I have returned, my good Razzballians, from an excursion I can only describe with great glee. Seriously, school girl level teeheehees were shared as I got our good man Nick Capozzi to pick me up as he started his #32in32in32 tour kicked off in Seattle at the World Sports Grille. Not only did I get to stand next to those awesome vocal cords, but also got to check Tehol Beddict's pad - he's as swag as advertised, bros - and also started a bit of a fling with The Guru as we bunked for a few nights in the same bed. Don't worry, we had a pillow barricade. At least I thought it was one until 'Da Gu' shouted THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS! We live and we learn, right? Just because it's soft and supple, does not appropriate head-rest material make. In either case, my short sojourn across this little part of the bigger trek Nick is doing across the USA went splendtastically. What? I can make up words as I go. You can't hold me back, spell check! Sorry, I'll just wrap up this cross-promo saying there are still some tickets left in cities near you so make sure to check it out. Heck, there'll be one in Cincinnati where - and here's your awkward segue - our pal [player]Danny Salazar[/player] gets to take the mound. Now if you know anything about Sky (psst, that's me BTW), you'll know that he loves looking back over the last 7 or 14 days to see how a hitting team is doing. Granted, this isn't the end all, be all of the research involved but let's take for a moment a look at the last seven games for the Reds. Their wOBA? Third worst in the league. Check. Their ISO? First worst in the league. Discount Double check. [player]Joey Votto[/player] and [player]Brandon Phillips[/player] still on the DL? Triple lutz with a salchow-ending flourish check. Given that Salazar has returned and performed quite well since his stint down on the farm, posting an average of 21.4 DraftKings points over three starts, I'm willing to roll him out there at his reasonably low price of $7,100, which will hopefully save me some cash for another, bigger arm or better yet, bigger, better bats. For me, I plan to release the Czar of the under-priced pitcher on most of my Wednesday lineups. But with that, here are some other picks for August 6th contests...
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 20 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!
Search Results for: latos
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Pitcher Profile: James Paxton’s Back Baby!
August 4, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 63 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
The big fellah is back! And um, I don't mean me...
In one of my most anticipated starts in the past few months, [player]James Paxton[/player] returned from the DL, immediately unleashed back into the Mariners rotation. No [player]Taijuan Walker[/player] waffling for you! Paxton looked dreamier than my [player]Andrew Heaney[/player] [what turned out to be] nightmare in his first two starts way back in April, flashing high-90s heat with an unhittable breaking ball.
The big Canadian had some bumps on Saturday (spoiler alert!), including a comebacker off the leg and said he wouldn't be very Canadian if he left. Super Canadian! Dudley Do Right! Sporting a huge maple leaf tattoo on his forearm, I think his blood type is syrup. Bring me those Taijuan Walker waffles!
I've pushed Paxton hard in the ranks the past month, so I decided to break down his return pitch-by-pitch to see how much I think he can contribute in the final two months:
No More Snickers With That Melky Way
July 29, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 658 Commentsby: Grey
Last night, Melky Cabrera hit two homers. Watch out, Melky's lactating home runs! Sorry, I cribbed that from Rotowire's notes. Kidding. Of course. Imagine you clicked on a player's name on another site and the first thing it said was Melky's lactating home runs. Only it would probably be more like this, "Melky has found his groove this year, especially vs. right-handers, who he's hitting .330 against. In the power department, he's lactating equally against righties and lefties." Snooze! Wake me when you're not regurgitating numbers. Tell me how you're glad mom slept with the Melk Man. Or tell me how Melky and Coco Crisp had a threesome that they would refer to later only as a ménage à breakfast. Give me the Juicy Juice with an extra straw! Or give me the obvious, Melky has been a number one outfielder, ranking in the top 15 outfielders on our Player Rater. He's being sustained by runs, RBIs and average that I won't put much faith in next year, which will almost definitely make him overrated, but we'll ferry cross that Melky when we come to it. (Note: We did not give Melky the lede in exchange for free web development.) Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Psych! Before we get into the roundup, I just wanted to point you to our fantasy football leagues. They are signing up now. Go there, and sign up for them. You can win expensive, custom-made prizes! No, not a mohair toupee! Who are you, Bud Selig? Anyway II, the roundup:
Pitcher Profile: Matt Shoemaker AKA Matt Truemaker
July 28, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 52 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
I was a little unsure of who would be profiled this week (I thought about [player]Jacob deGrom[/player], but Front Row Amy was in attendance so I'd be too distracted...), so I went with a twitter suggestion that make me scratch my head a bit. [player]Matt Shoemaker[/player]? Is he really interesting at all?
