Player Page Matches

Miami Salary Dodger, Ricky LA Dodger

July 8, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 953 Comments

by: Grey

The Marlins parted ways with [player]Ricky Nolasco[/player] on Saturday. He was the longest-tenured Marlin. That's about the same length as a Gary Busey train of thought. Nolasco was also their highest paid player, which on the Marlins is like being the highest paid paperboy. Jeffrey Loria was sad to see Nolasco go, because as the highest paid player he also had in his contract that he had to dust Loria's artwork. Loria said, "Adeiny Hechavarria is nimble on the field, but how is he with a 700-foot, post-modern statue of unicorn vomit?" Nolasco was more than usable in Miami, with his only big drawback being his inability to win on a club that put swindling nearby residents before winning. On the Dodgers, Nolasco no longer has that issue. He's a solid #4 fantasy starter with a 7+ K-rate, 2 walk rate and 3.70 xFIP. I'd pick him up in all mixed leagues. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Super Nova Blasts Orioles

July 6, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 147 Comments

by: Dan Pants

I originally titled this post "SuperNova Destroys Baltimore," but I was worried it would cause mass panic in the Crab Cake Capital, and those guys already have it rough enough with Hamsterdam running wild. For now, I'll settle for simply pissing PETA off. Planet destroying exploding stars aside, [player]Ivan Nova[/player]'s star was shining extra bright Friday night as he dominated Baltimore pitching a complete game, giving up just three hits, two runs and striking out 11 Orioles. Ivan "I Vill Crush You" Nova's only blemish in this game was a second inning home run to [player]Matt Wieters[/player]. It looked like Nova would be stuck with the no-decision but new best friend and obvious father figure [player]Vernon Wells[/player] hit a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth to get New York their fifth win in a row. It was Ivan's first career shutout and he now has a 2.95 ERA and 0.94 WHIP with a 22/4 K/BB ratio in his three starts since returning to the majors. You gotta like that! Ivan gets the Royals next time out and he could be worth streaming in most formats, because they aren't any good. Super Nova is a star worthy of a look, at least until he explodes.

RCL Update: July 2

July 2, 2013 | Our Leagues | 21 Comments

by: VinWins

Slocemb If You Got Em (Daily Bases) give us another new leader as they squeak by That's a Shame (Bold Predictions) for a two-tenths of a point margin. Slocemb had a great draft, and still roster 21 of the 25 players they selected, including [player]Joey Votto [/player](10), [player]Jose Bautista[/player] (15), [player]Adam Jones[/player] (34), [player]Manny Machado[/player] (135), [player]Jean Segura[/player] (231), [player]Domonic Brown[/player] (274), and [player]Shelby Miller[/player] (289). Miller, [player]Jordan Zimmermann[/player], and [player]Max Scherzer[/player] anchor a pitching staff that features an ERA of 3.00 and 1.01 WHIP. Check out the Master Standings (you can also access them via the Leagues menu up top) to see where your team ranks in comparison to the other 767 teams through Sunday. The page now includes sortable stats.

Nick, Push, Coast…

June 25, 2013 | OPS Leagues | 95 Comments

by: Tom Jacks

[player]Nick Swisher[/player] is one of those guys we love in OPS leagues. Yes, I will be referring to myself in the plural form. It’s easier to win arguments that way, no? Swisher’s been a flop so far this year, but the great thing is, like most politicians, he’s a flip-flopper. To put it less confusingly, I fully expect him to rebound. To put it more confusingly, read this while trying to spell [player]Jeff Samardzija[/player]’s name aloud. Swisher has been one of the most consistent guys in OPS leagues and is a sure bet to produce an .800 OPS in a given year. He’s been slowed a bit by injury, but I expect around a .260/.360/.470 going forward. He’s been dropped in some leagues and, if he’s owned, his owner is likely willing to sell him at a discount. Let’s just say that I (we?) don’t think this is the year he collapses. Did I mention that the Chicago Blackhawks are awesome? Now I did. Anyway, here are some guys who have my attention in OPS leagues:

Pulling Upton My Big Boy Pants, They Need A Justin

June 21, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 1,076 Comments

by: Grey

The love has been sucked out of the room for [player]Justin Upton[/player]. His fantasy value went skydiving. After it went Rocky Mountain climbing. He went from totally chic to totally geek in 2.7 seconds on the back of a bull named "You, Man, Are Phooey." (Where I grew up bulls had thoroughbred-like horse names.) If we can all remember back to April, with her freckles-- Oh, wait, was thinking of the wrong April. I meant the month. *embarrassed Lisa Simpson giggle* In April, Upton look the world by the nuts and put a roof over every homeless person's head. Turned out that those roofs were just sheets of matzoh and they got soggy during a rain-out in May. May you're supposed to bring flowers! Upton's HR/FB in April wasn't maintainable (38.7%) and his badonkadonks flattened. He's also not a 1 homer per month guy. On our last 30-day Player Rater, he has a -$7 value. That's the same as Sugar Shane Robinson and Pedro Flori-none and Lyle Overbite. That's not even near Upton's value. His owners are panicked. Was Upton a one month guy? If he's healthy, he's not. He's just slumping. This is a guy that regularly touched .800 OPS and is now barely cracking .550. I see no reason why he can't be a 5-homer, .280 hitter every month for the rest of the year with a handful of steals. If someone has him and is sick from his roller coaster ride, I'd strap myself in sans barf bag and trade for him. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

