This week we’re taking a look at the second base landscape, which is definitely shallower than the shortstop position. Overall, second base is looking even bleaker as Jose Altuve becomes the latest injury casualty of the World Baseball Classic. However, there’s always room for finding value and hidden gems at every position. AL East: Blue […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Jonathan India
Please see our player page for Jonathan India 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.
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?Welcome back to the 2023 Dynasty Keepers. This week we will look at my Tier 5 group – players 125 to 101.
When it comes to putting together your dynasty team, you have to try to stick to your formula as much as possible. I’ve discussed my approach to how I build my dynasty teams, but here is a quick reminder:
Young over old.
Draft the hitter over the pitcher.
Draft the starting pitcher ahead of the closer
Trust your gut
Heading into a draft, figure out what your approach is going to be then stick with it as much as possible. Yes, there are times when you need to be flexible, but in the end just go with your gut instinct. You formulated a plan, so trust your plan and don’t make a panic pick because there is a run at a position,
If your plan is to build a team heavy on relatively unknown but high-ceiling players, then go for it. As the season progresses and you need to fill holes, you can always flip a young player and/or prospects (if you have a league with prospect rosters) for a key veteran.
You want to win right away? Then go heavy with proven veteran players, with the risk that many other teams are filling their rosters with younger players who can be core players for years to come. Three years from now your old players may start their decline and then you’re headed for a rebuild.
Please, blog, may I have some more?One super quick word about the top 20 2nd basemen for 2023 fantasy baseball and all the 2023 fantasy baseball rankings, each ranking appears insanely long and it is, but I imagine in a lot of leagues guys won’t have eligibility, because I’m using the extremely lax Yahoo position eligibility (five games started). Without further ado because this post is longer than the combined length of the Gutenberg Bible and Steve Guttenberg’s IMDB page, I mention where tiers start and stop and all projections are mine and cannot be reproduced without the express written consent of Major League–Damn, I’m being told I did not have the express written consent to use MLB’s warning. It was expressly written for them. You guys! 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 20 2nd basemen for 2023 fantasy baseball:
NOTE: 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.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Welcome back, everyone. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
This week we are going to dive into the 2023 Top Keepers – Second Basemen. When it comes to second baseman, it is a position that now seems to be home of platoon players.
Today’s managers and general managers believe that if you can play a position in the field, then you can play second base. In 2022, only 12 players started more than 100 games at second base, and only 15 appeared in more than 100 games at the position. In all, 160 different players started at least one game at second base in the majors this season.
WHAT HAPPENED TO SECOND BASEMEN?
There are 30 teams, and there were only 16 pure second baseman who reached enough plate appearances (3.1/team games played) to qualify for the batting title. Ouch. Injuries did factor into that as Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ozzie Albies missed a chunk of time. But it is still amazing at how few true second baseman reached enough plate appearances to qualify for a possible batting title.
And the quality of those 16 second basemen isn’t great. Of those players, only two of them (Jeff McNeil and Jose Altuve) hit .300 or better with one (Andres Gimenez) just missing at .297. Then it drops down to .266.
Overall, the position is just not deep. There are tons of players getting in time at second base who are now eligible to play there in fantasy leagues. So, in order to narrow down the candidates to consider for these rankings, I made the cutoff to rank a player at 25 starts at second.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Welcome back to our year-end awards show! If there’s any issues with the award ballots, don’t look at me. These were all tabulated at the accounting firm of Fried, Tellez and Bregman. Stop giving them the evil eye, German Marquez! You might be wondering why I’m hosting. Well, at the last minute our other host had to back out. Sadly, Joe Buck couldn’t be hair. I mean here. HAHA…Wait a second! Why is Will Smith, the catcher, coming on stage? *smack* Ow! It was a joke about Joe Buck’s hair. Damn! Now, before we get to our first award, I just want to thank everyone. I appreciate all of you, except Jonathan India. Okay, now onto the awards, without which you’d have no idea who was the best and worst hitters and pitchers this year, and you’d be left giving out your own awards and no one cares if your “Low sodium tomato soup in a sourdough bowl” won your “Whitest Lunch Of All-Time” award. Stop making up fake awards! Leave that to me. Anyway, here’s the year-end awards for the best and worst of 2022 fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Let’s check in on some fantasy baseball championship celebrations:
People celebrating their fantasy baseball championships today pic.twitter.com/4bavGwku88
— Razzball (@Razzball) October 5, 2022
That is the best encapsulation of the joy of winning a fantasy baseball league. I’m sick it’s so on point. I hope everyone got to feel that “very dorky dancing while very white music plays surrounded by middle-aged men” joy yesterday. Today is the day when you realize you’ve spent 27,000 man hours this summer beating eleven other strangers to win a virtual trophy, and it feels great! That’s if you won your league, if you came in 2nd or worse, you get an A for effort. A big, shiny make-believe A.
So, another fantasy baseball season is in the books, and, with a baseball season in the books, it means Jonathan India’s 2022 season is now in the books, and, in conclusion, that is why we should burn books. Any questions? *calls on a guy who looks zonked* Yes? “If I’m going to IHOP is it MeHOP, MyselfHOP or IHOP, or does it depend on usage?” God damn it, is that you, Cody Bellinger?! Stop smoking so much weed! *Cody lowers his head, kicks a rock and walks out of the room* Okay, if there’s no more questions, I have one: How long until next year’s rankings come out?! Wait, I have to write them. When I’m done, I’ll start to put them on our Patreon. Now, one more question, what do I do for the next three months? Oh, yeah, write the rankings! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Good day, We are at the goal line of the 2022 regular season (to borrow a football reference). This season’s been nothing short of historic: between Aaron Judge’s pursuit of the AL home run record, Albert Pujols’ 700th homer, and the seemingly endless amount of rookie callups that have hit the ground running. Before I […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Reds rookie starting pitcher slash heartthrob Nick Lodolo turned in what was likely his best start of the season Friday night pitching a career high eight innings of two-run baseball, allowing just five hits, and striking out 11 (ELEVEN) Brewers in Milwaukee to notch his fourth win. Nick generated 20 whiffs on his mid-90s fastball […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Happy Labor Day All, Although the NFL is around the corner and school’s about to be back in session, September baseball is here! We’ve seen the next wave of prospects get called up as rosters expand and playoff races both in real life and fantasy are tightening. What a year it’s been for middle infielders […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?Hola, fellow español speakers! Today’s word is Triston Casas (1-for-4)! Let’s break it down into parts! Triston is pronounced Tris like a Tris Speaker. Not the old-timey baseball player, but like a speaker who is saying the word Tris. Next part is ton like, “I ate a ton of churros and now I am sneezing cinnamon sugar.” Say the last name with me now…Ca-thathss. The last part you say like a Spanish snake. Like a snake you find in the desert outside of Barth-a-lona. A snake with a lisp. Try the whole thing now, Triston Cathathss. Bueno! *maracas around room* Cathathss! Cathathss! Cathathss! So, yesterday or today or last week doesn’t really matter for when the Red Sox called up Triston Casas, but if you think he was called up on Sunday simply because now he’s earned his place, like he got the ring from Gollum and deposited in the mouth of some volcano or whatever that quest was of those hill trolls, you’re sadly mistaken. Triston Casas has been ready for a while, but baseball is still broken for when prospects are called up. Rather than change the world’s problems today, let’s look at Triston Casas. Hey, what do you know, I already gave you my Triston Casas fantasy! So ridiculous that I figured (correctly) he’d have 300+ ABs this year. Because he’s been ready! If you don’t care what I say, here’s what Itch said, “Triston Cases has learned late at-bat traits to help him hang against a variety of experienced pitchers, and perhaps he’s carried some of those hang-in-there strategies to early-count situations against pitchers he’s never seen before. Whatever it is, I like it. Unlike Grey, who I hate.” Really not cool! I’d grab Triston Casas in every league. He’s got elite approach and power. For what he will do the final month? No one knows, because it’s a small sample, but worth finding out. Finally, Casas is home. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?What’s poppin, Razzpimples? I won’t pretend to know what Dan Pants is up to, but y’all can call me JKJ Pants for this week! Sliding in to take the reins for this week’s Friday roundup, which is simultaneously a little daunting and rather refreshing as the bullpen writer in this neck of the woods. Anyone […]
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