[player]Wil Myers[/player] was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his hand. Experts are saying, "Guess you shouldn't have drafted him!" Those are experts in schadenfreude. Other experts are saying he should've been wearing iron gloves called járngreipr. But those experts are in Norse mythology. Then there's experts that say when he was injured he should've been going for a Chocolate Silk Pie Blizzard, but those are experts in Dairy Queen. Are there any experts on injuries that weighed in?! Oh, here's one that says he'll have his cast removed in about 6 weeks and could return in August. Ugh. I think I need a Blizzard. In shallower leagues where DL spots are already filled, I could see dropping him. In one 15-team league, I'm holding him, but Taijuan Walker is about to come off the DL, so I have room. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
If you haven’t heard about the fiasco surrounding the new Dodgers television deal then good for you. There are a lot more important and interesting things to talk/think/know about. If you want to know check out
this article. The Dodgers are finding other ways to get their fans an opportunity to watch and it’s benefitting true baseball fans everywhere. It seems that the pitching staff is attempting to throw no-hitters on a daily basis so that MLB Network will show the late innings of games across the country including in the Los Angeles Area.
So… cable packages are skyrocketing out west. Join the party. Gas prices are highest in the country. Home prices are astronomical. Magic Johnson can’t be blamed for all of this. What has caused this? Well, it could be the fact that you get to watch championship caliber sports all year around—Seahawks, 49ers, Sharks, Kings, Ducks, Warriors, Giants and A’s. It could be that you don’t have to stay up until 2am to watch a full slate of games on a given day. Or, it could be the weather.
As I look across the slate of games on the menu today, every single game not being played on the west coast has a chance of rain. Every west coast game has a 0% chance of rain. I had to check 5 times to believe it myself. Yes, a couple of parks have retractable roofs which can minimalize the weather impact and some have only 20% chance, but that’s a scary sight to look at for daily fantasy.
Losing sucks. And when your players don’t play you tend to lose. I don’t wanna play that game today. I don’t want to hinge my dollars on the meteorologists. They have the only profession where a success rate worse than a major league hitter is acceptable. I’m not scared of rain, but as we all know by now millionaire baseball players are deathly afraid of playing in the rain. So there might not be too much baseball happening until 10pm EST.
No need to take the day off from
Draftkings! It’s time for a late night party. There are options to participate in contests that only include early games or late games depending on the schedule for the day. Today offers “Late Games Only” contests on Draftkings. Let’s head out west. Remember, if you haven’t already signed up, this
link will get you a free contest right off the bat—insinuating you have to hit the ball first. If you’re a swing and miss type of person, this probably isn’t for you. You'll have to pony up some money.
These are my picks and I scoured every bit of information. As the whifey will attest, I’ve overlooked two things in my entire life—ok maybe that’s my version of the truth. Make sure you take a look at what the
DFSBot has to say about points projections and price relative value before you set your lineups. Mrs. DFSBot has nothing bad to say about him so he must be perfect. Or abusive. I mean definitely perfect.
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?
