Alex Verdugo

Please see our player page for Alex Verdugo to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.

Grey

RazzSlam Recap: It’s A (Aims Finger At Self) Points League

March 23, 2023 | Featured, Our Leagues | 171 Comments

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I’m a big fan of the everyman. I consider myself the everyman. I’m every man’s everyman. A pioneer of normcore. Track pants and a blinking light on my car’s dashboard that either means my seatbelt isn’t on or I need oil. That is me. What better way to elevate the Everyman Culture then to take part in a tourney where no one is smarter than anyone else. Enter the RazzSlam, a Best Ball tourney. Every everyman likely knows what a Best Ball league is, but, if you don’t, it’s when you draft a team and the computer manages it for you by choosing who are your best players, and you get those stats. It’s basically one fantasy league removed from the robots taking over and killing us all. Well, the last laugh is on you robots, cholesterol is beating you to the punch! Kinda love that Razzball is putting on a tourney (hosted by NFBC — thank you!) that no one really has any clue how to strategize. A true everyman experience. Oh, I’m sure there’s a few people who think they know the correct strategy for Best Ball, and a few of them might be right, but there’s an under 1% chance they know why they’re right, and it isn’t just luck. In some ways, Best Ball leagues are a lot like Best Ball strategies. Throw a ton of them out there and a few good ones will rise to the top through sheer force of players’ performances and nothing you’re actually doing. That’s the fun. Anyway, here’s my RazzSlam, a 42-round, Best Ball 12 team draft recap:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jakkers

2023 Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Rankings: Top 200

March 11, 2023 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Keepers, Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Keeper Leagues | 24 Comments

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If you are starting a team in a new dynasty league, take a look at the position breakdown of the top 200 players, using the main position for utility players except for one, who plays basically any position in the field.

What quickly jumps out is the lack of depth at second base and third base. The second and third base positions alone add up to only one more Top 100 player than the shortstop position. There are some great players at those two positions, but the overall quality lacks compared to shortstop or first base.

When it comes to catchers and relief pitchers, I can tell you right now that there are few of them ranked. There are a lot of good catchers, but many of them will get only 110 or so starts or they are getting up in age, making them less than desired dynasty options.

As for the relivers, I never chase saves (or holds if your league has them). How many players dread chasing Aroldis Chapman last year or a host of other top closers? Meanwhile, five new closer will come out the woodwork this year that you can get in the middle of the season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

LABR Recap: My Team Was Rated NC-17 By The Fantasy Baseball Board of Governors

March 7, 2023 | Featured, Our Leagues | 148 Comments

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Okay, I’m going to try to show you my 2023 LABR team, but I have to warn you, if your parental controls are too high on your browser, you might not be able to see my team. If, for unstints, you have your Chrome browser at PG-13, you won’t even see Jordan Walker. To help those people, and I’m only going to do this this one time, J*rdan W*lker is my 3rd baseman. You won’t see my shortstop, 2nd baseman or 1st baseman. I’m sorry. I’m not great with technology,  but I believe if you go to your browser preferences, you can lower your parental controls, and then view my post. Of course, after you do that, you see my OnlyFans too, but why not subscribe, so I can read you my LABR team recap while I wear a nightie. So, I took part in the LABR, 12-team, mixed auction this past weekend and I built a team that is dripping in sex appeal.  Besides being an auction and two catcher, it’s very similar to our RCL leagues (spots available to take on me and all of your worst frenemies, and win prizes; it’s free — sign up for a Razzball Commenter League under that linkie-ma-whosie.) Anyway, here’s my LABR 12-team, mixed league draft recap:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Top 60 Outfielders for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

January 27, 2023 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Featured | 65 Comments

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Something I will regret informing you about, but have chosen to anyway is last year’s top 60 outfielders were great, except, and here’s the regret: The upsidey ones. The top 60 outfielders you wanted to do more *cough* Jo Adell *cough* did not. The ones that you had no real high hopes for like Hunter Renfroe were totally respectable. Can we learn from that? Learneth, we might! Here’s Steamer’s 2023 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2023 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. Subscriptions are up and running, and you can already get Rudy’s Draft War Room. Anyway, here’s the top 60 outfielders for 2023 fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jakkers

2023 Dynasty Rankings: 200-176

January 14, 2023 | 2023 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 15 Comments

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The start of the 2023 baseball season is just weeks away, but here at Razzball it is always baseball season. To get you ready to go for the upcoming year, here is the first installment of the 2023 Dynasty Rankings.

