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Please see our player page for Cole Irvin 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.

Maybe because Oneil Cruz casts a long shadow — a six-foot, seven-inch shadow — but this week feels especially geared towards replacing him, and there is no replacement, let’s be honest. Orlando Arcia definitely wasn’t replacing him. Orlando sounds like an either or with no right answer. Or…lando Calrissian is the only good that’s coming out of that question. He’s not the answer anyway; Orlando Arcia is hitting the IL with a microfracture in his wrist. Finally, the Braves have room for Ehire Adrianza! “Unless,” Alex Anthopoulos points at the dotted line on the contract that ties Vaughn Grissom up into a standard 14-year deal for $3 million that buys out arbitration years, pre-30 free agent years, and right-of-first-refusal to first-born son. Alex adds, “You have to call your boy, Andruw, in case we want to sign him, because it helps with merchandising.” Okay, yes, grab Vaughn Grissom in your league. He’s coming up! Yes, even that league! I gave you a Vaughn Grissom fantasy back in December, before I knew the Braves were going to play hardball off the field. A key takeaway there was when I said, “Last year in 141 MLB at-bats, (Grissom) hit .291. Maybe the .350 BABIP is a tad high. He’s fast though, so it might not be absurd. His 21.8% strikeout rate at 21 years of age is really the flashing light saying, “Hey, look at this! This is really good!” He didn’t come anywhere close to qualifying, but, if he had, his contact rate on balls in the zone of 89.9% would’ve been top 30 in the majors, around that of Andrew Vaughn (no relation) and Jeff McNeil. His strikeout rates in the minors were incredibly good, hovering between 11% and 14% depending on the stop in pro ball. He’s a guy you’re going to love to have in fantasy, and the Braves will because he’s going to keep getting on base.” And that’s me quoting me and totally misreading the Braves! But he’s here’s now and should be on your teams. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Eloy Jimenez has all the talent in the world, doesn’t he? When he’s healthy and “on” he often reminds me of the great Manny Ramirez – loose, smooth, and confident. But can Eloy ever stay on the field with any consistency at this point? This week it’s a hamstring injury – always a giant red […]

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It’s getting ridiculous now, isn’t it? Once sign stealing was quelled, the haters couldn’t wait for the Houston Astros to fall flat on their faces. But this Day of Reckoning never really comes, does it? No matter what front office or rule changes occur, these modern-day Astros just keep on chuggin’. They are a seemingly […]

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This is the top 100 starters for 2023 fantasy baseball? This is the top 100 starters for 2023 fantasy baseball! Which means. Dot dot dot. This is the end of the 2023 fantasy baseball rankings. I can reclaim my fingers! Wait, I still have to do the top 100 overall and top 500 overall. Hmm, that was short-lived. Subscriptions are up and running, and they come with our Fantasy Baseball Draft War Room, now for auction leagues, snake leagues, Best Ball leagues and AL-Only and NL-Only leagues. Here’s Steamer’s 2023 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2023 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. As always, my projections are included, and where I see tiers starting and stopping. If you want an explanation of tiers, go back to the top 10 for 2023 fantasy baseball and start this shizz all over again. Anyway, here’s the top 100 starters for 2023 fantasy baseball:

NOTE I: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE II: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.

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Last week is a good representation of the closing month of the fantasy baseball regular season. We had our top recommendation pushed back, and he didn’t even make a start. That sort of crap happens way too often this time of the season, and it makes picking streamers more challenging than ever. With that said, […]

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Gnats are bringing up their 1st rounder from 2020, Cade Cavalli, who sounds like someone from Laguna Niguel who is on The Hills: Rebooted. “Hey, Cade, I know you drove my Ferrari last night into our pool, and your father and I are not mad, but Dad is disappointed, and I’m too zoinked on quaaludes to really care.” Kristin Cavallari’s new boy-toy, Cade Cavalli will make his MLB debut on Friday. He made the top 100 fantasy baseball prospects for dynasty leagues. Does that mean his pitches dy…*pinkie to mouth*…nasty?! Die nasty? No? Yeah, I don’t know either. Here’s what Itch said previously, “A late convert to full-time pitching, Cavalli brought some untapped upside to the MLB draft and landed at 22nd overall to the Nationals, who are never afraid to snag a first-round arm talent with question marks. Cavalli thrived as a pro and climbed three levels, dominating in A+ and AA before getting knocked around in his first tour through Triple-A. Cavalli suppressed home runs and induced ground balls all year, striking out 175 batters in 123.1 innings along the way. He’s a thick 6’4” 235 and looks like a linebacker on the mound. Love to see him flatten Grey.” Not cool, man! That was from the preseason, and Cavalli has looked much better this year in Triple-A. With all that said (here’s where I reveal I just wasted your time), I’m not grabbing Cavalli in any mixed leagues, but I will be cyclops’ing him. Especially if he’s hanging with Heidi, Spencer and Lauren. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Welcome to another week of Ambulance Chasers, your Razzball fantasy baseball injury report. I am beginning to wonder about my job security because the number of MLB injuries has dropped off significantly in the past two weeks. However, this job in injury is normal. There was a study that found most MLB shoulder injuries occur […]

