One of the things I’m tasked to do around these parts, is to identify the ETAs of some of the best and brightest prospects. Often the most difficult part of my job is weighing need vs service time vs development for each of their respective clubs. Sometimes numbers, even in the high minors, can be deceiving. Not to mention, each team has a unique approach to its handling of home grown talent. One player I’ve been asked about, almost as much as any in 2018, is the Astros Kyle Tucker. While Tony Kemp, Jake Marisnick, Josh Reddick, and Marwin Gonzalez split time in the Houston outfield, Tucker waits. The waiting game however, has not halted Tucker. Instead, he’s been in full fledged assault-mode the past few weeks, slashing a silly .400/.444/.650 with 9 runs, 8 RBI, a homer, and a perfect 4-for-4 on the basepaths. The lefthanded hitting Tucker has the ability to contribute in a full 5 categories in roto leagues, bringing an advanced approach, and a swing conducive for power growth. He’s worth stashing and streaming in RCLs, on the off chance he gets the call, and is 100% a priority stash in deeper mixed leagues, though he’s likely owned. Tucker is a top five fantasy prospect at the moment and needs your attention. Here’s what else I’ve seen over the past few days.
[brid autoplay="true" video="252906" player="10951" title="Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 10"]
Finally, the Rays took a cue from Fox, and started Jake Bauers' clock. Here's an updated 24: FBI agent, breathlessly, into a phone, "The President is in danger!" Assistant to the FBI director lowers the phone, speaks to the director, less breathlessly, "Have you tried Thai basil chicken?" FBI director, "Basil in Thai dishes always make me think there should be tomato sauce. Ya know, Italians have that basil thing already." FBI agent into the phone, breathlessly, "Did you hear me, the President's in danger!" FBI assistant, "Um, yeah, you've been on vacay, and we're no longer taking matters of the President's safety as seriously as much as we once did." I keed! Don't hit me with your political agenda. So, Jake Bauers was called up to presumably play every day. I mean, if the Rays waited this long to bring him up, they're not doing it for a bench bat. He's a little bit of everything vs. a lot of one thing, which is less exciting in short-term, but could be something long-term. His Steamer projections are yawnstipating 7/8/.238 (click his name to see projections), but I could see him being a bit closer to 9/16/.265/.345. Not bad, not great. Breathlessly, "He's okay." Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Visual Metaphor Alert! When a boat sinks, you can avoid sinking longer if you scramble to the stern of the boat. As the boat sinks, you will be out of the water longer. The Orioles have started playing baseball on that stern of the Titanic. Of course, then the whole thing snaps in half and drowns you anyway. "Hey, there's Machado floating by with six life vests on, and there's a different team insignia on each life vest! Hey, Machado, can I get the Yankees' life vest? Machado? Hey, Adam Jones! Do you need that Nationals' life vest? Adam? Aw geez." That's Dylan Bundy wearing the Orioles' life vest, as Mancini sinks holding onto Bundy's ankle. Yesterday, Bundy went 9 IP, 3 ER, 3 baserunners, 14 Ks, ERA at 4.45, throwing 121 pitches. *uck Showalter really wanted to get Bundy the complete game, huh? It's not like he had a no-hitter going, he surrendered a homer in the 4th inning. The Orioles also had a six-run lead and were going for win number 16. Showalter prolly just had a senior moment. "How do you get this motorized scooter up the dugout steps and to the mound?" That's Showalter. Bundy's peripherals are actually gorge -- 11.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 3.85 xFIP. Thus far, he's been unlucky, which goes without saying because he's on the Orioles. Hard for me to get excited for that reason, too. Of course, his numbers say he should be owned everywhere. Good luck with that! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
We’re going to get right to it this week, kids, and I apologize if today’s post doesn’t have as many exciting, last-minute updates as usual. Since I’m sure you’re wondering why it won’t have said exciting updates, I will tell you: it is because I will be attending the live taping of the Survivor finale, and will be going off the grid completely starting mid-day Wednesday. Yes, I'll be in the same room with TV’s Jeff Probst, one of the few celebrities (along with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Doris Kearns Goodwin, FYI) that I am interested in being in close proximity to, but don't you worry: I’ve actually been in the same room as Mr. Probst before and I barely even did anything embarrassing, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to keep from humiliating myself. That’s actually more than I can say about the time I had a brief conversation with Ms. Kearns Goodwin, where I was as tongue-tied as I’ve ever been in my life. I have yet to cross paths with Mr. deGrasse Tyson, which is probably just as well for all concerned.