When it comes to dynasty rankings, you have to look at a little of this, some of that, and can’t forget about the other. You want a team that can contend for years, so do you look only at age? If you do that, it may compromise your team’s performance?

When evaluating players for dynasty leagues, the formula for success thus consists of many factors. It’s a dash of gut instinct mixed in with past experience and a whole lot of what the eye sees. You know a good player when you see him. But you can’t just go with the best player on the board.

The Rules (or at least guidelines)

That said, there are some basic rules I try to follow as much as possible:

Young over old
I’m always thinking five years down the road. Justin Verlander is great to have on your team this year, but what about next year and certainly in 2024? You will need veteran players, but you don’t want a whole team of veteran players.
Hitter over Pitcher
Since the introduction of the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, 113 hitters have been awarded the Rookie of the Year compared to 39 pitchers. In this century alone, 33 hitters have been named ROY to 13 pitchers. Young hitters perform better than young pitchers, and veteran hitters are more consistent than veteran pitchers.
Starting Pitcher over Reliever
This is pretty easy to understand why. For the most part, you know what you are going to get from starters. As a group, relievers are so up-and-down it is maddening. Need an example? Aroldis Chapman. Need another? Josh Hader.
But, what about…

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jakkers

2023 Top Keepers – Right Fielders

December 31, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Keepers | 6 Comments

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Happy New Year! As the calendar gets set to flip to 2023, it means we are that much closer to the start of the baseball season once again. Thank goodness for fantasy baseball, otherwise the winter months would really drag on.

This week we are doing one final look at the 2023 Top Keepers by position as we wrap up with right fielders.

The Power Position

Of the three outfield spots, right field produced the most power in 2022 as the average was 21 homers and 75 RBI with 10 steals to go with a .241/.309/.405 slash line. And Aaron Judge didn’t inflate those numbers. Judge actually started more games in center (74) than right (54) this past season and hit 32 homers while playing in center compared to 19 as a right fielder.

Eleven of the Top 30 ranked players below hit 25 or more homers. But the position also has players who can steal bases as 11 players reached double digits in that category in 2022.

Overall, it is a pretty deep position and one of the more experienced positions in my rankings. Of the 30 ranked players, 12 are 30 years old or older. But there is still a lot of great, young talent – players who are going to be great keepers for years.

So let’s get past the small talk and take dive into the 2023 Top Keepers – Right Fielders.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jakkers

2023 Top Keepers – Left Fielders

December 17, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Keepers | 12 Comments

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Hey, if it’s a day that ends in “y” then it is a good talk to talk about fantasy baseball. This week we are shining a light on left fielders in another edition of the 2023 Top Keepers series.

When it comes to left fielders, they are almost like the second basemen of the outfield. Many left fielders also play other positions, whether it is elsewhere in the outfield, DH, or someone in the infield.

Of the 30 ranked players and the five who just missed, only 15 of them appeared in more than 100 games in left. A few more of them would have reach 100 games if they were called up to the big leagues sooner or didn’t suffer through injuries.

The Average Left Fielder

The goal when building a fantasy team is to obviously have the best players at every position. But that is pretty much impossible to do. But an easier goal to reach is to at least have a player who is better than league average at that position. You may think this is easy, but in 16- to 20-team leagues with deep rosters, this goal is a lot harder to achieve than you may think.

So, what does the average left fielder produce?

A slash line of .250/.322/.403
19 home runs
72 RBI
10 stolen bases

If you can start a player who tops the majority of those players, then you are in good shape. And in case you are wondering, the average left fielder has the best overall slash line compared to center fielders and right fielders, while center fielders have the best speed and right fielders the most power.

Decent Depth

Unlike some other positions we have already looked at, like second base, there is relatively good depth in left field. The top players are head and shoulders better than the rest of the group, but there are decent players to be found in Tier 5.

