Justin Verlander

Please see our player page for Justin Verlander 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.

Thomas Howland

New Faces In New Places: Gerrit Cole

January 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball | 6 Comments

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With pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training now less than a month away prep for 2020 fantasy baseball is ramping up. With that in mind we’re kicking off New Faces in New Places with the Star Wars budget level contract of Gerrit Cole. Cole is leaving the comfy confines of Minute Maid Park for the bright lights of and pinstripes of the New York Yankees. Will he live up to the Broadway billing, or be overbought and overdrafted in 2020 fantasy leagues?

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The Itch

Top 2020 Prospects: Detroit Tigers

January 5, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 23 Comments

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Does anyone else feel like the Tigers have been tanking forever? I know it’s only been a few seasons, but they burned a couple years chasing the twilights of their veteran core. When you wait a long time to start the sell-off, the rebuild feels longer, I guess. 

Detroit failed to get much for JD Martinez, Justin Verlander or Nick Castellanos when they finally did sell. They have very little positional talent in the system, which feels odd because they haven’t graduated anyone of note, so they don’t have positional talent in the majors either. It’s jarring to look around an entire organization and find zero long-term regulars. We can count Riley Greene if you want. Niko Goodrum, too, if you like. 

Do you though?

CJ Cron was a good signing. Jonathan Schoop made sense. It’s smart for Detroit to be all over this corner of the market, but it’s even smarter to find the Travis Demerittes of the world. The 4A flier discount is a Dodger specialty that Farhan Zaidi has applied in San Francisco to decent effect already. I’d like to see Detroit exploit the AAA afterthoughts like all full rebuilds should be doing. It’s worth a lot more to unearth a player with years of cheap control than it is to give an average veteran a short-term gig hoping to flip him for low-level fliers at the deadline. 

In my early days considering this system, I figured the Tigers would hold all their relevant prospects back until 2021, but after rolling around in the roster for a while, I decided that everyone who can help is probably coming up this year. It would be yet another narrative-leaning move rather than what seems best for winning in the long term, but it makes business sense. They risk losing fans if they play the timeline game on all their arms, and if they’re letting even one come to the big leagues, why not just bring them all up and enjoy the energy surge of having exciting young arms to watch every other day. If they fail, send them back down. The fans will be on board with the slow-burn at that point. Makes sense to dodge AAA with Mize, Manning and Skubal if at all possible, too. If you’re going to experience the juicy-ball confidence-death that awaits pitchers these days, why not let it happen at the big leagues to soothe the mind. Better to give up an oppo cheapie to Ronald Acuna Jr. than Yasmani Tomas, confidence-wise. 

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Grey

Top 20 Starters for 2019 Fantasy Baseball, A Recap

October 15, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 109 Comments

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All the final 2019 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters are done.  For those that skipped today’s title, this starts the top 20 starters for 2019 fantasy baseball.  This is NOT for 2020 (caps for those who can’t read titles; supposedly it’s easier to read caps, I have my doubts). This is a recap. Will these affect next year’s rankings?  Sure.  But not entirely.  Like when you had a knee replacement, this is a recap! To recapitulate the recap, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater.  We’re (me’re) using it to fairly gauge our (my) preseason rankings.  Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2019 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

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Grey

The 11th Annual Razzballies

October 1, 2019 | Y to Z | 178 Comments

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This year the Razzballies are going without a host. I, Grey Albright, Fantasy Master Lothario (don’t abbreviate it) am merely a long-form presenter. Remember, you can’t spell ghosting without host. You also can’t spell hostage, but no one is forcing you to stay for the award show. You’re going to want to, though, because without these awards, you’ll have no idea who was the best and worst hitters and pitchers this year, and you’ll 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-Tme” award. Stop making up fake awards! For all of you winners and losers, I ask that you please keep your acceptance speeches down to a minimum. As a hero once said, “I’m going to thank everyone in private.” So, before I’m talking to no one but a room full of seat-fillers, here’s the year-end awards for the best and worst of fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

It’s The Time Of The Season For Loving (Not Looking At Pitcher Box Scores)

September 30, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 200 Comments

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You emerge from mother’s basement, holding your hands up to your eyes to block the sun, and scream, “Ma! I won my fantasy league! Ma!” You stop to look around; it’s a fiery landscape reminiscent to an apocalypse. You open further the basement door, and it falls off its hinges. You, scared, “Ma?” There’s no walls anymore on your house, which gives you a vantage point to the entire surrounding area that smolders. Coming up your once-tree-lined street is a posse of thousands of–An army from another country? Another world? Who are they? What have they done with your family? Just as the questions dissolve over you, a warrior spots you and grunts for you to get in line. You reach for the only weapon you can get your hands on, a Lou Pinella commemorative mini-bat from a 1981 stadium giveaway, and join the post-apocalyptic army. As you scuttle into position behind the marching forces, you see a group of warriors carrying your mother’s head on a pitchfork. Overcome with emotion, you run up and scream, “Ma! I gotta tell you about the fantasy league I won!” In this scenario, I am your mother, and the army is Razzball. You’re welcome! 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 worst, you get an A for effort. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

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Grey

Miguel Has Fun At Home On A Sano Day

September 23, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 214 Comments

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Even though I wanted to bet on the Twins to win the World Series and didn’t, I still have to root for them this offseason. With all the bad publicity on baseball, it will be nice to see a team as pure as one led by Polanco, Pineda, Cruz–Wait, has everyone on their team been suspended at one point for PEDs? At least they have Miguel Sano (2-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 32nd and 33rd homer). Hmm…I remember something with Sano.  Hold on…*googling Sano and suspension* Oh, he just tried to force a smacker on a photographer and broke a police officer’s leg in the Dominican Republic. As Young Grey used to dream about, screw the Twins. Any hoo! Miguel Sano now has the 2nd lowest HR/AB (11.1), only being beat by Mike Trout. If we can get a full season from Sano (no guarantee with him) in 2020, I wouldn’t bet against a 45+ homer season. Mean’s while, his price will be that of what? $5 and/or the 12th round in a 12-teamer? There’s gonna be some crazy value for Sano in 2020. You could say *pinkie to mouth* In-Sano.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
NichFields

FanDuel: Windy Wrigley Weather Worries

September 22, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

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How is it going today? Presumably this is our most anticipated day of the year, as it is the penultimate Sunday of the MLB regular season. It’s hard to get better than this – it’s practically been on my calendar my whole life, and today it arrives. Unbelievably exciting. Or, we can at least pretend.

We have 11 games to consider when constructing FanDuel Main Slate lineups. That’s a lot of games, a lot of players, however, it is one game in particular that warrants the majority of our attention: Cubs vs. Cardinals. There is a lot to consider with this game, though. So let’s list out our pros and cons to see if it provides clarity.

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!

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Butters

FanDuel: September Slugger

September 12, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

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Welcome in folks. How is it September already? I know it was September last week (after all I can usually read a calendar) but it didn’t really hit me until this week that baseball is in the closing stretch. We got our first taste of NFL action but those of you here are the true baseball die hards. Either that or you’re just fantasy addicts. Look I’m not here to judge, I’m in three season long baseball leagues and five for football. So I guess that makes me the addict. 

Anyhoo…September gives us a chance to see who the real breakouts were and who was a flash in the pan. All of this meandering brings me to Jeff McNeil (OF: $3,200) All season I’ve been just kinda waiting for him to cool off and he really hasn’t. He’s still batting over .320 and has managed to slug 20 homers. Yes I know that 20 homers isn’t as impressive as it used to be but he’s done far more damage in the second half, hitting nearly double his first half total. Translation: 7 in the first half, 13 (and counting post break). Long live the launch angle revolution. He’s rolling so roll with him today.

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?
Grey

Verlander Leaves Toronto Scared Hitless

September 2, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 245 Comments

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Happy Labor Day, everyone! Today, we celebrate all of those mothers who are in labor giving birth to us, so put your legs up, grunt real hard and scream at a loved one that they are a “bastard” or a “weasel-d*cked moron who isn’t even the real father.” You’ve earned this day, male or female, though I’m not sure how men earned a Labor Day. Do I have this celebration right? Any hoo! People acting like Justin Verlander‘s 3rd no-hitter was stamping his ticket to Cooperstown are hilarious. He was a lock for the Hall of Fame when he posed nude in the mirror with Kate Upton. Yesterday’s butter:  9 IP, 0 ER, 1 walk, 14 Ks, ERA at 2.56 is just another example of the legacy of one of the greatest pitchers ever. Everyone should stop to watch a Verlander game. That’s a ‘stop to smell the roses’ request because you deserve something as glorious as seeing Verlander throw a baseball. This is a request for you to live your life, not like you’re in labor with your feet in stirrups, but like your feet are on the ground and you’re reaching for the stars. Okay, now I’m just misquoting Casey Kasem. For 2020 and beyond, Verlander is an ace until he shows he no longer is, and I’m thankful for every one of his pitches that I’ve never owned on a fantasy team (eff me). Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
NichFields

FanDuel: Just Do It. Start Justin Verlander.

September 1, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

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We have eight games to consider today when playing the FanDuel Main Slate. When looking over the options it seems we can find all kinds of creative ways to avoid paying up and starting Justin Verlander, SP: $11,900. Darvish is pitching with the wind blowing in to a fairly beat up Brewers team. Corbin is facing the terrible Marlins lineup. Morton is pitching at home. But there are times when overthinking the best option is detrimental, and this is likely one of those times. We just need to not over think it, and do the obvious. Start Justin Verlander.

Verlander faces a strikeout-prone Blue Jays team. That point potential is too much to resist. What we do need to be concerned with is the park factor and Verlander’s season long struggle with the long ball. If things click today, he’ll put up 60. If not, rostering him could look like a very bad idea because of just one or two mistake pitches. It is risky on that level, but worth the risk because of his upside.

For additional picks, keep reading the words written 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?