I know it’s stone fruit season, but check out the plums on the Diamondbacks! They called up Stone Garrett (2-for-3). Mean’s while, Corbin Carroll remains a stone’s throw away. What’s that all about? This guy may be Stone, but it’s still Rock and Carroll to me! Garrett’s numbers are goofy, and goofy is good. 28/15/.278 in 385 ABs should definitely get the berries tingling. Here’s what Prospect Itch has said, “(Diamondbacks’) AAA numbers are always inflated, but Garrett’s plus power and .375/.430/.764 slash line look good enough to mix in with that lineup, at least. Garrett’s a guy with big raw power, who gains a little value in an environment where it’s harder to clear the fence. He’s looking at near-term playing time and has enough speed to help us in roto leagues if he gets the time. If only I had time to beat up Grey.” Dude, cmon! In an NL-Only league, I’m absolutely interested. In mixed leagues, I’m kinda wait-and-see for now, but that could change very quickly. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Touki Toussaint
Please see our player page for Touki Toussaint 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.
Orlando Arcia went down with a hamstring strain and some teams would’ve just cobbled together a makeshift shortstop out of available major league pieces. A Frankenshortstop, so to speak. And it might’ve been fine, might’ve ran into a hot day or three from whoever they Ehire’d. That’s the kind of shizz other teams do! Not the Braves! I love the Braves for this, by the way. They promote their prospects like they’re Tim McGraw singing Live Like You’re Dying. They’re on a bull named Fu Manchu, and they promote their guys! Love it! Of course, sometimes with pitchers, they come up, surprise hitters for three to six months, then fade into obscurity, unable to handle setbacks. But who cares about that now? Their sticks come up and stick. Yesterday, they promoted Vaughn Grissom from Double-A, where he was 3/7/.363 in 22 games, after going 11/20/.312 in High-A. He appeared in Itch’s Top 50 prospects, and now appears on all of my teams, because I love me some rookie nookie! Plus, he got a slam (1) and legs (1) in his major league game (2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs), and the homer was an absolute moonshot over the Green Monster. Haven’t been that impressed by a Braves’ rookie debut since Jason Heyward’s! Okay, that’s not fair, but trying to put things in perspective. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?At least one of you is reading this with a bandaged thumb from a fireworks mishap. I had a Cousin Pete (Italian side of the family) who lost the tip of his thumb on the 4th, but rather than stop the festivities, he taped the tip of a hot dog on his thumb to act as a tourniquet for the rest of the 4th, so we could all go about our fun-having business. I suggested my cousin make a PSA about hot dog tourniquets, but I was turned away by NBC Cares. Let us bow our heads and pray that if anyone loses a piece of their finger, may there be a proper-sized hot dog nearby. Yesterday, the floodgates opened with the strikeouts from Framber Valdez (6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 13 Ks, ERA at 2.67) that no hot dog tourniquet could stop. Heading into the 4th of July and I am saluting The Astros SPangled Banner. Between Verlander, Javier, Luis Garcia and Framber just draft all Astros SPs, and sit back and enjoy the fireworKs. But have some cocktail weenies nearby, just in case. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?This is the top 100 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball? This is the top 100 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball! Which means. Dot dot dot. This is the end of the 2022 fantasy baseball rankings. I can reclaim my fingers! Wait, I still have to do the top 100 overall and top 500 overall. Hmm, that was short-lived. Subscriptions are up and running, and they come with our Fantasy Baseball Draft War Room, now for auction leagues, snake leagues, Best Ball leagues and AL-Only and NL-Only leagues. Here’s Steamer’s 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2022 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. As always, my projections are included, and where I see tiers starting and stopping. If you want an explanation of tiers, go back to the top 10 for 2021 fantasy baseball and start this shizz all over again. Anyway, here’s the top 100 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball:
NOTE: All 2022 fantasy baseball projections are based on a 162-game season, and will be until we hear definitively there will be less games, due to the CBA. Also, I’m going on the assumption the NL is getting the DH.
NOTE II: 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 III: 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?While drafting this NFBC 2022 fantasy baseball team, I’m simultaneously deep into writing my 2022 fantasy baseball rankings, which will be released starting around mid-January. (Our Patreon already has the bulk of them; as I finish each ranking, I put it up on there.) Was a fun experiment to see if not having completed rankings would change my drafting. If I haven’t yet decided on whether or not I want a player, would that let me be more open to drafting someone? I’m not sure. My guess was it might’ve. For unstints, if I didn’t want, say, Cody Bellinger again, would I be a big enough dolt to draft him again since I haven’t finished my rankings? Would I be a large enough idiot to actually draft Cody Bellinger again in 2022 if I hadn’t yet finished my research? Would I have an obvious screw loose, potentially appearing like a person who doesn’t have an actual brain, and draft Cody Bellinger again? Would I be a large-scale imbecile that would draft Cody Bellinger again if I simply hadn’t finished researching? Surely, I would not, right? Because I rostered him in multiple leagues last year, so I don’t need something as silly as my own rankings to know Cody Bellinger sucks giant Great Dane balls, right? RIGHT?! Actually, wrong. I’m just that dumb. Anyway, here’s my NFBC draft recap; it’s a 15-team, two-catcher, draft and hold league that goes 50 rounds and has no waivers:
Please, blog, may I have some more?I get excited when I see new names pop up on my Crushonator. I load up Rudy’s values and then run them through my virtual sausage maker and create the chunkiest Crushers you ever did see. You ever see Yasmani Grandal? That’s a Spartan man. If Plato had been alive to watch baseball, he would have put Yasmani behind his cave fire so he could see the Yas Man’s shadow on the wall and then imagine it as the ideal of man. Michelangelo would have painted Yasmani touching the finger of God. Gilette would have made him shave with a straight razor while riding a rickety train. Dos Equis would have made him interesting. ENYWHEY. Let’s hire our Yas Man and see who else we might want to fire up for DFS today.
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Let’s get something out of the way right now. This is the toughest time of the season to pick up streamers for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the fact that every competitive team in your league is doing the same thing. People who are this deep into the season are inevitably going to stream just like you, and it makes the pickings extremely thin. What makes it even tougher is the fact that many of these streamers have weird workloads right now. Some of them are being pushed back and scratched, while others are being held to abbreviated three-inning outings. That drives us nuts because it’s something we can’t predict, and it’s honestly only going to get worse from here on out. With that in mind, let’s hope none of these guys find themselves in that spot!
Please, blog, may I have some more?In a deep Scottish accent, the Twins’ Triple-A manager said, “You’re comin’ up tae join th’ club, Joe Ryan. Ur ye excited?”
Joe Ryan paused, then asked, “What are you saying?”
“Aam Sean Connery an’ aam daein’ a Scottish accent. Ur ye excited, certainly, Jack Ryan?”
He scratched his head, then, “Huh? Oh. My name’s Joe Ryan.”
So, Joe Ryan was called up to start on Wednesday, and I settled in to watch. He was one of the pieces the Rays sent to the Twins for Nelson Cruz. Since the Rays sent him away, I expect he’ll spontaneously combust during his next start or suddenly lose command of his pitches and return in 2022 as a middle infielder in Rookie Ball. If that doesn’t happen, we should all be super interested. I’m intrigued, y’all! Yesterday, Joe Ryan went 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 baserunners, 5 Ks, and looked much better those numbers. Outside of one inning in the 3rd when he ran up against the red-hot Schwingdel, he looked like every great command pitcher, who can also induce strikeouts. Prospect Itch said of Ryan, “I have high hopes for Joe Ryan, another dynasty trade target if you can get a decent price. His 30+ K-BB percentage across three levels in 2019 was pretty loud, but some of the clamor might’ve died down since Ryan was kept under training site wraps for all of 2020. His best trait is a true-spin four-seamer he can command across the zone, and that’s a great base from which to build an arsenal in today’s game. Tampa’s coaches have praised Ryan for his aptitude for new pitches and approaches, particularly his feel for spin. I get giddy just thinking about him and punching Grey.” Okay, not cool! Ryan continued to carve up hitters in Triple-A this year while maintaining elite command. This is potentially as good a prospect arm call-up as we’re getting the rest of the year. I added him in a few deeper leagues. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Welcome to another week of two-start pitchers sports fans. The fantasy playoffs are right in front of us, so it’s time to hunker down and put our best lineups out there. With that said, a few MLB notes to get to. The Yankees winning streak finally ended, courtesy of the A’s. The Yanks also in turn ended the Braves win streak earlier in the week with a series sweep on them. Also, the Pitcher Shohei Ohtani became the first Angels player in their history to record 40 Home Runs and 20 Stolen Bases in the same season. A feat that will most likely solidify his chances to win the AL MVP. I still hold out hope for Vladdy personally. Let’s move to the injury news.
Injury-related news this week is scarce, but there are a few things happening so let’s talk about them. Dakota Hudson pitched a rehab appearance for the Cardinals Single-A affiliate. He’s been out since last September with Tommy John Surgery, monitor him, as he could be an interesting waiver pickup for teams deep in the playoffs this year. Clayton Kershaw threw a bullpen session, his return is not yet clear. Corey Kluber is set to start Monday after missing the last couple of months. Freddy Peralta could return to the Brewers rotations as soon as September 3rd according to sources. And lastly, Kenta Maeda will have season-ending elbow surgery and Tommy John is not out of the question. That’s the injury news now let’s get to the rankings.
Please, blog, may I have some more?“When you come through Ellis Island with a whole boatload of Nootbaars, do you go to immigration or declare them with VAT?” That’s me talking to myself while watching Lars Nootbaar with a game-saving catch for Alex Reyes and the Cards, and securing the win for Adam Wainwright (8 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.10). Adam Wainwright has a 3.10-ish ERA across the past two seasons. Suddenly, every MLB hitter vs. Wainwright is Carlos Beltran. After the game, Wainwright said, “I would’ve thrown a complete game but I remembered we paid a cab driver $2500 to take Lane Thomas to Washington, and I thought that it was really clever how we paid the cabbie, so I was reading a Wiki-How to sign up for Venmo during the 9th, i.e., I was distracted.” Fair enough, Wainwright! He honestly doesn’t need to do much more. Outside of Zack Wheeler, I don’t think anyone is throwing 200 IP this year, but Wainwright is actually in the conversation at 162 2/3 IP. On the Player Rater, he’s in the hunt for a top 15 starter season, and, excuse me, while I kick myself in the shins. That’s exactly the type of bargain-basement draft pick that makes all the difference in deep leagues. People (yours truly, included) out there chasing upside, and Wainwright chaperoning fantasy teams to first place, and putting the prom in promised land. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?My brain whenever I see Brandon Lowe: “It’s Low, right? No, you idiot, it’s like Lau! LAU! LAU! Say LAU! Which is pronounced like Low, right? NO! It rhymes with chow! It’s Lau!” Then, I compose myself and pronounce it as “Low.” Literally, without fail. I hope you do this too, so I’m not alone. It would make me feel better. Thank you. Yesterday, Lowe–Lau! But spelled Lowe!–went double ding dong, as he led-off (3-for-4, 3 RBIs) with his 27th and 28th homer. Also, in the Hooters-adjacent Tampa Bay-adjacent St. Pete’s Basilica, Kevin Kiermaier (1-for-4) hit his 4th homer; Brett Phillips (2-for-4) boogied his way to his 10th homer and Mike Brosseau (1-for-4) hit his 5th homer. Now I see why Brosseau, “Whoa.” Lowe, though (doesn’t rhyme), is repeating his HR/FB% from last year’s breakout, along with FB%, and HardHit%, but not really his strikeouts. He’s way more aggressive at the plate (O-Swing% and Swing% up), and unfortunately for him, he’s making more contact on junk pitches. Wish the average was higher for Lowe (that’s not a pun, it’s Lau not Low), but he’s established himself as a 32-homer guy with upside for 2022. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Well sports fans, after a nice stretch of games with a little thing called hits. The fun is over and on Saturday there was a No-Hitter. This time from the unlikeliest of sources, Tyler Gilbert of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The one-time electrician and first-time starter on Saturday made history against the Padres, the story is undoubtedly worth checking out. So, From new to old we go. Chris Sale also made his first start in two years against the Orioles and it was a promising start. So he should be rostered in all leagues. Lastly, we were treated to the Field of Dreams game between the White Sox and Yankees. The game most certainly did not disappoint, ending with a walk-off home run by Tim Anderson straight into the cornfields. It was truly a movie-made moment.
Onto the injury news of the week. Starting with Julio Urias being placed on the 10 day IL with a calf contusion. Those waiting on Luis Severino will have to wait longer as he suffered what seems like another setback, claiming “I didn’t feel right” before his scheduled rehab start. Michael Pineda was again placed on the IL with an oblique strain. I expect him to be out the rest of the year. Last but not least Huascar Ynoa of the Braves is scheduled to start Tuesday after missing most of the season. He’s worth rostering if you have a spot open, considering the way he pitched early in the year. That’s the injury news so let’s check out the rankings for this week’s two-start pitchers.
Please, blog, may I have some more?