along the lines of “Daily fantasy baseball is such a crap shoot, it’s such a small sample, there’s no way you can win”. To these negative Nellys I say, “must be the money”. No wait, that wasn’t it, “it’s getting hot in herre”. Nope, oh right, here it is, I present them with the old poker counter argument, why then are the same people at the top of the leaderboards on a routine basis? Just like with poker, if it’s all luck, why do the same players routinely make final tables? Is there luck involved? Of course! But I will argue over and over that if you have a good process, you’ll be a winner in the long run. This is where the importance of bankroll management comes into play. You have to manage well enough that you can allow yourself time to be sure your process is a good one without going broke. A week long losing streak will happen and it sucks, but it doesn’t prove your process is bad. A general tip is to use 5-10% of your bankroll a night. In addition, don’t blow that 10% on GPPs. Just like with the stock market, you have to diversify. If you stick to 10% and play generally low risk options while sprinkling in the occasional GPP and you go broke, then I’d say it’s time to reevaluate your strategy and player evaluation methods. However, if your process is sound and your bankroll management and game choices are smart, you’ll be a winner over the course of the season. Will it be a grind? Yes. Will it be glamorous and you’ll win a hundred grand your first week? Doubtful. You just gotta have the heart of a champion. Now, let’s shake ya tailfeather down below to some player picks for today’s slate.
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?Josh Hamilton was acquired by the Rangers as originally reported by Dan Pants on Saturday. Gammons, Dan Pants, Heyman, that’s the top three most quoted baseball reporters. Dan Pants is a bit more optimistic than me for Hamilton’s return to the Land of Spurs, Twinkie-frying and hats with gigantism. I wouldn’t own Hamilton unless I had a free DL spot and don’t expect much from him. I’ve chimed this triangle before, but have you recently seen Brett Butler? She looks like she’s 89 years old. She’s 57. Have you seen Lohan recently? She looks like she’s 50; she’s 28. Haley Joel Osment just looks awful, I don’t know if he was an addict. Addicts age poorly. Hamilton, 33, has the body of a 60-year-old. Breaking down left and right just getting out of bed. He says he’ll be back in a few weeks, but he’ll go down to another injury, and then when the doctor goes to prescribe something, Hamilton won’t be able to take it due to his addictions and he’ll be back on the DL. It’s a feel-good story (if the only other stories you’ve ever heard involve Amanda Bynes), but I wouldn’t bother. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
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I’m popping a cherry of sorts here… I’m double-dipping in my first ever Pitcher Profile on a hurler already profiled. But things change! People change! Hairstyles change! I’ll miss you the most, scarecrow! (bonus points if you know that movie!)
Two years ago, I broke down Chris Archer‘s first career complete game that Summer… Look at how much we’ve improved! No weekly rankings, no GIFs, it’s like that was written in the stone age! At the time, Archer was a young-up-and-comer who even surprised the most die hard of Archer fans, but after going complete twice in a three game span in 2013, really hasn’t shown uber-dominance in any long stretches. Well, looking back at 2014 he did go on a huge roll starting at the end of May, but never more than say 6 or 7 starts.
After a meh opener, Archer has been a stud the last four, and at age 26 may be finally settling in to an ace-like season. So I decided to break down his outing yesterday hosting the Blue Jays to see if I think this is a new Archer that is going to maintain dominant numbers all year:
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Rajai Davis is, once again, a SAGNOF-ian legend. Again, again, again, was exactly what he did on Saturday when the 34-year-old outfielder stole 3 bases. This year he might just be the best fantasy player of all those playing only part time (the other player fighting for this honor, in my opinion, is Alex Guerrero). He has 6 stolen bases despite starting in only 9 of 18 games through Saturday for the Tigers. Digging up some career stats I see that he’s never needed much playing time to rack up the SBs. Since he broke out with 41 stolen bases in 2009 he’s averaged 42 steals per season while at the same time averaging only 124.5 games played. And many of those games weren’t starts.
Please, blog, may I have some more?In the immortal words of Dave Chappelle, “turn the left speaker up!” Speaking of Chappelle, at least we weren’t drinking during this Podcast! Well, probably not… We’ve got even more new equipment in our new studio, so Grey is a little quiet which may or may not be because his hyena laugh breaks everyone’s stereos… We’ll have it perfect next episode! On today’s show, we talk buy/sell targets in the outfield with Nelson Cruz‘s value, if Shane Greene‘s horrific 4th start makes him droppable, and we mention our RCL Perts league way too much. Grey just likes making fun of Aramis Ramirez any chance he gets! He’s Grey’s walking punchline, kinda like fantasy baseball’s version of Amanda Bynes. We still love you, Manders! Maybe she’s a notorious slow starter too, but she gets really excited-then-confused when you mention a Mendoza line… Here’s the newest edition of the Razzball Baseball Podcast:
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Greetings one and all…oh who am I kidding. Greetings the one that is all. Thanks for reading! So, in full truthiness, I went and googled ‘Full Nelson’. I always gotta check myself before I wreck myself. I had always heard the term with regards to wrestling. Well, not real wrestling. The kind where the big steroid guys shouted the loud, funny words before taking a chair up the backside of their head from Captain Lou Albano. Seriously, that shizz was like stage ballet for meatheads. But back to the point, I found out it does pertain to wrestling (score one for my tattered mind) but also no one knows where the term actually comes from. Meanwhile, the pitcher I’m spotlighting today seems to have come from obscurity as well…hrm, I guess I should’ve just queued the awkward segue because that was, uh, awkward. Neverthewho, Jimmy Nelson wasn’t extremely high on many radars coming into the year. Oh sure, known entity deep sleeper type stuff but everyone said the same thing about him: He can’t get out lefties. So far, that adage has not held true as he’s held them to a .205 wOBA on the year to go with a .195 against righties. Now all the numbers say an adjustment is due as his ERA is a full 2 runs below his xFIP but how many pitchers are really 1.35 ERA pitchers? And that adjustment doesn’t have to all happen in one start, especially against a Reds team that is near the bottom in wRC+ so far this year. In short, he’s pitching like a pitcher who can pitch well and that’s all we need in this crazy little game of ours. At $6,900, he makes it easy to get in a quality high priced arm without skimping the hitting budget. So break out your Hulkamaniac shirt and bring your opponents to the matt with this Nelson. But enough about wrestling, it’s time for my hot takes on the DK Monday afternoon slate…
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?