There’s A Wil, There’s A Ray

June 17, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 1,105 Comments

by: Grey

Six days ago, the Rays said they have no plans to call up Wil Myers. Six days ago, the Rays lied. They might've just lied to make Jim Bowden look stupid. While I appreciate that, Bowden rides around on a Segway, so the Rays were piling on. About two weeks ago, I gave you my Wil Myers fantasy. Lets' not recapitulate any of that, okay? Let's not talk about how Myers could hit 20 homers in two-thirds of a season. Or how Myers could hit .280 with solid counting stats. If you want to read about the risk of rookies, go to that post and read that. I'm not here to talk about how Myers is the number one prospect call-up or how he's worthwhile in all mixed leagues, but won't be [player]Mike Trout[/player]. I'm not going to talk about any of that. Dah! I just did, didn't I? Damn, you fooled me! Myers is the kind of player that probably has the most value right now. He's going to be a top round fantasy guy. Eventually. Yes, I just did the douchey one word sentence thing. Right now, he's around a 4th outfielder. Of course, he's draped in glorious upside. You could yell at him the same way you do to a Home Depot employee, "Hey, Toolsy!" For the future, he reminds me of an in-his-prime [player]Matt Holliday[/player]. He's a 30-ish homer, 15-ish steal guy with a solid average. Eventually. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Creeper Of The Week: A Rolling Brandon Gathers No Moss

June 16, 2013 | Creeper of the Week | 71 Comments

by: Sky

Do you hear that? Grrrrrrrr. Is that a bear? Grumble, grumble. Is that Grey complaining about how he traded away Manny Machado for David Price while picking up every rookie pitcher known to man? The sound you make while pronouncing Prince's weird symbol name. Ah, I know what that is. That's my gut. Not only does it tell me when I'm hungry, it speaks fluent crazy musician. True fact: it once explained G'n'R's Estranged video to me. It's quite simple really: Axl Rose is a nuttier than a bukkake video. Hrm, maybe I didn't need my gut to tell me that...anywho, my gut is now trying to tell me something about fantasy baseball for this week and it's telling me this Oakland guy named [player]Brandon Moss[/player] will be a good play this week and is only 31% owned in ESPN leagues and 21% in Yahoo. Ok, it didn't tell me the last part, my eyes did cuz I looked him up. But I can tell you're not convinced so let's see why Moss should be a good play for week 12 of the 2013 fantasy baseball season...

Hey, Tough Guy, This Post Is Buy Rizzo

June 14, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 1,054 Comments

by: Grey

The Buysellatops left this message on my answering machine (what, I'm old school), "The earth is fourteen degrees hotter per year than when I freely roamed the countryside. Back then there were T-Rex's and velociraptors and iguanas the size of houses that we simply called Biguanas. Now, I'm the only dinosaur left and I can get a nice tan while waiting in line for a smoothie. Global warming is awesome! And so is [player]Anthony Rizzo[/player]." So, there you have our buy/sell-out dinosaur's take. My take is I agree. Who doesn't love a smoothie and a tan? Rizzo isn't a Ike Davis head case that gets into the passenger seat to drive. He's in no danger of falling completely off the map like he's taking orders from Queen Isabella. He's A) Getting unlucky B) Keeping his strikeouts and walks in check C) There's no C, why are you so greedy? With the gusts of wind and heat in Wrigley this summer, he could hit 10 homers in the matter of two weeks. If he hits less than 30 homers this year, I'll eat my hat (though I'm wearing a fruit basket on my head, so it's not so bad). To give you a few other names, he's already better than Pujols and A-Gon on our Player Rater, and I see no reason why that should stop. If you have a Rizzo owner who is worried, take your alligator blood and check raise to the bettor. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

RCL Update: June 11

June 11, 2013 | Our Leagues | 28 Comments

by: VinWins

That's a Shame (Bold Predictions) is the new overall leader after gaining in the standings for the sixth consecutive week, dropping the mauledbypandas team (Josh Hamilton's Fake Stache) down to second. Both teams drafted [player]Miguel Cabrera[/player] with the number 1 pick back in March. That's a Shame followed Miggy with [player]Adam Jones[/player] and [player]Jay Bruce[/player], and grabbed [player]Adam Wainwright[/player] in the fifth round for their first pitcher. [player]Everth Cabrera[/player] in the 19th has given great value, hitting .299 with 31 runs, 24 RBI, and 28 stolen bases. TAS almost took top team honors for the third time this season with fine hitting (.299/41 Runs/13 HR/44 RBI/12 SB) and pitching (7 Wins/60 K/2.49/1.17/8 Saves) numbers. Check out the new and improved Master Standings (you can also access them via the Leagues menu up top) to see where your team ranks in comparison to the other 767 teams through Sunday. The page now includes sortable stats.

