First off, what a boring-ass team to sign Shohei Otani. At best, the Angels are the Mets of SoCal. Pissed off Mets fan, “I’m supposably assuming youse are talking like the Yanks are the best team of New York?” Well, I wasn’t saying it was the Nets, Jets, Giants or Bills. The Yankees just traded for Giancarlo, the Mets are looking at re-signing Neil Walker. Point, set, match. (Here’s my Giancarlo Stanton 2018 fantasy after his trade; it’s super erotic.) The Angels are so pathetic they decided to change their name to the Los Angeles Angels. I’m sorry, but that’s just sad. That’s like marrying a woman who has a kid, who is a Jr., and you decide to take his father’s first name, so you can be his new Sr. Angels, you are not L.A.’s senior! Have you heard anyone in Anaheim complaining about the fires of Los Angeles? No? That’s because they’re 40 minutes away without traffic, and there’s always traffic! Okay, blood’s boiling in my ulcer, I need to calm down. Let’s do the jump, and get back at it about Shohei Otani. Anyway, here’s what I think of Shohei Otani for 2018 fantasy baseball:
I saw the 60 Minutes segment on Shohei Otani. I read Prospector Ralph’s Shohei Otani fantasy. I heard Ohtani has an 80 Speed Score. I heard Ohtani was a character created by George Plimpton for Sports Illustrated. I heard Ohtani once ate a turtle, farted out a shell, and that shell stopped a speeding bullet. I’VE HEARD IT ALL! Ohtani might be the most hyped player since Henry Rowengartner. And Henry Rowengartner was a 12-year-old who could throw 100 MPH and actually understood advice given by Gary Busey. We’re talking off the charts hype for Ohtani. For this reason, I’m not sure any of us will be able to draft him at a reasonable price. Will an unreasonable price be worth it? P to the erhaps.
As a hitter, Ohtani has been compared to Curtis Granderson in his prime, which is actually a pretty lofty compliment when you consider his pitching is why most teams were clamoring. Allow two GIFs to illustrate:
From Prospector Ralph’s post, “As a pitcher Otani has been described by some as one of the top 5-10 arms in the world. Getting “ace” labels from several unanimous scouts quoted all over the internet. His arsenal is comprised of a 5 pitch mix led by his 80 grade fastball that has been clocked as high as 102, but mostly sits 97-100 MPH with late life and elite command. His secondaries are led by a splitter (swoon) that sits 88-92 with nasty diving action, giving him a classic swing and miss out pitch. Some have gone on record saying the splitter is better than compatriot Masahiro Tanaka’s, and that’s lofty praise. His slider also earns plus and plus-plus grades, and is reported to have two variations, one that’s more like a classic sweeping hard slider with tilt, and another version with more cutter type shape with shorter break. Both are clocked in the low to mid 80’s sitting 82-87, giving him nice separation between his fastball and splitter, his most frequently used offerings. His arsenal is rounded out by an average curveball, and reported changeup.”
“While on the other side of the ball, Otani the lefthanded power hitter has been comped by some to Curtis Granderson, an athletic power hitter, with swing and miss concerns. Scouts have put 70’s on his raw power and 60’s on his game speed, that’s an exciting profile for any potential hitting prospect. Despite the high strikeout totals in Japan he’s not a hack at the plate, showing a patient approach, and ability to work counts, and find his pitch.”