I'm a big Angels fan, my most important dynasty now has [player]Mike Trout[/player], [player]Albert Pujols[/player], [player]Kole Calhoun[/player], and [player]Howie Kendrick[/player] manning my O (no one cares!), so I've seen some bits and pieces of Shoemaker here and there. You could say, I've seen a sole and a... let's go with shoelace. A good mix of pitches but with nothing overwhelming, it was shocking to see two 10+ K games in his previous six, before tossing an absolute gem against the Tigers last Saturday.
So I decided to take a deeper look into Shoemaker and see if he has some spot-start or even backend rotation relevance for fantasy owners pushing towards the final stretch:
You know how when you move out of a place, you throw out a majority of your stuff, but a few things you just slide into the cubbyhole behind the washer/dryer? Maybe nothing significant. Just something to leave your mark, like an old pair of underwear. Then in a few years, maybe ten, you go back to your old place, knock on the door and ask to see what they've done with the place. Once inside, you ask if you can launder your pants and while in the basement, you check for your old underwear, and there they are. You shake the rat droppings off them, breath them in and they still smell of you. What? You've never done this? Okay, you're weird, but Jake Peavy did, and now he's going to get to smell his old gotchies that he left in the NL West. San Francisco has a lot of hills and their pitching staff has gone over all of them. They'd like Petit more if he had more T's and E's in his last name. Want to spot a Giants starter in San Fran? Find a hill, go over it. They're on the other side. This is a boost for Peavy's value. Obvi! He had a 7.5 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9, which is borderline streamer in most shallower mixed leagues, but that was the AL East, and even while he's been in the AL the last few years (while not pitching that great), he's been solid vs. NL teams. They have no DH! The pitcher hits! Etc. Etc. Etc. Last night against the NL West's best offense outside of Coors, he had a line of 6 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks. I'd take a flyer on Peavy in all leagues, and his next matchup on the Stream-o-Nator says it agrees. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Duvall Caan Fill-In For Brando(n)
July 22, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 713 Commentsby: Grey
Damn, after reading that title, now I want to eat pasta. Has anyone ever watched The Godfather and not wanted to eat Italian right after? It's an American rite of passage. Once you're old enough to crave Italian food after The Godfather, then you're an adult. That should be the only test to vote or get into the military. "Listen, maggot, you want to go fight for your country? Then sit down and watch this three-hour movie and tell me what you want to eat afterwards. If you want a burger, fries and extra ketchup, you're a baby. Go home." Adam Duvall homered last night off Clifford Lee, and Duvall had 26 homers in Triple-A this year in 310 ABs. Of course, they play in the PCL, a league that pumps their baseballs with helium. He will only fill-in while Brandon Belt is on the concussion DL, but that could be anywhere from a week to a month. In NL-Only leagues, I'd definitely grab him, and even look at him in deeper mixed leagues, if you're desperate. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Pitcher Profile: Why You Should Never Give Up On Wood
July 21, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 70 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
Oh man, it's back to real life! After an awesome weekend in DC to see my Brewers (I'll share some fun graphics next week), it's back to pitching and back to Wood jokes. And of course I mean the criminally (for a stretch) underrated [player]Alex Wood[/player].
Wood starting chucking phenomenally out of the gates, with blistering Ks and ratios. But when [player]Mike Minor[/player] got off the DL and [player]Aaron Harang[/player] deciding not to suck this year, Wood could not chuck any more wood. [Hah - you thought Wood jokes were going the other way, huh?!] Repeatably getting hit out of the bullpen, the Braves finally decided to move him down to AAA to [re]stretch out to get back into the rotation.