Pitcher Profile: Hector Santiago Belongs In The Rotation

June 10, 2013 | Pitcher Profiles | 120 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

So while helping Scott with his prospect and two-start pitcher questions over the weekend, I got a lot of questions for the best spot starter on Sunday. I told everyone [player]Hector Santiago[/player] followed closely by the debut of [player]Jose Alvarez[/player]. Score one for me! I decided to write my pitcher profile on one of those guys, and since Alvarez only came up for one start (he's already back in AAA), I went with Santiago. Quick tangent - how unfair is that Tigers rotation? [player]Justin Verlander[/player], [player]Anibal Sanchez[/player], [player]Max Scherzer[/player], [player]Doug Fister[/player], [player]Rick Porcello[/player] (who everyone needs to pick up - Ks are for real, looks like it's all together now and he's only 24), then [player]Drew Smyly[/player] who should become a starter one day soon, and now Alvarez. Yikes. Anyway, Santiago has been yo-yoed in and out of the rotation, and after [player]Jake Peavy[/player] fell to injury yet again, Santiago should remain in the starting staff for at least the next month if not longer. He's been better as a starter than out of the bullpen this year, and has over a K per 9 this season. There's a lot of things to like with Santiago, so I broke down his start yesterday afternoon against the Athletics to monitor his repertoire and what to expect while he's in the White Sox rotation.

Orioles Enter Archer’s Danger Zone

June 8, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 165 Comments

by: Dan Pants

If [player]Chris Archer[/player] was aiming to win last night he was right on target, pitching seven innings against the fearsome Orioles lineup, allowing just 2 hits, 1 ER, 2 BB and striking out two to grab his first win of the year. Bulls-eye! Archer even retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced. Let's just say opposing hitters could hear Kenny Loggins' music playing with Archer on the hill because they were riding into the DANGER ZONE, LANA! Relax those monster hands, you don't have to be Krieger to know Archer misfired in his season debut, surrendering five runs to the Indians and lasting just four innings. But he looked Sterling last night. Chris threw just 84 pitches in the outing, hurling his 95-mph fastball with ease and locating the pitch with perfection. Even Burt Reynolds was impressed. Pitching coach Jim Hickey told Archer he needed to see more of that change up, and both the change up and the slider were on full display last night. He was able to throw both pitches on any count with excellent confidence and control and kept the O's hitter off balance all game. Although, his next start at Fenway this week is not ideal, he should be streamer-worthy going forward given the right match ups. Until [player]David Price[/player] returns from his triceps injury, Chris Archer looks to see a few more starts and is worth a flier in AL-Only and deeper mixed leagues. Also, danger zone! Here's what else happened in fantasy baseball last night:

My Buy Guy Has A Last Name, It’s M-Y-E-R-S

June 7, 2013 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 1,140 Comments

by: Grey

Hello, Nick Castellanos, see you soon, maybe, yeah, no, okay. Great to meet you, Gerrit Cole, eventually. What do you know it's, Mike Zunino, maybe at some point in the near future. What's up, Billy Hamilton, hey, aren't you supposed to be fast? What's taking you so long? Is that Oscar Taveras...Oh, it's Willy Taveras eating nachos out of a dwarf's sombrero. What about that number one prospect guy that the Royals traded so they could be a .500 team? What's his name again? Something Byers. Or is it Jon Cryer? HBO Signature Loves Playing Radio Flyer? Wil Myers! That's it. Let's compare him first to a guy that he's nothing like, shall we? Cool, thanks for indulging. What a mensch, you are! [player]Jurickson Profar[/player] was called up and has played about as well as expected. Is there any league where you can't do without him? Sure, maybe in a deep AL-Only league where you lost Kinsler or were starting Marwin Gonzalez. In most mixed leagues, Profar has been good but replaceable. At some point in the near future, Profar's going to use the world to wipe his butt. He's not going to wash his hands and then run them down our country's shirt with his profound badassery. That day probably isn't that far off. Right now, he's good, I've seen better, I've seen worse for mixed leagues. Compare him to Jean Segura if you like. Segura was nice when he came up last year, this year he's dining with Jay-Z while shushing Blue Ivy. Now, like I said, Wil Myers isn't a Profar comparison when it comes to their stats, but everything else I said there could apply. Myers is holding his own in Triple-A so far this year (10 HRs, .276) and could be called up in about three weeks. Now would be the time I'd stash him in all leagues. The moment he's called up it will be like The Day the Earth Stood Still only Hitter-Tron will be saving all the ladies. I'd cautiously expect him to see 80% of starts after being called up, and numbers around 30/14/35/.280/4. That's probably a tad optimistic, but what fun is there in dour? Those numbers could also be had in three months from, say, [player]Alfonso Soriano[/player]. 'What fun is there in dour' then you drop Soriano? Sorry, Random Italicized Voice, we're not seeing a Trout this year and I'm just being honest. What are you, Abe Lincoln? Lie to me! Anyway, here's some more players to buy or sell this week in fantasy baseball: