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We descend from the Rocky Mountains. Our journey now heads westward towards the mighty Pacific Ocean. Just when we thought we’d never make it alive, palm trees appear! We’re in Los Angeles – the city of angles. Or angels, if you’re not into geometry. Look over there! It’s a pack of Trolley Dodgers. Except there are no trolleys, so it’s just a bunch of people in blue dancing around like they’ve taken the wrong handful at a skittles party. Taste the rainbow. Let’s inch closer and see if any of these weirdos are good at baseball. No, you can’t hold my hand.

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First thing’s first, the Top 100 is here for your consumption. Now you can stop F$#@ing asking me. Kidding..kidding. This is complied from all the research I’ve done since November. Some players have moved up, others have moved down, some stayed the same, while others have straight left the top 100. My hope with the later release was that I would be able to do my deepest dive yet, and integrate the knowledge of off-season adjustments that we get in mid-spring. Hopefully this has led to my most extensive and comprehensive list to date. I’ve provided tiers within the rankings, to give you an idea of where one value level starts, and another begins. We’re going all the way to 300 this year with the next two 100s coming over the next two weeks. It’s the post you’ve been waiting for! I hope it was worth the wait…

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The defending National League champs have one of the best player development machines over the last decade, producing productive players at nearly every position, as well as some generational talents. 2017 was just another brick in the wall for the Bluebloods, as Cody Bellinger was promoted in late April and took the league by storm with his uppercut swing and upright stance. Despite years of competing in the NL West the Dodgers’ cupboard is not bare, as a cluster of Top 100 types make up the top of this year’s list. As previously stated, that’s hardly a shock to anyone that follows the Dodgers or the minor leagues. The level of scouting, player development, and patience sets the Dodgers on a plain that not many teams can get within shouting distance of. Many out there joke that I’m a Red Sox homer, what they don’t realize is I might be twice the Dodgers fanboy the last few seasons. Los Angeles represents  the often overlooked product of unlimited resources; you have more money to pay scouts, development people, and trainers. All this to say Jeren Kendall isn’t the first player who improved the day the Dodgers drafted him. Not because of anything he did, but my unwavering faith that the team will get the most out of his abilities. Enough of the Doyers tongue bath, it’s the Dodgers top prospects for 2018 Fantasy Baseball.

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You’re getting double the Halph this week, as Ralph Lifshitz and I are back for another overstuffed episode worth of top 100 prospects talk. We cover prospects ranked 51-100 this episode, starting by discussing the ceilings of Yordan Alvarez, Jesus Sanchez, and Miguel Andujar. We can barely contain ourselves when we move on to potential shooting stars Heliot Ramos, Brandon Marsh, Bubba Thompson, Starling Heredia, Jhailyn Ortiz, Dermis Garcia, and Colton Welker, and then attempt to figure out which MLB players would make for fair trades with them. We discuss everybody from Matt Manning, Ian Anderson, A.J. Puk, and Riley Pint, to Jose Albertos, Jorge Guzman, Jordan Luplow, Edwin Rios, and many more. Finally, please make sure to support our sponsor by heading over to RotoWear.com and entering promo code “SAGNOF” for 15% off the highest quality t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast:

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I’m the one man army Ason, I’ve never been tooken out, I keep Prospectors looking out, I drop knowledge like Lancy dropping babies, enough to make an Albright go craaaaaazy! Sorry, always wanted to start a post like that, and I decided it shall be done over my morning coffee. In case you missed it I released the top 50 Prospects for 2018 on Sunday. Funny enough this is the perfect segue to today’s post, the second part of my top 100, this time with even more words! We’re going through 51-100, and I have to say this is by far the most difficult section of all my prospect rankings. It’s in intersection where up and comers full of helium, mix with droppers, solid-close-to-the-majors types, and super-young pure upside plays. I try to balance them all, and at times tiers dovetail, and weave together more than they stay in any sort of specific order. It’s an inexact science this prospecting. There’s so many unknown variables within each player and each player’s opportunities in a given organization at a given time. Constantly changing and evolving. All this to say that there’s a lot of educated guessing, and there’s bound to be some serious misses. Hello Tyler Glasnow!

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We recorded the podcast too early to discuss the Tyler O’Neill for Marco Gonzales trade, but maybe that was for the best because Ralph Lifshitz and I were liable to wax poetic about “The King of the North” for the entire hour. Long story short, it really doesn’t change either of their fantasy values all that much other than the obligatory NL to AL drop for Gonzales. We did record the podcast right on time to get into the Blake Rutherford and JD Martinez trades, though, along with Yoan Moncada’s long awaited MLB debut. We talked Rafael Devers and Derek Fisher knocking on the door of the majors, and then dove deep into lower minor breakouts, including Michel Baez, Starling Heredia, Jahmai Jones, Royce Lewis, Heliot Ramos, and many more. Finally, we hammer home the insanely high quality of RotoWear.com‘s t-shirts, and implore you to head over there and enter promo code “SAGNOF” for 15% off. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast:

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Way back in the wild west days of the international market, teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox approached the July 2nd signing period the same way Glenn Quagmire approached a night at the strip club. Cash in hand ready to make it rain on the first young talent that caught their eye. It was in one of these talent-laden spending sprees that a strapping young Dominican power hitter by the name of Starling Heredia first surfaced. In one of the more gluttonous international splurge’s since your creepy Uncle took that “trip” to Bangkok, the Dodgers dropped $45.38 million in that period on players like Yadier Alvarez, Yusinel Diaz, Omar Estevez, Ronny Brito, Oneal Cruz, and of course Heredia. The Dominican outfielder was ranked 9th in the class by Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, two spots behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and ahead of such currently buzzy names as Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Leody Taveras, and Aramis Ademan. He was described in the scouting reports at that time as a “the best corner outfield prospect in the class by some scouts, in part because of his raw power and projectable body.” Tools grades rated his raw power at a 60, and his hit tool at 55, pretty aggressive grades for teenage hitter. Don’t be too frightened, but at that time he listed Yasiel Puig as his role model. Then again Puig was good then. So what’s to Heredia? Is this just another rookie season flash or are we looking at a potential star in the making from the notorious Dodger pipeline.

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You may want to plan on a second poop if you’re going to read this entire post. Let that be my warning to you, before we begin my latest adventure in verbose prospecting. Today we tackle arguably the best system, certainly one of the deepest systems, in all of baseball. For today we discuss the Top Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects!!! You may say to yourself, “Hey self”, (then punch yourself in the face for saying self) where have I recently seen…or HEARD (big clue) someone talk about the Top Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects before? Hmmmm, maybe on the Razzball Prospect Podcast last week. You would in fact be correct, we even had a guest no-show us with a mysterious aliment. Last time I trust Michael Lohan. Either way, we talked about it once, and I’ll write about it now. The Dodgers have become a player development machine. They draft well (Kershaw, Pederson, Seager), they win the international market (Urias, Puig, Maeda), and most of all they develop players. They spend the most of any team on scouting and it shows. In the last few years they’ve nailed picks all over the draft, including picks in the 20+ rounds with players like Jose De Leon, and Jharel Cotton. This is a well oiled and functioning farm system, with players of interest and excitement across every level for dynasty owners. Sometimes when I’m writing these I know I’m highlighting several future fantasy relevant. This is one of those times. It’s the Top Doyers prospects.

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The Halph is back and we brought our show mascot Stabby the Cat! Don’t ask for an explanation just listen. This week on the Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast Michael Halpern of Imaginarybrickwall.com and I dig into the Los Angeles Dodgers Prospects. It’s a very solid system with players like Jose De Leon, Cody Bellinger, Willie Calhoun, Yadier Alvarez, and a whole lot more. We were supposed to have Razzball locale yocal J-FOH, but he’s a coastal elite and decided to bail on us. So we were left to our own devices trying to sound out hispanic surnames. This did not go well. We still found time to review about two dozen players that should be on your dynasty radar. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast.

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The best way to describe the Dodgers system is “an embarrassment of riches”. Not only do they have one of the biggest budgets in MLB, but they’re also the proud owner of one of the top farms in all of baseball. With two top ten prospects in Corey Seager and the newly two eyed Julio Urias, there’s a ton of top level talent. Including top 100 darlings Grant Holmes, Jose De Leon, and Alex Verdugo. Additionally, there’s a good amount of depth in the other tiers boosted by good player development (Cody Bellinger), recent trades (Frankie Montas), solid drafting (Willie Calhoun), and an aggressive approach in the international market. One of the biggest components of the Dodgers recent success, and organizational depth, is their ability to hit on late round picks and develop prep arms. Two areas where most franchises miss the mark. With impact specs on both the pitching and hitting side, the Blue Bloods should be a pipeline of fantasy scrumptiousness for years to come.

By the way a big shout out to my Grandma Betty who turned 100 last week, and grew up not too far from “Da Bums” original home, Ebbets Field.

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