Upon [re]arrival in late June, Wood had a lot of "meh", but I was still all in. I remember there were some drop Wood comments and I remained steadfast in my Woodward ways. And with another good start yesterday, I decided to take a deeper look into his pitch-by-pitch performance to be sure my Wood was warranted:
Two-Startapalooza, Week 17: Don’t Mullet Over, Grab Jacob deGrom
July 19, 2014 | Two Start Fantasy Starters | 41 Commentsby: Pete Nice
As always, probable pitchers are subject to change. For a look at all fantasy baseball streamers, click that link.
Two-Startapalooza’s back, beoches!
Man, I gotta tell yunz, I had a superly-dooperly extended break, and all ya’ll who know me know that there is not one hint of sarcasm in that statement. There were some lessons learned, particularly on the baseball front, although almost none of those items involved fantasy baseball since there was no fantasy baseball. We learned that Major League players love Derek Jeter so much that they’re willing to sully their good name by not only grooving him pitches in the All-Star Game and but also admitting it and then awkwardly and unsuccessfully backtracking. We learned that the Guru had a Derek Jeter Retirement Barf Bag – I bought five, by the way. Thanks Guru! We learned that another Derek, Derek Holland, is the grand Puba of not one but two fart games played in the Rangers bullpen, Pink Eye and Fart Bottle Roulette (nevermind the fact that Holland has been injured all year). We learned that baseball doesn’t give a crap about one Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr.
I for one learned that Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom gets recognized around New York for his fantastic early 1990s mullet and that he is not one bit ashamed of it. I discovered this in a great New York Times piece on deGrom that I read when trying to decide if I should stream him or hang onto him. Well, the fact that deGrom is a proud business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back kind of guy was just enough to make me sacrifice to keep him. That and the fact that he was mowing down dudes heading into the All-Star break. Over his last three games, he whiffed 27 and only walked four. Two of those were fairly dominant performances. If there was ever a time to scoop up Zane Smith’s more attractive clone (this is not saying much, as old-schoolers well know), it’s right now. deGrom is slated for a two-start week, including one in Safeco.
Here’s some more two-start guys for next week. Oh and tip of the cap to Sky, who did an amazing job filling in at Two-Startapalooza. During his stay he introduced some cool new ideas I might run with but also left behind a whole lot of some kind of sticky substance. Thanks Sky! I think?
Mid-Season Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Prospects
July 16, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 180 Commentsby: Chris
Welcome to the All-Star break gang - the unofficial beginning of the second half signals the time to reorganize, revamp, and re-think approaches for us, as well as the folks making the calls for your favorite MLB teams. And, coincidentally, it also marks the time for me to revisit my Prospect Rankings. These are the current top-50 guys on my board that haven't accumulated the standard minimum 130 AB/50 IP at the MLB level that most fantasy leagues recognize. When compiling my rankings, I try to consider as many variables as possible, but my main focus tilts toward future "difference-makers"... those guys that have the potential to make significant impacts when they reach "The Show". Some players you'll find on this list may be further away from making that impact than others, some may be struggling a bit right now (they may have been recently promoted to the next level to challenge them and are adjusting to stiffer competition), some may be on the shelf because of injury, etc., but this list represents the top-50 players I'd pick if you give me the first 50 picks in the MiLB phase of a draft in a newly forming fantasy league. These are the prospects GMs "dream on", regardless of their current minor league level - the players they plan to build their rosters around at some point in the near future.
So here we go...