Wainwright Has One More W Than Healthy Achilles Heels
April 27, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 925 Commentsby: Grey
It seems loud and clear that the roof is closing on Adam Wainwright‘s season. If only he had a 3rd Achilles he could sub in! We should be able to have a schadenfreude party since I told everyone not to draft him this year, but there’s always a few people who still draft him against my wishes, so do we ignore these people and still schadenfreude or do we show pity? *thinks for a millisecond* We schadenfreude party! The schadenfreude party is being held in the superiority complex. Put up the pinata of someone’s ego that is smarter, prettier, funnier or richer and we beat it down! Put on some tunes and let’s do the Point and Laugh Dance! That’s not the Point and Laugh Dance, that’s the African Anteater Ritual. So, Wainwright’s done for 2015 and Carlos Villanueva, Tyler Lyons or Tim Cooney could step in at first, but this will likely be Marco Gonzales’s job for the majority of the year once he returns from the minor league DL with a shoulder issue. I like Gonzales for very deep leagues, especially NL-Only ones, so if you have room, I’d grab him. He’s around a 7+ K/9, low-2 BB/9 guy that could have a 3.75 ERA or under with a good WHIP. Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m headed back to the schadenfreude party, hungry for self-satisfaction, eager for some prigs in a blanket! Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Never once did I think I would be writing about a creeper older than I am, and yet here I am, talking about Torii Hunter. Being the ageless wonder (or is it the wonder of agelessness, I’m not really sure), he still suits up every day and goes out and plays. I was racking my brain for some kind of analogy for the creeper and I found my inspiration from the Paleolithic 80’s flick Quest for Fire, for like this movie, we are just a bunch of uncivilized men searching for a player to catch fire. So why not a Hunter? Haha…get it? Okay, I’ll stop with the bad jokes. Hey, at least I didn’t do Caveman with Ringo Starr. Come to think of it, Hunter could be considered the Twins Ringo. Doesn’t really matter if he’s there or not. Oh well, the moment has passed and now we move on to why we are here…
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DraftKings: If K’s Are King Then This Is Carrasco’s Kingdom
April 26, 2015 | DraftKings | 18 Commentsby: Geoff
The title says it all gents and 4 ladies; on DraftKings K’s are king. If you’re rolling out starters looking to win $ on ratios alone then you ain’t winning at all. Well maybe you’re winning head to head’s against your Uncle Ruprecht, but he eats with a cork on his fork and has a patch on his eye. Therein lies today’s lesson, target the high K guys vs. the high K lineups. It just so happens we have two high K/9 guys going today against teams with 20%+ K percentages. Grand, I know. One of these strikeout studs just so happens to be Razzball favorite and Grey Novio Carlos Carrasco. Over the past two starts, C-Dub has been about as lucky as one could be. First taking a line drive off the cabeza, and then getting pulled from his last start due to tightness. Well it looks like Carrasco should be back on the mound again today against the Tigers. Don’t get me wrong, starting a pitcher vs Miggy and company is not for the faint of heart, but here’s my thinking. 1. There’s a pretty good chance his ownership levels are lower than usual due to his opponent, and 2. 14.29….That’s his K/9. Yes 14.29. If he can get into the 6th or 7th you’re looking at 10 K’s minimum. The price of $9,000 is the highest of the day but well worth it when you consider the potential upside.
Wait Ralph you promised us two high K rate pitchers with matchups vs 20%+ K percentage teams. Who’s the other guy? Hold your horses kemosabe and I’ll tell you. It’s none other than Mr. Blue Sky himself Lance Lynn. Why is Lance Lynn Mr. Blue Sky? No idea but it’s my story and I can say what I want. Well anyway Lance faces the Brewers, a team that K’s at a rate of 23.6%, and thus far on the young season Lynn is punching out batters at a rate of 10.38 per 9. Not bad right? Even better is the threat of the Brewers blowing up for a huge offensive day is on the unlikely side of not going to happen. How bad are the Brewers at scoring runs? Only the Phillies have less runs scored than the Brewers and I’m pretty sure they’ve been starting guys that died 4 years ago in the bottom half of their lineup. Lynn’s price tag checks in at $8,800, hardly the type of gap that’s going to prohibit you from filling your lineup with beefy bats.
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?
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