Victor Martinez, 2015 Fantasy Schmohawk

March 3, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 389 Comments

Wah-wah. Sad trombone. “Those aren’t pillows!” Or whatever signal you want for a reversal from good to bad. That was what I heard when it was announced that Victor Martinez had a torn meniscus, which reminds me of a conversation I had when calculators were first introduced in 1961 and I had to abandon my loyalty to my other counting device, screaming, “I’m torn, abacus!” I got sad when Martinez was hurt, not because I wanted to draft him and now he had an injury. I was saddened because now I figured my ranking of him in the 110’s wouldn’t be as low as other ‘perts. You know, they’d hear this news and lower him. Much to my surprise, I overestimated the rest of the ‘pert world. They still have him ranked 75 overall on average. *scratches head* You know, head scratching really doesn’t help one understand anything, which sounds like a line from C.J. Wilson’s latest dandruff commercial. CBS has him ranked 15th overall. I’m not even joking. I wish I were. “Your final wish is granted.” No, Genie in a Bottle, it’s a figure of speech! Okay, it looks like CBS has changed his ranking slightly, that was before the knee surgery. Stupid, wish-taking Genie! Martinez is still ranked way too high, and it has nothing to do with the surgery. So, what makes Victor Martinez overrated for 2015 fantasy baseball?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Fantasy Baseball Player Valuation Musings – Position Adjustments

by: Rudy Gamble

The road to creating fantasy baseball auction dollar projections is paved with many decisions. Some are plagued with methodological potholes but, if done right, the resulting $ projections should basically get to the same place. (The player projections are the primary driver in differences between competent systems)

Since this is the time of the year where this topic matters, I thought I would shine a light on some of the less visible decisions that impact fantasy baseball auction dollar estimates. I will do my best to keep this from devolving into a mathematical or methodological exercise.

These musings will bleed into at least a second post. This first post is going to focus solely on Position Adjustments.

I have been spending a lot of time thinking about position adjustments this preseason. A significant portion of the fantasy baseball world seems to unconditionally believe that ‘position scarcity’ exists. EVERY draft has a number of C/2B/SS that would be drafted later if they were 1B/3B/OF.

Here are four theories on position adjustments – ranging from smallest to largest:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The Numbers Game: Finding the Next Corey Kluber (Part Two)

March 2, 2015 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 122 Comments

by: Big Magoo

The day of reckoning is upon us. You could even say that today is judgment day. The pitching machine known as the Klubot didn’t feel pity, or remorse, or even elbow pain en route to 269 hitter terminations via the strikeout last season and earning the ’14 Cy Young Award to take into the future. But the question remains, “Why was Terminator Salvation even made?” Wait a second, wrong question. The one we’re looking to answer today is: “Who is the next Klubot off of the assembly line?”

In the first part of this series, we identified the starting pitchers who met the “Kluber criteria” during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. But what exactly are those criteria comprised of? Here are the search parameters that I used to try to find the next Corey Kluber:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Under The Greydar: Russell Martin

March 2, 2015 | Uncategorized | 59 Comments

by: Sky

Let’s be fair to the title here and say first off, we’re talking catcher and we all know how much Grey cares about catchers. I’d say he cares more about closers than he does catchers. That says a lot. But with that said, I’d dare say he’s pushed the catcher hate even a tad further with Russell Martin. Literally, he’s almost the anti-Alyssa Milano this time around with his current ranking of Russ, placing him 17th in his Top 20 Catchers For 2015 Fantasy Baseball. BTW, Milano recently had her second baby and I’m going on record here and saying she’s still MILF approved by this writer…or is it blogger? I don’t know what people who type on the internet are. All I know is this isn’t a dating site. Unless Alyssa is reading this and wants to work something out. Hey girl! But for realsies, let’s get to it. Here’s why I think shopping at R-Mart is a great, cheap way to get your catcher for the 2015 Fantasy Baseball season…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Podcast: “You Can’t Do It, You’re Scaring The Kids!”

March 2, 2015 | All Podcasts | 33 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

The Razzball Baseball Podcast is back! From the dormant winter, we have returned Game of Thrones north-of-the-wall-style (wait, so are we zombies or hot Scottish redheads?) to bring the fantasy legend of Grey’s mustache back to the airwaves. Grey and I will be your hosts for this season, with Rudy peppered in making our well-seasoned soup. We’ll have the Pods out every Monday morning, and on today’s show we talk about Nick Capozzi’s sex-suggesting voice, why “other” fantasy experts lie to their families, and Grey’s omnipresent (probably incorrect adjective use) love for Francisco Liriano. Here’s the first Razzball Baseball Podcast of 2015:

Download from iTunes

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Catchers To Target, 2015 Fantasy Baseball

March 2, 2015 | Uncategorized | 379 Comments

by: Grey

Here, friend, are some catchers that I will be targeting at my 2015 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 2015 projections. This is a (legal-in-most-countries) supplement to the top 20 catchers of 2015 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 2015 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2015 Top 50 Fantasy Prospects

March 1, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 193 Comments

by: Mike

The title pretty much says it all, so instead of a big intro this opening paragraph will link you to some more helpful information regarding prospects. Here are the Top 30 prospects for 2015 redraft leagues. Here are the American League and National League Top 10 prospect indexes. We also have the Top 20 2014 signees for first-year player drafts in dynasty formats. Last but not least, here are my Top 100 keeper rankings. In the prospect rankings below, more specific ETAs are given as well as links to the organizational top ten list for each player. Just click on the team abbreviation to view my comments on individual prospects. Only two-thirds of the teams are written up, so apologies if not all of the links are live just yet. Ages listed are as of Opening Day 2015. Here are the Top 50 prospects for 2015 fantasy baseball…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

OBP Leagues: In Need of Some Headley

February 28, 2015 | OPS Leagues | 23 Comments

by: TheHukillEffect

Playing in an OBP league not only takes into account more of the players overall performance, it can also help you get a couple of steals on draft day. I took a look at third base and singled out a few players to target and one to pass over that others in your league may be sleeping on…

Looking at the top-5 in OBP last year, we end up with Adrian Beltre (.388), Matt Carpenter (.375), Carlos Santana (.365), Casey McGehee (.355), and Anthony Rendon (.351). No surprise that at number one, is the top ranked third baseman going into 2015, and Rendon is going in the top-20 overall in most leagues, however the others are a bit more surprising. No one is taking Casey McGehee in the top-20 at third base in any league, and no one should, but it’s interesting to see him so high on the list. Looking past him, we have a couple of guys that are pretty well known to be more valuable in OBP leagues: Carpenter and Santana. Each brings a different skill set to the table, but have significantly more value in an OBP league vs. standard, and if your league is a new to OBP, you should be able to get both at a bargain. Here are a few stand outs that I am targeting in any OBP league.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2015 Disgraces and Delights: Third Basemen

February 27, 2015 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball | 71 Comments

by: LT Murray IV

I dont ef with none of y’all sites anyway

Your funeral could be any day

Ever since Domonic Brown said, “Beddict, let me play”

All these haters been in the way

I’m just doin what Grey and Rudy say

Putting out 1000 tweets a day

Greetings! I came extra hard-body with the intro today, for the fact that I can’t recall EVER being so keyed up for a fantasy baseball season. My game slipped last year and I’m not proud of it. One could say swinger clubs, mankini modeling across the globe, and building schools for the underprivileged took up most of my time, but say one thing for Tehol Beddict, he’s not one to rationalize subpar results. Much of my spare time has been spent making countless sacrifices to the Elder Gods in hopes of gaining their favor for the upcoming season. One of them (Draconus) came to me during a peyote induced hallucination this past weekend, telling me that I must take a vow of celibacy from spring training till the end of the regular season if I am to acquire their assistance in dominating ALL of my leagues. To say the decision was difficult would be the understatement of the millennium, but after speaking with my agent and numerous lovers on the subject, the answer became clearer than the Saran rap I use as a backup when I run out of dental dams. Yes, the only men and women I’ll be servicing this year are you, the readers. Prepare yourself, for we will be traveling to uncharted depths of fantasy baseball analysis as well as unearthing the true reasoning for the disgraceful fall-offs of Nicolas Cage, Stephen Dorff, and of course, Christian Slater.

I am Tehol Beddict and this is, Disgrace/Delight! Take Heed!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Breakin’ Betances

February 27, 2015 | Closers | 24 Comments

by: Smokey

Now, I am not here to completely make a crap storm on Dellin Betances one single bit, I just wanna put that out there right away. I am a Yankees fan first, and fantasy guys on my team second. I am simply here to make a cumulative prognosis on stats from last year and how they correlate to this year. In this early part of the preseason, Betances has a manageable ADP of 94, or basically the 5th closer off the books. There are a few factors that I am worried about as we get nearer to the season, and I just wanted to point them out. (As if you were buying me a beer, and we were sitting at a bar swapping war stories, and comparing notches on each others belts.)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The “It’s Only Dandruff In My Nose” Excuse Finally Fails

February 27, 2015 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 502 Comments

by: Grey

I’m not a total ass. Partial? Sure! I have no problem with that. With that said (here comes the ass part!), I have no sympathy for Josh Hamilton. Everywhere you look you hear about how heartbreaking, sad, *searches Thesaurus.com for sympathetic word* it is that happened to Hamilton. Light a candle for the literal manifestation of the prayers that you send out to him. Put on If You’re Gone by Matchbox Twenty and picture Rob Thomas singing directly to Josh. Go to your local package store and protest until they close on Sundays. Do what you want, but you know what’s heartbreaking to me? The fact that spring training starts and the baseball news that people are discussing is Hamilton running down the wrong foul lines. Also, I feel like most of the sad emoticons that go out for him are generated because he believes in God, family and is white, especially the last one. If he were non-white, there would be no sympathy from anyone. A Josh Hamiltonguez would be released by his club and the public’s silence would be deafening. Arizona would even consider building a fence to keep him out. A Josh Hamiltonjackson would be vilified and there would be a criminal case opened with only the Reverend Al Sharpton standing by his side. Torii Hunter would need to say something, because no one else is. My advice for Hamilton is get some help, but stay away from Dr. Drew, because one out of three celebrities never make it out of Celeb Rehab. Maybe at some point Hamilton can get past the crack and back to the crack of the bat, but I don’t have much hope for him this year and have adjusted my top 100 outfielders. Anyway, here’s what else is going in spring training for fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2015 Draft Goals by Category for 5×5 Fantasy Baseball Leagues

February 26, 2015 | 2015 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 67 Comments

by: Rudy Gamble

This is a post for the fantasy baseball drafters who use Excel, Google Docs, or some other war room software that automatically totals a drafted team’s stats while in the middle of a draft. Or perhaps for those of you who do mock drafts or simulated drafts.

The below grid represents my projected 75% mark in each stat category across 10/12/14/15/16 team ESPN and Yahoo default roster format leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?