Top 100 for 2nd Half of 2014 Fantasy Baseball
July 15, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 931 Commentsby: Grey
So it’s not really the 2nd half mark in the fantasy baseball season, but it’s the All-Star Break so what else are we going to talk about? Hell’s Kitchen? Is it even believable that these people would one day be in charge of a kitchen? There’s Real World castmates who seem like they have their shizz together better than these schmohawks. I like the one guy who burps a lot. He seems ready to run a kitchen! MasterChef, though, that show is the Sistine Chapel of reality shows. Okay, as with all of the other 2014 fantasy baseball rankings, take this list with a grain of salt. If you need a 2nd baseman, but an outfielder is above him that doesn’t mean you can’t trade the outfielder for the 2nd baseman. Also, things change in fantasy baseball. Daily. I could put Miggy number three on the top 100 list for the second half of 2014 and he could get in a fight with a bartender (not Tom Wilhelmsen) tomorrow, then he wouldn’t be number one. See how that works. This list is a road map for where I think guys are valued. It’s not the Holy Grail in the Church of Grey, that would be my mustache. This list is NOT (caps for emphasis, not aesthetics) where I see guys ending up if you were to take their first half and combine it with the 2nd half of their season. This is simply a list of the top hundred fantasy baseball players if you were to pick them up today. So while Carlos Santana did not have the greatest first half, he will appear on this list because I still believe. The projections are not their combined 1st half and 2nd half numbers; these are their projections for the 2nd half of 2014. I also liberally used our rest of the season Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. That's right, we have a Player Rater that tells you what guys will do. Welcome to the future! Anyway, here’s the top 100 for fantasy baseball for the 2nd half of 2014:
Pitcher Profile: Jimmy Nelson And The Brewers’ Dire Need For The All-Star Break
July 14, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Pitcher Profiles | 78 Commentsby: JB Gilpin
Oh man, did the Crew need that win yesterday! Even up 11-1, I thought K Rod might blow the lead. The way things have gone...
But it's not all about me and the Brewers! At least, that's what the girlfriend keeps telling me... Yesterday, [player]Wily Peralta[/player] showed some exceptional stuff in easily the biggest game of 2014 for Milwaukee, but the day before, high-profile prospect [player]Jimmy Nelson[/player] looked to make a statement as the newly entrenched starter.
Anddddddddd... It didn't go so hot.
Sporting absolutely stupid numbers in the PCL (1.46 ERA 0.92 WHIP 114 K in 111 IP), Nelson also shined in his 2014 debut, a 5.2 inning spot start allowing no runs on 8 base runners with 6 Ks for a W. But the mightily cold Brewers squared off against the red hot Redbirds to spoil his encore. How much was his atrocious start impacted by wrong guy, wrong place syndrome? Should you still be holding on if you picked him up? I decided to take an uncomfortable (for me) walk down memory lane to really break down how Nelson looked pitch-by-pitch:
Jam It or Cram It: The Broken, Beat and Scarred Edition
July 13, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 56 Commentsby: The Guru
I Can't Remember Anything Can't Tell If this Is True or Dream Deep down Inside I Feel to Scream this Terrible Silence Stops Me Now That the War Is Through with Me I'm Waking up I Can Not See That There's Not Much Left of Me Nothing Is Real but Pain Now
That’s Metallica singing their ode to darkness, landmines and your 2014 fantasy roster. While I'm a big fan of the San Fran thrashers (and make a quick appearance in their Binge and Purge video collection), I'm not a fan of the creeping death that is the 2014 fantasy baseball season that currently has 151 players on the disgraceful list. As we hit the halfway point of the season the fantasy battlefield is littered with disposable heroes *insert 151 players here*. The latest casualties include Masahiro Tanaka (elbow), Edwin Encarnacion (quad), C.J. Wilson (ankle), Yadier Molina (thumb) and Brandon Phillips (thumb). Oh, is there anyone else for whom the bell tolls? Yup. Hanley Ramirez is getting injections in his shoulder, Mat Latos tweaked his back twerking, George Springer is dealing with a cranky knee, David Price has the sniffles and Jordan Zimmermann accidentally zipped up his zimmy. FML. I’m not one to quit mid-season, but I'm at my frayed ends of sanity here and it may be time to take up fantasy cricket. Before we hit the All-Star break, we have to drag the broken, beat and scarred off the stage and fire up the jammer crammer machine© as we go through the never looking for those players that just might inject some life into a lineup that is ready to fade to black. Take my hand, it' s off to never never land - it's time to jam it or cram it. If you’re looking for more jams and crams, check out Razzball Radio.