The BBC announced during the shutdown that when the season returns they will keep airing reruns of Fawlty Davis, delaying Mountcastle for the foreseeable future. The BBC’s head of programming Peter Angelos, noted spendthrift and lover of reality shows, said, “We should air a full season of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here starring Richie Martin trying to unsuccessfully cross the River Ruiz.” Filling their lineup:  Hanser & Renato, a BBC surprise hit, will be returning, and generating some underground enthusiasm is Austin “Martin” Hays, a David Tennant-led vehicle, where he’s a mechanic by day and detective by night, and Dwight Smith Jr. & Jose Iglesias starring in AB Unfab, where they just get gross at-bats. Okay, seriously, what on the earth that is in total lockdown is going on with the Orioles? They announced Ryan Mountcastle was optioned to the minors. THERE’S NOT EVEN ANY MINORS?! There’s no freakin’ baseball, Orioles, you giant nimrods! How can they be so dense? Trey Mancini, which I still pronounce like fettuccini, but hoping he gets healthy, needs some time, I’d imagine. Doesn’t cancer lead to chemo which leads to a lower immune system? That makes me think Mancini won’t be back this year, and I removed him from my top 20 1st basemen for 2020 fantasy baseball, while also moving down Mountcastle. Now all we have to look forward to is the new season of Luther starting Idris Alberto. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this week for 2020 fantasy baseball:

Chris Sale – Headed for Tommy John surgery. Imagine James Corden dressed as a giant cat. Now picture that giant Corden cat in a small closet, and all the movement it makes you can hear from anywhere in your house. When you open the closet door and he jumps out, how shocked are you? Zero shocked? Yeah, of course. That’s the level of shock with this Chris Sale news. On a scale of “very surprising” to “people trying to make toilet paper out of cauliflower,” this is definitely on the cauliflower side of things. The only surprising thing is the Sawx took this long to send Sale for the operation. Were they waiting for an opening in Dr. James Andrews’s schedule? “Um, doc, that patient has Covid-19, why are you removing his elbow tendon?” That’s right before nurses escorted Dr. James Andrews out of an actual hospital. So, I’ve removed Chris Sale from the top 40 starters for 2020 fantasy baseball, and only wish more people would’ve drafted him prior to the news. See you in 2022, Sale! Hey, now that I think about it, we all might be on Tommy John surgery schedule. When can we get out of our houses and do long toss?

Brian Johnson – Best candidate to replace Sale in the rotation. He has 6.5 K/9, 4 BB/9 potential. Ah, that explains why the Sawx took nine months to send Sale for surgery. BJ sucks.

Giancarlo Stanton – Took batting practice. Yanks’ hitting coach, Marcus Thames, said Stanton “looks good.” Guess I could be the Yanks’ hitting coach, because I’ve been saying Stanton looks good for a decade. I’m telling him he looks good right now as I sit in my beanbag chair I have dressed in a Giancarlo jersey with pool noodles going through the sleeves for arms wrapped around me for comfort.

Aaron Judge – His rib fracture has shown a slight improvement. Why do I picture his ribs like Betty Rubble putting the brontosaurus ribs on Fred’s car and tipping it over? Judge had a collapsed lung since last year that was undiagnosed. Talk about missing the forest for the trees. How do you miss a collapsed lung that is prolly the size of Connecticut? The delay of the season seems to help Judge, so I moved him back up into the top 20 outfielders, but it’s precarious (like his ribs), at best.

Miles Mikolas – Has resumed throwing and expects to be ready when we’re talking about ‘flat curves’ vs. ‘flattening the curve.’ I haven’t moved him up in the top 100 starters, because he had a flexor tendon strain, and that doesn’t just get better.

Sam Tuivailala – Released by the Mariners. He was removed from my top 500 for 2020 fantasy baseball. Replacing him to get M’s saves is…uh…um…well…uh…did I stall with that already…yeah, I don’t know. Magill or Hirano, I guess.

Lance McCullers – Has been working out with a few other Astros. “So, there’s an Orange Bang, the drink, and an Orange-uniformed bang for a change–” That’s McCullers quieting right as Dusty Baker walks by. I was way off McCullers in my top 60 starters, but the shortened season is wrecking havoc on some starters I was worried about due to restricted IP. I plan on going through each position with a post about plusses and minuses, due to shortened season. Right now, I’ve just gone through my 2020 fantasy baseball rankings and prorated everyone down to a 100-game season for a rough/ready look at new projections, but that doesn’t tell the full story on some guys. Feel like we’re gonna have the whole month of April to do this.

Ryon Healy – Optioned to the minors. This was the Brewers this offseason: “How do we ever replace the awfulness of Travis Shaw?” “I don’t know, get six terrible corner infielders and hope they can equal one truly egregious Travis Shaw?” Any hoo! Healy will be back at some point, and he’s in my top 20 1st basemen, but barely.

