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:
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:
I'm staring out on a prairie in the middle of Palm Springs. Okay, it's not a prairie. It's more of a dirt field with a bingo card blowing through it. But let's pretend it's a prairie. Why am I standing in a prairie that's not really a prairie? Because all great baseball moments happen this way. Just one man and rows of corn. Except those aren't rows of corns, but walkers lined up against the window of a Starbucks. But let's pretend they are cornfields! I'm pulling off my cap (not wearing a cap; don't want to mess my hair), staring directly into the sky (wearing sunglasses) and screaming at the Fantasy Baseball Overlord, "Why do you have to make the rest of us suffer for the childhood you never had?!" Okay, I need to move on before the OPP (Old People Police) come after me. We should've known a rather pedestrian 7 IP, 4 ER from Masahiro Tanaka was a sign that he was hurt. We should've known! Or an even worse 6 2/3 IP, 5 ER start the next time out. We should've known! Alas, we didn't know. So, Tanaka's going for a variety of tests, and hopefully it's nothing, but any time there's something wrong with a pitcher's elbow it's something. Are we sure he didn't inflame his elbow using Hideki's porn collection? Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
So, we had our first July 31st trading deadline deal, and it paid off for all the A's fans who paid Oaktown's own, Bubb Rubb, to break into Billy Beane's office and turn his iCal forward a month. "Any ideas what you want to do for the 4th of July, Billy?" "I celebrated last month with some friends." Screen spirals out and slam cuts to Bubb Rubb, maniacally (bubb)rubbing his hands together. When the A's are playing like it's playoff baseball in September, don't say your mustachioed over-the-internet friend didn't warn you. So, the trade that went down was Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel for David Addison Leave Me Alone Maddie Russell, who I will get to after this lede. Samardzija and Hammel both gain value going to the A's, which isn't often the case with an NL pitcher going to The Land of Milk and Honey-Flavored DHs. Wrigley isn't a great place to pitch -- one day it's overcast with winds blowing straight out, another day winds are just swirling overhead like a toilet bowl genie. As we've seen in the past, pitchers can do just about anything in a short period of time. Could Hammel and Samardzija completely poop the sheets? Fo'sho. Likely? Prolly not. O.co is like Petco and Metco, a big cavernous wasteland for hitters and they have more foul territory than Roseanne Barr's privates. Samardzija brings strikeout stuff to hitters that aren't as familiar with him and could be the 2nd half's Kazmir. Yesterday, in his first A's start, he had a line of 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks. Dividends paying out quick there. Hammel keeps the ball down and O.co will love him. This trade only really hurts Tommy Milone, who was shipped to the minors. The A's just made themselves a serious contender and having a friend in Bubb Rubb pays off once again. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
As I write this, I’m on a plane. I knew I wouldn't have internet, so I asked myself what data could I pull and play with to help you play with your team. Let me play
guarantee fairy again... I’m supposed to be writing about
Deep Impact. I guarantee you can use this list to trade away pitchers that are over-performing for long term deep impact while targeting other pitchers that can provide you with more short-term value. Use the comments section below and I’ll scold or virtual high-five your trade offers.
Hyun-Jin Ryu takes the mound in San Diego today. While he doesn't sport eye-popping statistics, he's been solid all year and this match-up is too good to pass up at a $9,000 price tag. Ryu ranks fifth overall on the
Stream-o-Nator at a $16 value. This season he has a 7.55 K/9 and a 2.00 BB/9. This match-up against the Padres is what makes him today's lede. The Padres are striking out against left-handed pitching at a 22.5% clip. That's the 8th highest strikeout percentage against southpaws in the majors. San Diego also ranks dead last against lefties with a 70 wRC+ and .268 wOBA. Ryu is a a great value today and pairs well with one of the high-dollar arms on the schedule.
