It's late in the season, and you know exactly where you are in your seasonal league, but there's still time to make money on DraftKings. It's a Thursday, which means there aren't many games on the slate, but at least the Coors Field games continue this week as the Giants invade Colorado.
The plus side is that both teams have players reasonably priced on the offensive side, but the negative side to it is that an already small slate turns smaller on the pitching end of things as both starters are automatically out of it due to pitching in Colorado. Well, and they just aren't good.
Let's get straight to the cash, homie.
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I'm back baby!
It's been sad these past two weeks off from the Pitcher Profiles, but fortunately I could drown my sorrows in all-inclusive, all-day drinking on the honeymoon. YES I DID GET A STRAWBERRY DAIQUIRI, GREY! Although it didn't stain my mustache, especially since a month long of growth would just be shameful peach fuzz...
We're now through the bulk of the season and heading into the stretch run, which means Sky has only September left to get to 1,000 moves in our quote-expert-unquote RCL league. If expert meant constantly dropping 6-7 duds every morning, than I'm an expert in my thrown room if ya catch my drift... And on the pitching side, once you get to about 50ish in my ROS ranks, they all can be given the evacuation. But I've been really bullish on ranking [player]Luis Severino[/player] since his promotion, who I think is a must-own even through these final streaming weeks.
It's a little hard to stay light-hearted and joke-y with what happened in Atlanta on Saturday night, but obviously my condolences to the fan's family and we're supposed to have fun in fantasy, so we won't delve any more into that. Instead, let's embrace what we love on the field, which is some nasty breaking stuff and hitters getting baffled. Who doesn't base their fantasy-team live-watching on their SPs on a given night?! So this was a perfect weekend to get back on the Profiles and check out how Severino looked in a full breakdown:
Fresh off a no-hitter,
Mike Fiers is priced at $10,300 today. Are we going to buy into the no-hitter curse, that the following game he'll get destroyed and prove that the no-no was a fluke? That Phillip Humber perfect game in 2012 always jumps into my head when I see a mid-tier fantasy pitcher get a no-hitter. It was only two months ago that rookie Chris Heston pitched his no-hitter against those first place Mets. Fiers has gone at least 5 innings or more in his last 13 starts. He's an intriguing option today because first thought is that he's priced too high just because of last week's performance. Over his last 13 starts, he's allowed 4 or more runs just 4 times. In his last 3 starts with the Astros, he's pitched 21 innings and only allowing 1 earned run. I'm going with the optimistic approach and say that his confidence is higher than ever, and will perform very well today on the road against the Twins. Keep reading and check out some of my other DraftKings' picks for today.
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 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.
Greg Bird was called up by the Yankees. I wonder if when Greg Bird dies his ghost will be harassed by a 1980's black gang calling him Larry Bird. But, more importantly, let's pray Bird doesn't wear ball-hugger shorts. Whoever thought those 1980s shorts were a good idea? They were so tight, you can tell which players manscaped. When Marv Albert said someone was dribbling a ball down the court, I had to wonder which ball he meant. Yes! Bird, Greg that is, has done nothing but hit at every stop in the minors -- 20 HRs in Single-A in 2013; 20 HRs in 2014 across three levels; 12 HRs across two levels this year with six homers in only 34 games in Triple-A. He's also not the type to strike out a lot and knows how to take a walk, and not like it's a bad thing as, "Hey, take a walk!" Bird started yesterday (0-for-5), but for now he's a bench bat, but I get the sense the Yankees are going to start looking towards the future as of next year and Bird should be someone on dynasty and keeper radars. And you know I have me some radar love. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
It's always good to try and see every pitcher that you can.
I've never seen [player]Henry Owens[/player] pitch, but didn't think much of him for 2015 with a horrible walk rate in AAA (4.12 per/9). "Is this strike zone regulation size, or what?!" But he is a top prospect, reportedly has good stuff, and was decent in his debut against the Yanks.
You never know what you can see at the eye level, and you never know what pitchers might have a fluky bad walk rate in AAA only to find dynamite command in the Majors (cough, [player] Taylor Jungmann[/player]). So I decided to check out Owens yesterday, to see how he looked on the road against the Tigers in his second MLB start:
I'm picturing Droopy Dog saying, "Going down," to my Excitement for Jose Fernandez. My Excitement for J-Fer is hooking up with a strobe light honey at a club, and my Excitement for J-Fer's friend later tells my Excitement for J-Fer, "She was cute, except for that protruding Adam's apple." My Excitement for J-Fer just got a $300 red light camera ticket. My Excitement for J-Fer put the green trash can at the curb the day it was supposed to put the blue can and then puts the black can at the curb the day the green can was supposed to go out. My Excitement for J-Fer exclaims, "Why can't I even throw out the trash right?!" My Excitement for J-Fer sighs and puts an emoji in its text messages that symbolizes its childhood hero Hulk Hogan being a racist. As you've likely heard, Fernandez is out indefinitely with a bicep strain. Hopefully, he can be fine for next spring, i.e., I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't return this year. Otherwise, as the old beer jingle will tell you, J-Fer, the pitcher to draft when you're DL'ing more than one. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
When Chuck conceived his son
[player]Daniel Norris[/player], he was working on set in Asia with Mrs. Norris still living in the US! Wait, did that make any sense... I'll leave the Chuck Norris jokes to the frat boy posters...
Traded to the Tigers along with another nice upside pitcher
[player]Matt Boyd[/player], Detroit got some pretty good arms for a rental and they wasted no time throwing Norris right into the rotation. And that's with 12 walks over his last 21 AAA innings! But throw caution to the wind, don't look both ways before crossing, run with the scissors and see what ya got, amiright?!