Ke’Bryan Hayes – Optioned to the minors. Ya know sometimes rather than saying, “Yes, Bryan,” to my friend, Bryan, I say, “Ke’Bryan.” Same? Aw, we are two peas in a pod. *long wistful sigh* Any hoo! This sucks, but if the Pirates get off their parrot-poo’d asses and sign Hayes, he could still be the starter by the time the season starts. If not, he’ll come up eventually, and remains a late flyer in deep leagues in my top 20 3rd basemen.

Andres Munoz – Underwent Tommy John surgery. Okay, now guys are just like, “What can I do to make the quarantine go by quicker?” For you, that means fixing the railing on your porch; for major league pitchers it means Tommy John. Munoz was removed from my top 500.

Touki Toussaint – Optioned to the minors. C’mon, there’s antitrust laws; someone needs to break up the Braves’ minor league pitching monopoly.

Tyler MahleReds might go with a six-man rotation if MLB returns with, literally, no off days for five months, and Tyler Mahle would be the benefit of that. You might remember Tyler Mahle as a guy I bought in my Tout Wars draft. Or maybe you remember Mahle as a guy who had a 129:34 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 129 2/3 IP last year.

Spencer Howard – Phils said that Howard might make team as the 5th starter. Or rather a reporter speculated that the Phils might make Howard their 5th starter. Howard made one appearance in the spring, and our Steamer pitcher projections have him, generously I might add, down for 25 IP this year. In a shortened spring training, I think the Phils would prefer to risk rushing along Pivetta or Velasquez to be their 5th starter.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa – His hot spring has made a believer out of Rangers manager and Higher Love singer, Chris Woodward, and our very own Son with his Isiah Kiner-Falefa fantasy. Isiah doesn’t really have a place to play every day, but, as an Israeli might say, maybe they stick Falefa where the sun don’t shine, which is 3rd base.

Ryan Yarbrough – Him and Yonny Chirinos have a chance to be ‘traditional starters,’ which makes my heart swoon, then my heart thinks about how it was kinda all right with them going from the 2nd inning to the 6th, and now my heart needs a nap. Think this is still a developing story, but I like both in my top 80 starters.

Yoelqui Cespedes – Younger brother of Yoenis was declared an international free agent. You’d think with a last name like Cespedes the family would have some limbs to spare for Yoenis.

Shaun Anderson – Optioned to minors. Writing was on the wall when he was in the bullpen, and then the Giants decided to start stretching him out for the rotation. Not sure who the Giants’ 5th man is now. Hearing good things about this guy, Sheldon N. Place.

Rich Hill – According to the Twins, Hill’s still on track to return in June. In these dire times, optimism is all we have. I’ll pour a glass of water just to say to the glass, “No, you’re half full.” With that said, Hill can’t throw more than 40 IP in a season when pitchers throw 200 IP. Ain’t shizz change for him in a shortened season.

Logan Allen – Optioned to minors. Was a foregone conclusion with his spring, and I had Zach Plesac in my top 80 starters since January. Wasn’t in my starters to target post the other day, but he’s been largely forgotten, while I’m over here like, “Zach,” pleadingly, “Plesac.”

Shohei Ohtani – Has been throwing and should be able to pitch as soon as the season starts. If you drafted Ohtani already, this is good news. Dot dot dot. Seemingly. He’s still going to be restricted to pitching once a week, and won’t be hitting the day after pitching. In weekly leagues, he’s next-to-impossible to own, but, in daily leagues, he should be worth around a 120-ish overall pick, which is where I have him ranked — go figure! — and I’m not moving him in my top 500.

Joey Wentz – Underwent Tommy John surgery, i.e. if you were wondering, that’s where Joey Wentz.

120 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
LOLmets
LOLmets
2 years ago

In a world with a functioning economy …

9 million people die each year from starvation.

Imagine the impact to the World Economy that the lockdowns are creating

We are guaranteeing the starvatiin of hundreds of millions of people …

So we can all feel safe

We’re a nation who literally steps over homeless people on our way to work. We constantly cut funding to properly care for our elderly and ill. Now all of a sudden we want to hault the world and put millions of people at risk who can’t afford to not work? What about their families? For what? To protect against a threat that isn’t even close to a guarantee to do as much damage as the doomsday sayers are calling for?

Where do we draw the line? At what cost do we try to save a million sick and elderly citizens from a potential threat, while putting millions more people in danger by shutting down the world?

We are massively controlled and it’s horrifying to think about the scope of what’s really going on here.

Better Call Limehouse
Better Call Limehouse
Reply to  LOLmets
2 years ago

and currently kills 1.3% of u.s. people, and that includes the very old, for anybody under 65 it’s far less than that. nobody has died if under 10 at all. it’s getting treated like it’s almost captain trips (fictional, the disease from the stand that killed like 99.5% of all u.s.). what would happen if like a 20% death rate disease showed up, you get shot for leaving your house? (clearly the u.s. is far too big, with far too many people with guns to police that, even if the military were involved, outside of bio weapons). it’s complete mickey mouse here. the only REAL fear would be if the disease mutates into something that actually kills a high %, which is possible, but there’s no evidence that will actually happen, and IF it did happen, those who got one of the 2 already existent versions of this thing would be FAR better off, their immune system would already know what it is (think chicken pox)

Better Call Limehouse
Better Call Limehouse
2 years ago

16 team h2h with 6 keepers and hits/OPS/QS/holds added. see how this one looks (it’s speed light, but not horrible, and i should be likely to keep mercado as one of the 6 going forward). drafted out of the 8 slot in odds, 9th in evens.
C vaz (17)
1B goldy (K)
2B l.gurriel (12)
SS amed (so far i think i’ve drafted this guy everywhere, 11)
3B torenado (K)
OF (3) gallo
ozuna (7, 1st round after keepers)
mercado (8)
util (2)
– otani (hitter only, K)
– E5 (13)
BN joc 1B/OF (16)
NA (1) kirilloff (20)

SP (7 or 8)
– corbin (K)
– lynn (K)
– carrasco (10)
– musgrove (14)
– gausman (18)
– gibson (21)
– cueto (23)
streamer spot goes in SP 8 after slotting kirilloff
RP: (6 or 7)
– rogers (9)
– d.castillo (15)
– kintzler (19)
– karinchak (22)
– barlow (24)
– magill (25

Boris
Boris
2 years ago

Hey Grey, am I an idiot for taking lamet instead of gray and fried instead of gallen?

Better Call Limehouse
Better Call Limehouse
Reply to  Boris
2 years ago

if by gray you meant j.gray (COL) for sure that’s good. doubt you did though.

TC
TC
2 years ago

10 team H2H 5×5 OBP and QS league. Redraft. Thoughts on roster? It’s a win / loss league per week. No category carry over, so I went more toward power and OBP focus early. Order of picks, where I had the first spot…

Trout, JDM, Rendon, Rizzo, Machado, Mondesi, Castillo, Grandal, Biggio, Pham, Lamet, Conforto, S.Gray, Neris, L.Lynn, L. Gurriel,
J.Urias, Kennedy, Cron, Maeda, JDDavis, Odorizzi, Berti, Musgrove, Grisham, K.Gibson, D.Hudson

Appreciate thoughts from any and all.

TC
TC
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

C- Grandal
1- Rizzo
2- Biggio
SS- Mondesi
3- Rendon
2/SS- Machado
1/3- Cron
OF- Trout, JDM, Conforto, Pham
UTil- L. Gurriel, JD Davis
Bench- Berti

Starters- L.Castillo, Lamet, S. Gray, J.Urias, Odorizzi, Maeda, Musgrove, Gibson

RP- Neris, Kennedy, and Hudson

TC
TC
Reply to  TC
2 years ago

Lance Lynn too

DMW
DMW
2 years ago

10 Team Keeper League, what do you think? We have Saves+Holds as a stat in place of Saves.

C – Grandal
1B – J Abreu
2B – Albies
3B – Rendon
SS – T. Turner
CI – C Santana
MI – Bogaerts
OF – V Robles
OF – Stanton
OF – Judge
OF – Brantley
UT – C Walker
B – L Cain, L Gurriel, Moustakas, Mazara, W Calhoun, J Profar
P – Paddack, Darvish, Giolito, Bauer, S Gray, Chapman, J Urias, Heaney, Betances, D Castillo, Treinen, Barnes.

sal
sal
2 years ago

Keeper league 10 teams batting line up C Kelly, C Walker, D Santana, M Muncy, Tatis, Yelich, Laureano, Mercado, Dahl, Mondesi, Bn Kingery and Verugo

I feel like I am lacking in another power bat.. move a piece or do you think leave alone for now

KrazyIvan
KrazyIvan
2 years ago

The first two drafts thus far I have tried to target 1.speed, and 2.position hitters early, then 3. pitching and last 4.OF

Team 1
C: Garver
CI: Ramirez, Moncada, Walker, White
MI: Turner, Anderson, Marte, Arraez
OF: Laureano, Calhoun, Peralta, Riley, Domingod, Grisham
UT: Alvarez
SP:Darvish, Gray, ERod, Musgrove, Urquidy, Yarbrough
RP: Hand, Kintzler, Givens.

How did I do overall?
Thanks

KrazyIvan
KrazyIvan
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

12 RCL

KrazyIvan
KrazyIvan
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Thanks,
My other 12 teamer I used the same strategy but came out looking a little weaker IMO:
C: Narvaez
CI: Freeman, Moncada, Edman, White
MI: Moustakas, Bichette, Anderson
OF: Betts, Ozuna, McCutchen, Hilliard, Canha, Yoshi
UT: Alvarez

SP: Giolito, Kluber, Hendricks, Heaney, Odorizzi, Urquidy, (Bundy and Reylo-it was a late draft)
RP: Neris, Gallegos

A lot of the same names and a little better floor here, but not as excited about the ceiling. Drafting Bundy and Reylo seems ridiculous but i was hunting cheap K’s.