That’s really the nuts and bolts of both sides of the ball. For fantasy, there’s two big issues. 1) Ohtani has never exceeded 160 IP as a pitcher. 2) How do the Angels handle him? The first issue eliminates him from the top 15 starter conversation, which is around a top 50 overall player. You have to pitch 200+ IP to be a top 50 overall player. But can Ohtani be a top 25 starter? His last season in Japan produced K/9 and BB/9 of 10.3 and 1.5, respectively. MLB is better than Nippon leagues, but how much better has been debated. I’ve heard Japan is like Triple-A. That sounds fair, and I’m willing to accept that comparison. Ohtani also only pitched 25 1/3 IP in 2017. If a pitcher only threw 25 1/3 IP in Triple-A last year, you’d have some concerns. The hype is clouding Ohtani’s concerns — cloudcerns? — but I have them. I’m only projecting him for 140 IP this year, and I think that might be optimistic. There’s The Sciosciapath, who has an M.D. (Managing Dementia), which might lead Ohtani to throw 160+ IP, but that would be aggressive and partially criminal to do to him. As for wins and loses:
Angels are saying they’ll let Ohtani pitch and hit and close and play 2nd, SS, 3B, catch, manage and go hunting with Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad. https://t.co/zdyuL3GzKM
— Razzball (@Razzball) December 4, 2017
Angels are now Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and pray for rain. Unfortunately, it hasn’t rained in SoCal since 2012. So, it’s 140 IP and a team that is still kinda gnarly. Don’t give me that Justin Upton story. I’ll give you back a guy who hits .185 for two months at a time. Can Shohei Ohtani play 3rd? Because the Angels have a Jefry Marte/Valbuena platoon that sounds good on paper, if that paper is toilet paper. Maybe Ohtani backs into 12 wins. Do you see how hard it is to make Ohtani sound like a top 25 pitcher, let alone a top 15 one? For 2018, I’ll give Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher, projections of 12-4/3.28/1.22/146 in 140 IP. Absolutely solid, not a top 50 overall player.
Now, for Shohei Ohtani, the hitter. Keith Law said Ohtani was clocked as a 80 Speed Score guy, which is, ya know, the same as Billy Hamilton and Dee Gordon. Though, to be fair, those guys are off the Speed Score charts. I watched Ohtani run — he had a some steals in Japan — and I think he’s a 12-15 steal guy if he were to get 500 ABs. Considering he’s also a 27-30 homer guy, that’s impressive. However, 500 ABs is what he’d get if he was mainlining Red Bull and trucker speed, while sniffing a Ron Washington-sized line of the devil’s dandruff. Then, when Ohtani, crashed on the last day of the season, he would self-combust from being run ragged. Ya kinda need a day or two off here and there, unless you’re Cal Ripken, and the most stress Cal Ripken ever put on his arm was giving Gregg Zaun a wedgie. After Ohtani throws 100 pitches in one game, he’s going to get up the next day and play nine innings? Every game? C’mon. The Angels have already said he won’t play outfield, I believe them.
Ohtani only had 109 ABs in the season when he threw 160 IP. In a season with 25 IP, he had 202 ABs. In other words, he’s doing one or the other. I could see him DH’ing once, maybe twice, a week, while pushing Pujols (hehe) to 1st and Cron to the bench, or vice versa. Which is still a lot, and cool AF, but he’s not getting 300 ABs and throwing 140 IP. Ohtani’s arms and legs would literally fall off. People were excited he’d have the DH, but if he were in the NL, he’d at least be guaranteed ABs when he pitches. Now? Not so much. For 2018, I’ll give Shohei Ohtani, the hitter, the projections of 26/11/33/.266/3 in 192 ABs, which is eight at-bats per week.
Finally, how do fantasy sites handle Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher and hitter? I could see some sites taking the easy way out and making two players, one hitter Ohtani, and one pitcher Ohtani. Yes, that means you could own two Ohtani’s on the same team. This is easy because ESPN, Yahoo, et al (not the Israeli airline), only have to add two names to their database. Honestly, if I were them, I’d handle Ohtani like this. If Ohtani struggles to hit major league pitching, and the Angels decide to let him just pitch, those sites haven’t changed their site just to handle one player for only a few months. For these sites, I will be ranking Ohtani, the pitcher, and Ohtani, the hitter. The other option sites have is to insert one Ohtani and allow you to move him from hitter to pitcher, depending on the day. This feels more complicated for sites, and, from what I gather, they don’t like complicated. Yahoo still has Schwarber with 1B, OF, and catcher eligibility because complicated is too much. However, I will rank Ohtani as a dual fantasy guy, as well. It’s going to fun either way, too bad he’s on the Not Even Really A Suburb of Los Angeles Angels.