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A young boy pulls on his grandfather’s sleeve. “Will you please read me a bedtime story, Paw-Paw?”
“Sure, Timmy, I’d be happy to. From the same book as always?” Off the child’s nod, the old man picks up the storybook, and reads the title, “The Dismantling of a Dream by Peter Angelos.” The old man opens the storybook, and begins to read, “In the summer of 2022, millions of people clamored for my Orioles to win. ‘Win!’ they shouted. And ‘Bleh,” I said. I wasn’t a vampire, per se, but I had been taking blood transfusions of millions of caterpillars right before they turned into a butterfly…” Dissolve to later, “…the bullpen was a point of contention. My underlings said we should keep our late-inning arms. At 93 years young, this might be the last chance I could see a good team. I told them, ‘A good team is one that is losing enough money for a healthy write-off.” Any hoo! The Orioles keep winning, which is somewhat hilarious since they’re seemingly trying to lose. Yesterday, the home run barrage began in the 1st with Ramon Urias (1-for-4, 3 RBIs), who hit his 12th homer. He’s had a great year because the expectations’ bar is so low, and I’m not talking the Royals or Rangers’ closers. Next up, hitting batting practice off Yusei Kikuchi (5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 5.13) was Anthony Santander (2-for-3) and Ryan Mountcastle (2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) in the 3rd. Surprised to see Santander’s home run total that far in front of Mountcastle. If only we had a BBC detective show that could look into that…Wait a minute! That’s Mountcastle on BBC at 9 PM GMT. Finally, Austin Hays (2-for-4) hit his 13th homer, and I was very happy to see this, because I put him in my weekly lineup at the last moment, and he pulled this home run over the left field fence that one can barely see from home plate, which is a great sign for his oblique injury that had sidelined him last week. Just another night in Baltimore, ending happily, like the O’s bottom line yielding subsidized financial reimbursement for a billionaire! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Greetings Razz Fam! Was the stove hot enough for you during the trade deadline? It was on fire for the San Diego Padres. However, just up the coast in San Francisco, trouble was brewing with Joc Pederson and Thairo Estrada suffering concussions in less than a week of each other. On the opposite coast, Miami […]

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Hello once again. Glad you are back for another round of discussion about Top Dynasty Keepers.

If you have been reading this column every week, then you know how much I prefer young hitters over young pitchers. Heck, I prefer young hitters over old pitchers as well. That being said, pitching is part fantasy baseball.

With starters taking the mound only twice a week, max, and relivers able to blow up your ERA and WHIP in a heartbeat, finding solid starting pitchers is always a chore. Finding young starters this late in the season who may also be good to great keepers is nearly impossible, but not completely.

EXPANDING THE SEARCH

Because the search for good starting pitching is a little harder, I also expand the age of the players I am willing to look at when considering them as good keepers or not. So this week let’s examine two 28-year-old starters who pitch on two lousy teams.

The first is left-hander Cole Irvin of the Oakland Athletics. Irvin has the distinction of being drafted three times in his career – once out of high school in the 29th round of the 2012 draft then twice in college after his 2015 season (32nd round) and 2016 seasons (5th round) at Oregon. Cole is widely available in Yahoo and ESPN leagues, rostered at 39% and 30.2% respectively.

The second pitcher is right-hander JT Brubaker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Drafted in the 6th round of the 2015 draft, Brubaker is rostered in only 13% of Yahoo leagues and 8.2% of ESPN leagues.

Both of these pitchers are having career years, which is why we are taking a look at them. At this stage of the season, if you are looking at them they are probably worthy of adding to your staff for a spot start or two. But are they worthy of being a keeper?

Let’s dive in.

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I was really pleased with how last week’s article played out. Hunter Greene, Alex Cobb, Ranger Suarez, and George Kirby all played well as our pitching streamers, while Wilmer Flores and Ji-Man Choi balled out in the hitting section. That makes for a few good consecutive weeks, and I feel as though we have a […]

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