KrazyIvan
KrazyIvan
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Yea, I don’t mind having Kluber, I just wish he was a 4/5 starter rather then the 2/3. I’m interested in seeing how the offensive output changes at the new Globe life. They can cover it now and the park is oriented toward the north instead of the south. The days of those majestic bombs to right field may be over.

Two OFs on the WW are interesting. Santander and Akiyama. Would you drop Canha for either? I’m holding Hilliard even though I know Bud Black will turn that sideways like he always does.

chris pierce
chris pierce
2 years ago

Grey,

10 team keeper league 5X5 OBP & 5×5 QS/K/9

Own Freeman, Bellinger, Arenado & Story. I believe Stanton could be there for at 12. Are you definitely out on him?

Rudy has him at #21.

Thinking Laureano,Chapman, Moose, Donaldson, Stanton and Cruz could all be there.

I didn’t have a 1st rd pick or 3rd rd pick, but I have (3) 4th rd picks.

chris pierce
chris pierce
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Yes in a OBP keeper league.

Laureano,Chapman, Moose, Donaldson, Stanton and Cruz could be there as well. I provided the best available.

chris
chris
2 years ago

Hi Grey,

Did a draft, subject to re-do in case of further postponment to start of MLB.

Anyhow, below my draft:
h2h, 12 teams,
tb, runs, hr, rbi, sbs, avg, obp
w, sv, era, whip, ks, qs

C. Garver
1b. Pete Alonso
2b. Ketel Marte
3b. Sano
ss. Story
OF. Soto
OF. Starling Marte
OF. Puig
UTl. Encarnacion
UTL. Ahmed Rosario
BN. Choo

Sp. Giolito
Sp. Berrios
P. Montas
P. Ryu
P. Odorizzi
P. Urquidy
P. Cueto
P. Anibal Sanchez
Rp. Daniel Hudson, Watson, May

i figured i went some what late on pitching but had high cealing with the first 6 sps.
then went with 2 “old” sps looking for some magiv, and with RP, punted the saves, but are top rp next in line.

what are you thoughts?
strong to contend are need to look for some pieces eswhere?

regards,
Chris

joe
joe
3 years ago

Lothario have you done a a best ball dynasty 30 team 5 years league.

9 utilities
9 pitchers

by round 15 starters are all taken as well as Saves….

kinda fun to try and grab your ml guys especially this year do the guys who would start coming up get pushed back a year with little to no baseball.

would love to see grey monster to get into a league (yes i know itch bdon and others rule this world)

will you partake in one of these for our pleasure?

joe
joe
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

the build is so hard u need to have 18 starters but still look out to year 3,4,5

and because there are 30 teams MLb Players under 30 disappear fast.

its very interesting how you attack your ML guys

u need in

Gator
Gator
3 years ago

In a 3 year keeper league, no dollars or rounds applied, how would you rank Judge, Machado & Springer? Thanks

FrankGrimes
FrankGrimes
3 years ago

Giri/Haji was good… next?
The last episode tho. I’m obviously not as cultured
as the FML explain please.

FrankGrimes
FrankGrimes
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

Have not seen it.
The opera part came out of no where.
Aren’t you Hollywood bougie? Haha.

FrankGrimes
FrankGrimes
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

Haha that’s why I Ask you for the gist

CJL
CJL
3 years ago

Who knows if we’ll even have a season but I just wrapped my first RCL draft and would love feedback on it anyway!

C: Narvaez
C: Sisco
1B: C. Walker
2B: Marte
SS: Story
3B: Rendon
MI: Swanson
CI: La Stella
OF: Soler
OF: Conforto
OF: Calhoun
OF: Grisham
OF: Polanco
UT: Smoak
Bench: Pillar, O’Neill, Cano, Maybin, Hoerner, Moreland, Kiner-Falefa, Bruce, Pina, Beaty, Thaiss, Joyce, Brujan

P: Castillo
P: Gray
P: E-Rod
P: Weaver
P: Civale
P: Cueto
P: P. Lopez
P: Taylor Rogers
P: Will Smith
Bench: Daniel Hudson, Lyles, Helsley, Lauer, Romo, J. Ross, Poche, W. Harris, Deivi Garcia, Ian Anderson, Kahnle, Brault, Richard Rodriguez, Brady Singer

CJL
CJL
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

For sure low on speed and saves — the latter kinda intentionally, the former less so — but Polanco’s in the heart of the order and decent if boring when healthy (especially in the 20th round) and Smoak was wildly unlucky last year moving to a park that gooses lefty power. Feel like if he winds up on the strong side of that platoon (…Logan Morrison or Ryon Healy, really?) he could go wild.

CJL
CJL
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

Oh, hah, that’s my fault — this was one of the 50-team draft and holds. Thanks for the feedback as always!

CJL
CJL
Reply to  CJL
3 years ago

*50-round

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

I’ve been reacting to all of the COVID-19 news and how that might make some of these top tier prospects actually start the season in the big leagues and also not be hurt by an innings limit

I added Mackenzie Gore and Spencer Howard

Honestly can’t stop myself from add/drops, I need my fantasy fix

Tweak
Tweak
3 years ago

Baltimore really doesn’t have any excuse to not give Mountcastle as much MLB time as possible. I’m also assuming that this means that Mancini is out long-term. I certainly hope that his road to recovery is a smooth one.

The Orioles actually have a few interesting pieces (probably good low-key in-season bench additions) in Mountcastle, Nunez and Diaz (whenever he plays this year).

Magill or Carl Edwards Jr in Seattle for scrappy saves.

I like the Allen option, as it supports my Plesac needs.

The whole back-end of the Reds rotation seems like it has upside after Castillo/Bauer. Hoping they play well out of the gate. Anything can happen in a short season!

Had my RCL draft on Sat and I think it went well, but I always feel like I’m drafting from behind (in true RCL fashion). Everyone I have my eye on seems to go ~1-5 picks before mine. I had #9 overall:

C – Posey 24/280
1B – C Santana 11/129
2B – E Escobar 10/112
3B – Y Gurriel 9/105
SS – F Tatis Jr 2/16
OF1 – J Soto 1/9
OF2 – S Marte 3/33
OF3 – E Jimenez 4/40
OF4 – N Mazara 16/184
OF5 – R Braun 19/225
CI – R McMahon 15/177
MI – G Lux 14/160
Uti – M Andujar 20/232

BN – E White 22/256
BN – M Dubon 23/273

SP – T Bauer 6/64
SP – Z Wheeler 8/88
SP – K Maeda 12/136
SP – R Ray 13/153
SP – J Musgrove 17/201
SP – C Smith (MIA) 18/208
SP – A DeSclafani 21/249
SP – Z Plesac 25/297

RP – J Hader 5/57
RP – K Yates 7/81

Tweak
Tweak
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

Hey Grey, thanks for the review.

I normally eschew early OFs (dismissing the position as generally deep despite needing at least 5), unless I can grab an early Soto-type. At each of my picks at Rds 1/3/4, they fell into my lap. Pretty happy with a top-3 OF lineup of Soto, Marte and Eloy.

I do feel a bit weak in MI outside of Tatis. I’ve got to pin hopes on Escobar continuing to produce (and I feel like Arizona’s offense is underrated) and one of Lux or McMahon breaking out. Lots of “ifs” with them plus Andujar, White and Dubon, but what can you do? Agreed that I felt light on SBs, but speed is so pricey at the higher picks.

I felt a little weak on SV without a third closer to scrape up an extra dozen or so.

Smith is alright, but there weren’t a ton of other appealing options in that pick range. After Bauer/Wheeler/Maeda/Ray, I felt that everyone else was dispensable if needed. I’m hoping for a breakout for at least one of the other four, but otherwise I can just stream.

terrible ted
terrible ted
3 years ago

Thanks for the article. We are in keeper league purgatory. Keeps are locked but no draft in sight. Wondering how other leagues are handling this…draft anyway? Wait for an announced start date? Reopen keepers?

The Roster Mechanic
keith o branstetter
Reply to  terrible ted
3 years ago

We went ahead with our drafts in 4 leagues, most everyone said they welcomed the distraction. If your league doesn’t want to draft I would at least reopen keepers.

The Great Knoche
3 years ago

Flowery Twats!
Flay Otters!

Carl Edwards the Head Case Jr. For Mariners saves flyers.

The Great Knoche
The Great Knoche
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

BBC Fawlty Towers. You went a different direction. I didn’t.

here comes the pizza
here comes the pizza
3 years ago

What’s up Grey?

Hope you’ve been well! Had my first draft this weekend. 7×7 w/ OBP and TBs.

C – Navarez
1B – Olson
2B – Cavan Biggio
3B – JoRam
SS – Xander
OF – Yelich
OF – Soler
OF – Laureano
Util – Yordan Alvarez
Bench – Moncada
Bench – Hunter Dozier

P – Darvish
P – Lynn
P – Gallen
P – Lamet
P – Odorizzi
P – Stroman
P – Caleb Smith
P – Houser
P – Urquidy
RP – Kela

here comes the pizza
here comes the pizza
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

Whoops my bad. 12 team

here comes the pizza
here comes the pizza
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Thanks Grey! Due to everything going on with the virus, did not have as much draft prep time as I normally do. Spent most of the day Saturday soaking up everything you’ve written like a sponge and then hoping for the best.

Luckily my league is on ESPN and sheesh their rankings are bananas.

whitt23
whitt23
3 years ago

Please disregard my accidental reply on Paul’s post above. Fat finger day!!!

10 Team Yahoo draft last night. Head to head categories with 5 keepers who were Harper, Hiura, Olson, Jo-Ram, Meadows. Roster ended up: Grandal, Olson, Hiura, Jo-Ram, Correa, Harper, Meadows, S Marte, Dozier, Polanco, McMahon, McCutchen, Guriell Jr, Carlson, Bieber, Clevinger, Woodruff, S Gray, Lamet, Houser, Bundy, Keller, Hand, Workman, Jimenez.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Paul
Paul
Reply to  whitt23
3 years ago

All good Buddy

galica
galica
3 years ago

Grey!!!

Awesome injury report / update!

a. Drafted my second RCL last night. How’d I do?

Alfaro (24, 279)
Alonso (2, 15)
Villar (5, 58)
Urshela (18, 207)
Tatis (1, 10)
La Stella (20, 231)
Marte (4, 39)
Soler (6, 63)
Stanton (9, 106)
Mercado (10, 111)
Carlson (21, 250)
Andujar (17, 202)
Bench – Madrigal (22, 255), Tsutsugo (25, 298), Grisham (dropped Alex Wood – 16, 183), Hilliard (dropped Kintzler – 23, 274)

SP
S Gray (7, 82)
Odorizzi (11, 130)
Ryu (12, 135)
Heaney (15, 178)
Richards (19, 226)

RP
Chapman (8, 87)
N Anderson (13, 154)
Workman (14, 159)

b. MLB quote of the day for May 22, 1953

‘I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider; then, I’d pick up the speed of the ball in the first thirty feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it had crossed the plate.’

Stanley ‘Stan’ Frank Musial, aka Stan The Man one of the greatest ever.

Cheers,
Ante

FrankGrimes
FrankGrimes
Reply to  galica
3 years ago

Ante! 4 Bench bats?! Cmon brother.
Stay safe!

galica
galica
Reply to  FrankGrimes
3 years ago

Frank!

You like Kintzler? I drafted him but I have a bad feeling about him. His contract is a 1-year bandage and maybe Stanek takes over. My plan is to load up on hitting, some good pitching will come up. Who knows how the schedule will pan out? If they go the route of many DH all year long to catch up that’ll mean a lot of crappy middle relief pitchers, again beneficial for hitters.

Stay safe, kill all the virus before they kill you.

Cheers,
Ante

FrankGrimes
FrankGrimes
Reply to  galica
3 years ago

He’s a dart throw as are many guys righT now…
You have saves covered pretty well as it is.
You do you Ante!

galica
galica
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

Grey!!

a. Puig is available in my league. Is he going to sign somewhere? Is he worth signing in my RCL (the one above)? Over Tsutsugo?

b. Don’t know how Stan the Man could do that. Maybe he inherited that innate ability Poles have in hunting deer in the wild. Poles have those two saving graces – innate hunting ability (hence a good eye) and the ability to lose every war they participated in.

Cheers,
Ante

ozone ranger
ozone ranger
3 years ago

This is my 12-Team NL Only Auction Keeper league. Big money entry fee. Draft was the Sunday before last, or eight days ago. Keepers for my team are listed as… “keeper”. How original.

C-Manny Pina -1
C-Don Nunez-1
1B-Anthony Rizzo-29
2B-Ozzie Albies-32
SS-Javier Baez-32
3B-Tommy Edman-10 / Keeper
MI-Scott Kingery-16
CI-Ty France-2
OF-Bryan Reynolds-11 / Keeper
OF-Andrew McCutchen-13
OF-David Peralta-15
OF-Jesse Winker-6
OF-Trent Grisham-9
U-Josh Rojas-2
P-Steven Strasburg-23 / Keeper
P-Max Fried-6 / Keeper
P-Trevor Bauer-22
P-Dinelson Lemat-14
P-Cole Hamels-5
P-Andres Munoz-2
P-Micheal Lorenzen-3
P-Ryan Helsley-2
P-Austin Voth-1
P-Tyler Chatwood-1
P-Kyle Crick-2

Reserve Draft

Our reserve draft for players as minor leaguers means we can keep them in the reserve draft spot we get them for next year if we do choose. Active player with any MLB experience prior to a Sept call up are considered active and valued as next year keepers at the values listed. Same with the minor guys values.
1. Yasiel Puig-Active at $12 keep value
2. Monte Harrison-$10 minor keeper until on active roster
3. Kristin Robinson-$8 as minor guy
4. Cole Tucker -$6 active
5. Alec Mills – $4 active (Laura Holt Soecial)
6. Shaun Anderson – $2 active

Notes:

This is an only league. Every team has holes. Some even have cans and holes.

Yes, I have no closer. They went for more than I would pay. 7 of the 15 listed closers were kept, meaning demand pricing inflated the remaining eight. I like the “cheap MR hoping they close“ route. Lorenzen, Munoz, Crick, Hensley, Anderson in reserve. In the time that has passed, Munoz had TJ surgery (total, total bummer) and Anderson got sent down, even though I read he had a shot at closing. Sh-t happens. The Munoz TH surgery was a shocker to me. Out of the blue it was.

COLE HAMELS?!?! I all caps at myself. Listen, that was a funny / dumb story. I went to bid him to $2 for some reason, but instead everyone did the same, and I was last, and $5 was the number. We’ll see f he back healthy by the season start. That’s a positive. This is why I type bids in instead of hitting the “add $1” bid. Sh-t like this. Whatever. It’s only $5. Now Trevor Bauer at $22 was an actual mis-type. I meant to kick him up from 19 to 20, but instead double-deuce’d him. People were like, “why did you skip bid him $3? And why did you buy him in the first place. Don’t you remember how awful for the Reds he was?” Yes I do. I also remember 2017-2018, when he was gone me of the best SP in baseball. Voth, Chatwood and Mills are all Laura Holt specials. We’ll see on SP, and you can always find SP on FAAB.

I relly like my o-fence. The OF is solid for the values I paid. Three of my guys were in Grey’s “OF to Target list”, which came out after I drafted. My base big dollar guys of Rizzo, Albies and Baez is solid. Solid like a rock. That’s what love is.

Ty France and Josh Rojas are lottery tickets for maybe this year, but especially next year. The rest are solid players. I punted catchers beautifully. I ended up with the last two auction bids for the entire draft as my catchers, and selected two definite roll the dice guys. If they bomb, that is what FAAB is for. Might be a smidge short on steals. Cole Tucker also got sent down.

I like getting Puig in Reserves. Sign with NL team and boom, instant more offense. Signed with AL team and it’s a waste pick. Well worth the chance.

We have two open bench spots still with no IR. Once we have our first FAAB period one week prior to whenever opening day is, I can address my roster cans and holes for players hurt/sent down. Give me two plus Munoz and maybe another player to drop so I can bid.

I feel this was one of my best auctions in a while. I’ve been in this league 20 years now, and have done probably 100 different auction fantasy leagues across all four major sports, and this was one of my best. I want to give so much thanks to Razzball. Discovering this site was a gift, with my gift bring a subscribed this year. Grey, Donkey, The Itch, Coolwhip, B_Don, Laura Holt, Rudy, Son, Jay, Roto-Wan, Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci, Cuneo and anyone else I missed I want to write you all do amazing jobs.

Now, pray to the baseball gods (and all other gods) we get baseball at some point this year.

FrankGrimes
FrankGrimes
Reply to  ozone ranger
3 years ago

Can you give us more details please?

The Great Knoche
Reply to  FrankGrimes
3 years ago

Haha. Obviously you need to work on your reading skills.

ozone ranger
ozone ranger
Reply to  The Great Knoche
3 years ago

It’s “proofreading” skills. Get your comedy straight.

ozone ranger
ozone ranger
Reply to  FrankGrimes
3 years ago

Can you pick a worse Simpsons character as your username and avatar? Was Poochie too obscure a reference? Not a big fan of Dr. Marvin Monroe?

ozone ranger
ozone ranger
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Thank you, Grey. Your teams will still probably finish ahead of mine. Hopefully tied for the same spot, 1st.

LG Baseball
LG Baseball
3 years ago

Grey appreciate the daily write-ups and revised rankings. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on players that may thrive in a shortened season too!

Keeper question:

Would you rather have both K. Marte and Olson or Bregman in a H2H 5×5 10 team keep forever?

Also the manager is more about bats than arms and in the deal above I may be able to also get Giolito while I include a lesser arm (or Fried, Odorizzi).

Thanks,
LG

Donkey Teeth
Admin
Reply to  LG Baseball
3 years ago

Bregman for me but its fair. If you’re getting the other side plus Giolito that sounds good.

LG Baseball
LG Baseball
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Awesome thanks!

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

If Isiah Kiner-Falefa is eligible at Catcher in my league I was thinking he would play more than most catchers and possibly bump him up to top 12 at the position? Do you think he has this kind of upside with catcher eligible style playing time… even tho we will actually be playing in the infield for the rangers.

whitt23
whitt23
Reply to  Paul
3 years ago

10 Team Yahoo draft last night. Head to head categories with 5 keepers who were Harper, Hiura, Olson, Jo-Ram, Meadows. Roster ended up: Grandal, Olson, Hiura, Jo-Ram, Correa, Harper, Meadows, S Marte, Dozier, Polanco, McMahon, McCutchen, Guriell Jr, Carlson, Bieber, Clevinger, Woodruff, S Gray, Lamet, Houser, Bundy, Keller, Hand, Workman, Jimenez.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

whitt23
whitt23
Reply to  Paul
3 years ago

Didn’t mean to comment on your post. Sorry Paul.

The Great Knoche
Reply to  Paul
3 years ago

He’s 5’10’ and 175 LBS soaking wet.

Dude has 5 career HR in 600 ABs roughly. His highest average was .309 in High A ball with an elevated BABIP. He’s had a low K rate at every level and when he has a normal BABIP he hits .250. Doesnt hit ball super hard and pounds everythng into ground.