[brid video="228554" player="10951" title="FantasyBaseballMailbag8"]
Yesterday's Yankee/Rangers game started with a 1st-inning blast from Didi Gregorius (1-for-5, 2 RBIs, hitting .246) and his 11th homer. The return of The Gregorius D.I.D. giving fantasy owners one more chance to tell trade partners gimme the loot, gimme the loot! Also, in this game, Aaron Judge (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, hitting .284) went bye-bye now with his 13th; Neil Walker (2-for-5, 2 runs, hitting .220) said get those tennis balls off my feet and hit his 2nd (this week); Nomar Mazara (2-for-5, 3 BRIs, hitting .274) said two teams can play that game and hit his 11th, and Ronald Guzman (2-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) hit his 5th homer, and his third game in a row, and the two time in a row I said to pick him up. Rinse, repeat. Also, in this game, Aaron Judge--Sorry, got carried away with the repeat gag. Speaking of gags: Fister, I hardly know ya! And I wish you BCC'd me on Sabathia. But the real news, Gleyber Torres (1-for-5, 3 RBIs, hitting .323) hit his 8th homer, and his 5th homer in five games) had his star mitzvah this week. Were you invited? Lou Bega performed. They had dreidel piñatas. The pot roast was cut-your-mouth dry. All the fixins! I know someone who wasn't invited, Aaron Boone. Has to explain how Gleyber's still hitting 9th. Can someone mansplain to me what's going on? Did Neil Walker win a Boone family egg toss so he has to bat so high? Maybe if Boone's entire coaching experience wasn't hitting a walk-off homer, we'd have some idea how this should play out. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
They call
Draft fantasy for the people, and why not? It’s easy as Sunday morning. Sign up at
Draft.com, do a quick snake draft of 3, 4, 6 or 10 players, and get a piece of the payouts. Here at Razzball, we recommend using Value-Based Drafting (VBD) to make the most of your roster. Using
Rudy’s tools, you can easily sort values and take the projected points for the final player drafted at each position (P, IF, OF) and subtracting from all the players at that position, then re-ranking based on VBD. In other words:
Razzball will give you the inside knowledge you need to dominate your DFS opponents.
It's days like today, when the stable is full of studs, that I'm reminded of one of the great spy movies
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: "It's just enough glitter amongst the chickenfeed." The slate is full of amazing pitchers with warts that create risk. Chris Sale is pitching in Texas, where popups can go for homers. Noah Syndergaard is facing the Rockies, who hit a combined .941 OPS against him. The Ohtani train is still on time, but has hit a few bumps in the road. Even Verlander has had trouble with several of the Diamondbacks. That's not to say any of these guys couldn't have a good game, but the man to grab is
Max Scherzer. Scherzer is facing the Phillies, who hit him to the tune of a .520 OPS. Mad Max is burning down
Fury Road, going 5-0 in his last five starts with 48 Ks in 34 innings. He also gets to pitch at home in Washington, where he is 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA.
New to Draft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care!
Hey Yoan! There he is! Moncada’s bat is officially awake! Through his first 49 ABs Moncada had 1 HR, 0 SB and a .604 OPS. Since then? 42 ABs, 5 HR, 4 SB and a 1.295 OPS. Here’s my worry -- will Moncada continue to be streaky and see a 700 point swing in his OPS every few weeks? Or did he just get off to a slow start?
At the Angels-Giants game last weekend I saw something I haven’t seen before. Not in the game, but in the crowd. First off, let me say I am not a fan of the beach balls that I’ve seen way too often at Angels and Dodgers games. This isn’t an outdoor concert. With that being said, baseball can be boring (who knew?) and it keeps the kids entertained and not jumping around ruining my experience, so be it.