It's about that time, prematurely balding men and four girl readers. [player]Gregory Polanco[/player] is nearing his call-up date. He is basically a young version of [player]Starling Marte[/player]. As of this writing, he's 22 years old. I'm hoping he's still 22 years old when I'm done writing this post otherwise I spent way too much time on it. He can be a superstar, which has me excited. He won't be a superstar this year, which takes the wind out of my sails for redraft leagues. Usually when I'm talking about wind in my sails, I'm wearing only my boxers and just ate a can of beans, so maybe it's best if we ignore how much wind is in my sails. Polanco can hit 12 homers and steal 40 bags without killing you in average. Yes, I know, you love him too now. It's okay, just because your father never loved you doesn't mean you can't love another man. In Single-A, Polanco had 16 homers and 40 steals. In Single-A, Marte had 3 homers and 24 steals. Granted, Polanco had 200 extra at-bats in his Single-A year. Granted, Part II: Granted Lives; Polanco was two years younger in his Single-A year. Marte doesn't have anywhere near the plate discipline of Polanco, so, if anything, Marte will become a poor man's Polanco. Polanco has the kind of pedigree right now that could mean he's a top three rounder and one day supplanting The Dread Pirate as the best outfielder in Pittsburgh. I.e., The Sexy Dish That Ate Pittsburgh. Yes, I'm really excited for him. This past year between the two levels, he hit 12 homers and 37 steals while hitting .286. [player]Christian Yelich[/player] went from Double-A to the majors and hit fine. Lots of players do. The Pirates weren't that aggressive. If they were, then Polanco would've shot up my preseason rankings and I would've told everyone to draft him in every single league. Instead, Polanco went to Triple-A and continued to bash like your 12-year-old self idealizing Jose Canseco. As with rookies, you need to keep expectations in check. To misquote the immortal words of John Popper, "Nobody should think or expect too much while everyone is calling for the movie rights. Singing, 'Hey, babe, let's keep in touch. Hey, baby, let's keep in touch." He will be up in early June and now is the time to stash him. For 2014, I'll give him the line of 32/8/36/.250/15 in 300 ABs. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
The date was 1 B.O. -- that's one year Before Okrent -- and the Fantasy Baseball Overlord rose from the Fantasy Baseball Overlord's Mom's Basement and said, "Fantasy baseball lovers, I will grant you one wish." One Fantasy Baseballer swooped his wisp of hair over his balding spot, in case he ran into any girls, and stepped forward, "I wish that all players would be healthy." The Fantasy Baseball Overlord scratched under his armpit, thinking. "Fine, prematurely balding man, I will grant you your wish. May all players be healthy. Just not all at the same time or while on your team." And with that the FBO descended back into its mom's basement, since it was almost snack time. As the Overlord descended the stairs, the prematurely balding man yelled, "Wait, I didn't agree to that!" But it was too late, and now [player]Jose Abreu[/player]'s landed on the DL too. Can't we have anything nice?! Please return to us, The Grande Dolor! Wait a second, where was Frank Thomas this weekend? Frank Thomas did a Snapchat with the Fantasy Baseball Overlord, didn't he? Answer me true, universe. The White Sox are saying Abreu will be fine to return after the minimum 15 days, and I say, *long sigh* hopefully. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
In between winning the Nobel Prize, shots of rum, bagging 240-pound marlins and banging 140-pound broads, Ernest Hemingway wrote:
"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially." Did Papa play fantasy baseball? My pitching staff was very good, very brave, and now they're very dead. Light a candle and cue the bagpipes (those things get me misty every time) in memory of [player]Patrick Corbin[/player], [player]Matt Moore[/player], [player]Kris Medlen[/player] and the latest soldier to fall, [player]Jose Fernandez[/player]. The literary references aside, the most talked about pitcher in baseball this season is not
[player]Clayton Kershaw[/player], it's not
[player]Max Scherzer[/player], and it's not even
[player]Bartolo Colon[/player] after an
at-bat. The most talked about arm in the game is Tommy John. If ol' TJ had a buck for every pitcher that has been lost this season to the surgery that bears his name, he'd have $19 - which is $4 more than he made in his Major League career. Thus far, 19 pitchers have blown out their prized possession, with Fernandez the latest to fall and rumors swirling about
[player]Andrew Cashner[/player], who was just put on the DL shelf. All of last season, 19 players were lost to Tommy John. To talk some real baseball for a minute, even commissioner Bud Selig weighed in on the epidemic saying, "I'm almost afraid to pick up the paper because of the bad news." Unfortunately, the bad news Bud was referring to, in the paper, was that it looks like Beetle Bailey will never get out of the Army. Bud then answered a call on his shoe as his toupee fell into his soup. The fact is, no matter how well you drafted, your staff must be feeling the pain, and no amount of penicillin will cure what ails you. It's time to fire up the jammer-crammer machine©, dive into the deep-end of the waiver waters, and find us some arms that aren't stitched together like Young Frankenstein. Walk this way, it's time to jam it or cram it.
