LOGIN

Please see our player page for Anthony DeSclafani 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.

I’m having this weird feeling. It’s not gas; I know what that feels like. It’s not anger that my neighbor planted a tree that smells like semen on my property line. It’s…I think…extreme happiness? I hate my AL-Only teams usually, but I kinda like this team. Oh, it has its flaws, we’ll get to those, but, is this. Dot dot dot. Bliss? I never love my AL-Only teams. Sometimes, I’m okay with them. Sometimes, I’m unhappy with them but pretend to be okay with them, like a sad clown with a painted-on smile. But “kinda like” an AL-Only team?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Happy Monday, Razzball faithful! For this week’s installment of Top 100 Starting Pitchers, I decided to give us all a peek into the darkness that is “The Next 100”. The shadowy realm of the next 100 starting pitchers isn’t nearly as deep of an abyss as the one that houses the pitchers that follow these […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

O. Henry typing up a player on his fantasy baseball website, “A player who has massive amounts of upside. Just absolutely loving this guy. He can be a cheap number one starter. I’d give my wife’s comb for this guy, and let her be all straggly and shizz. The only thing possibly going against this great, wonderful player is a small thing that likely won’t react negatively to his value and make this whole thing ironic. That thing is the player plays for the New York Mets.”

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Corbin Burnes was traded to the Orioles, and, only a few days earlier, Peter Angelos sold the Orioles, saying to the new owners, “Treat this team with the respect she deserves. Every part of her. Down to the staples on this contract. By the way, if you don’t need the staples, I usually take them out and save them so I can use them again down the road. Crazy the amount of people that discard perfectly good staples. I have one staple I used on a court document — someone was suing me for back pay — and I used that one staple, like, sixteen more times.”

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Last week would have been awesome if JP Sears and Garrett Whitlock didn’t disappoint us. We got some gems from the other three pitchers and a lovely week from Leody Taveras in the hitting section. It’s much easier to recommend pitchers than hitters because the matchups are much more valuable when examining the differing variables. […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

In the biz, we call this an “In Appreciation Of” post. This is in appreciation of Tildaddy. The one and only: Ronald Acuña Jr. (4-for-8, 3 runs, 4 RBIs and a double slam (14, 15) and legs (29), hitting .333). Tildaddy says you are done with your chores! Scientists should get together Ronald Acuña Sr., Fernando Tatis Sr., Bobby Witt Sr., Michael Harris I and other former players, who have elite MLB sons, and let them study them. Like the movie, Concussion, but call it Cushion Pushin’. Tildaddy is running away with the top spot on the Player Rater, and–Well, one of his home runs yesterday went 461 feet and it looked like he was barely swinging. Put that together with a guy who might have 45 steals by the All-Star Break, and we’re looking at a possible 40/70 season. I just nearly fainted. I need to sit down. Sits in a hole labeled “People who faded Acuña in the preseason.” Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Yesterday, the Dodgers called up Jonny DeLuca. He’s been tearing up Triple-A, which is pretty impressive for a studio enforcer who’s having an affair with Lana Turner. Jonny DeLuca’s got all the photogs on call, and, yeah, see, he’s got pics of your favorite movie stars in ways you don’t wanna see them, see. He’s also got solid power and speed, and had a 15% strikeout rate in Triple-A, so the contact is there too. Think he might be more of an NL-Only or deeper mixed league guy for now, but worth monocling. Unless you wanna see your dame splashed all over Look! magazine. Also, the Cards are calling up Luken Baker, but, if you’ve seen him, he looks exactly like Adam Dunn. In the minors, he even wore his number.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The easiest thing you can do is put together an incredible fantasy pitching staff with only pitchers you drafted after 200 overall. It’s not just in hindsight. You could’ve blindly grabbed guys after 200. It’s easier to put together a staff after 200th overall draft than from the top 20 starters. Jon Gray? Don’t mind if I do! Patrick Sandoval? Sure! Sonny Gray? Okay! Andrew Heaney? Sure, I’ll take the occasional blow up! Hunter Brown? Why not? Jose Berrios? Yes. Nathan Eovaldi? Absolutely. Alex Cobb? Yes. Martin Perez? I’ve seen worse. Merrill Kelly? Absolutely. Marcus Stroman? He just threw one-hitter vs. the Rays and has a 2.59 ERA. (He added in 8 Ks in that one-hitter with one walk too.) Know how I chose those eleven starters after 200th overall? I went to the ADP of 200 overall and took 11 of the next 14 starters from 200 overall to 268. 11 of the 14 starters after pick 200 are doing great. 11 of 14! On the other hand, five of the top 10 starters overall are garbage! DeGrom, Nola, Woodruff, Verlander, and Sandy. Your mileage can vary with Gerrit, Burnes and Strider, but let’s say they were worth it. After the top 10? The next three were Scherzer, Cease and Bieber. Wow! It makes so much sense to draft starters high I cannot take it. I am brimming with sarcasm, if you can’t tell. 11 of 14 starters after 200 overall were solid; five of the top 10 are iffy at best. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1306528″ player=”13959″ title=”2023%20Razzball%20BUY%20SELL%20HOLD%20For%20Fantasy%20Baseball%20Week%208″ duration=”217″ description=”It’s the Razzball BUY, SELL, HOLD For Fantasy Baseball Week 8!” uploaddate=”2023-05-17″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1306528_th_6464fef4e757f_1684340468.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1306528.mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″]

At one point in the 6th inning, Michael Kopech (7 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 4.24) couldn’t see. He was blinded by a bug. The pitch clock was winding down, so he let it rip, and he said later, “I still don’t know where that pitch was that I threw. It was a strike, so it’s good. Seby [Zavala] came out and actually blew in my eye and got the bug out.” That bug, Flik, was voiced by Canadian heartthrob, Dave Foley. I don’t know how long Dave Foley’s been sitting in Kopech’s eye, but, with the success he’s been having recently, made we shouldn’t be so fast to blow our hot breath into his face, unless it was meant as an ode to Prom season by Seby. That is always worth commemorating. So, I try avoid doing a lede about the same guy but, way back in the first week of the season, I wrote about Michael Kopech because he looked so bad. Well, not exactly. I wrote, “There’s no direct evidence that the more handsome a pitcher, the more he’s going to screw you over — that we know of. We just haven’t studied it yet! Someone take a ruler and measure the distance between the eyes on Michael Kopech. Now measure the inches on his curve break. Do they match? The golden ratio that is his cheekbones, is that equal to his current 13.50 ERA? This is not eugenics, because we’re doing it for fantasy baseball purposes and not fantasy exterminations.” And that’s me quoting me! Well, we’re back here again, because we have to keep an open mind — someone grab me the head opener! — and Michael Kopech now has two great starts in a row. Since that first game of the season, Kopech only really has one other disaster. His velocity is up; his strikeouts are up; his command is better (in his last two starts) and, while not exactly performing at the level of his last two starts without luck — he needs to disallow homers on the reg — he’s looking more inline with the starter who we thought was going to be back when he was a top prospect. Was thought to be a slider-first pitcher, he’s relied on it less, while throwing it harder. It could be the recipe for success he needs. Either that, or someone put a bug back in his eye. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

James Paxton impressed again Friday night pitching six innings of one-run baseball, allowing seven base runners (five hits, two walks) and striking out five for his first win since August 2020! If you understand that headline you probably smoke way too much weed, stoner! More importantly, after dealing to the Cards last week (5.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, BB, 9 K), Pax did it again mostly silencing the Padres at home. Never mind that it had been almost two years since his last start, Paxton’s marching out there like he’s been doing this all season, providing stability to a Boston rotation that badly needs some of that. His command wasn’t as sharp as last week, but his only real blemish was a shot to Tatis, and c’mon, there’s really no stopping that guy. James had four strikeouts through the first three innings and while the 98 mph gas is obviously impressive its the fact that he’s mixing it up that makes me think he could be a serviceable starter going forward. We saw some first pitch curves, he kept hitters off balance mixing the fastball with the cutter, knuckle curve, change and got out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth. I held my breathe when he came out for the sixth but he ended the night retiring the last seven in order. Again, unlike last week, Paxton did not have his best stuff Friday night, he struggled with command and still managed to battle through six innings and that’s what really gives me hope. He threw 107 pitches (66 for strikes) the most he’s thrown in a game since 2019 as a Yankee (versus the Red Sox no less!). You’d think Manager Cora would be a bit more conservative with the pitch counts for his oft-injured starter but nay, they need James to be this guy and he was Friday night. He was Him. And as much as I hate that smug look on Chaim Bloom’s face, James now sports a pretty 2.46 ERA with a 14/3 K/BB in two starts since his return from Tommy John. Rafael Devers said of James through a translator, “He’s awesome.” Well said Raffy, and no rush on learning English any time soon–it’s only been seven years, you take your sweet time and focus on hitting dongs. As for the Big Maple James Paxton, with this line up behind him, he’s looking like he could be a useful fantasy starter in the right match ups, and hopefully these massive Pax rips are more than just smoke cause this new (old) game James Pax a real punch!

Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?