If you are new to
DraftKings, use our
promo link to get started. New players that click on that link will get a free contest ticket with a first time deposit (only new users eligible). The winner of the contest gets entry into our $500k Showcase with a $100k top prize. Also, if you haven’t tried the
DFSBot via Rudy, check it out: it compares projected values to actual DFS prices for the day. Here are some other picks for DraftKings contests on 6/22/2014…
Daily fantasy brings a whole new dimension to the we look at fantasy players. We’re getting used to streaming pitchers which has become a great strategy being implemented over the last few years, but daily fantasy takes it to a whole new level. You don’t have to drop anyone to pick up the man of the hour, knowing that his long-term value will be equivalent to
Lenny Dykstra’s business ventures.
If you get off watching a pitcher dominate like I do, then you’ll appreciate the pornutopia of starters going today. Masa-Hero, Darvish, Greinke, Cueto, Scherzer, and Wacha are all on cam today. If I gotta pick two, I’m taking Cueto and Tanaka. Darvish has been lit up by the A’s, almost to the extent I want to stack against him today. Greinke and Wacha have been a bit shaky lately and, besides his last start, so has Scherzer and the Royals bats are about as hot as it gets in baseball right now. I’m rolling the dice on Roenis Elias today. He’s had some rough ones lately as well, but he’s also had some dominant outings including a complete game shutout with 8 Ks against the Tigers just ten days ago. And the K’s seem real as he boasts nearly 8 K/9 this year. He also has the most tasty matchup on the slate today facing the Padres who get nothing right against lefties as they mutter a .598 OPS against them this year which is marginally crappier than anyone other squad. A price tag of $8,000 climaxes the excitement with dough to blow on some other nice pieces.
Hopefully, you’ve been playing along with us at
Draftkings so far this year. If not, c’mon and join us cuz we’ve been having daily leagues for the last two weeks thanks to the zealous
@RalphLifshitzbb who’s been heading it up. We aren’t wagering huge, but just making sure to have some fun with $1 on the line each day. Come on and hang out and test your mettle with us. Here's a link to our
fun little cash game today. The Razzball community only gains strength as we reach out to more avenues. If you haven’t signed up yet use this
link cuz you’ll get a free contest to start building your stack. Here’s a few more highlights of today’s DFS best offerings:
As always, probable pitchers are subject to change. For a look at all fantasy baseball streamers, click that link.
I did some soul-searching math the other day, and I determined that 54 percent of the time, I’m right every time. But that benchmark of psychic-level foresight seems to no longer be reachable in these turbulent times. Although a few recent stumbles have me questioning myself a bit lately, there are some things I do know for sure. Taking a page out of Jimmy Fallon’s playbook, I give you my "True Facts of Truth" for the 2014 Fantasy Baseball Season:
1) Something (Bigger crackdown on P.E.D.’s? Climate change? More tightly wound balls?) has sapped the power out of guys who used to have power. Robinson Cano, Billy Butler, Jedd Gyorko and Evan Longoria are among those who have experienced major power outages.
2) Roughly 32 percent of all adult males get excited when they see Matt Adams rub a bat between his moobs, but only 30 percent will admit to it (Cards’ fans).
3) Something (Bigger crackdown on P.E.D.’s? Climate change? Less tightly wound balls?) and not something else (kids throwing curveballs too early) has made Dr. James Andrews and very busy man and caused carpel tunnel issues for whoever types up the disabled list section of the transactions that run in newspaper sports sections.
4) The “R.A.” in R.A. Dickey stands for “Really Acting”.
5) Guys who were aces heading into the season (Justin Verlander, Matt Cain, Gerrit Cole, Gio Gonzalez, Homer Bailey) are not aces in 2014, and therefore not automatic green lights as two-start pitchers.
6) Guys who were not aces heading into the season (Johnny Cueto, Dallas Keuchel, Phil Hughes, Tim Hudson, Mark Buehrle, Josh Beckett) are pitching like aces and becoming dang near must-starts as two-start pitchers.
7) In cricket, the game of pepper is called “circle jerk.”
8) When in doubt, go with the Stream-O-Nator.
9) If you’re still not sold, look at a dude’s K/BB per game ratio.