Bauer is back. You have 24 hours to pick him up before someone else does and the terrorists win. Cleveland Indians pitcher/rapper/counter-terrorist
[player]Trevor Bauer[/player] will be called up to start Tuesday versus the Tigers and likely take over
[player]Danny Salazar[/player]'s spot in the rotation. The third overall pick in 2011, Bauer has filthy stuff, with numerous pitches at his disposal, including that sweet 95-97 mph fastball. He has struggled with control during his brief stints in the majors (7.1 BB/9 in nine major league starts), which has ultimately kept him from finding success in the big leagues. However, in a spot start in early April (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 8 K), it seemed like Bauer's command issues were a thing of the past. Granted, that start was against the Padres, but he impressed nonetheless. Although he labored through his latest minors start (5.2 IP, 12 base runners, 6 ER, 4 home runs), the Indians obviously think Bauer is ready to show his stuff, and I don't mean his free-styling ability. Yeah, he raps. Does that make you like him more or less? Not so sure? Maybe you should
listen and judge for yourself. He's still not as bad as P. Diddy. Whether you believe T-Bau's a gifted lyricist or not, his 4-1 record, 2.15 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and a 44/14 K/BB ratio in 46.0 IP at Triple-A this season could certainly help out your fantasy pitching staff. If he can pitch twice as good as he can rhyme, Lil' Trev could be headed from the "Gutter to the Grail" like his song. He raps, "From gutter to grail, we rise up to win it/Wahoos on first with his eyes on the pennant." So Trevor Bauer can spit hot fire, let's see him throw some hot fire next week versus Detroit. Based on his upside, he's worth the add in all leagues. To quote the the Notorious T.R.E.V., "Getting filthy with the pitch...getting stupid throwing cheddar," pick up Bauer in your league, cause buying Bauer makes you better.
Here's what else happened Friday night in fantasy baseball:
In the past, I've gone out of my way to focus more on rookie hitters than pitchers, but after last year and living through season-after-season of diminishing offense, this is the world we live in. Before you blame anyone, look in the mirror. What do you see? Besides, the blackheads. You see someone that supported baseball ridding itself of PEDs. So, this is what we have. Pitching up the wazoo. I still contend it should be 'out the wazoo' and not 'up the wazoo,' but I'm playing by your rules now. I'm no longer sticking it to the man and going up the wazoo. Hmm, that sounded wrong, but never the hoo!
[player]Kevin Gausman[/player] just barely maintained rookie eligibility by only pitching 47 2/3 IP last year. Really showing a thing or two about not knowing what was coming or going either by having a 5.66 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. It really means nothing. First of all, his xFIP was 3.04, so his ERA shouldn't have even been that bad. Second of all, he had a 9+ K-rate, which is right in line what you can expect. Third of all, there is no third of all. Why would you think there was a third of all? Gausman isn't a 5+ ERA pitcher. He could be the best rookie pitcher this year. He has that kind of stuff. With the O’s, you gotta mind your P’s and Q’s. Excuse me, I had Alphabet Soup for lunch and just burped. What I mean is the O's aren't in the best division for nurturing along a young starter. You have to be on the top of your game in the AL East. Gausman has the stuff to tame the big offenses. As I've tried to beat into your head, a pitcher with great control and strikeout stuff is worth your attention. Gausman is that type of pitcher. The only real question is do the O's stay with him in the rotation. If today's game vs. the Tigers is a spot start and back to the minors, it's not great. Opportunity + Stuff = Fudgie the Whale. Wow, my math is off there. It should've equaled "worth a flyer in all fantasy leagues to see if he stays in the rotation." To give you an idea of this guy's upside, in Prospect Scott's
top 25 fantasy baseball prospects, the top five are Tanaka, Abreu, Bogaerts, Taijuan and then Gausman. That's elite company. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
There are so many Tommy Boy quotes that I can manipulate to start this post, so you choose which one...
a) I can get a good look at Luck by sticking my head up BABIP’s a**, but I’d rather take xBABIP’s word for it.
b) I write fantasy baseball posts for the American working man, because that’s who I am and that’s who I care about.
c) You: “[player]Prince Fielder[/player], Hmmmm, he should get better."
Me: “This guy is batting .231, which is actually backed up because of the gross groundball rate (11+% jump) and hitting into the shift with a sense of urgency, and all you can say is, Hmmmm, he should get better?”
d) The season is drivin' along, la-de-da, woo. And you have [player]Justin Morneau[/player] batting .338. And then you look at your team. Tires go EEEEEEEEE! Whoa, that was close.
