Brewers And Burnes Give Tigers The Third Degree

September 10, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 199 Comments

Matthew Boyd (3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 7.63) is the ultimate poison pill. If I could, I’d hack into my opponent’s team and put Boyd on their team, and the crazy thing is they’d prolly thank me because there are a lot of FanBoydz out there who think he’s somehow worth owning. Sorry, not just worth owning, but people actively want him. It’s a sickness, FanBoydosis. People affected with FanBoydosis, aka FanBoydz, want you to believe there is so much more here. Oh, there could be, but he needs to stop allowing home runs. He goes from an ace to an Ace of Clubbed from start to start with no consistency, but that K/BB is so tantalizing–Hold up! I’ve been afflicted by FanBoydosis. I’m 250 words into a post about the Brewers and Corbin Burnes (7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 11 Ks, ERA at 1.99), talking about Boyd. Not sure what they feed the Brewers’ pitchers — hops? — but Burnes is now throwing his fastball 96 MPH, up from 95, and has completely changed his pitch mix (slider and fastball way less with a cutter and change added). He was essentially a two-pitch pitcher, and now throws four. His 12.7 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 is giving me the feels that I thought I’d get from Woodruff. Is Burnes a number one? Time will tell, but he has the makings. Also, in this game, Jedd Gyorko (2-for-5, and his 6th and 7th homer) went double dong like Jennifer Connelly, and I don’t even want to look at the Player Rater to see how much higher Gyorko is than a bunch of guys who I own. My mental health isn’t worth it. I get it, it’s not Jedd; I’m the Gyorko. Next up, Jacob Nottingham (1-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) hit his 2nd homer. Fun fact! Nottingham was the not very successful spin-off to Mountcastle. Now Orlando Arcia (4-for-6, 3 runs) didn’t homer, but four-hit games from Orlando gives Florida Man a good name. Over to Ryan Braun (3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) who hit his 3rd homer. Have I mentioned the Brewers scored 19 runs? Flavor Flav through sobs, “Yeah, Boyd.” Finally, Tyrone Taylor (4-for-5, 3 runs, 3 RBIs) hit his 1st major league homer. He looks like a Quad-A prospect and sounds like a silent film star. Tyrone Taylor Chaplin-steps into frame, motions that his pockets and skills are empty, then a silent film title card reads, “What about Matthew Boyd?” Not you too, Tyrone! Well, with 19 runs scored, at least I have Keston Hiura. He went 0-for-2 without a run scored?Holy ticker tease! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: Dane Dunning Kruger Effect

August 30, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: MattTruss

Sundays are my favorite MLB DFS day of the week. It’s a day where you are guaranteed (provided there are no COVID outbreaks or team protests of course) a large slate of games. On FanDuel, you even have the choice of including the Sunday Night Baseball game in the slate if you so desire. I always prefer large slates to small ones since I feel like more options give inexperienced players more opportunity to mess things up and it allows me to dive deep. With that said, I’m going to suggest something completely crazy here and recommend you build AT LEAST one GPP lineup today with starting pitcher Dane Dunning ($5,500). I mean, just look at that price tag and then imagine all the Coors exposure you can have as a result. You can have all the Tatis, all the Machado, all the Arenado! With Coors playing down a bit so far, at least according to recency bias, people could even be crazy enough to fade Coors! Imagine! Alright, enough exclamation points, you get the picture. Have fun with it, throw it a $1 GPP and see what happens, live a little, then make a more sane lineup, which I’ll talk about below:

New to FanDuel? 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!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Friday Night Lights: Sanchez Dominates, Marlins Forget To Cover Their Sixto

August 29, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 35 Comments

by: Coolwhip

Whats happenin’ all. I’m back again after a call to the pen. I’m steppin’ in, as I hold the pen. Lets go, lets get it. Lets begin… Friday was quite the night in honor of Jackie Robinson. There was so much I could have led off with here, Mets walking off to sweep Yankees, Slam Diego unloading on the Rockies, Gyorko store restocked, my bae Zac Gallen set a record (we’ll get to that), and Franmil ate a lot of BBQ. I love baseball. Like I said, a lot of great things to talk about but a certain rookie pitcher gave me the feels tonight in all the right ways…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: Ryu Experienced

August 27, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 1 Comment

by: VictoriaB

Before we begin: a large, AROOGA-AROOGA caveat to this post. I’m writing it in advance without knowing whether more games will be postponed today, owing to the protests over racial justice. All this to say, please be sure to check your line-ups before start of play. Should everything go ahead, FanDuel is offering us a slate of 6 games (starting at 6:37 ET) — to accommodate the double-headers, I suspect — which slims down our options somewhat, but let’s look at what we can do within those parameters. Because I started this post really far in advance, I was originally going to tell you to play Zac Gallen at home, where he holds a 2.37 ERA, versus the Rockies. He’ll also give you Ks and his WHIP is pretty good. But he’s not part of today’s slate on FanDuel, so I’ll just say now, if you have the opportunity to play him anywhere in a DFS or roto league, give him a shot! As it stands, pitching is a little ouch-it-hurts on this slate. With any luck, your competitors will flock to Max Scherzer ($10,600) for their pitching needs, but I prefer Hyun-Jin Ryu ($9,100). Buffalo is starting to look like a hitting park, but Boston’s offense is limited other than Mitch Moreland (who likely won’t face LHP).