Now, let’s start our dive into the 2023 Top Keepers – Left Fielders edition.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Top 40 Outfielders for 2022 Fantasy Baseball, a Recap

October 21, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Featured | 49 Comments

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With the top 40 outfielders for 2022 fantasy baseball, we’ve finished all the hitter recaps. We meaning me, but I’ll include you. No, that’s not a cue to try to hold my hand. Why are you now patting my butt? Don’t muss my hair! The pitching recap will begin next. You can hardly wait. No, you! To recap, the end of the season rankings are based on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. I felt the easiest way to keep it objective would be to go this route. This way when I say a player finished 30th and I ranked them 23rd in the preseason, it carries more weight than Willians Astudillo. Anyway, here’s the top 40 outfielders for 2022 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Butters

Points Leagues: How Did My Guys Do?

September 29, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues |

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Well folks, it’s time for a look back on the fantasy season. I am very much looking forward to the post season and October baseball even if my beloved Giants may not be involved in the quest for a trophy (they’re not eliminated yet and still hold out eternal hope). I hope that you are closing in on a championship. At this point, your team is pretty dang good if you’ve made it this far and you’re ready to roll. So what better time to look back at some standout performances from this season. I have thoughts on these guys for next season but as of right now, they’re just that, thoughts, and I will take my sweet time before ranking them in drafts. Lets look back on a few of my preseason guys. It’s football time but baseball is yet to make a thrilling finish. Fantasy baseball country, let’s ride.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Judge The Two Of Us – Aaron-Maris In A Tie

September 29, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes, Featured | 92 Comments

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Hey, let me ask you something, are we shipping Roger Maris Jr. and Aaron Judge‘s mom? What? Why are you booing me? Okay, serious-serious question, how many changes of clothes does Roger Maris Jr. have with him in Toronto? Okay, serious-serious-serious question, isn’t Roger Maris Jr. actually just Roger Maris but with an asterisk? Stop throwing tomatoes at me! I can’t use all my Roger Maris Jr. material anywhere else. So, Aaron Judge (1-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) hit 61, becoming, what, the seventh most prolific home run hitter in a season? Honestly, when you really stop to think about what Barry Bonds did, it’s truly remarkable. I don’t care if he was sticking Babe Ruth’s DNA in his butt and Ted Williams’s DNA in his male sack, it’s freakin’ impressive! Aaron Judge? Also, incredibly impressive. I’m not going to lie, when I hear stuff like, “He becomes the first player to have 130 runs and 130 RBIs in the same season since 2007,” and how he’s almost 20 homers higher than anyone else in the majors, I get extreme FOMO for any teams of mine that don’t have him. His 60/20/.315 with 130/130 might be the best fantasy season any of us witness. Or at least until Barry Bonds returns at the age of 58 with Hack Wilson’s DNA in his arm, Ruth’s in his butt and Williams’s in his sack. Let’s go! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Hunter Brown Camouflages His Stuff Well In His Debut

September 6, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes, Featured | 151 Comments

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Frequent commenter, PK, said the other day, “We have Hunter Greene, and now Hunter Brown in the big leagues. Just need a Hunter Orange to complete the redneck trifecta!” And I haven’t stopped thinking about that, so now you also have to think about it. Hey, PK, save the genius stuff for me! Or, Hunter Brown (6 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, 1 walk, 5 Ks), as was the case yesterday in his MLB debut. At some point, the Astros have to stop creating top flight arms, don’t they? Wait a second! You know how the A’s went from attracting fans with OBP to allowing fans to have sex in the bleachers (sorta true, google it, if you don’t believe me), from Moneyball to NoMoneyball to Hornyball. Maybe the Astros are going from the Cheaty Cheaty Bang Bang Scandal to some other scandal we don’t know about yet that turns guys like Framber into aces. Mentioned this on the podcast the other day, which is on Youtube, and will be out on our regular podcast channel today, when discussing Hunter Brown. Astros get so much more from their starters than anyone expects. Why? Is something suspicious going on? Sorry, cheat once and I always think you’re cheating. With Hunter Brown, people actually expect nasty stuff, and with good reason. He has a filthy 85 MPH curve, 96 MPH slider — that’s right, 96 MPH! That’s the fastest slider in the majors this year, outside of deGrom — and a 97 MPH fastball. If you didn’t watch him, all the pitches looked devastatingly good. Now’s the time when I turn this back into the here and now and for this year, you’re likely better off with the Streamonator than holding Brown. Also, holding Brown is how one gets sepsis. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?