10) Ronald Belisario is actually 61 years old.
Maybe you saw something in the list you can use and apply to the rankings below. Or maybe you saw some things that have you questioning the future of the human race. Regardless, let the Two-Startapalooza begin!
A lot of talk has been made about the Fantasy Baseball Overlord causing all of these injuries this year. What people haven't mentioned as much is the why. FBO was born in a small Jamaican village outside of Kingston. His family was wealthy from manufacturing fertilizer, though this came with a severe downside -- the smell of manure. Knowing how cruel kids can be, it's no surprise they would pick on FBO. The school jocks, specifically the baseball players were the worst. Constantly mocking his ever-present stench, they nicknamed him Fecal Body Odor, or FBO for short. It got so bad that teachers and adults started calling him FBO. Eventually, people called him FBO without even knowing what it stood for. Rather than trying to shake the nickname, FBO decided to have it empower him. First, he tried to get into banking, thinking he could convince people it stood for Fixed Buyout. Then he got an internship with the Field Botanists of Ontario. Neither worked for him, but he did have some knowledge of voodoo from his Jamaican aunt and always harbored hate for baseball players, so Fantasy Baseball Overlord - or FBO, for short, was born. With that said, Adam Wainwright went for an MRI on his elbow and the FBO said, "Eat it, Wainwright!" The Cards are saying his UCL is fine and it's just tennis elbow. Hopefully this isn't game, set, match for him. He received a cortisone shot, and there's no word yet on a DL stint. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
The 2014 season is two months old, so it's data day here at the Razzball Steals Emporium. This is kind of like the chapter review our teachers gave us in school, except there is no test, so everybody wins. We have to mention [player]Dee Gordon[/player] to start. His ADP was 222. This is ironic because that's about how many steals he'll likely end up with this year. With 34 stolen bases on June 1, the 26-year-old middle infielder is on a crazy pace for about 90 swipes this season. Billy Hamil-who?
Gordon has always had speed, but he's doing more to utilize it this year in the majors. He's been successful on the basepaths 92% of the time. He's swinging at less pitches outside of the strike zone, making better contact, and striking out less in general. Gordon has also been hitting more ground balls, less fly balls, and significantly less infield fly balls. This has all resulted in a better batting average, better on-base percentage, and in turn crazy stolen base numbers. It's almost as if someone reminded Dee that he was fast and should just try to put the ball on the ground. Amazing!
Gordon owners can enjoy the ride and shouldn't stay up at night worrying about him falling off a cliff. If anything, I wouldn't be shy to acquire Gordon off of an owner who was nervous about that very scenario. He won't provide much outside of stolen bases, but he'll help you come close to winning that category from a middle infield position, allowing you to roster more balanced players in your outfield slots.
Here's where we're at with steals through the first two months in 2014 fantasy baseball...
I've said before [player]Homer Bailey[/player] is someone you should acquire in a trade. SAME! I've said Homer and homers are synonymous. SAME! Those homers should come down, literally. SAME! I...went...scuba...diving...while...eating...Captain...Crunch...SAME! His K-rate is down from last year and his walks are up...NOT SAME! I've also said his BABIP is absurdly high, which means he's getting unlucky. SAME! I've said before the difference between his xFIP and his ERA are huge, but after his last start his ERA is starting to come down. Um, SAME but different? He's not the same pitcher as he was last year. SAME NOT SAME! His Ks are a bit off. NOT SAME! It's more likely he has a low-3 ERA the rest of the way than the plus-5 ERA he has right now. Um...Well...Dah, the Gobstopper! I wouldn't trade anyone too huge to acquire Bailey, but the beauty of this is you don't have to. He's got a 5+ ERA, so trade for him your Never Nude jorts. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
Do you own your own fantasy baseball blog? Congratulations. Don’t spend your internet riches in one place!
This page has some solutions to let you spiff up your blog with links to our player pages. If you bless your reader(s) with one of these solutions, let us know and we will do our best to return the favor. Please, blog, may I have some more?
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