The Official 2018 Razzball Picks

Welcome to another season of Razz-matazz Fantasy Baseball. For those of you wondering, that actually was Grey’s second choice for naming this site, but as you can see, Razzball won out, much to the chagrin of jazz fingers around the world. And just one ball. No multiple balls I guess. Kinda like the opposite of how Hilton didn’t want just one tree. Double that sh*t! But here we are with another year of staff picks. So what’s the goal with this? Hashtag content, baby. (That’s the technical term.) There’s another goal though, one less self-fulfilling, unlike your mother. Despite the modern advancement of technology and science, we still have no way to have every writer provide their extended (or in Tehol’s case, I always hope abbreviated) take on every single player in the MLB. We try though! And so we have this quick-and-easy (I regret burning my “yo momma” joke now…) presentation that provides you, the Razzmatazzball community a viewer-friendly and succinct breakdown of how we feel about the upcoming season.

So without further ado, here are our Official 2018 Razzball Picks!

Major League Baseball Picks

Sam: NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt. I think the humidor is being blown way out of proportion, in Goldy’s case at least. He is an amazing hitter and I don’t think his numbers will be that far off from last year’s where he was an MVP finalist. If the humidor has more of an impact on his teammates I think he’ll stand out even more this year and show just how valuable he is. AL Cy Young: Chris Sale. *Statefarm “Oh you almost had it!” commercial* Instead of the fisherman dangling a dollar it is the AL Cy Young award. That is how I will remember Chris Sale’s 2017 season. He was that close until being overused late on and a scorching hot Klubot allowed it to slip away. Sale won’t let it slip away this time.

Fantasy Baseball Picks

Break Out Player of The Year (Sleeper)

You might think we’re describing someone who breaks through walls and then falls asleep really fast. Which seems weird. So I wouldn’t really put it past us… To limit the confusion, I’d better point out that these are our potential break out candidates that you should be grabbing long and grabbing hard.

Sam: Manuel Margot. I think Margot will heavily outproduce his ~13th round draft day value. He is a full 5-category contributor and 15/30 is well within reach. At that late I’m trying to pick him up everywhere I can.

Most Overrated Player of The Year (Bust)

These are the guys being held on a pedestals, who will, in return for all your worship and sacrifice, ruin everything thing you hold dear. See: 2014, Fielder, Prince. Or 2015, Longoria, Evan. Take heed Razzballers, avoid these guys at all costs.

I Think I Love You, So What Am I So Afraid Of? (Infatuation)

Yep, we all have one. Find out which player your Razzball writer has an undying love for, despite any rational reason or purpose.

Come Back Player of The Year (Come Back)

Again, pretty easy to figure out what this one means.

Viz: Jonathan Villar has an ADP of 199 after a disappointing 2017. That brings tremendous value given that we’ve seen Villar’s upside and how SB’s are down across the league. Steamer projects him for 13 HR and 29 SB with a .250 average in 124 games. Maybe 124 games is low if he starts well, but regardless, 13/29 with upside from there is great value this late. I’d much rather wait for Villar than say, take Whit Merrifield 100+ picks earlier.

Most Valuable Fantasy Pitcher (MVFP)

This is where things get sticky. That’s what she said. Technically, this could be the best pitcher overall… but the key word here is value. You know this because I underlined it. While the vanilla pick of  Clayton Kershaw could still technically be the most valuable pitcher at the end of the year, there’s still enough room in the definition to allow the possibility that Bruce Chen will come out of retirement, have an ERA of 2.50 and get 20 wins. Seeing as his ownership rate historically always stood in the nothing-to-negative digits and someone like Kershaw is gone by the second round, max, a performance like that would be the most valuable in the history of mankind. And probably destroy the universe as we know it.

Most Valuable Fantasy Hitter (MVFH)

Same thing as the Most Valuable Pitcher, but with hitters. CRAZY, I know.

Kerry: Rhys Hoskins: MVFH and NLMVP. I see Grey’s prediction of Rhys as MVFH and I’m raising him NL MVP! He’s batting 4th behind 3 guys who are OBP studs and I think his power, plate discipline and AVG with RISP make him prime to vault into first round value for 2019 drafts.

What are your picks for the year? Tell us below!