Two teams available in a third year Fantrax dynasty league with really active managers, a deep player pool, and plenty of ratios to satisfy knowledgeable baseball guys. I have enjoyed being in this league thoroughly.
– Play against Ralph Lifshitz. Gray hasn’t yet shown the courage to join this league.
– 16 teams
– rotisserie
– 6×6 stats (R, RBI, NetSB, AVG, OBP, SLG, QS, K, NetSv, HLD, ERA, WHIP)
– Annual two round live draft including the entire available player universe, with remaining same year draftees and international signees protected to preserve draft pick value.
– League Constitution in place, with procedures that outline commissioner decision-making.
– Year-round activity
– Very active, long term owners only. This is a commitment.
Here are the available teams
Team 1:
C Kurt Suzuki
1B Albert Pujols
2B Dustin Pedroia
3B Kris Bryant
SS Corey Seager
CI Adam Lind
MI Jedd Gyorko
OF Josh Bell
OF Andrew Benintendi
OF Jackie Bradley Jr
OF Byron Buxton
OF Nomar Mazara
Util Travis Shaw
Res Yoan Moncada
Res Christian Arroyo
Res Scooter Gennett
Min Blake Swihart
Min Brendan Rogers
Min Gavin Cecchini
Min JP Crawford
Min Rafael Devers
Min Mickey Moniak
P Tim Adleman
P Homer Bailey
P Jose Berrios
P Dylan Bundey
P Marco Estrada
P Yovani Gallardo
P Jarlin Garcia
P John Lackey
P Lance McCullers Jr.
P Clayton Richards
P Anibal Sanchez
P Nick Wittgren
Res Matt Manning
Res Clay Buccholz
Res Andrew Cashner
Res Alex Reyes
Res Hector Santiago
Res Vince Velasquez
Res Steven Wright
Min Anderson Espinoza
Min Mark Appel
Min Luiz Gohara
Min Julio Urias
Team 2:
C Evan Gattis
1B Trey Mancini
2B Neil Walker
3B Nolan Arenado
SS Asdrubal Cabrera
CI Justin Turner
MI Joe Panik
OF Adam Jones
OF Matt Kemp
OF Gerardo Parra
OF Kevin Pillar
OF Justin Upton
Util Alex Bregman
Res Seth Smith
Res CJ Cron
Res Cameron Maybin
Res Stephen Piscotty
Res Russell Martin
Min Brian Mundell
Min Bobby Dalbec
Min Kevin Maitan
Min Mauricio Dubon
Min Kyle Tucker
P Chase Anderson
P Steve Cishek
P Gerrit Cole
P Chris Devenski
P Jaime Garcia
P Luke Gregerson
P Lance Lynn
P Tanner Roark
P Danny Salazar
P Tony Watson
P Alex Wilson
P Alex Wood
Res Shawn Kelley
Res Jake Faria
Res Steven Matz
Res Andrew Miller
Res Drew Smyly
Min Jose De Leon
Min Max Fried
Min Austin Gomber
Min Daniel Gossett
Min Rob Kaminsky
Interested? Send your answers to the following questions to dynastygurufantrax at Gmail.
1) Your real name
2) The reliable email address I would be able to reach you at year round.
3) What are your baseball/fantasy baseball credentials?
4) Which team(s) are you interested in?
5) Why are you a good fit for the team(s) you indicated in #4 and for this league as a whole.
6) Do you commit to being a very active long term manager if selected?
@The Curly W’s: 1. Angelina Jolie 2. [email protected] 3. I starred in a movie called The Bone Collector, where I collect the bones of my fallen fantasy opponents. 4. Twins 5. Have you seen Gia? 6. When I die in 50 years, I have many children to replace me. Bring. It. On.
@Grey: Wow, sounds like you really want this.
Just passing along credentials of a qualified manager.
@Grey: That first roster is leaps and bounds better than the second!
Especially when considering the minor leaguers. Gohara, Espinoza and Urias should all be good… with Urias being the only concern. And Appel is an enigma but still young.
@cmutimmah: I agree that the first roster seems primed to become a juggernaut, but roster 2 ain’t bad and may be the more appealing challenge for a dynasty lover.
@The Curly W’s: You had me until Net SB…
@HawtSauce: Sorry. The stats were selected to encourage deeper thinking that more closely emulates real baseball decision-making. Just like a high strikeout rate affects a player’s ability to get on base, a high caught rate affects a player’s ability to stay on base. We picked stats that consider negatives as well as positives and remove luck as much as possible.
@The Curly W’s: Very interested, email sent.
Great work Grey. Sounds like his name should be OHverrati
@bill: Ha, nice… Yeah, a little bit… As a pitcher, he’s gonna have some great games, I imagine…
If anyone’s up for a spot in a $200 15-team start-up dynasty, let me know. Need a couple more owners. Otani will be available :-)
More details by email: [email protected]
@BringBackPluto: Are you familiar with The Bone Collector?
Grey, I started reading this thinking that you were simply pissed at the stupidity of naming a team “The Angels Angels,” not at the geographical nonsense.
As for Ohtani, I can’t stay away from the hype. In my head, the guy is basically Steve Nebraska from The Scout without being a headcase. Also, Albert Brooks is great.
@Tweak: But can he understand Gary Busey?
Looking forward to your rankings. Keeper question. 8 team head to head point based league. We keep 15 players every year. Was offered Arenado for darvish, tanaka, carrasco and my 1st round pick. We use two utility spots. If I get Arenado, I would have three 3B (Arenado, Machado and Sano) and two SS (Correa and lindor). One of those 5 would be on my bench. I’m thinking that I would trade Sano for a pitcher. Thoughts?
@Schwab: I’d take Arenado there, trade Sano for a pitcher
Thanks Grey. Can you give me a couple of young SP’s you think are a fair offer? Robbie Ray or Carlos Martinez? Thanks.
I like both of them… Carrasco? Syndergaard? Archer?
@Schwab: Think you could just include Sano in the deal and take Carrasco out?
Sooooo I’m assuming you’re moving back home to be closer to your boyfriend?
I’ve bought a tiny house in Staten Island for us… Because of our love we won’t even smell Staten Island…
@Grey: Or need heat
Al Gore’s gonna be complaining about the climate change due to our body friction…
@Grey: And if he brings Judge home one night …..all bets are off
That reminds me of the picture of Spiderman pointing at Spiderman
@Grey: Ha Ha
How’s Stan been at basketball?
@Grey: Stan?
Son! His name is Stan Son (real name, I think)
Fake News?
Derek Jeter is a Razzball subscriber and read Ralph’s post on Jorge Guzman which triggered him to make the Stanton trade aka Crab Army!
Dontrelle Willis Tweet “Jeter might run the Marlins but he’s still coming up clutch for the yankees” was absolute gold (although others said similar thing, they dont have the DTrain credentials)
Ohtani signing w/ the Angels is just weak but I’d love to own him just on fantasy arm alone.
Grey – you see Big Mouth on Netflix? quality awesomeness
Did Dontrelle say that? That’s hilarious…. I haven’t watched Big Mouth, but started watching Fauda and it’s solid… You should check it out…
Great title. Very Angels topical if you have been living on nothing but Whitesnake videos and old reruns of Love Connection
Ha, it was all Rudy
@Grey: I know but for some reason I like you telling us every time that it’s Rudy
Rudy’s also kicking ass this year with football projections…
@Grey: That’s good for the site.
Agreed
Grey, for next season i need to keep 4: what would be the early prediction of keepers? I am trying to trade the remainder for Kluber.
HR/OBP/R/RBI/SB
Freeman
Schoop
Arenado
Seager C
Conforto
Bellinger
Cruz
Marte
Bellinger, Freeman, Arenado, Seager… Instead of Seager, could be any of them except Conforto…
@Grey: The fact you can trade these guys that you’re not keeping does not make sense for the integrity of your league?
Happens in all keepers, if you’re not keeping them, trade them to someone who might want to keep them… See no problem…
@Grey: @cmutimmah: That was not supposed to end in a question mark…
But that rule is questionable.
@cmutimmah: You’re saying you would not allow offseason trades? That would be the exception to the usual approach.
Ohtani #1 Ohtani #1 Ohtani #1!!!!!
In dynasty drafts, yup
@Grey: Ohtani Good
But Ohtani great?
@Grey: Time will tell. Knowing Murphy’s Law all too well he’ll end up taking a pitch off his wrist and be done for a year
On the first game of the season! If I don’t own (which I likely won’t), that would be hilarious after all the hype…
@Grey: The Anaheim curse of Mo Vaughn
I was in Boston when he was cursing them…
@Grey: I always felt it was some kind of payback for those MLB worst uniforms
In fairness, every team had awful unis at one point…
@Grey: Mo is my all-time favorite Red Sox player. Also the first player I ever scouted at the Pawtucket Red Sox back in the day. Used to wait at the gate after the games and get autographs from Mo, John Valentin, and the legend Phil Plantier.
@Ralph Lifshitz: is he the first case of Plantier Fascitis?
Ha, nice
Haha, Plantier! I used to live two blocks from Fenway during some of those Mo years, and just walk over and buy tix by myself (so sad!)….
@Ralph Lifshitz:As lat as 1999 we used to drive up during the summer on a whim and get into games for nothing. It’s a very different world now. Not only Fenway, but that section of Boston. Kenmore square is pretty ritzy now.
Yeah, I went back about 8 years ago, and it had completely changed… BU took over all of Comm Ave, and Kenmore… And the whole city feels like Newton took it over…
Grey!
Assuming Marcell Ozuna plays his next few years in a neutral park, who do you prefer in deep standard dynasty formats between he and Bregman? Basically, do you prefer 35hrs or 20hr/15sb type players?
Bregman
Grey,
I have three picks in the 2nd round (#11, #12 and #15) would you bid a 2nd rd pick on Luke Weaver
Makes sense
ok making the offer
Cool
I just got out bid on Lester
Wouldn’t worry about it
How do you think Luke Weaver will do this year
I like him, good cheap #4 SP
12-14 wins 185K’s 3.25 ERA?
No way
what are your projections for him?
10 wins, 150 Ks, 3.70, thereabouts
still not terrible
Nope
Grey,
I am about to win the auction for Joey Gallo. Would you flip him for Jon Lester?
Nope
I dont need Gallo, I have Machado and Arenado at 3B and have 1B covered. He would be a nice chip to get a frontline starter.
Trade him then
trying to figure out what OF/SP package I can get for him
Could I get someone like Strasburg and either Billy Hamilton or Benentendi for him? Or just one of them if so who should i ask for?
I’d try, either of them
The best I can get for GAllo is Lester.
You can do better
ok like what? what SP can i get for him?
Like what what?
The “Washington” Redskins (they play somewhere in Maryland) and the “San Francisco” 49ers (they play about 2 traffic hours away from Frisco down 101 in some city I’ve never heard of) wonder what’s all this fussing about the Angels naming themselves after the biggest local city in their close proximity. Besides, if it doesn’t take you at least 2 hours to get somewhere in SoCal, what’s the point to go.
49ers did play in SF… Redskins are closest city to Washington…. Maybe cause they were California Angels, then Anaheim Angels and now they’ve decided to be LA. They’re clearly not LA, they even said they took LA to try to make themselves seem more appealing to a broader base…
@Grey: And the Giants and Jets play in Jersey, and the Pistons in Auburn Hills and the list goes on and on. I kinda agree on the Niners because they really play in San Jose now which is rare for a team to play in another major US city.
I faintly remember New Jersey trying to get the Giants to change their name… If I wrote football content, I’d prolly call them the Jersey Giants. They are more NYC than Buffalo…
@Grey: Buffalo? That’s basically Canada with guidos
That’s what I’m saying… I’m being revealed as a real city snob here, I need to stop… Anaheim is lovely, I went to grad school there… They have beautiful, uh, malls…
@Grey: They have beautiful medians and christmas lights
I don’t know, Santa Claus Lane does a pretty good job… Their medians are better tho, that’s fair…
@Grey: and far less prostitutes in the OC
Is this a positive or negative?
@Jack Deth the Jew Jew: well there are more carpool lanes in LA
Haha, solid finale last night… Fatwa!
NO SPOILERS!!!!! Not there yet
I’d never spoil
If I was still writing I’d be J-Fohtwa
I’d just go J-Fatwa
I like a little extra hate on my fatwa
And an extra Jew in your name
Angels also played many years in LA, first at Wrigley Field, then at Dodger Stadium, until the Doyers stuck their advance ticket sales next to a Giant file of fertilizer. In fact, Angels are the only baseball team named LA actually from LA. Just saying.
LA is one of the biggest counties in the country, and Angels don’t play in it… They might’ve played in LA at one point, but they were the California Angels to get their own identity, then they tried a marketing ploy to glom off LA’s name…
Pile of fertilizer.
At some point, you really need to forgive Justin Upton for that awful two month stretch in 2015, which happened over two and a half seasons ago now, which s probably attributable to some temporary injury or personal issue we do not even know about. It is not good for your constitution to hang on to the bitterness.
Other than that stretch, do you know how many times Upton has hit below .213 over a full calendar month in his entire 10+ year career? One. For a total of three. Manny Machado has done that 5 times in a career half that length, and I bet you get a chubby when you think of owning him. Bryce Harper did it 3 times in 2016 alone, and I bet he makes your top 5 for 2018 with an enthusiastic buy recommendation and a write-up where you fantasize about being stranded on a desert island with him and Bryce finds a tree branch and some pine cones and he fungoes the cones up into the tops of coconut and pineapple trees to knock fruit down for the two of you to eat.
So go ahead and forgive Upton, Grey! You will feel cleansed and refreshed!
Len! Was it only a two month stretch two years ago? Hmm, that’s a fair point if Upton is being unfairly perceived by me as an all or nothing guy… I honestly thought it was more… Prolly confirmation bias by me b/c that’s the last time I owned him…
@Grey: Speaking of Uptons and unfair perception, remember when The Artist Formerly Known as BJ was going as a first rounder?
Ha, yeah, you’d think BJ going down would’ve been a good thing…
@Grey: I had put you on that! Your scar was showing.
I might protect him for next year, so do me a favor and do not draft him – I do not want to take the risk that it is your ownership that caused that 2015 swoon. Ok then, that’s settled.
Haha, I’m not the reason Upton sucked in 2015 (I’m likely the reason)…
@Grey: Speaking of leaving out some details. He may not have gone sub .213, but he sure wasn’t lighting the world on fire for most of 2016.
2015
Jun .196 2 HRs
July .162 4 HRs
Sep/Oct .239 2 HRs
2016
Mar/ Apr .221 2 HRs
May .213 1 HR
Aug .223 5 HRs
2017
May .217 4 HRs
Thank you, Knoche!
@Grey: That’s when I had him on my roster.
And you felt that pain…
@The Great Knoche: Yeah — I owned him from April to August of 2016 and then dropped him. You left off what he did in the final five weeks or so in 2016.
In Sept/Oct. of 2016 he had an 1.132 OPS and 13 homers…after everyone who drafted him had cut him.
@The Great Knoche: Well, everyone has some down months. (Except Trout, of course.)
Upton is not really a high average guy to begin with … .269 lifetime. It’s hardly shocking that his calendar month average dips 50 points below that sometimes. If it didn’t, we’d be looking at him in the 2nd or 3rd round, not the 7th or 8th.
The current concensus that Upton is a slumpin’ or pumpin’ guy just does not really hold up. Yeah, he had a long deep slump once (and yeah, it was truly horrific), but that was the exception, not the rule.
Do you think he spends anytime in the minors or straight to the show?
Nah, he’s ready for majors
I’ve read so much of people being down on Hosmer going into this year, depending where he signs, what range do you see him going? Still top 50?
Thanks,
He’s a top 50-ish guy
Not sure if this has been discussed here yet but what do we think the big box sites will do for Ohtani scoring if he both pitches and hits often enough? It would be weird to not allow his pitching or hitting stats and since right now players stats can only count to one or the other it creates an issue. If he can get stats for both why not Bumgarner?
