So I was watching the Oakland A’s play the other day and took note of Mark Cahna’s walk up music, “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan. You don’t see many major leaguers going with a classic like that, but if I was picking a Dylan song as my walk up song, it’d be this one. That’s my favorite song by him, a nine-minute story that feels straight out of a Mark Twain novel along with being damn catchy. Anyway, that got me thinking about another Dylan song from that same era, “Joey,” which is a song about Crazy Joe Gallo, a mafia hit man back in the 70s, because Joey Gallo (a perennial OPS Leaguers Unite! guy combo-ing power and a lack of average to make him more valuable in OPS leagues than any other) doesn’t have a nickname, and well, Crazy Joe only works if you’re really crazy, and Joey Gallo doesn’t seem so.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
OBP Leagues
Chase Headley is a guy that I haven’t been able to get on board with, really ever. Even when he had his Brady Anderson year back in 2012, I couldn’t allow myself to believe that he was a top-tier ballplayer. When the Red Sox and the Yankees were both in the market for a third baseman, and Pablo Sandoval and Headley were the best bats available, the AL East superpowers each signed one. And, while the Sandoval contract has been an unmitigated disaster, Headley has actually had some middling success. He isn’t exciting, which is perhaps why I never took a liking to him. But, OBP isn’t particularly exciting either. And, it is in OBP where Headley will shine.
Please, blog, may I have some more?As my first job out of college, I worked at a call center with a guy named Phil Sousa. Customers would regularly ask him if he was related to John Phillip Sousa, the famous composer nicknamed The March King. My co-worker would laugh at the absurdity of the question, but would play it off smooth with the customer, saying something like, “No, it’s just a coincidence.” Very Office Space. I’ve got to think that today’s lead man Steven Souza Jr. has gotten that thrown his way once or twice. I bet he gets more Sousaphone jokes than John Phillip, but that is almost too obvious. This is a roundabout way of me referring to Souza as The Marsh King (Florida being a swamp, get it?). Anyhow, in today’s post, I’m going to look at a selection of outfielders that have caught my attention, including my thoughts on their impact in OBP leagues.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
OPS Leaguers Unite! OPS Top 200
March 17, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings, OPS Leagues | 43 Commentsby: Phil B.
The OPS Top-200 is now! Get excited! Are you pumped?!? Take a deep breath and let’s get to it. First though, some strategy. Take it or leave it, it’s your call. I recommend taking it with a nice glass of “you want your fantasy teams to be better, don’t you?”
If you’ve been following along (or if you haven’t, click on that link and get yo’self familiarized), I tier hitters by position. I do the same with pitchers. Then, on draft day, I put all my rankings on one piece of paper, and scratch their names off as the draft goes. That way, I know what positional tier is losing guys quickly and which others I can wait. It’s worked for years, and I highly recommend you try it. I do this in addition to entering in rankings in Yahoo or ESPN or whatever website you use. Always, always, ALWAYS do this. They hide good players in the 300’s for some reason. I think once they rank the top-150, they call it a day and let the monkeys with typewriters finish off the rankings.
Now in football, this works better as multiple position eligibility can make things a bit more difficult. I don’t want to be scratching out Jedd Gyokro’s name at all the positions he’s eligible at (for me, it’s only at second base), so, depending on the league, I’ll use a top-200 to supplement my one page sheet. Two pages? Of actual paper? From actual trees? Why not just use excel? Well I do use excel and formulas for my rankings, but draft day I like to keep it simple. Pen and paper and the draft app.
Last week I did two ESPN drafts at the same time, one on the computer the other on the app, and for ESPN, the app is better (as long as you entered your own rankings). I’ll try Yahoo and let you all know (or let me know which you prefer in the comments). Alright Razzballers and Razzballettes, here’s the list:
Razzball Commenter Leagues are open! Play against our contributors and your fellow readers for prizes. Join here!
Please, blog, may I have some more?
This week I will illustrate some young players adapting to the big leagues both in the outfield and the infield to help your teams. If you play in OBP or keeper leagues, these players should be gone, but in shallower leagues or possibly leagues where owners think back to last year, they may still be in play. The trend emphasized is an improvement in OBP and OPS skills, and a display of confidence in the show.
Please, blog, may I have some more?From being a consumer of Razzball for a few years, I’m sure many of you already are in or know of OBP or On-base percentage league(s). Chances are if you’re playing in an OBP league, you’re playing with some seasoned teams. The metric has eased into MLB broadcasts and has become an important measurements as to a players overall worth more so than batting average. However the player gets on first, whether he leaves the bat on his shoulder or gets plunked, the idea is, it’s just the same as a base knock. If you play in competitive leagues, I advocate changing from AVG to OBP, for me it increased my understanding of different players who didn’t always get the recognition but are valuable to their teams.
When looking at outfield and considering OBP, you want to consider “does this player make a living beating out bunts?” Speed players generally have lower OBP because they want the ball in play so they can run out a single. It does not translate to all players, but as you look at the rankings, you’ll see players like Billy Hamilton or an Anthony Gose can compromise your OBP category in a Rotisserie league or H2H. Yes, you’re not drafting Hamilton for his OBP (or AVG depending what league you play in), but just know, if he gets 550 + ABs, that will hold down your team ranking in that category for the year unless the makeup of your other players compensate.
Please, blog, may I have some more?From being a consumer of Razzball for a few years, I’m sure many of you already know about OBP or On-Base Percentage league(s). Chances are, if you’re playing in an OBP league, you’re playing with some seasoned teams. The metric has eased into MLB broadcasts and has become an important measurement as to a players overall worth, more so than batting average. However, the player gets on first, whether he leaves the bat on his shoulder or gets plunked, the idea is, it’s just the same as a base knock. If you play in competitive leagues, I advocate changing from AVG to OBP. For me, it increased my understanding of different players who didn’t always get the recognition but are valuable to their teams.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Which Jose Ramirez am I discussing, you ask? No, not the other eight professional Jose Ramirez’s… but the Cleveland Indians stopgap between Asdrubal Cabrera and Francisco Lindor.
FranLind has been extremely impressive– he’s already got 2 successful Double-A go-rounds under his belt at 19 and 20 totaling 400+ at-bats (.280+ AVG and 30 SB). While the historical HR/Isolated-Slugging isn’t ideal, currently (and briefly) at Triple-A, he’s mashing to the point where it’s not even worth presenting his stats. And still he’s only 20.
So the Francisco Lindor contingency is out of the way. Next up: Asdrubal Cabrera. Supposedly the Blue Jays are showing interest in acquiring Asdrubal and he makes sense for their 2b-slot. While we’ve seen the best of him, his 80+% contact rate and 15/10 HR/SB at middle infield is an asset to many teams.
Please, blog, may I have some more?