Please see our player page for Leody Taveras 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.

Howdy doo, Razzballeroos! It’s only a little over two weeks until Opening Day! In the interim, I hope you are enjoying your drafts, spring training, and the World Baseball Classic. Speaking of the WBC, former Detroit Tigers organization player Luis Castillo made this incredible catch for Panama. My bones hurt watching it, but there are […]

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The news coming across the wire read: Carlos Rodon has a forearm strain and is shut down for 7-10 days. Will start the year on the IL. Then became what I call the Sad Man’s March. Every March, you draft a bunch of teams, then you hear about an injury. Now you have a nerve-wracking click-through of every team you’ve drafted to see if you drafted that injured player. A bead of sweat accumulates on your brow. You open your first team that you drafted this offseason. Close one eye — the pain would be too much for both eyes! — then scan to the top of your pitching staff. No Rodon! No Rodon! You repeat, no Rodon! Then, like Tom Cruise trying to diffuse a bomb, you wipe your brow and open your next team. No Rodon! No Rodon! Then, as if you entered the latest Friday the 13th movie and about to open a closet, you open the next draft — NO RODON! You’ve beat the Sad Man’s March! You are victorious! Wait, then you realize you’ve drafted Yordan Alvarez everywhere and he still hasn’t picked up a bat. So, Rodon is out for a while; no one knows how long. Best case scenario for forearm strains in March is maybe back by May? I’m guessing here, obviously. Hence the question mark. I’m moving him out of my top 20 starters and into my top 40 starters, but to an area where I would not draft anymore. For every bit of bad news, there’s a separate but opposite bit of good news — that’s Grey’s Law of Fantasy. Clarke Schmidt and Domingo German both look good. I added Clarke Schmidt into my 2023 fantasy baseball rankings, and you can find his blurb in the top 100 starters, and moved up Domingo German in the top 500. Finally, my Pitchers’ Pairing Tool was updated. Anyway, here’s what else I saw in spring training for 2023 fantasy baseball:

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On Thursday evening, Analytics Anonymous held a special meeting to evaluate how our lessons are being implemented.  Specifically, I, and 11 of my new AA friends, took part in the Razzball Commenter League (RCL) #4 on Thursday evening.  These RCL leagues are 12-team Rotisserie scoring leagues hosted on Fantrax and free for all (JOIN HERE).  […]

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Happy March, friends! Spring training is finally in full swing, which is glorious, but with it comes the usual flurry of fantasy team-altering injuries, which are not so glorious. Hope you are enjoying the preseason and dodging the injury bullets as we all put our pretend teams together for 2023. Last week we chatted about […]

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We’re deep, and these guys might not be playable. The top 100 outfielders for 2023 fantasy baseball are your flyers in most leagues, and your 5th and 6th outfielders in deep leagues. Keep in mind, we have NL-Only rankings, and AL-Only rankings. If you have no need for these outfielders in your league, think on the bright side: Next up in the 2023 fantasy baseball rankings is starters. 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 100 outfielders for 2023 fantasy baseball:

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Need a nice warm and fuzzy feeling to cheer you up if you are trying to avoid the frigid temperatures outside? How about this – Opening Day is less than 100 days away!

As many of us are waiting for Opening Day and to unwrap gifts and spend time with family, here is an early fantasy baseball present the continuation of our look at the best fantasy keepers by position. This week it is the 2023 Best Keepers – Center Fielders.

The stereotype for center fielders over the years has been a player who doesn’t hit for power but will have a good slash line and steal bases for you. While sometimes stereotypes are incorrect, this one seems to straddle the fence. Let’s look at what the average left fielder, center fielder and right fielder produced at the plate in 2022:

LF: .250/.322/.403 19 homers, 72 RBI, 10 steals
CF: .237/.303/.385 18 homers, 65 RBI, 14 steals
RF: .241/.309/.385 21 homers, 75 RBI, 10 steals

What’s Out There?

In 2022, center fielders as a whole hit less homers and drove in fewer runs than corner outfielders. And they weren’t as good at the plate when it came to their slash line. So the stereotype of being better hitters didn’t prove to be correct. But at least the speed part did. The fact center fielders stole more bases makes sense considering the speed they need to play the position should carry over onto the base paths.

The power numbers are actually somewhat inflated thanks to Aaron Judge playing a chunk of games in center for the Yankees. Judge will likely see more time back in right field in 2023, leaving a possible power void at this position in 2024 outside of Mike Trout and a few other players.

Finding a center fielder who can give you some steals is somewhat easy. Finding the center fielder who can provide consistent power is much harder to find outside of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 players.

But enough of the small talk. Let’s take a look at the 2023 Top Keepers – Center Fielders.

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(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH.)

Leody Taveras reminds me of how Marshall Applewhite, the co-leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult, made everyone change their name so it ended with -ody. Too bad he had his entire cult leave behind their earth skins, like they were dry potato skins at TGIF’s that was lacking some sour cream, because Marshall Applewhite would be walking around right now gleefully, “Whody on First? Whatody on 2nd? I don’t knowody on third? Becausody is supposed to be in center, but Leody has replaced him.” That’s Marshall Applewhite, known Hale-Bopp comet and fantasy baseball lover. He called himself Bo and his co-leader called herself Peep (or vice versa, I don’t know), but it’s funny to think about the one guy in the cult who was prolly like, “Hey, uh, guys, Little Bo Peep is one character, and you’ve separated the names into two. It would be like two people renaming themselves Michael and Vincent after Jan-Michael Vincent.” Any hoo! Leody Taveras was a sleeper of mine last year; loved him because of his ability to hit for power and steal some bags, while having great contact, but that fish got flushed when he didn’t pan out. Hows’ever, Leody’s still only 23 years old, has 70-grade speed, surprising power, and he’s currently hitting. That’s right, he’s returned from the dead! (Like those Heaven’s Gate people anticipated.) Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

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Deejay, “Hey, welcome back to Bleday! We are your nonstop rap, hip-hop, trip-hop, bounce, cloud rap, road rap, Christmas rap, Hanukkah rap, Jerkin’, freestyle, trap, but no Jazz rap, he’s out with a stress fracture in his back. Now, let’s boogie for the 2nd half of the season!” Wait, that was me at the end. Was it clearly not me prior to that? Yes? Okay, great. So, JJ Bleday (2-for-4, 1 run and his 1st steal) was called up by the Marlins. Fun fact! Bleday is the rap station in Los Angeles. A less fun fact is Bleday was hitting .228 in Triple-A. He hits everything in the air, which isn’t bad for a power hitter, but it will mean not a lot on average, and, while he stole on Sunday, he doesn’t have a lot of speed either. Think a young Rhys Hoskins. Call him Mees Hoskids, because the JJ stands for Jar Jar. Bleday should see playing time, along with Bryan De La Cruz (2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 7th homer), because Jorge Soler hit the IL, i.e., Bryan De La Soler is plug one. Bleday, plug two. De La Soler, plug one. Bleday, plug two. Anyway. here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

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Here we are running into the second half coming off an incredibly exciting All-Star break.  I think I could personally listen to Alek Manoah pitch mic’d up for the next five years and not get bored.  As we look at the what may be a last gasp for owners trying to make the playoffs or ride it out in the roto standings, we owe ourselves a reset and the opportunity to move some big names up or down in the rankings.  While the Home Run derby was fun, it does not really change our outlook for Julio Rodriguez or Juan Soto.  However, the second half will bring us the return of a few key contributors and give others a chance for a much needed reset.  Without further ado and random rambling, jump into the rankings and read through below to see the movers and shakers as we jump in with two feet to our Top 100 rankings for the rest of the 2022 fantasy baseball season.

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I was doing fine without games every day. Thanks for checking in on me. *nervous giggle, looks into the mirror, laughs hysterically* I’m just fine! The other day at 7 PM EST, I took a magic marker and every few minutes I wrote on my computer screen, giving my fantasy team a run, RBI and the occasional home run. Sadly, even with my fantasy fantasy team accruing stats, Jonathan India went 0-for-5. Since there was only a handful of games this week and players haven’t been able to get hot or cold or humid, this Buy/Sell is going to be slightly different. This Buy/Sell includes some players that are owned in more than 50% of leagues. Okay, that’s not different for the Sells, but it does change the Buys. “Hello? No, I’m changing buys — B-U-Y-S. I wouldn’t dream of changing Bis. Thanks, you too!” That was GLAAD calling me about potential insensitivity. I have not triggered anyone in almost three days, unless you count that time yesterday I told someone in Vancouver that their country smells like maple syrup. That’s right, I’m in Canada, as you read this, so apologies for the excessive use of eh. I try to avoid making the Sell the same Sell as an Anime Grey video from our Youtube channel, but I gave you a video a couple weeks ago to sell Xander Bogaerts, and here I am again. Doing two Sells is like screaming-in-the-theater of Sell. I’m reading a sign that says “Ant farm” while snacking, making me a panicked picnicker. I got onomatopanic! As I went back to a few times before (maybe a zillionty or so times), if a player is not giving speed and power, that player is going to be lagging in fantasy value. Bogaerts is a laggard. Call him Lagaerts. Only he doesn’t just lack speed. He’s lacking power too! His name value is saying something completely contrary to his lived-in fantasy experience. I like him still for runs and RBIs, but you can find that elsewhere. I wouldn’t trade Bogaerts for a ride on the back of two men in a horse’s costume, but I would go to our Fantasy Baseball Trade Analyzer and explore options. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

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If I was ever looking to control a key demographic of our articles, I believe the headline just reeled in all 16 of you!  For those of you that don’t have a clue what Saved By the Bell was a teen sitcom based around a group of high school friends.  These friends shared countless stories of heartbreak and humor and ultimately led to some amazing careers post recording.  The teen heart throb, Zach, has gone on to star in countless hits like Dead Man on Campus and Saved By the Bell: Hawaiian Style.  His love interest, Kelly Kapowski, was the first crush that many of us 40 year olds had growing up!  Vying for the love of Kelly opposite Zach was A.C. Slater.  A.C. was always cool, had some sick dance moves, and has led off for the Giants in his last 3 appearances vs LHP.  Oh wait, divergent stories!  

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