One idea I heard which makes a lot of sense is have 2 draftbale Ohtanis. Ohtani hitter and Ohtani pitcher. Neither of which will be on my fantasy teams. It would be funny if you addressed this in your write up, which im about to read now.
@Willy Mo: welp, u addressed it. Yeah i think for sure there will be ohtani hitter and ohtani pitcher which kills his value since he wont do both often enough
@Willy Mo: I was speculating about this the other day with my co-commissioner. My guess is they will have a separate Ohtani hitter and Ohtani pitcher, and they will allow you to configure your league player pool to have one, the other, or both. And I bet that a league that chooses both but wants them to be linked such that a single owner will always own both (and be able to use him one way in some scoring periods and the other way in other scoring periods) will have to manually enforce that itself.
Yeah, above…
Grey,
Someone offered Lamb and a pick which will net the 75th overall player for Severino in an OBP/SLG keeper league. I am favoring the Severino side. Thoughts?
Thanks
Severino side but close
@Grey: Pulled the trigger, hopefully Lamb can take a step forward.
Jose Ramirez over Donny in OBP/SLG format? Close?
Donny?
@Grey: Maybe he means Josh Donaldson?
I have loved Ramirez ever since I got him in a trade for Billy Burns in 2016 (yes, Billy Burns!), but Donaldson walks a ton and has been a consistent SLG guy too, so I would lean him. The guy slumped last year and still finished with .385 OBP and .559 SLG, and hit 33 HRs in only 113 games. That’s a down year? I will take some of that.
t is hard for me to believe that Ramirez will sustain a 121 point jump in SLG from this past season (but I am hoping like hell he does).
Yeah, I like Ramirez a lot this year, I think the slugging can hold to, he’s just coming into his own…
@Grey: Sorry, yes, Josh Donaldson
@Test Kitchen: I’d want Jo-Ram
@Grey: Thanks. Did my preliminary ranks yesterday. Excited to see how far off they are from January Grey’s ranks…
No problem… Where do you have Correa?
Hey buddee, hope all is good. Christmas came early for me this year. I don’t typically disclose being a Yankee fan when I’m writing as it’s biased, but I’m pretty damn excited about getting Stanton. I want an 80/90’s poster with Stanton and Judge back to back that says “Twin Towers or Bash Brothers 2.0” I’d also like a Meme of Darth Vader or Kylo Ren welcoming Stanton to the Darkside. I need those in my life. HA!
Haha, I like the idea of that Spiderman image pointing at himself for Giancarlo and Judge…. Gonna be insane against Orioles pitching… BTW, you still with that girl?
@Grey: 100 Percent still with her. She’s still just as awesome as before. She’ll be a CA resident before opening day fo-sho. She just went to Adam Jones Ravens tailgate with her Dad a couple Monday nights ago, the shizz looked so fun! AJ raises a bunch of money for charity each year.
Awesome! Happy to hear it! Hope she didn’t wear a Red Sox jersey, I hear Adam Jones doesn’t like them…
@Grey: Classic! She’ll find the humor in that. Too funny!
Grey, slightly off topic, but since my keeper league is getting going, question on these two players:
Last year stats
Shaw, 27yo,84, 31, 101, 10, 0.862 OPS
Rizzo, 28yo, 99, 32, 109, 10, 0.899 OPS
I have both, but Rizzo will likely cost me $60 for next 3 years while Shaw would be $6 for next 3 years
Do you buy into Shaw’s breakout? Can he continue to put up Rizzo-esque stats?
Thanks!
I’d take Shaw for the price difference alone
@Grey: Thanks Grey! One more question – would you rather lock up Rizzo for 3 years at $60/year or Kluber for 3 years at $60/year? My other keepers are Bryant, Shaw, Benintendi, Scherzer, Cole, Lester, Ohtani
Rizzo
Gray,
Which reliever should I go after? Ryan Madson or Blake parker?
Parker
I just got outbid for Gallo.
Oh well
Exactly
Some of your best work. I was lol’ing, while also being very intrigued.