SON is crazy. He’s not getting top 12. If he has some batting metric improvements he could sniff top 20, but I dont see it.

Tom
Tom
Reply to  The Great Knoche
3 years ago

But but he has 4 homers this Spring, doesn’t that change everything?

RyGuy_4
RyGuy_4
3 years ago

ten team draft last night:

Bellinger
Soto
Rendon
Mondesi
Castillo
Olsen
Villar
Berrios
Robles
Sonny Gray
Eddie Rosario
T.Rodgers
H. Neris
Luzardo
Dannysantana
Maeda
Odorizzi
K. Davis
L. Gurriel
L. Weaver
A. Houser
W. Ramos
G. Marquez…. because I like to torture myself. But I figure there wasn’t much risk with my last pick.

Thoughts? I try to be a true razzball disciple.

RyGuy_4
RyGuy_4
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Really? I felt like I was able to grab speed options when available without reaching and/or sacrificing power. I think Bellinger, Soto, Rendon, Olsen, Rosario, and K. Davis will provide plenty of taters. Even my speed guys have SOME power- Mondesi, Villar, and Robles could all sniff 20 dingers…. well maybe 12 in a shortened year.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback. I’m looking forward to the start of the season and getting my daily razzball fix. I’ve been a diehard reader for almost 10 years.

Marquez will be a stash for awhile… we’ll see how it plays out. I drafted him in the 6th or 7th round last year and needed him to be better. I won’t have that issue this year.

RyGuy_4
RyGuy_4
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

I think C-Mart is still available. I feel like the answer to this question is obvious, but would you add him and drop the German?

Swiss
Swiss
3 years ago

The Orioles will be putrid with or without Mountcastle. They will rival the 2003 Tigers for ugliness. At least that team had Dmitri Young and Carlos Pena to get excited about. Baltimore will win a few games more than the Mariners IMO. Seattle blows massive chunks. Worst projected lineup since the hapless Mets of the early 60’s. I am avoiding the Pacific northwest like no other time in history. Honestly. What’s to like?

Swiss
Swiss
Reply to  Grey
2 years ago

Maybe Norfolk needs some ticket sales. It’s hard to run out of options if you are left stranded in AAA. My guess is he will be back soon. Mancini is likely to miss too much time.

Snacks Zillion
Snacks Zillion
3 years ago

Giancarlo – your love knows no bounds. LOL!!!

Earl
Earl
3 years ago

Wondering at what point does it make sense to draft Stanton?

In a 12 team 5×5 as say Of2 in 7th or 8th round ahead of say likes of eddie rosario, ramon laurencio, eddie rosario or perhaps max muncy for util,2b.

My of1 is eloy jiminez if that matters for decision.

Thanks as this one seems tough to decide and feel he might go soon. Thanks

Donkey Teeth
Admin
Reply to  Earl
3 years ago

Sounds like a good area to me, Earl.

Earl
Earl
Reply to  Donkey Teeth
3 years ago

So you would suggest maybe taking Stanton ahead of those guys I mentioned? Wonder how much of big risk is it to take Stanton this year? I love his potential but dont want to make a big mistake by taking him and cost me big time.

My current team is:
1b – Olson
ss – Story
3b – Rendon
OF – Eloy jimenez
sp – Corbin and Morton

I know I am pretty lite on speed but hoping to start addressing that soon with likes of maybe Robles, Mercado, Edman, Rosario, Biggio.

What would you make of Robles? Would you take him over Mercado? Grey seems to favour Mercado by a bit I think.

I am really trying to follow Grey’s rankings but it is hard especially with the pitching as league seems to be very much pitcher happy and u almost have to give in and take pitcher every now and then just to feel like u can at least compete. Wish I had more guts sometimes to just trust that good pitching to compete can be still had later.

Thanks for advice

Earl
Earl
Reply to  Earl
3 years ago

Also having hard time deciding what to make of Jorge Soler. His season last year was amazing but compared to previous seasons, it does not look great and was it just a one time (career) season

packers2018
packers2018
Reply to  Earl
3 years ago

Get the players you want. If you don’t feel good taking Staton don’t. I won’t, he cost me big time last year, hogging up a reserve spot all year. There’s other ways to get his stats.

If you need speed get some, if the pitchers start drying up, better get another one.

Each draft is different, all winning teams are different, where you are at is the zig and zag part of the draft.

Earl
Earl
Reply to  Grey
3 years ago

I know you do any I have been using them as guide to my picks so I dont want u to think I do not use them.

I think were it gets hard is when you get into stage (zigging and zagging that Packers mentions) where I believe you need to also pay attention to direction draft is taking in some cases.

Or do you not agree with that u need to pay attention to direction of draft and what the draft is perhaps dictating.

Thanks for help as always!

Crazy J
Crazy J
3 years ago

Thanks for the update. That Stanton blurb had me laughing.

I finally drafted and I think I got runner-up on every pick… sad face