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Clint In And Even MAGAs Are Buying

August 14, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 338 Comments

by: Grey

(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY YESTERDAY ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $5/MONTH.)

Being hearing a lot of gossip about Clint Frazier. That’s healthy. Ya know, some ginger tea. Don’t think the Yankees called Clint Frazier up just for make-up games, though this was overheard: “He’s not a clown?” Aaron Boone continued, “Oh, I thought he was for makeup games.” Then Boone laughed himself out of his mask.

Artwork by our talented writer, CoolWhip.

So, Clint Frazier has struggled to get real playing time with the Yankees, but maybe he’s this year’s spark plug. He does look like he’s fire. He’s a 20-homer, 7-steal, .260 hitter over a 162 games, and that lineup is so great, I’d take a flyer on Frazier. Some might say, “Clint Frazier? I like Mike Tauchman!” Yeah, Tauchman’s projected for 3 HRs, 2 SBs and a .255 average, how can he not be owned?! Dude’s a 20-game hot streak away from one good Trevor Story game! Okay, I’m being unfair and underselling. Projections don’t love Tauchman, but if he gets everyday at-bats, he’s worth a look or whoever is in that lineup replacing Stanton, whether it’s Aaron Hicks, Mike Ford, Clint Frazier, or PTBYankee’dL. So, this is kind of a Yankees’ placeholder in lineup endorsement, but Clint Frazier is the most interesting. Plus, *pinkie up as I sip* ginger tea. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Buy Low: Eduardo Escobar

August 13, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Buy Low, Sell High | 8 Comments

by: Hobbs

Now that the 2020 MLB season has hit the three-week mark, we’re at the point where we can start looking into some sell-high and buy-low candidates. With sample sizes increasing from the “far-too-small” to the increasingly indicative, we begin to ask ourselves questions like: “is Dylan Bundy actually good now, or are hitters just being thrown off by his dusty, pathetic attempt at facial hair?” Translation: are the results we’re seeing legitimate? If you’re willing to make a calculated gamble, this is as good of a time as any to find excess value in the trade market and/or dump an early star destined for decline to the league dingus. One such player I’m looking at adding shares of at present is Eduardo Escobar of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who entered the week of Aug. 10 batting .164/.233/.255 with just two extra base hits across his first 55 at bats of the season. After finishing draft season with an ADP of 113 overall as 2B13/3B17, Escobar looks to be an obvious bust from the outside looking in — but let me tell you why he’s a major buy-low candidate for me for the rest of the season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: May Day, May Day, MAY DAY

August 10, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: Metsfan86

Good Morning baseball fans and welcome to Monday Morning Toilet Talk with Jared!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. As we start to get deeper into this shortened season we are getting to the point where we can really pick on up on trends and use some advanced statistics to determine who is playing well and who isn’t. Today’s slate is a fun one. There are some cheap bats that you can plug in that will help you pick up some of the higher priced bats that are in really great spots. As you can tell by the subject line, I’m pretty high on this Dustin May ($7,500) lad. The Padres have some scary bats on their team. Tatis, Machado, wait, that’s it. May is pretty cheap tonight for his skill set. Over the past 2 weeks, he’s K’ing nearly 11 per 9. One of the things that really stands out to me is the 57% swing rate in the zone. Essentially, that means players are fooled by his pitches. He’s also inducing a soft contact rate of 27.30% over the past 2 weeks. That’s 2nd best of all pitchers on today’s slate.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

FanDuel: Boyd Back

August 7, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: TroyKlauder

Matthew Boyd ($7,900) had a tough time in his first two starts this year, but a night against the Pirates is what Boyd needs to bounce back. The Pirates were the weakest lineup in baseball against left-handed pitching last year with a .289 wOBA. They’ve hit lefties well so far this season, but I’m willing to bet against that small sample performance… glances in the direction of Philip Evans and Guillermo Heredia… I wouldn’t be worried about Boyd tonight. After posting a 30.2% K-rate last year, Boyd’s got lots of upside to chase in GPP tournaments.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Luis Navidad Prospecto Patino y Felicidad

August 5, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 295 Comments

by: Grey

For as batshizz crazy 2020 is, I will say that it is exciting. Maybe exciting isn’t the right word. Maybe batshizz crazy is the right thing to say, and leave it at that. Every day we have another rookie callup and I’m here for it, even if it might lead to roofies and waking up to wonder why a member of al Qaeda is making a lampshade out of your back skin. “Que quiero mi torso…lampshade?” Al Qaeda, “We don’t speak Spanish.” So, yesterday the Padres called up Luis Patino. My mom is always telling people about her kitchen cabinets’ faux patina, so this must be good. Check it out: Here he is in Prospect Itch’s top 25 prospects for 2020 fantasy baseball. Also, Prospect Hobbs wrote about 1200 words in his Luis Patino fantasy. I’m jazzed like hands and psyched like a shrink! Here’s a small snippet from PH’s post, “Even with just two refined pitches (and another two in the making), Patino has completely baffled right-handed hitters, as they produced a meager .163/.259/.220 slash against him in 2019. Clearly, Patino could step into a big league bullpen tomorrow and be elite. Like, ya know, the opposite of whatever Grey is.” Oh, man, cmon! So, is this the end of Joey Lucchesi of the Doing Crimes To Your Fantasy Team Crime Family? Not sure, but even if Patino is a long man in the bullpen, he’s worth a flyer in leagues 12-team mixed and deeper, depending on needs. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Nate Dogs The Nats’ Bats

July 30, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 330 Comments

by: Grey

“Have I been wrong, hypnotized, paralyzed, by what my eyes have seen,” sang Natalie Merchant the last time I saw her at Lilith Fair. As I lay there, on that hemp blanket, eating a homemade granola bar, I thought, “I’m buying whatever that Merchant is selling.” Sadly, I can’t have my soul enriched during these dastardly times by some female honkeytonks, unless I happen across something between my binge watching of Siesta Key. Then, yesterday, Nate Pearson (5 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 5 Ks) was as good as Natalie Merchant and Siesta Key combined. Yo, my man went from a 99 MPH fastball that had Nats’ hitters bulging their eyes to a backdoor 77 MPH dipsy with poise of a 15-year vet. The 99 MPH fastball is enough, but his secondary command, just dropping pitches in. Go to the top of a mountain and let out a chef’s kiss. This was against the defending champs, and he was like en bee dee. Massively impressed by him during Spring Training in March just off a few clips, but watching him for five innings has me convinced: He can be this year’s Chris Paddack. He should be owned in 100% of leagues. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Charting the Future: Multi-Position Premium

July 22, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball | 3 Comments

by: TheTinDoor

The great Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs, The Process, etc.) recently revisited a topic that’s always ripe for debate: what kind of extra value does a multi-position player get, compared to those who only play one position? We can all agree that multi-position is better than single; quantifying that value, however, proves more difficult. A few years ago, Rudy assessed this briefly in his seminal piece, “Debunking Positional Scarcity“, and recommends adding a $1 for multi-position players.

Jeff’s article took a different approach: instead of measuring what a player’s value should be, he attempted to measure the actual impact in terms of draft cost. In other words, what premium does the market place on these players? Read the full piece; Jeff estimates ~$3.20 bump on average.

While I like the goal (understanding market premiums), Jeff’s methodology (comparing the draft cost of two similarly-projected players) was limited in scope. So I’ve set out to do additional analysis with the same goal: measuring the market premium of multi-position players.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ambulance Chasers Preseason – Back to Camp Part 2

July 17, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 4 Comments

by: Hammer

We’re getting close to the re-launched opening day, so any serious knocks guys are picking up in camp now are going to start impacting playing time. That also holds true for new, positive, Covid tests that might pop up.

Eduardo Rodriguez is currently on a throwing program away from the team as he awaits clearance from a positive Covid test. From a physical standpoint, this is all good news, but he’s still up in the air until he tests negative.

DJ LeMahieu, Salvador Perez, Kenley Jansen, and Joey Gallo were both back in camp this week after clearing Covid protocol.

One guy not back yet is Freddie Freeman. His case was originally thought to be more serious, and he has not been cleared to participate yet. The Braves think there’s a chance at opening day for him, but at this point, if he’s still feeling symptoms, I’d put that timeframe at doubtful.

Along with Freeman, Yordan Alvarez, Austin Meadows, Aroldis Chapman, Jesus Luzardo, and Howie Kendrick are all also absent from camp.

Alvarez and Chapman have both been put on the IL, signaling their cases may be a bit more severe than others. I’d expect Zack Britton to get the first shot at saves if Chapman can’t get cleared for a bit. On the Astros front, you’d have to imagine Kyle Tucker has an easier path to ABs with Alvarez sidelined.

Please, blog, may I have some more?