Now let's see what happens if you have Prince Fielder on your team… You're drivin' along, Tires go EEEEEEEE! I CAN'T STOP! "Oh my God, I'm burning alive! And this isn't a fire sale! No! I can't feel my legs!" Here comes the meat wagon. And the medic gets out and says, "Oh my God". New guy's around the corner puking his guts out…
...Whichever quote you go with, if you own Fielder then consider yourself the new guy puking his guts out. This post is the meat wagon.
On Saturday, [player]Jon Lester[/player] threw a gem: 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 15 Ks. Such a gem that if that were a blood diamond, diplomats from Monrovia would be lined up in the streets of Liberia for a taste of that. If that were an emerald, friends of Dorothy would stand outside of Ricky Martin's hotel for weeks just for the chance he forgoes the hotel buffet and wants to eat out. If that were a ruby, it would stand outside a Dallas police station to cover any possible conspiracies and add fuel to other conspiracies. Lester has pitched spectacularly so far, and it's not a product of luck. His 10.7 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 are elite. Those are fantasy ace numbers. His fastball doesn't have renewed life, if anything he's lost something on it. What appears to be the biggest difference is he's almost completely abandoned his changeup and throwing his cutter a bit more. Since he's always been good for 200 innings and has had huge success before, I'm willing to say he will hold the improvements to his rates and be an extremely reliable starter. Likely in the top 15 for the year. Yeah, he looks damn good. I want some, purdy puhlease. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
“Schlurricane is the hottest sharp in daily fantasy sports! Nobody, and I mean nobody, can rival his recent success! He’s got today’s locks and I MEAN THEY ARE LOCKS!!! Schlurricane guarantees today’s picks or the rest of the season is free! That’s right, absolutely free!!! You heard it right, his information is so good that if you don’t win 5,000,000 dollars today every other piece of advice for the rest of this season, is 100% free! Call now to receive them on a recorded message. That number is 1-800-RAZZBALL.COM!!! THAT’S 1-800-RAZZBALL.COM!!!”
Ok, don’t call that number… But if you don’t win with this lineup today, the rest of my picks for the year are actually gonna be free. You don't even have to hoard coupons for this deal.
When the higher ups (Sky in the plural tense) asked me if I could fill in a big Friday piece, I knew I had to bring it hard. Who brings it harder than those coked out Jersey hustlers who pretend to be kings of Vegas? Maybe the one guy who’s side job is in Tehol’s primary field of employment? Otherwise no one. The problem with those guys is they’re all BS. There’s no such thing as a lock and they know it. But, if they win, a bunch of suckas will sign up. If they lose, their crappy predictions become free to those sheepish enough to continue to follow. We don’t do that at Razzball. First of all, we got legit prediction tools thanks to the
Stream-O-Nator and
HitterTron. Second, we know our readers are sucka free! Tertiarily, (a Wiktionary special) we win, and want to share the chedda. But, you gotta supply your own milk. We’ll add the culture.
Remember, DFS, like all smart gambling, is only done well when you find advantages and trust it over time. It allows the anomalies to distance themselves from the norm. If it doesn’t win for you today, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Today could be the anomaly. With that being said, I’m feeling really good about today’s lineup recommendation. Get yourself in a couple of 50/50 leagues and a couple of Triple Ups at
DraftKings with the following.
[player]C.J. Wilson[/player] doesn't really know what's going on unless Twitter tells him. He tweeted out Mike Napoli's phone number. He watches Shark Week. He has a big TV. He hasn't watched his TV since November. His TV is bigger than his car. His car is big. He watches Lost reruns, out of order. He wears Old Spice, on his head. He is a Taoist. He thinks a Taoist has something to do with wearing a towel while being interviewed. He told a guy to wash his mouth out with soap. He listens to Killswitch Engage, which Google tells me is a metalcore group. Even Google didn't know what metalcore was. Four ladies and gentlemen, those were all
C.J. Wilson quotes. Yesterday, he continued his dominance with a performance of 8 IP, 1 ER, 3 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA down to 3.18. So, you're saying after Curtis Jackson Wilson was mollywhopped in his first start of the year, I should've held him? Since his first start, he's thrown 34 innings with a 2.12 ERA and he has more Ks than innings pitched. He's hard to like him because of his all-around douchebaggery, but his numbers aren't lying and right now they're saying he's a strong fantasy number two. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