Anyway, there’s a Giants fan (and there were a lot of Giants fans at Angels Stadium) sitting a section over by himself, a middle-aged guy in a Posey jersey and backwards hat (when does it become too old to wear a backwards ball cap? 25? 30? Never?); the only thing he was missing was his glove. So the beach ball gets to him, and he just rips it in half and throws it in the aisle. He did it with meaning too. After that, he points two middle fingers up in the air. It drew glares from everyone around him and was truly surreal.
A few minutes later an usher comes and talks to him; I didn’t hear what was said, but they didn’t kick him out (and if they did I would hope it would be for the double middle fingers, because who cares about the beach ball). Then, the next inning, he removes the Posey jersey and hat and meekly leaves. Everything about the experience was hilarious and I won't judge him much; the beach balls suck and him going full heel was great. So if that guy is reading, first off, way to provide some entertainment; and secondly, be cool, man, it’s only a game.
Now let’s get to our April OPS All-Stars, stinkers and surprises! (All stats & ownership through Wednesday, April 25th)
If you happened to listen to Ignacio during Walker Buehler’s first start you may have rostered him in some DFS contests and done alright for yourself. I paired him with Tanaka that night and along with a Coors stack (and Stanton’s 4-4 night) it paid off handsomely. That was with FantasyDraft pricing Buehler down at $11,100 with nothing but minor league numbers to go on. He’s priced up a bit more ($14,900) today based on one game, but it still should be enough to get you some nice bats for the early slate. Walker lucked out facing the Marlins in his first start, who rank dead last in team OPS, but the Giants aren’t much better, ranked 25th of 30 teams. The Giants also strikeout just about the same amount as the Marlins, so San Fran isn’t exactly a pitcher’s worst nightmare. Buehler’s strikeout upside is likely a little limited as is his pitch count, but nonetheless, it should be a good enough start, combined with high priced bats to get you cashing those GPP lineups.
New to FantasyDraft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care!
Introducing the interrobang list! (You’ll find it at the bottom of the top 100.) What’s an interrobang you may be asking yourself? An interrobang essentially is a hybrid of a question mark and an exclamation point. When someone says something like “What in the world?!” You can save yourself some space and use the interrobang. “Okay cool, weirdo -- how does this apply to fantasy baseball?” The interrobang list at the bottom are a few guys who didn’t make the Top 100 list proper, but are still people that are making me go “?!”
Charlie Morton aka Ground Chuck was playing "Hamburger Patty Cake" with the Mariners yesterday -- 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, 0 walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 0.72, WHIP at 0.88. Ground Chuck said, "I'm A-1, try to ketchup." Then he took a long pull off his Jamaican meat patty, and continued to speak in food allusions, "I'm topped by Monterey Jack, you're whack." Ground Chuck cracked his knuckles, "I make you so gay, you try to find Ground Chuck on Grindr." Then, after a pause, "Gay, as in happy, but no judgments." Finally, concluding, "If the Babe had a kid named Chris, then Ruth's Chris still ain't got shizz on Morton's." Charlie Morton sounds a bit cocky there, but he has every reason to be. In the preseason, I said, "A pitcher that goes through life as an also-ran to turn it around in his 30’s is rare. One other guy comes to mind, his name rhymes with Bitch Chill. Anyhoo, I’m buying into Morton’s transformation. How about a late-in-career transformation we call The Caitlyn Jenner? No? Okay." And that's me quoting me! One thing I did not understand at all was why there were so many skeptics on Morton this preseason. It was as if they ignored all of his previous season, and did not watch him in the playoffs. Ground Chuck is Salisbury Steak'ing his claim as a top five starter. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
In his start against the Padres,
Kenta Maeda will run the game and have the whole world talking. King Kenta is the
Stream-0-nator's top starting pitching pick on Wednesday against the feeble Padres lineup in arguably the best pitcher's park in baseball, Petco Park. The Padres have the second highest K-rate against righties this year at 27.6%, giving Maeda a very high ceiling for this start. Maeda has 14 strikeouts through 8 2/3 innings with a clean 2.08 ERA this season - no bones to pick here, Maeda is a top SP option tonight.
New to Draft.com? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