I had Norris all the way to 61
right before the season, getting a little too rookie nookie and slack-jawed at his Minor League stats. He wasn't awful through 5 appearances with the Blue Jays pitching his way to a 3.86 ERA, but he was a little too wild and his pitch counts got out of hand. So with the move to a better ballpark and to a team ready to unleash him right away, I decided to break down his debut with the Tigers to see how he looked:
Luis Severino will be called up to face the Red Sox on Wednesday and presumably will stay in the rotation for the busted, no-candy-giving Pineda. I say presumably, because can we really be sure about anything other than smart stuff coming from my brain, but not being able to come up with a synonym for stuff? It's rhetorical, don't rack your brain custard. Severino's minor league numbers are eye-popping like John Lithgow in The Twilight Zone: The Movie (not a dated reference at all!). In Double-A, a 11.4 K/9 and a 1.91 ERA in Triple-A. Yup, I'm like a migrant worker cherrypicking stats, but I'd gamble on Severino in all leagues for upside. He looks like he might be the 2nd coming of wonderful with a splash of yummystiltskin. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Corey Seager should've been called up already. Brucely, we're up against it with the Dodgers. We have the aging vet, Jimmy Rollins, who looks like toast if you were to take doodie and pat it into the shape of toast and, uh, toast it. We have Justin Turner, who is having a career year but isn't really this good and getting more slap hits than another Turner. We have Dumb Mattingly, who has Joe Torre on speed dial because he thinks Torre is still the manager of the team and Dumb is just acting as interim. We have the playoffs in their grasp. We have a team where money is no object, so if they call up Seager and bench Rollins and his contract, whatevs. We have a city that is obsessed with youth, says Debra Winger. This sounds as convoluted as True Detective. Now that I write it out, I'm surprised Seager didn't get called up in April. I've refrained from tooting the Seager horn to avoid looking like a Bozo when he wasn't called up, but I'm starting to think it could be soon, or at least within the next month. Why do we care, young prematurely balding men? Cause he looks like a young Tulo. Maybe he doesn't steal 20 bases in a year, but he could hit 30 HRs with 10 steals and a .300 average. No, not this year, but at some point those numbers seem doable. And I'd like to do 'em! In redraft leagues, I'd now start stashing Seager, and, in keepers and dynasty leagues, he's likely already gone, but if he's not, oh, heck's yeah. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
You know they say, every Blue Jay fan has his Price, and every dog has his day and what does the cat say? Me-ouch. Is that a well-known idiom? Sounds like something Pol Pot would've said. "You look like a clown because you've applied too much Khmer rouge. Now what does the cat say? 'Me-ouch!'" That was Pol Pot at his most disarmingly charming. You ever look at pictures of dictators and think to yourself, "He looks like a total tool. What kind of a-holes followed this guy?" Any hoo! David Price was acquired by the Blue Jays for Daniel Norris (who I'll get to in a moment). The Blue Jays GM, Alex Anthopoulos doesn't believe he gutted the farm system to deliver Price and/or Tulo. No more than, say, a Greek farmer needs to gut a lamb to make shawarma. As they say on the lamb farm, sacrifices need to be made. I don't think this changes a thing about Price's value. Comerica was actually more offense-friendly this year, and the Blue Jays will provide more run support, but Price is essentially the same pitcher whether he's in Toronto, New York or Boston, in Philly, Miami or Houston; in Detroit or-- Is this a Kid Rock song I'm singing? Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Yesterday, Latos was traded to the Dodgers, then not traded. Then CarGo was traded to the Mets, then not traded. Then Cole Hamels was traded to the Rangers, and really traded, I think. I don't know, I'm dizzy. Ruin Tomorrow Jr. was sad to see Hamels go, but this is the business he chose, after getting fired from Duane Reade for mixing up the garbage with "the important stuff." And after getting fired for explaining to kids there is no Santa, after being dressed as the mall Santa. After being fired as Ruin Tomorrow Sr.'s personal assistant, but he maintains that was a misunderstanding. He thought, "Don't tell your mother," meant, "Don't tell your mother until you see her." After his no-hitter the other day, I said, "(Hamels's) peripherals look fine and he’s just getting a tad unlucky. I could see someone thinking they’re selling high after this no-hitter, but Hamels is a low-3 ERA pitcher with a 9.6 K/9, i.e., a low-end fantasy ace." And that's me quoting me! I would've preferred to see him go to the NL, but Arlington is about a push with Citizens Bank and could see him stringing together a sub-3 ERA for two months. Jorge Alfaro, Jerad Eickhoff and Nick Williams were acquired by the Phils, and I'm sure Prospect Mike will go over them, after he gets their posters up in his living room. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
It's hard to pick which Ross is hated more: the one in Friends whose character is so annoying David Schwimmer could never get work again, or the dynamite starter for the Nationals, who even after pitching mad impressive through his first few starts, wasn't even the first SP to get the call when [player]Stephen Strasburg[/player] went back to the DL yet again. Why wasn't he the first call?!
After [player]Joe Ross[/player]'s first run in June, I kept him in the ranks a few more weeks even without a for-sure rotation spot, and when Strasburg tweaked the oblique, I was ready to vault him into the top-50. But nooooooo, instead they use, I dunno, [player]Taylor Jordan[/player] or someone who doesn't matter? C'mon Nats, what did Ross ever do to you?! Finally the Nationals got Ross back up to face the Mets last week in a decent - albeit underwhelming - start given the matchup, so I decided to break down his 5th MLB start at the Pirates, in a pitcher's duel Sunday afternoon against [player]Gerrit Cole[/player]. Here's how Ross looked:
