One word about this top 100 for 2018 fantasy baseball, before I give you another 5,000 words. I’m going to avoid repeating myself from the position rankings in the 2018 fantasy baseball rankings. If you want to know my in-depth feelings about a player, then you need to go to his positional page, i.e., the top 20 1st basemen for 2018 fantasy baseball, the top 20 outfielders for 2018 fantasy baseball, the top 20 Gucci handbags for 2018– Ah, I almost got you. This post is meant to give you an idea where guys from different positions are in relation to each other. Since this post is only the top 100, there’s more players where this came from. 428 more, to be very exact. Next up, there will be a top 500 that will go to 530. Then, after that, there will be a top 7,500, then a top 25,000, then a top 600,000, until we end up with a top kajillion in April. Or maybe I’ll stop at the top 500. Yeah, that makes sense. Not to get all biblical on you, but this is the gospel. Print it out and take it to Mt. Sinai and it will say, “Win your 2018 fantasy baseball league, young prematurely balding man.” Projections were done by me and a crack team of 100 monkeys fighting amongst themselves because there were only 99 typewriters. Somebody please buy Ling-Ling his own typewriter! Also, the online Fantasy Baseball War Room is, uh, online. Anyway, here’s the top 100 for 2018 fantasy baseball:
1. Mike Trout – In the first podcast of the year, I talk about how even Cougs knows who Mike Trout is. Cougs stopped following baseball when Tug McGraw retired. Ya gotta believe that most of you know Trout, because if you stop believing that the world gets too cold and lonely, like a world where people want to eat Tide pods for fun. 2018 Projections: 116/40/105/.312/18 in 541 ABs
2. Jose Altuve – I’ve seen Altuve as high as number one overall (muy goofy) to as low as eight overall (just as goofieamiente). You see where I stand on Altuve. On his shoulders. Sorry, Altuve, I thought you were barstool. I’ll step down now. 2018 Projections: 111/23/92/.329/30 in 593 ABs
3. Trea Turner – Let’s wrap our noodles around one fact: Treat Urner had 11 homers and 46 steals last year in only 98 games. I will now laugh maniacally like Matt Lauer building a desk from Ikea’s ‘dirty birdy’ section. 2018 Projections: 110/16/63/.302/47 in 581 ABs
4. Bryce Harper – I just realized something that is as plain as the butt-chin on your face, I put two Nationals next to each other. Worth pointing out super fast after this unnecessary sentence introduction, there’s no way you’re going to own both of these guys, but I don’t mind owning multiple players from the same team, as long as they’re solid. The reason why I didn’t realize I put two Nationals next to each other in the rankings until right now is likely because Turner and Harper are completely different types of players. Frankly (or Brycely), there’s no one quite like Treat Urner. I’m shook-woke-100-underlined-in-red AF at how much I love Turner. So much so that I’m still talking about him in Bryce’s blurb, a player who is arguably one of the five best players and could be headed for a Hall of Fame career. 2018 Projections: 96/35/109/.308/12 in 533 ABs
5. Nolan Arenado – Can’t believe I won $415 million with this lottery ticket. I’m just going to wash off the ketchup stain I got on it, then carelessly leave it on my window sill to air dry–NOOOOO!!!! Torenado! 2018 Projections: 105/39/126/.291/3 in 602 ABs
6. Paul Goldschmidt – Au Shizz has been described in jocular terms as the safest and most productive 1st baseman. Also, I’m using jocular to mean pertaining to jocks, which is what it should mean, and not what it actually means. 2018 Projections: 108/30/111/.303/15 in 551 ABs
7. Mookie Betts – Mookie Ballgame aka Mookie Best aka The Greatest Mookie Who Ever Lived With Apologies To Mookie Wilson and Mookie Blaylock aka The Unfrozen Ted Williams aka The Splendid Splooger aka The Hamilton Musical In Baseball Form aka The Pitcher Killa in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. He obviously needs no introduction, except for the preceding introduction. 25/25/.300, book it, Paul Dano, who I believe is that character actor who plays the weirdest roles. 2018 Projections: 104/25/109/.305/25 in 605 ABs
8. Manny Machado – Seems to be the biggest discrepancy between Machado in my rankings vs. others, so allow me. First, anecdotally, he’s going to be playing to get his ass off the O’s. Second, his walk rate went up last year. Third, there’s no third. Fourth, his K-rate went down. Fifth, of vodka. Sixth, his 2nd half last year was huge and he had a month of 12 homers. That tells me he could have more than one month of that this year, and be the guy to own this year. Seventh, he’s only 25. Eighth, he had one year of 20 steals and one year of nine steals. If he didn’t have one year of zero steals, which I bet will be an aberration in hindsight, I wouldn’t even need to defend Machado. Tenth, I skipped ninth and there’s not really a tenth. 2018 Projections: 103/36/93/.288/9 in 617 ABs
9. Giancarlo Stanton – Already gave you my Giancarlo Stanton fantasy when he was traded. It was rated NC-17 for erotic undertones. 2018 Projections: 107/53/121/.273/3 in 547 ABs
10. Kris Bryant – The difference between Bryant and Au Shizz? Counting stats, which is very hard to predict, and steals, but Au Shizz is older, and Bryant could easily steal more bags than him. I’m just pointing out how close most of these players are, even with a difference between the 2nd and 10th overall pick. 2018 Projections: 108/35/95/.290/10 in 558 ABs
11. Francisco Lindor – A repeat of his power last year (33 HRs) might come down to how much you believe in the HR/FB%. Last year, it was 14%. Sound high for him? Okay, does it sound high if I tell you his career HR/FB% is 12.5%? Pretty sneaky how I Connect Four’d you there. 2018 Projections: 112/27/81/.294/17 in 601 ABs
12. Freddie Freeman – What’s funny (not funny) about the top 23 is it’s really a top 17. I’m not thrilled about any of the guys from 18-23, but I’m crazy excited about the top 17. I could be on a Gushers commercial about some of these guys. Freeman lowered his K-rate from 24.7% in 2016 to 18.5% last year. He’s legit one step away from being Votto with 35 homers. I will call him Blotto, because I’m drunk on him. 2018 Projections: 93/35/103/.308/8 in 577 ABs
13. Jose Ramirez – *sits down with a Ouija board* Ouija, please tell me the exact moment I fell in love with Jose Ramirez. *Ouija starts spelling out something* Y-o-u a-r-e p-r-e-s-s-i-n-g t-o-o h-a-r-d o-n m-y f-a-c-e. Hmm. Illuminating. 2018 Projections: 101/25/91/.315/21 in 577 ABs
14. Anthony Rizzo – There was some debate about Rizzo in the top 20 for 2018 fantasy baseball. You know what side of the debate I fall on ranking him here. Actually (mansplaining!), I was the reason for the debate because of where I ranked Rizzo. 2018 Projections: 101/34/112/.283/9 in 581 ABs
15. J.D. Martinez – There’s a rumor that if you have $275 million, you can own Martinez for seven years. Do what with him? Not sure, whatever you want probably. “Martinez, could you fashion sandals out of these banana peels? I have an idea for Shark Tank called, ‘All-Natural Slippers.'” 2018 Projections: 91/36/109/.284/4 in 505 ABs
16. George Springer – I got a lot less resistance to ranking Springer in the top 20 than I thought I would. I’m assuming people are overrating his World Series performance, but assuming makes an ass out of u and Ming, the Merciless. 2018 Projections: 116/35/84/.281/8 in 611 ABs
17. Cody Bellinger – Last guy in my artificially cut-off top 23 who I’m crazy jazzed about, but make no mistake, my love for Bellinger is a gaping gash of love. Hmm, I likely shouldn’t submit “gaping gash of love” to that write your own Hallmark Card contest. 2018 Projections: 101/35/109/.265/12 in 561 ABs
18. Charlie Blackmon – I’m surprised at how high people are reaching for Chazz Noir. It’s like they’re blind to his impossible to repeat power and runs from last year, and his slowing speed. I love Chazz Noir for fantasy, but only if we’re talking about fantasy as in a blaxploitation graphic novel character. 2018 Projections: 107/24/71/.289/15 in 597 ABs
19. Joey Votto – Know what’s interesting (not interesting) that I’ve found about Votto? For fantasy, no one gets that worked up about him. You could rank him around 40 overall, and people would be like, “Meh.” For real baseball, people get excited about him if you don’t give him his credit. Usually real baseball engenders excitement in fantasy, even if wrongly. So, I guess I’m saying good for you. Told you, super interesting (not interesting)! 2018 Projections: 99/28/95/.317/4 in 546 ABs
20. Max Scherzer – First pitcher of many who I will not be drafting. I go over this at length in the top 20 starters for 2018 fantasy baseball. 2018 Projections: 18-7/2.46/0.94/277 in 222 IP
21. Aaron Judge – You can just feel a schmohawk post for Judge on the horizon, can’t you? People love themselves some Judge so much I heard one Judge fan put out a 500-foot restraining order on themselves from thinking obscene thoughts about him. 2018 Projections: 104/40/94/.244/7 in 511 ABs
22. Clayton Kershaw – As good a time as any to explain what I’m actually drafting while these guys I’m not drafting are going off the board. Easy answer: None of these guys will still be on the board if I have pick 22. More difficult answer: Put the easy answer into Google Translator, translate it to a language you don’t understand, then read it again. 2018 Projections: 17-6/2.51/0.94/225 in 202 IP
23. Carlos Correa – I’m being generous with my Correa projections. If he reached my projections, he’d be blowing his previous years away. Still — again with some stank — STILL! his projections don’t scream a top 20 player to me. 2018 Projections: 90/32/107/.298/5 in 572 ABs
24. Dee Gordon – When he was traded, I gave you my Dee Gordon fantasy. It was written while wondering if Brits say zed for Z, do they say PEDs for P’s? If so, how does anyone pass a urine test? 2018 Projections: 108/2/36/.292/54 in 633 ABs
25. Jose Abreu – Technically, I would draft Gordon, as the players I wasn’t keen on stopped at 23rd overall, but Gordon might not be who I do draft. What I mean is, if I have a Lindor, Ramirez, Turner, or someone like that with my 1st pick, I could see taking Abreu with my 2nd pick (assuming Bellinger, Freeman, etc are off the board). Abreu doesn’t wave the pants flag after you draft him, but you’ll enjoy owning him all year. 2018 Projections: 92/32/104/.296/2 in 625 ABs
26. Corey Kluber – Dot dot dot. And back to players I won’t be drafting. I loved Kluber last preseason, and drafted him in a few leagues, because he was gettable around the 45th-55th overall pick. No fear, Mr. Belvedere, there will be SPs to draft around there again. 2018 Projections: 17-7/2.61/0.97/228 in 205 IP
27. Chris Sale – Fourth starter overall, same as the first. Damn, that was terse. Almost rhyme FTW! 2018 Projections: 17-9/2.87/1.01/256 in 207 IP
28. Anthony Rendon – Ya know what I’m thinking? The Nationals lineup might be, oh, I don’t know, good. If I could draft Treat Urner, Harper and Rendon on the same team, I got three nonsensical words for you, humma blabbedy bloo. 2018 Projections: 92/31/108/.298/9 in 544 ABs
29. Marcell Ozuna – When he was traded, I gave you my Marcell Ozuna fantasy. It helped me justify my margins. 2018 Projections: 101/35/106/.278/1 in 607 ABs
30. Edwin Encarnacion – What could be said about Edwin that hasn’t been said before? Nothing, so stop trying. 2018 Projections: 92/36/109/.253/1 in 561 ABs
31. Alex Bregman – Not saying this is going to happen, but if Bregman has counting stats like Correa is it that hard to imagine Bregman being more valuable than Correa? Why are you squinting? Is that your “I’m thinking face?” Not a good look, brah. 2018 Projections: 98/25/79/.281/14 in 583 ABs
32. Brian Dozier – I’ll admit that I’m not looking forward to the stretch of games from April until June when I’m thinking, “Why didn’t I just draft Marte before Dozier? Dozier will turn it on in the 2nd half, right? Right?! Wait, I’m in an elevator with four other people and I think I’m saying this aloud rather than in my head. Okay, to distract them, nonchalantly fart.” 2018 Projections: 105/30/84/.266/13
33. Starling Marte – Something I noticed with this year’s rankings by other people, no one is scared about Marte after the suspension last year, but, if memory serves like a cloche-carrying butler, Dee Gordon had a big discount last preseason after being suspended the year before. 2018 Projections: 88/15/61/.272/32 in 551 ABs
34. Eric Hosmer – Essentially a cheap Votto, I will call him Joey I Call My Bathtub A Grotto. And, yes, I compare everyone to Votto, apparently. 2018 Projections: 83/24/95/.288/5 in 593 ABs
35. Andrew Benintendi – True story: I heard Prospector Ralph and diehard Benintendi fan calling him, Andy Benintendi, and singing Marcy Playground’s Sex & Candy with the modification, “I smell sex & Andy here…” 2018 Projections: 90/22/81/.282/14 in 566 ABs
36. Justin Upton – In the top 20 outfielders for 2018 fantasy baseball, I speculate about how awful Upton can be. Inspiring confidence! 2018 Projections: 93/31/108/.252/10 in 561 ABs
37. Nelson Cruz – He’s either going to be a Bartolo of hitters — I don’t mean he’ll be playing with a chalupa in his pocket — and hit well into his 40’s, or Cruz is going to collapse one of these years like nearly every other hitter in the history of baseball. I’m looking in Jose Bautista’s general vicinity for an example. 2018 Projections: 88/37/111/.282/1 in 560 ABs
38. Stephen Strasburg – Seriously, what’s the odds the Nationals make the World Series? Can I bet .0000001 Bitcoin on it? Because I have .0000001 of a Bitcoin burning a hole in my pocket! 2018 Projections: 16-7/2.96/1.04/211 in 182 IP
39. Noah Syndergaard – He’s either going to have a fantastic 200 IP season or a contemplative season spent wondering why the Mets trainer is wearing two monocles instead of one pair of glasses. 2018 Projections: 15-10/2.81/1.06/215 in 184 IP
40. Jacob deGrom – “So, you’re saying it makes you look smarter by wearing two monocles?” 2018 Projections: 16-9/3.06/1.15/221 in 195 IP
41. Carlos Carrasco – I spent two seasons begging people to draft Carrasco as their first starter, but now he’s a bit too expensive. What’s odd is, besides wins — and wins are stupid — last year’s Carrasco was the same as the previous two years when Carrasco was priced much cheaper. Oh well, maybe after he wins 15 games this year, his price will go down next year. 2018 Projections: 15-10/3.35/1.12/217 in 194 IP
42. Jonathan Schoop – People are still talking about the fire rhymes Anime Grey dropped in the video on my top 20 2nd basemen for 2018 fantasy baseball. Projections: 91/30/102/.286/1 in 602 ABs
43. Rhys Hoskins – Maybe because I’m reading a book about the Yom Kippur War, but I’m hoping to draft Rhysus and Matt Olson aka Allahson, and initiating a Middle East peace accord. 2018 Projections: 76/33/98/.271/3 in 544 ABs
44. Gary Sanchez – Finally, our first catcher! I go over why I don’t draft top squatters (people totally call them this!) in my top 20 catchers for 2018 fantasy baseball. For full disclosure, I had Sanchez as high as 30th overall, and as low as 55th. Finally settled here because his numbers look comparable to Hoskins. 2018 Projections: 83/30/95/.279/2 in 527 ABs
45. Luis Severino – And now we start drafting starters. I’ll go over how to draft a starting rotation in another post, but Severino is the first starter I could see myself owning in most leagues. Now, a league like a 50-round NFBC, where there’s no waivers, could mean I draft a starter a little before here, but even in those leagues, I usually wait until about here. Last year, I did and drafted Kluber. 2018 Projections: 16-8/3.10/1.06/222 in 190 IP
46. Robbie Ray – His Ks make me so caca-cuckoo I could see Ray being my first starter, even before Severino. Remember, in the top 20 starters for 2018 fantasy baseball, I list tiers. If guys are in the same tier, they’re kinda the same diff. 2018 Projections: 16-7/3.26/1.16/234 in 191 IP
47. Carlos Martinez – Another guy I could see joining the Fantasy Master Lothario All-Stars. If you get a turn slot and Ray and C-Mart are both there? It’s a bit much, but I will go over that in my pitching pairing post. 2018 Projections: 15-8/3.24/1.19/212 in 202 IP
48. Justin Verlander – I’ve played seven to ten leagues for the last ten years, and multiple leagues before that, and I don’t think I’ve ever owned Verlander. So, of course, I will this year and he’ll be a hot mess. 2018 Projections: 16-9/3.41/1.15/223 in 212 IP
49. Yu Darvish – Conspiracy Theory Alert! What if Scott Boras died in November and they’ve been Weekend at Bernies’ing him around but in that state it’s hard for Zombie Boras to make any deals which is why it took so long for everyone to sign? Sounds pretty plausible, right? Instead of a birther, I’m a deather! UPDATE: Someone woke Boras from his 3000-thread-count sheets and Darvish signed with the Cubs, and moved up the rankings. 2018 Projections: 14-10/3.51/1.15/221 in 196 IP
50. Daniel Murphy – Two things happening here. One, I’m hopefully drafting a starter between 45th and 60th, so I doubt I draft any of these hitters here. Second, I don’t know what to make of these hitters from here until Donaldson. People seem to like them more than me, except Buxton, who I like, but am very scared of. 2018 Projections: 79/22/98/.318/3 in 520 ABs
51. Corey Seager – The epitome of this little subset of hitters who others seem to like more than me. By the way, if you’re writing a book about epipens, you should call it, “Epitome.” Take it, it’s yours. 2018 Projections: 101/28/84/.298/4 in 588 ABs
52. Byron Buxton – Wow, this feels early for a guy who could, and has, hit .190 for months at a time and end up in the minors by June. I truly hope I don’t have to make that call. And hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing, from The Bryan Shawshank Redemption. 2018 Projections: 76/20/84/.242/33 in 502 ABs
53. Miguel Sano – And another one I don’t want to have to make the call on to draft. 2018 Projections: 88/40/102/.242 in 522 ABs
54. Josh Donaldson – The Ghost of Princess Di wouldn’t traverse the landmine that is this section of drafts. 2018 Projections: 78/29/87/.266/3 in 524 ABs
55. Chris Taylor – This ranking went like this for me, “Damn, I ranked Taylor high.” *looks at his projections* “Well, 20/17 is nothing to sneeze at unless you’re allergic to productive hitters.” *sneezes* “Holy crap, am I allergic to productive hitters? That might be a problem!” 2018 Projections: 104/20/62/.273/17 in 603 ABs
56. Jean Segura – I’m gonna bite the bullet on one of the hitters in this little subsection that we (I) started with Murphy, and I could see it with Segura. Feels safe. Dot dot dot. Until you look at his previous year. 2018 Projections: 97/14/50/.291/26 in 591 ABs
57. Wil Myers – Know how I always say I don’t care about drafting two guys from the same team. Well, if I get to the end of the draft and have more than one Padres hitter, I’m gonna have some splainin’ to do with myself. 2018 Projections: 82/31/72/.251/16 in 563 ABs
58. Yasiel Puig – You know when you draft Puig you have to lick your computer screen, right? 2018 Projections: 80/31/94/.284/13 in 519 ABs
59. Khris Davis – *looking at Sano’s projections vs. Davis’* Hmm, okay, I can justify their rankings, ready? Sano has a higher upside, Davis is at the age when power starts to come down, Twins offense– You’re not buying any of this, are you? Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a fair point that Davis is Sano but safer, and they should be flipped in the rankings. 2018 Projections: 86/41/106/.245/3 in 551 ABs
60. Christian Yelich – When he was traded to the Montgomery Brewers, I updated my top 40 outfielders for 2018 fantasy baseball. 2018 Projections: 105/19/67/.291/17 in 571 ABs
61. Lorenzo Cain – Was hoping he’d never sign, then we could’ve hired him to write for Razzball. Then after a few years, he’d say, “Could you pay me in something other than Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons?” And I’d ghost him. 2018 Projections: 91/18/79/.292/18 in 535 ABs
62. Billy Hamilton – From Khris Davis to Hamilton, it’s like two inches and the power ride is done. Which is also the beginning of the world’s worst romance novel. “Two inches and the power ride is done.” 2018 Projections: 92/6/40/.252/60 in 559 ABs
63. A.J. Pollock – I still like this tier of outfielders, but as you can see from this top 100, there’s just so little chance of me drafting A.J. Pollock. This A.J. Pollock, though it goes for A.J. Pierzynski too. 2018 Projections: 92/18/78/.277/23 in 561 ABs
64. Robinson Cano – If you drafted a starter already, I could see getting back in on a hitter. At this point, it’s sorta a wild card area, which depends on what you drafted in the first few rounds. So, if Cano’s around, I could see drafting him, which has not been the norm for me, usually I’m off the cliff on him. Cheers! 2018 Projections: 84/20/94/.274/1 in 598 ABs
65. Kenley Jansen – I don’t draft top closers. SAGNOF! Read up on it, if you don’t know it. I also stopped doing a top 20 closers, because Smokey covers the closers. Also, Smokey Covers The Closers is one of my favorite jazz albums. So damn bluesy. 2018 Projections: 4-1/1.84/0.80/105, 43 saves in 67 IP
66. Rougned Odor – I’m not shouting from the rooftops this year to draft Odor. I’m also not on the rooftops trying to avoid the draft of some nasty Odor. Still in on him — 30/15 is still worthwhile — but I can’t say all the concerns about his egregious batting average are in the rearview. 2018 Projections: 72/31/86/.241/14 in 598 ABs
67. Ronald Acuna – This ranking is obscene, but Acuna makes me want to do obscene things. 2018 Projections: 74/17/77/.304/21 in 514 ABs
68. Whit Merrifield – I have a hard time listening to someone say “Somebody” without interrupting them with “Touch my spaghett” or “Once told me the world,” however…Somebody is going to draft Merrifield this high, and I don’t know if I have the cojones to be that guy. 2018 Projections: 89/15/59/.279/22 in 597 ABs
69. Chris Archer – Continuing with the potpourri nature of this part of the draft, I could see drafting a hitter here or a starter if you haven’t taken one of them yet. We’re firmly in the part of the draft where you have to look at how you’re building your team rather than who is the top guy on your draft sheet. So, yeah, I’m being a little wishy-washy, i.e., with Archer, I’m not a straight shooter. 2018 Projections: 2018 Projections: 11-10/3.69/1.22/237 in 205 IP
70. Zack Greinke – Real question: has anyone heard any talk about the humidor? No, don’t search Amazon for a humidor, Bezos can’t help us, which sounds like a future political campaign, when someone is opposing Bezos. 2018 Projections: 14-9/3.45/1.10/202 in 205 IP
71. Craig Kimbrel – Guess how old Kimbrel is. Remember, he’s been around awhile. Since 2010. Yes, I’m trying to steer you towards an older age than he is. Was it obvious? He’s only 29. That surprised me. 2018 Projections: 5-1/1.93/0.82/102, 42 saves in 65 IP
72. Aroldis Chapman – He’s getting by a little on bad vibes and good farts. Meaning, the idea of Aroldis has become a little bit better than him in reality, but this is fantasy and I don’t draft top closers. 2018 Projections: 5-3/2.19/1.01/100, 40 saves in 65 IP
73. Aaron Nola – You ever get this sinking feeling like you know something is going to go wrong, but you don’t know what it is? It’s pre-Murphy’s Law. Prematurphy’s Law. That’s how I feel about Nola. I want to own him everywhere, can’t figure out why that will go wrong, but something tells me it will. 2018 Projections: 14-9/3.41/1.18/188 in 184 IP
74. Jose Quintana – If your first starter is Quintana, it won’t be flashy, but who needs a flashy staff? You wanna bedazzle your Blue Bird of Happiness? 2018 Projections: 15-9/3.49/1.17/204 in 202 IP
75. Yoenis Cespedes – This doesn’t exactly track logically, but I like to draft the best guy on a bad team. Yeah, the guys around him suck, but I notice that pitchers throw to a good guy on a miserable team more than pitch around him. In other words, what happens more: no one is on and the pitcher is like, “What the hey, I’ll throw to Yoenis?” Or, “There’s guys in scoring position and I’m going to pitch around Yoenis.” Yes, this is anecdotal, but it seems to work out. That’s not to say draft mediocre guys on terrible teams. This won’t help Asdrubal. 2018 Projections: 82/31/93/.285/2 in 528 ABs
76. Eddie Rosario – Already gave you my Eddie Rosario sleeper. It was written while rocking a $500,000 diamond pendant of Bart Simpson. 2018 Projections: 88/30/96/.286/4 in 551 ABs
77. Travis Shaw – In my top 20 3rd basemen for 2018 fantasy baseball, I say, “Abe Vigoda…struggled…with…Barney Miller…and…fly balls.” Hmm, I need to work on what quotes to pull. 2018 Projections: 77/30/91/.267/8 in 515 ABs
78. Mike Moustakas – Has he signed with the Yanks yet? C’mon, don’t let me waste MousYankas. 2018 Projections: 78/30/90/.264 in 531 ABs
79. Joey Gallo – Gallo is like an out-of-control Aaron Judge. Judge shakes his head, and excuses himself when he strikes out and tries not to do it again. Gallo is a burping, farting mess who will strikeout 55% of the time if it means 40 homers. Gallo is pure id. Gallo would be the host of MLB’s No Reservations. Lance Broshitz also gave you his Joey Gallo fantasy. 2018 Projections: 81/40/93/.221/5 in 506 ABs
80. Trey Mancini – Already gave you a Trey Mancini sleeper. It was written while pretending not to hear Cougs ask me to take out the garbage. 2018 Projections: 79/27/91/.297/2 in 567 ABs
81. Shohei Ohtani – Don’t try to adjust your TV, assuming you’re viewing this on a TV, though, I’m not sure why you would be. Maybe try a ‘puter. Any hoo! I’ve listed Ohtani twice in this top 100, and will list him three times when all is said and done. This Ohtani is the one player Ohtani that CBS is bringing to fantasy this year. Good for CBS for making the adjustments to their fantasy product, which I’m sure wasn’t easy for them. It’s easy to put a new player into the system as a hitter or pitcher. I don’t know computer programming, but I bet I could add a new player. CBS took the least traveled road and made a pitcher that is a hitter and pitcher. Good for them. When Bumgarner outslugs Ohtani though, I wonder how they’re gonna answer the thousands (Hundreds? Tens?) of people who are confused why they can’t have Bumgarner, the hitter. 2018 Projections: 26/11/33/.266/3 in 192 ABs and 12-4/3.28/1.22/146 in 140 IP
82. Rafael Devers – You drink La Croix? No? Well, you should. It’s the most delicious seltzer that is enjoyed by people who don’t know what seltzer is. Any hoo! They have flavors that are crazy, like Kiwi/Strawberry and Blackberry/Cucumber. Kiwi/Strawberry is crazy, but works. Blackberry/Cucumber is a straight drain pour. Devers will be Kiwi/Strawberry or Blackberry/Cucumber and I’m not sure which, but I’m betting on Kiwi/Strawberry. 2018 Projections: 70/24/81/.281/8 in 520 ABs
83. Tommy Pham – There’s obviously exceptions, but I feel a little like I don’t love any hitter from around the 45th pick to around the 95th. This obviously doesn’t completely compute because hitters are much more valuable of late than pitchers. But I see guys like Trevor Bauer and I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll get in that.” But I see guys like Pham, and I’m like, “How many picks until I can draft Bauer without looking like I reached?” 2018 Projections: 83/16/63/.275/19 in 484 ABs
84. Andrew McCutchen – If you were an alien, and you came to this planet and asked me, “Define the Giants’ mentality.” I’d say, “They Might Be Giants?” Then the alien would say, “Never really got into TMBG.” Then after a few hours of a back and forth, I’d realize the non-binary alien wanted me to encapsulate how the San Francisco Giants thought. The easiest snapshot of that is how they went out and got McCutchen and Longoria. 2018 Projections: 82/23/90/.273/9 in 563 ABs
85. Gregory Polanco – Ever since the Marlins (and Pirates) started selling off their whole teams, the remaining guys have requested trades. This is hilarious to me. This is like being in a rainstorm and looking at the sky and requesting sun. Yeah, a’ight. But one player on the Pirates and Marlins who has not asked for a trade is Polanco. Know why I think that is? Because I get the sense Polanco just DGAF. 2018 Projections: 71/16/79/.254/15 in 509 ABs
86. Ryan Braun – Was thinking something the other day, in a very stereotypical likely racist but not racist because I’m half-Jewish way, I can’t believe Braun ever took steroids. I can’t imagine any Jews I know taking steroids, because they are so neurotic. I have a friend who won’t use the first napkin in a dispenser because that napkin was touched by the previous person. And by “friend” I mean me. 2018 Projections: 70/22/74/.265/10 in 487 ABs
87. Xander Bogaerts – Something’s wrong with me but all I want to say for Bogaerts is only one more pick until Trevor Bauer. Bogaerts has brought this malaise on himself. This apathy. This–c’mon, thesaurus, what else you got for me? This case of the Mondays. 2018 Projections: 88/18/94/.283/14 in 614 ABs
88. Trevor Bauer – Who’s going to disappoint me in more ways than I can count? My dad! *sees something* Why did you raise your hand, Trevor Bauer? You better not disappoint me! 2018 Projections: 15-10/3.59/1.29/204 in 189 IP
89. Dallas Keuchel – Aw, Daylass Koochel reminds me of Halp, our very own podcast Chuck Cunningham. 2018 Projections: 15-7/3.41/1.14/160 in 190 IP
90. Shohei Ohtani – The second Ohtani…Onetani, Twotani…Threetani…Four potatoes! This is pitcher Ohtani. See above for hitter and pitcher Ohtani. I also gave you a Shohei Ohtani fantasy when he signed. It was written four score, two months, and one possible elbow tendon ago. 2018 Projections: 12-4/3.28/1.22/146 in 140 IP
91. Alex Wood – *pulls up high-waisted 1930’s bathing suit, pinches nose, dives into pool, opens eyes, sees diving horse, notices the horse isn’t wearing a bathing suit* That was a visual metaphor for seeing Wood and ready to jump into drafting starters again. 2018 Projections: 11-7/3.34/1.11/168 in 174 IP
92. Luis Castillo – Already gave you my Luis Castillo sleeper. It was written on a four-panel Bazooka Joe comic. 2018 Projections: 12-8/3.54/1.09/194 in 189 IP
93. Masahiro Tanaka – Already gave you my Masahiro Tanaka sleeper. It was written while eating fondue with my fingers. They’re burning hot! 2018 Projections: 14-9/3.49/1.14/205 in 194 IP
94. Sonny Gray – Let me count the ways I love Gray—*catches reflection in the mirror, places hand on the mirror and simultaneously the mirror’s hand touches my hand* We’re meant for each other. 2018 Projections: 14-9/3.47/1.19/171 in 190 IP
95. Lance McCullers – This might be the first year in three that I didn’t write a McCullers sleeper. That’s mostly because I think the love for him is fully woke. Totally using ‘woke’ correctly, eat it, millennials! 2018 Projections: 10-5/3.42/1.22/164 in 145 IP
96. Justin Smoak – See, I usually call mine Justin Moist. Wait, what? As mentioned at some point in this insanely long post, I go over each player in their positional ranking, just check the 2018 fantasy baseball rankings. 2018 Projections: 78/32/89/.261 in 512 ABs
97. Miguel Cabrera – If I’m being honest, Miggy ranked here before, say, Willson Contreras, feels wrong if you look at just their projections, but when I look at their names, I can’t help myself. A flawed human I guess. But I’m doin’ my best to not ruin your ex….pectations and meet ’em. 2018 Projections: 71/23/75/.281 in 434 ABs
98. Ryan Zimmerman – This ranking is a steal if you buy into his resurgence last year. If you think it was one last great season before disappearing into the wild, then this ranking is too high. Essentially, I’m saying this ranking is one ol’ big hedge. Luckily, I’ve been wanting a reason to break out my Katana collection. 2018 Projections: 73/24/84/.264/1 in 497 ABs
99. Javier Baez – You know who Baez reminds me of? The guy in your office who got a fidget spinner nine months after everyone? No, how would I even know that guy? That is your worst guess yet. He reminds me of Puig. Same sorta 5×5 stats and he makes enough electrifying plays to fill a George Michael highlight reel. I’m saddened to realize both George Michaels are dead. Someone put some bubble wrap around Michael Cera! 2018 Projections: 80/25/79/.270/11 in 494 ABs
100. Tim Anderson – Already gave you my Tim Anderson sleeper. It was written while icing my fingers with blue raspberry Fla-Vor Ices. By the way, is the hyphen in Fla-Vor Ices the most useless hyphen ever? “Ahem.” That’s e-mail clearing its throat. 2018 Projections: 83/21/68/.260/25 in 593 ABs
Good read as always Grey! I have a keeper question for you if you don’t mind!
12-team mixed league 6×6 (OPS, QS), 5 OF and CI/MI spots. I have the first pick in the upcoming draft and picking Trout (obviously!) but we get to keep 3 players we drafted last season for this season (but can only keep them for one year), in the round they were drafted in. My options (first two are obvious):
Cody Bellinger in the 22nd
Robbie Ray in the 17th
Aaron Nola in the 11th
Andrew Benintendi in the 7th
Basically just picking between Nola and Benintendi.
Thanks Grey!
@RJ: Thanks! Benintendi
I enjoyed reading this too much.
Question: Marwin Gonzalez. Seems straight down the middle for you. No love?
@Will Moller: Thanks! Pretty boring, but if you need a safe guy with a lot of eligibility likely a bit undervalued
I don’t feel like seafood tonight. I’ll have the California Walnut Truffle salad with the house Pomegranate Flaxseed dressing, please. Oh, and no olives.
What the #$%!$# do you mean no more salad?
@Terrence Mann: Ha!
Loved today’s video – everyone is obsessed with Busts. Hope these continue after Rankings are done.
Thanks for Top 102. I like to compare your outliers with mine (Rendon, Dee G – yummy), looking forward to more in tomorrow’s Top 239745 .
@Bodacious Taters: Thanks! Tomorrow’s only goes up to 239744
Grey,
In AL only league. How concerned would you be about keeping Abreu, given it appears likely he’ll get traded sometime this year?
@Bbboston: Not concerned
Thanks for the great work. Did you just jinx Nola? I kid. I get the same feeling from him even though he is one of my keepers going into the year. I think it has to do with him being on the Phillies. They can’t have anything nice. Giles let me down in the past, Franco, ODB, Ceasar Hernandez. Maybe Rhys can be the one to break the curse in time to save Nola.
@Rauol Duke: Thanks! I did jinx him, my B… I almost bet on the Phils to win the World Series a few months ago, if I had made that bet, I would’ve jinxed them… Since I didn’t make that bet, they will win….
My $50 12 Team NFBC Team. Currently in round 23 of 50.
C-
C-
1B-Hosmer
2B-Dee Gordon
3B-Arenado
SS- Lindor
OF- Puig, Acuna, Castellanos, Mancini, Mazara
CI- Rendon
MI-Tim Anderson
Util-
P- Verlander, Tanaka, Bauer, Pomeranz, Wacha, Snell, Manaea
RP- Osuna, Treinen
Bench- Clevinger, Odorizzi
At the advice of the Great Knoche, I went ahead and took 5 straight SP from rounds 18-22. It really does thin out after that, like other commenters had mentioned would happen. Lots of SP went in those rounds and we are left with barely any that are in Grey’s Top 100 SP. I’ve got a few undervalued guys left to take that have ADPs in the late 400s, early 500s.
My next pick is 270ish. Debating between Addison Reed (all “closers” are gone), Tim Beckham (SS only but will gain 3B), Renfroe, Yasmany Or Melky. I’m gonna try and get as many of these bats that I can in the next couple rounds I think. Really waivering about taking Reed here, his ADP is right around where we are at. But Grey, I also recall your advice about how flukey or annoying Saves are in these leagues. Is round 23 too early to start grabbing handcuffs? Or will I regret waiting? Also, if any leaguemates are here to snipe my picks, show yourself!?!?
Should I continue with more SP instead of bats? I’ll prob jump up on a few SPs that have ADP’s around 350+ and take them 40-50 spots early. I have 9 and want 16 so still only have just over half my staff. But also… Catcher… Ahhhhh
@knucks: I wouldn’t handcuff yet if you have two solid closers. I’d grab a bat or two. You don’t want your starting offense to have guys that don’t play everyday.
@Cram It: Andddd Reed is off the board with the first pick this AM haha
Starting to think that there are some Razz readers in my league.
Thanks Cram. I agree about the bats and appreciate your feedback. I read your comment first, then looked down at my email saying Reed was picked and felt pretty good about it. You think I’m doing decently so far with SPs? I’m pretty comfortable with grabbing a couple more that Grey is higher on that are still in the pool.
Btw I’m pretty pumped about Frazier. Always been a fan of his since I saw him kill it for my home state in the LLWS. So Reyes/Asdrubal at 2B? Flores traded soon? Was reading yesterday that they would bite on Lynn or Cobb if the price were to drop, which I’m sure you saw as well.
@knucks: Yeah your SP is filled out real nice at this stage in the draft. I’d make a run at some bats.
I’m not upset about it! We can piecemeal those three at 2B. Maybe even TJ Rivera when he comes back.
@knucks: Thanks again Cram. I am feeling pretty good about SPs right now. I have 9 confident starters and I just looked at the Rosters that draft around me and they each have like 5/6.
But I have one more question for you… And hopefully Grey as well.
Picking between Scooter/Owings who have both fallen to me to choose from right now at pick 269 and I”m pretty happy about it.
I want to take Scooter. But right now kind of leaning Owings due to the 2B/SS/OF eligibility. But I could fit in Scooter at 2B and move Dee to OF (after the first 10 games at least) while I wait for Acuna if he doesn’t break camp. However, Owings could be nice to have mid-summer when I need to maneuver my lineup a bit more.
Grey and Rudy both have them right next to eachother in rankings. I’m not hurting really for HRs or SBs when I crunch the numbers based off of Grey’s projections against the AVG stats for teams that took 1st place last year in NFBC leagues.
@knucks: Probably Gennett. Better lineup spot, more PT.
What happened with Beckham? Did I miss something?
@Grey: The prob with Becks is that he’ll be SS/3B only and I already have 3 3B in Arenado/Castellanos/Rendon. I wish he had 2B. Right now I have one 2B (Dee) and two SS (Tim Anderson/Lindor). So Beckham will be forced into my Util slot to start the season. While Gennet can go in at 2B and Dee can be moved to the OF.
Also, Becks will prob be there for me at my next pick. Unless leaguemates are reading these comments. Both Gennett and Owings will be gone.
I’m over thinking this aren’t I?
Yeah, go Beckham then you can take Scooter next if you want…
@Grey: Oh I don’t know, I was looking at the Gennett/Owings decision. I thought he was taking Beck’s already.
@Cram It: Might want to think about getting at least 1 catcher who has a chance to play everyday soon as well.
I think the Becks’ ship sailed
@knucks: Look at you posting without moderation! So no luck on the avatar? Let me look into it in a few… Beckham, Yasmany, for sure
@Grey: Hahhhh! Yea no luck on the Avatar, but I really appreciate you helping out with that. What are your thoughts on this Scooter/Owings dilemma that I’m having above? I have 3 hours and 38 mins to pick though so take your time!
I have Beckham above Scooter
Owings
@knucks: I feel ya on that. I’m just over thinking roster construction at this point, aren’t I. I shouldn’t take the chance that Becks is there next round? Take him now over Scooter/Owings? I’ll have to start him at UTIL, while I could end up getting another 30 HR guy to stick there in the next couple rounds (ie Renfroe/Yasmany).
You’re not starting Beckham at UTIL, just stockpiling bats
@knucks: Beckham is not 2B eligible is the detail I keep neglecting here, my bad.
Scooter will be there in the next round, or someone else at 2B
@Grey: Scooter’s ADP showing the the draft room is 224 and we are on pick 269. There is a zero percent chance he falls to my next pick. The other 2B could potentially be Castro if he falls past his ADP… or Reyes/Asdrubal/Mondesi/Wong.
However, my next pick is before Beckham’s ADP. I hate being a slave to ADP like this. I assure you that this is not how I have handled nearly any other pick in the draft. Anyways, I would say there is slightly better than a 50% chance that I can get Beckham next and have both.
This will be the first time I disobey. Gonna roll the dice, take Scooter and pray for the rest of the day. I appreciate all your help and thoughts. I’m thinking that my novice NFBC skills are showing right now and I’m guessing that this will be something I’m looking back at this summer and regretting. Oh well.
Starlin Castro and Scooter are very close, kinda same diff
@Grey: Beckham went immediatly after I took Scooter. Next pick. Within seconds.
I am ashamed and am going to go ahead and shut down fantasy baseball for the day.
Dammmmmmittttttt
Haha, that person had an autopick thing going…
@Grey: That is correct, it was an autopick. Which is the only thing the keeps me from feeling like this dood is reading this entire convo. Because he has sniped me twice before when I was also posting about other players.
The calls are coming from inside the houseeeee!
HAHAHA… Hilarious… You have to figure there’s only so many guys to pick in a given round… Beckham prolly = Scooter, so I think you’re all right, but you need an actual UTIL guy and not depth… I’d go Yasmany
@Grey: Going Yasmany, Renfroe, Melky… those will be my next 3 picks I hope.
Looking at other rosters, I feel like I have a serious leg up so far. I was telling Cram and may had mentioned it a few days back (I think) that I’m almost right on par with the average 1st place NFBC teams of 2017…
1178/365/1156/174/.278
And so when you divide by 14, the number of starting slots for bats….
84/26/82/12/.278
I’m over on all of these except HRs, where I’m under by like 2. Thinking I can make that up pretty easily without really sacrificing much average. I was using a pretty mediocre catcher statline x2 when “doing the mathy” and thinking I’ll have no prob grabbing the two I have been looking at. Almost all teams have 2 catchers already.
But as I have read several times here on your NFBC writeups that these types of leagues are won in the mid to late rounds. And with a bunch of luck on your side of course. Anyways, thanks for all of your help. I look forward to the top 500 chart tomorrow. Except for the part where I immediately check how many slots higher Beckham is than Scooter. Rudy has him about 15 I think.
That order makes sense next… Then you just need to stockpile bats with position eligibility and SPs…
Keeper help! 260 budget, keep 2 dudes, 12 team
$51 Altuve & $6 Marcell Ozuna
Or
$43 Correa & $6 severino
Many thnx!!
@Mcgaffer12: Altuve
Thanks Grey for the rankings have helped me win my league 3 out 4 yrs. Keeper question would you trade Joey votto and jake lamb for severino and bogarets? The league is keep forever league with roto scoring my 6 keepers as of now are Lindor,Blackmon,Dee Gordon,votto,lamb, and last one is between Degrom and Cain.Thanks in advance.
@Rbi’d for her pleasure: Straight roto league?
@Grey: yes it’s straight Toto weekly scoring 12 categories
I’d likely go Ozuna
@Grey: I didn’t ask about Ozuna lol
@RBI’d for her pleasure: Ha, my bad, was looking at different comment… Votto side
Grey, I always enjoy your work and find you and the rest of the Razzball guys (and 5 gals) to be a great community of writers and readers…but I think the Seager hate has gone a little far. Yes, he’s been as exciting as Mayo on cardboard, but his peripherals still show upside:
–4th in baseball in hard hit % last year (44% behind Gallo, Judge, and Goldy)
–His FB% has increased and GB% has decreased every year
–Posted .350 BABIP each year in the Majors, so it’s showing sustainability
You can say I just cherry-picked stats to prove my point (I did), and that he hits the ball on the ground too much (42%), he does, and his HR/FB% has declined ever year (it has). But, if he continues his trend of increasing his FB rate, and pulls the ball a bit more rather than going oppo as much as he does (28%), 25-30 HR upside is there.
51 just seems really low for a 23 year old SS who profiles as having another level to get to with respect to his power and counting stats. But that’s just me…and maybe I’m justifying my love for him in my keeper league. (And maybe he’s a buy low in other keeper leagues…)
@Jbona3: I think you bring the constructive criticism as well as just about any one has on here in the couple years I’ve been posting. And because of that I’m curious where you would place him in the rankings instead of 51. Somewhere in the 40s?
@knucks: Thanks, I try to be as measured in my analysis as possible and bring something more than “that ranking sucks”.
As for where I think Seager belongs, somewhere in the low 40’s or high 30’s feels right to me. Looking at the hitters around there, I think Seager offers a measure of consistency across 4 of 5 categories that players like Hoskins, Upton, and Schoop haven’t proven they can do. In fantasy, the consistency of production is an important variable to consider for a top 50 player.
The helium Seager had going into last year was a little out of control, but this feels like an over-correction to me.
@Jbona3: I’m fine with most of what you said except for Schoop. I’ve had him two years in a row and will be very disappointed if I don’t have him on most teams this year again.
@knucks: Yeah, the only question for me with Schoop is the BA…is that for real, or is he a 30 hr guy that hits .240-.250. And does Showalter bat him in a prime RBI spot in the order or is he relegated to a 6-7 spot?
@Jbona3: He is definitely not a .240 or .250 hitter. .293 might be a tad high. Looking at his average and BABIP over the last few years it appears a .300 to .320 BABIP is expected for him. With that we should see him hit right around .270 to .280. That average combined with 30 HR and an OPS over 800 for a 2B is fantastic. Especially when he is only 26.
@Jbona3: At first I thought you meant Kyle Seager, and I was gonna say I liked him a lot… Corey? Meh… He’s fine, absolutely solid, but for fantasy the lack of steals really hurts him… Even 12 steals would boost him to the top 25
@Grey: I get your point (and sorry for the lack of clarification) but if you compare projections for C. Seager (101/28/84/.298/4) and Hosmer (83/24/95/.288/5 in 593 ABs) they’re within a whisper of one another – you’re trading Runs for RBIs , and while positional scarcity is overblown, that production from a SS is more valuable than similar production from 1B, IMO. I’m not a slave to projections, my only point is that 51 seems too low, and is an over-correction from last year.
I see your point in overcorrection, and Hosmer or him is fair point… they’re not that different, and if Hosmer signs in SD Seager might be above him…
@Grey: And Mike Podhorzer has a good piece up on projecting HRs and who would benefit if they hit more pulled fly balls, and C. Seager is up among the top of the list. I just think there’s more upside with him…
https://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/power-up-who-would-benefit-from-more-pulled-fly-balls/
And if he stole a few more bases I’d be fine with moving him up… he’s a guy that will always sit between 25-55 for me due to lack of big time homer power and speed… but if he becomes a 32-35 homer guy then that would change
@Grey: What’s interesting to me is seeing the quartet of Stras, Thor, deGrom, and Carrasco in the 39-43 spots, given the injury history with all of them. This is subjective on my part, but with a 4th round pick I’m still prioritizing durability, and 3 of 4 have missed time with injuries critical to throwing recently (not counting deGrom’s TJ from a few years back).
The upside to lead a staff is there with all four guys, but there’s a non-zero chance that one or more of them throw less than 150 innings. When I measure that against a boring, but consistent Corey Seager it’s an interesting decision to make. But the placement of those SP’s in the rankings could be an artifact of your draft strategy.
I’m not drafting any of those top SPs, as I go over in the post, so technically Seager moves up 10 spots
I’m listening to the heavy boba discussion on the podcast this morning, and I go to the wife figuring 3/1 she knows what this thing Grey is drinking, or is it eating I’m confused sounds like soup, is. She tells me she has never heard of it which I am shocked. She goes there is always some new fad out there (I guess she is kind of right since wikipedia said it was invented in 1980) but guarantee in a month she will be telling me how she wants to get some boba drink mark it down.
@Conine: It’s called bubble tea. It’s drank by 13 yr old asian girls.
@Conine: Also doubles as a killer pea shooter loading those little balls into the straw and firing at unsuspecting citizens
@Fungazi 2.0: Killer pea shooter! Haha
@Conine: Your wife needs to get on this boba thing! BTW, it’s been around for like 25 years
@Grey: i never heard it called “boba” but yeah bubble tea has been around for a while, i remember learning about what it is in around 98
Since you mentioned Blotto- you so did in the Freeman post- reminded me of the hit fro the local band of my youth, Blotto. Classic one hit wonder worth a (re) listen. I Wanna Be a Lifeguard…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CBRJ6jQfap0
@Sweatpants Nation: Haha, nice
Yo Grey, will someone be putting together the Fantasy Baseball War Room again this year? I used the spreadsheet version last year and it was fantastic. It was spooky how close the war room came to predicting the end standings.
@Milarky: I believe it was Niko (Neko?) who did it last year? Could be wrong. But yea hadn’t heard or seen anything about it and of course would love to have one of those again. Always appreciate when someone does that.
@knucks: Agreed – it was fantastic. I think last year his name on the site was Hot Rod (!?!), but when I was chatting back and forth with him trying out the product, he mentioned that he had inherited it from someone else.
Not sure if he’s still a contributor or not.
You have his email? You should ping him
I emailed him
@Grey: Thanks Grey – I did actually email him after I saw your last response. When I posted the question to you originally, I thought he was a contributor as opposed to a commenter.
Cool, we’ll see what he says (if he responds)
@Milarky: Yes it was Hot Rod who administered it last year … he took it over from Rudy Gamble.
Rudy did it one year?
@Milarky: I can email the guy from last year, but I don’t know, it’s usually put together by a commenter
@knucks: @Milarky: @Milarky: Shucks, I’m blushing, thanks for the compliments and glad it helped in your league.
Yes I will be doing a 2018 Excel War Room. Look for it here on the site within a few weeks, as we Excel nerds are reporting to desks shortly to get these numpad fingers back in shape.
Nice!
@Hot Rod: Thank you!
ok gray can i try to convince you to draft jansen? I usually never take closers early, either but i just grabbed him with 38th pick in a NFBC 15-teamer (don’t worry I got harper, rizzo, and ozuna in rounds 1, 2, and 4 so that makes up for it right? riiiight?)
if you put his steamer projections in an auction calculator he comes out as 32nd rank player overall. SP projections shouldn’t be trusted as much as hitters, agreed, but is that really the same for closers? I think we all know they’re going to be pretty stable for him based on track recorod. and sure saves is a fickle stat but not THAT fickle. he’s going to provide enough value in the three other categories to make it worth it no matter what. (based on the numbers).
i guess my point is if you say, “I can pick up saves later”, that’s kind of like saying “why draft altuve when I can pick up steals later”. you draft players for their total value and for jansen that’s easily a top 50 player
@cj: I think this is a good point for leagues with FAAB caps. “Top closers” in general tend to be inflated in rankings, but Jansen always seems to come at a relative discount (aka. would you want Jansen around ~65 or Allen/Giles in the next round or two).
In daily / unlimited waiver leagues, I’m all about SAGNOF . . . but if I’ve only got $100 in FAAB for the season, I want to be spending that primarily on hitter/pitcher breakouts, not trying to outbid 11 others for a meh RP that is taking the closer gig due to injuries. That’s how I ended up spending $26 on Neris and Benoit over the span of a few weeks, with nothing much to show for it but an inflated ERA/WHIP!
@Duda Want to Build a Snowman?: Last year it was extremely difficult to obtain reliable saves through FAAB. I spent two and a half months trying to do it before saying screw it and trading for Jansen. He helped me a ton because he is so good that he even moves the needle on WHIP and ERA and a little bit on Ks too. And I completely agree that daily/unlimited leagues are very different animals than weekly leagues when it comes to streaming RPs.
@cj: In an NFBC 15 teamer it’s possibly the worst move you can do… I would’ve drafted Kershaw in that league before a top closer… You can pick up saves later, in the draft
DraftHelp now projects Adam Eaton to bat leadoff for that potent Nationals lineup.
If he does, would you make any tweaks to your projected line for him (83/10/49/.287/12 in 478 ABs)?
You may already had this in mind & given lower ABs due to injury potential. If so, ignore my dumb question. Thanks for the Greyt work, as always.
@Dodger Rabbit: I’m guessing he does hit leadoff, but also breaks down at some point for a month like he always does
My favorite post of the year! Love how you handled Ohtani. Perusing the early Yahoo ranks, they weren’t as terrible as prior years, but definitely some goodies . .. .
Bregman (31 razz v. 62 yahoo)
Schoop (40 v 77)
Severino (46 v 58)
Chris taylor (55 v 129)*
Cain (61 v 85)
Odor (66 v. 105)*
Acuna (67 v. 173)*****
Rosario (77 v 137)*
Shaw (78 v. 111)
Gallo (80 v 151)*
Manicini (81 v. 237)**
Bauer (89 v 181)** – looks like you can wait longer for your staff “ace”/#2!
Castillo (93 v. 135)
Anderson (102 v. 210)
@Duda Want to Build a Snowman?: This is assuming you’re playing in a Yahoo public league or a Suzie Secretary league, methinks. Are people still playing those?
@Cram It: Haha exactly. I’m usually in 3 leagues each year + the competitive ones are definitely not in Yahoo (Yahoo is my work/coworkers league – mostly football people looking to stay busy before football kicks up again haha).
@Duda Want to Build a Snowman?: I have a spreadsheet that’s ranking the weekly Fantrax movement against Grey’s rankings. I did it for back to back weeks. Then skipped it last week. Going to try and do it again and see who is moving up/down in Fantrax. I think that will be helpful, especially with the RCL move to Fantrax.
@knucks: sweet!
@Duda Want to Build a Snowman?: I’m not saying these aren’t crazy, but I am high on Acuna, Taylor, Rosario, Gallo, Mancini and Bauer… Like very high on them…
@Grey: Aside from Bauer, the floor on these guys is pretty high / tolerable where the risk is worth it. What’s Gallo’s floor, he hits .200 with ~40 homers and ~10 steals again?
In keeper leagues, seems silly to not make sure you’re the top bidder on Acuna . . . if he hits, he’s a first/second rounder for the foreseeable future.
Yeah, I agree with you… Gallo was a top 75 player last year already
@Grey: I made a player rater based on steamers projections for my league that uses OPS over AVG and it’s so funny to me that that one change moves Gallo from about where you have him to a top 15 hitter.
We have OPS rankings https://razzball.com/playerrater-preseason-espnmlb12-6x6ops/ Gallo doesn’t move up that dramatically… A bit…
@Grey: Those look like they include average as a 6th CAT. Our league is 5×5 where OPS replaces average, so Gallo wouldn’t have that big drag on his average in that format. Maybe I just don’t know how to use your tables though and need to learn. I’ll check it out next time I go through this before draft day.
No, you’re right, that is 6×6
@Grey: @Duda Want to Build a Snowman?: The one that surprised me was Hosmer @ 34 (vs 77 on Yahoo).
Trying to type my team from memory because Yahoo is terrible and won’t open their Fantasy Baseball season for another 8 days (PS 12 team mixed Yahoo keeper league h2h category wins, 6×6: r/hr/rbi/obp/slg/sb x qs/hr/k/era/whip/nsvh)
C: Gary Sanchez
1B: Greg Bird
2B: Chris Taylor
3B: Kris Bryant
SS: Trevor Story
OF: Aaron Judge
OF: Mookie Betts
OF: Andrew Benintendi
UT: Yoan Moncada
UT: Don’t remember
SP: Corey Kluber, 4 other dudes I can’t remember
RP: Don’t really remember
BN: Ronald Acuna, Fernando Tatis Jr., Michael Kopech, 3 other dudes I can’t remember.
God, Yahoo really dropped the ball this season with their opening day, so much so that our league has agreed to move to ESPN this season. How do you manage to screw up what is probably one of the only positive sections of your website/business?
Anyway, the dudes I can’t remember aren’t really that important. I drafted Justin Turner but I’m not sure if I still had him at year’s end.
Any thoughts, just looking at those guys, on 9 keepers?
@Branta: I don’t get it, Yahoo doesn’t open for 8 days but you still drafted there already? Anyway, I like the hitting, but Bird as your 1B in a shallow league is a little scary
@Grey:
No, this was my team from last year, from memory, and I have to keep 9 of them.
Ah, gotcha
@Branta: Agreed, Yahoo blew it this year, can’t believe it’s not open yet… but you can access your entire roster, and other team rosters, by going to your fantasy profile, and pulling up last year’s league. At least that worked for me.
@Humm Baby: Oh my god if this works…IT DOES! I love you!
@Branta:
Yahoo leagues in the offseason just go to your profile then the league page.
Grey,
I need some help. I’m in a 12 team 6×6 roto league (holds and OPS are the extra categories). It’s a $260 auction league and we can keep 5 players. Drafted players can be kept at their price year 2 and year 3 they either can be kept at the draft price and lost after the year or you can contract them raising their price $5 each year of the contract. Free agent pick ups can be kept for 1 year at their faab price or $5 which ever is more. I am currently keeping:
Machado $29 (this is year 2 of his 4 year deal so he costs 34 in 2019 and 39 in 2020)
Benintendi $11 (I drafted him last year so I can give him a contract in 2019 if I choose)
Bellinger $5 (Free agent pick up. Can’t keep in 2019)
Hoskins $5 (Free agent pick up. Can’t keep in 2019)
My question is on my last keeper. I’m thinking I keep Freeman who is currently $18. However, this is going to be my 3rd year of owning him. I could contract him for 2 years making him $23 this year and $28 in 2019. Would you contract him or keep him for just this year? To give you perspective on some of the players you ranked around last year where you have Freeman ranked this year cost at last years auction: In 2017 Cabrera cost $48, Seager $45, Correa $39, Encarnacion $37, Odor $32.
Thanks
@Brett: Freeman or no one? Freeman for 2 years.
@Brett: Agree with Cram
@Grey: I can keep Freeman this year for 18 and lose him. Or would you contract him to have him this year for 23 and next year for 28.
For 23
I look forward to this day all off season, thanks Grey!
This may have been answered already, but around where would Domingo have fallen if the Brewers never traded for Yelich & Cain?
Or where will he be if he goes to…. oh lets say the Indians or Rays?
@InferiorHippo: Domingo was around 80 overall prior
Grey, Just wanted to let you know that I read your rankings every morning while I take a crap.
N/L only league question Roto auction 260 budget. We do 1 catcher and 2 utility instead of the other way around and it is a keeper league $5 inflation per year. I want to run some trade scenarios around you please tell me which side is better
A. Blackmon $21 and nick williams $6 for Arenado 26 and Puig 22
B Blackmon 21 and williams 6 for J turner 16 and Puig 22
c Blackmon 21 for Pollock 19 and luis castillo 6
D Blackmon 21 and vizcaino 6 for Thor 20 and Margot 11
E Blackmon 21 and vizcaino 6 for rendon 26 and carlos martinez 17
F Blackmon 21 for k byrant 26
G Blackmon 21 and vizcaino 6 for trea turner 16
Here are my current keepers Goldy 36 Story 16 Mcmahon 6…hopefully is a starter Blackmon 21 williams 6 pham 6 acuna6
Pitchers Nola 16 Gray 11 Hand 6 Knebel 6 Neris 6 Vizcaino 6
Other guys I could keep but will probably not are franco 17…If I keep him, he will suck if I don’t he blows up. Marte 31 Yelich 28 Hamilton 31 Dahl 17
Would you keep any of the 2nd tier guys I listed?
Thanks for your help. I’m glad I found you guys 10 years ago. 5 N/L only championship and about 7 grand richer.
@Marti: Ha, thanks! A. Arenado B. Blackmon C. Pollock D. Blackmon E. Blackmon F. Bryant G. Turner
Kingery and Bryce Harper or Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in a dynasty? Thanks!
Bryce
Has Elvis left the building? Come on Andrus has got to be in the top 100! Love your stuff!
Thanks! Yeah not feeling Elvis this year
From Sports Illustrated’s Top 300:
#9 – Correa
#16 – Machado
#19 – Betts
#22 – Seager
#35 – Jose Ramirez
#43 – Miggy
#45 – Lindor (WTF)
#63 – Posey
#66 – Andrus
#73 – Severino
#74 – Ray
#94 – Hoskins
#100 – Realmuto
Downright nutty.
SI?! I didn’t know they did fantasy
@Grey: They specialize in swimsuit fantasy, only makes sense they would try fantasy sports too.
Haha, they need a giant revamp, but not a Fox Sports type revamp
@Grey: They obviously do not.
Hey Grey!
excited for a new year of baseball and you expert input.
I have to choose who I keep very soon and am trying to come up with a trade package with some other members of my league to offload some players I may have to drop for extra draft picks.
I have the following hitters to choose from:
J. Turner – Keeping
J. Altuve – Keeping
D. Murphy – Keeping
C. Blackman – Keeping
on the fence
J. Lamb
A.J Pollack
Y. Alonso (more playing time with cle??)
Dropping
D. VogalBach
C. Granderson
I. Kinsler
I can only keep 6 hitters to go with my 4 pitchers I have to keep do you have any suggestions as to who would best suit me this year and potentially over the next couple of years from my on the fence? (or from my keepers that would be better trade bait for picks?)
Michael
So, choose two of three? Pollock, Lamb
@Grey: you’re not worried about the injury bug that seems to plague Polluck?
I would give my left nut for one full season out of him….
I’m worried, always
Light some candles and incense, sit down on Coug’s yoga mat, breathe deeply and slowly, and turn on some Tangerine Dream.
And have a fire extinguisher nearby. Then no worries.
Thanks so much!
I’m so relaxed now, thank you.
literally
And metaphorically
@Grey: forget candles and give me a joint….then I’ll feel better.. ;)
Love the top 100 each year. One of my favorite posts. I know that pitchers and catchers are about to report and baseball is right around the corner. Also, I can be a pain in the ass and debate rankings with you all day long.
While I’m not completely convinced that the surprise breakouts of guys like Andrus, Merrifield, and Domingo Santana are sustainable going forward, allow me to campaign for another of last year’s surprise studs – Tommy Pham. Here’s a list of some fun Pham stats from 2017:
• slashed .306/.411/.520 in 530 PA
• one of four (4/144) qualified players (Trout, Altuve, Myers) w/ a .200 ISO and 20 SBs
• his 13.4% BB% was 16th out of those 144 qualified players
• one of four players (Votto, Carpenter, Trout) with an O-Swing <20%
• posted an identical Brls/PA to C. Seager, Lindor, and Dozier
• his sprint speed (28.7 ft/sec) was 37th out of 451 players, higher than Trout, Betts, Altuve, and Marte (among others)
It's also worth mentioning that he finally settled on contact lenses that felt comfortable to him following the surgery to correct the degenerative eye condition that he played with for most of his career. Rare power/speed combo with elite plate discipline skills. I'm buying.
Tough call on all of these guys… I almost feel like it’s easier to get this year’s breakout than try to figure out last year’s breakouts being sustainable. You know what’s interesting (to me) Pham is one guy who I’m exactly even with on Rudy’s Steamer rankings. Pham’s gonna be one of those guys that is hard to own all year in a 12 team league and shallower. Just won’t do enough in any category to really be special. I guess best case is Yelich, worst case is shudders-ville.
@Grey: The thing with Steamer is that it tends to be skeptical of the late breakout guys, which is understandable. I am too for the most part. There are exceptions to that rule though, and I see Pham as one of those guys.
Worst case is his eye troubles resurfacing, but outside of that happening, I see his floor as .270/15/20 (Andrus-ish) and his ceiling as Marte with more power and better on-base skills (think .290/25/30). He was better than Yelich last year in fewer PA, so his ceiling is clearly beyond that. All of the tools are there. He was productive at each minor league stop outside of an injury plagued 2016, and he can actually see the ball now. Power, speed, and plate discipline are all plus to plus-plus. Job security is pretty decent too (+ Ozuna, – Piscotty and Grichuk). I’m a believer. Time will tell.
If he hits his floor, I fear Bader gets more ABs… These late breakouts are always so hard for me to trust… I feel like we’re at Bautista redux
@Grey: I don’t know if people realize just how good he was last year though. Finished 27th on the player rater, a few spots ahead of Bellinger and Springer and well ahead of guys like Rendon and Bryant. 80% of that production will still turn a profit. With his varied skill set, I like his chances.
If you get a minute, check out this article about his eye condition describing just how rough it was for him prior to the surgery and custom contacts:
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/goold-working-to-save-his-vision-pham-never-loses-sight/article_b68ad641-d05b-56cc-ba51-46972eb19597.html
Ya know, I almost wrote a Pham schmohawk post, but I look like I’m the norm on his ranking. Around 75 seems to be the going rate for him, and at that price, I wouldn’t be completely against him. He is a guy that is in your wheelhouse, that high floor type. Not usually my type… Yeah, I read about his eye condition before, scary stuff
@Grey: I do have a weakness for the five cat guys. Guilty as charged.
I have him at #50 overall. Would love to get him if he drops to the 6th. Hope others don’t move him up their boards. Just thought I’d share my thoughts on him with the razz community.
Honestly, Pham does not seem like the type to move up… Jorge Soler on the other hand! That’s a comment for Oaktown
@Grey: Best shape of his life!
Oaktown’s charting Soler like he’s Bitcoin
@Grey: Diggin deep! He loves mining those late round gems. Might end up with a lump of coal in this case though.
Coal’s making a comeback
It’s making a comeback?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGbZ84PqHgI
See? You read the Quincy Jones interview? That shizz is best thing you’ll read in years…
what interview? I saw one about the different shades of black people
Oh it’s amazing, just Google Quincy Jones
I’m speechless. Quincy is a G
@Big Magoo: Magoo! Good to hear from you! Planning on contributing as a writer at all this season? You have sound advice.
Aside from Pham, any other OBP sleepers to target?
Grey thanks for these awesome reads. I play a 5 keeper head to head league with 9×6 categories. Goldy, Correa, Machado, and G Sanchez are my 4 position players with Scherzer as my fifth. Would you flip Max for another prime bat? I’m trying to run down our champion (who IS one of those payers who has the Trea/Harper combo) who’s won our league four years running. Stay with Max or go for the bat?
You can get Trea or Bryce? Then yeah
In a 10 team dynasty league, keep 15 players per year for a max of 5 years i just received this offer:
Benintendi (4 years remaining) and Eric Hosmer (3) for JD Martinez (3) and Ian Desmond (3).
I was probably going to drop Desmond anyway, what do you think?
Benintendi
I’ve been waiting for the top 100 for months! I value this more than any other rankings by far and was not disappointed. Long time reader. FIrst time with a question.
I just took over a team in a 12 team H2H points keeper league with a $500 by in. My first of the sort. The regular 10 offensive positions with DH and UTL, with 7 pitcher positions. Can change lineup dailey. Can have 27 total major players with 15 minors. I basically went all in on a team i inherited and made what is the equivalent of the following trades…
Brian Dozier for Dallas Keuchel
Noah Syndergaard Starling Marte
David Price Matt Carpenter
Sean Manaea Adam Jones
Ozzie Albies Yasiel Puig
Sixto Sanchez James Paxton
A.J. Puck Robbie Ray
Marwin Gonzalez Freddie Freeman
Alex Verdugo Alex Colome
Mike Soroko Brandon Morrow
Leodys Taveras Ian Happ
These guys are busting me for trading my minor league guys as if Ive made a lot of bad moves. I basically added the second column to Salvador Perez, Carlos Correa, Justin Turner, Khris Davis, Andrew Benintendi, Gregory Polanco, Trevor Story, Stephen Strasburg, Craig Kimbrel, Rich Hill, and J.A. Happ. I feel like I have a lot of potential to actually win my first year, when this team has never won in its 18 year existence. Am I missing something!?
@Jason: The player list doesnt look as good as it did when writing…
Dozier, Syndergaard, Price, Manaea, Albies, Sanchez, Puck, M Gonzalez, Verdugo, Soroka, and Taveras
for
Keuchel, S Marte, Carpenter, A Jones, Puig, Paxton, R Ray, Freeman, A Colome, Morrow, and Ian Happ
I think I was able to follow it
Most look solid, I think the Albies trade might haunt you, but it’s not terrible
@Grey: Thanks… That was Dozier and Albies for Keuchel and Marte. I hate giving up young guys with so much potential, but i needed a solid SP and got Marte just for asking lol
Yeah, completely understandable
Grey –
Is Moncada worth considering in a keeper league with no restrictions over Severino, Schoop or C. Martinez? We keep 4, and I already have Goldy, Harper and G-love & Special Stanton locked in. It’s a 9×9 H2H roto style league, so I’m leaning towards keeping Severino as my 4th (need 7 SPs and 2 RPs in your lineup each week). What do you think?
Thanks!
JB
Not over those three
I DO NOT understand the Jean Segura love, at all. Was miserable last year, and can’t expect anything better. Certainly not a top 60 player. In my opinion.
@Nitro: He has top 40 talent – think he was hiding an injury last year cuz he started off great but kind of fell off as the season progressed.
Gotcha
Grey and Cram it
14 team roto auction keeper ( keep up 11 ) $260
I Just traded M Olson ( $10 ) for W Myers ( $14 ) and C Seager ( $18 )
People are trying to free up payroll because of some potential big names available this year ( Arenado, Trout, Harper, Machado, Scherzer, Kershaw , Sndergard )
I know your meh on Seager, but my gut says it was a no brainer. Your thoughts on my gut?
Ive been offered two other deals in this league
I have Merrifield ( $10 ) and have been offered Happ ( $ 10 ), Gardner ( $5 ) and Luke Weaver ( $10 ) for him…I’m leaning towards biting because I love me some Weaver.
Also have been offered Puig ( $16 ) and Peraza ( $ 5 ) for JD Mart ( $ 28 )
Your thoughts on these two offers?
Here are the guys I own now whom I am definitely keeping if I make none of these trades:
JD Mart-28
Buxton – 16
Peralta – 3
Myers -14
C Seager – 18
Semien -6
Merrifield – 10
L Castillo – 10
F Rivero – 10
Guys I am on the fence on :
Harper – 43 ( love him, but I believe I can get him back at or close to this price at draft )
C Mart – 20 ( ditto…and may actually cost me a little more in the draft but if I get weaver to go with Castillo for 10 each I wouldn’t mind spending 26 on him as my ace and filling out the rest of the staff from the St Bernard looking out the window section )
C Frazier – 3
Barreto – 3
Not a question here with keepers though your input is always welcome. Just giving more info to help with the possible trade questions.
P.S. to Cram it…I live in Toms River, NJ and have met Todd Frazier personally. Not only one of the nicer , down to earth guys you could meet, but also a great baseball ( not fantasy ) move for your Mets. His defense will help your pitchers whose arms don’t fall off, and his clubhouse demeanor is top notch.
As always thanks in advance guys
I’m from Jersey… I used to go to Toms River back in the day… I like Seager side… Keep Merrifield and JD there, and I’d keep Castillo and Harper
@Grey:
Spent most of my life up in Bayonne. Moved down to TR a few years ago. Much more chill.
In your keeper suggestions did you mean Cmart and Harper ? ( Castillo I’m already keeping and have told all comers with trade offers that he’s off limits )
This would leave me with only 82 dollars going into draft and I was eyeballing Arenado or Machado to play 3B. Would make the rest of my team very scrub like but certainly do able.
P.S. Also own Odor ( $ 24 ) but am throwing him back . Think he will play to that value but could probably get him cheaper this year and after all, you cant have everyone.
Thanks again in advance
Bayonne! Nice! I thought you put Castillo in list of guys who you’re debating?
6×6 OPS H2H 15 keeper league. Would you move Bogaerts for Gallo?
Willson Contreras, Votto, Albies, Arenado, Machado, Springer, Bellinger, Khris Davis are my definite keepers. I have openings at MINF, CINF, plus 2 UTIL so position doesn’t matter much in this move, imo. Since they’re ranked similarly, who do you think elevates my team more given the current roster construction: Bogaerts or Gallo? Thanks!
I’d take Gallo
98/25/79/.281/14 in 583 ABs. Ranked 31st
80/31/94/.284/13 in 519 ABs. Ranked 58th
Pretty close projections just one has more runs the other more rbis. And the 58th ranked player has more power.
Position scarcity?
31 has a higher floor, 58 has more risk
@Grey: For some reason im not excited about bregman where hes being drafted. Fantasy pros has him 31st also. I feel like Chris Taylor is basicly the same player as Bregman and you can get him like 4 rounds later in drafts.
Fantasy pros has puig 113. I like your puig ranking a lot and will be drafting him with you.
@Willy Mo:
THANKS FOR SHARING DUDE!
Gotcha, yeah, I like Puig too, feel like this is the year to grab him…
Outside of maybe Trea Turner so I could lock up speed early, I feel like I want to avoid any high priced SS and/or 2b.
It just seems smarter to me to spend big on 1B and OF, get one of the many solid 3b, and fill in SS/2b with Happ/Baez/Albies/Marwin types.
Agree or disagree with this general plan?
@Rosco: Altuve?
@Willy Mo:
Sure outside of altuve too. the point stands when looking at positions, my natural inclination is to go cheap at middle infield and spend elsewhere. not necessarily bc middle infield is really deep with good cheap guys later, but bc I’m really just not in love with the non Altuve/Turner guys. it seems like guys at other positions who guy around the same draft position are better bets for overall production.
Agree
@Rosco: Lindor and Jo Ram were top 15 options last year and both are pretty safe bets to repeat. I agree on making Corner infield a priority, but I would not shy away from a Lindor or Jo Ram just because they play ss/2b.
Here is kind of a fun what if game. Clearly Trout is the best. But when the time comes where he falls from number 1 who do you think the player will be who supplants him? Someone already in the MLB? MiLB? Someone that is not even on anyones radars yet.
I’d guess someone in the majors already, I’ll guess Machado goes 40/15 2 years in a row and does it
@Cactus: I actually have a perpetual model that has inputs from thousands of the worlds top baseball knowledge sources. I just ran said model and it spit out Cody Bellinger to overtake Trout in year 2022 after going 57/25 the previous year…you’re welcome.
I think you’re kidding, but Cody’s not a bad bet actually
@Grey: I am being a little bit facetious, I don’t have a perpetual crystal ball model. But I do think Bellinger could possibly take over the number 1 at some point, he’s that talented. But I am super biased on Cody.
So am I, I love me some Bellinger
@Crime Dog: very possible, except for that 25 steals part.
@Mordacious Levator: yeah, the steals could go either way. He’s fast young and athletic though, who’s to say he can’t?
@Crime Dog: not saying impossible, but i’d lay you over 10-1 he never has a 25 steal season.
@Mordacious Levator: haha, it’s a lofty projection for sure, not even sure I’d take that bet. I think he’ll likely be around 10 each year but who knows, no one thought Goldschmidt would run like he does.
14 team H2H 5 x 5 cats–keep 4 forever with no salary/round considerations
JD Martinez, Marte, Bregman, Acuna, Degrom, Darvish
Need to drop 2
Yu, deGrom
NYM trying their hardest to refute the “it’s a buyer’s market this year” with that 8.5 x 2 to toddfather when mostsuckass is still out there.
@Mordacious Levator: if anybody ever brought a broom to that mess the entire head office would go into sneeze fits.
@Mordacious Levator: and there’s 2 funny ways to read that i meant the latter
1. the mess is so big the amount of dirt that would fly up when trying to sweep would make ANYBODY have a sneeze fit (true)
2. NYM’s front office is literally allergic to cleaning up their messes that they continue to make
2. Mets don’t even see their foibles, is the problem I’m guessing
@Grey: exactly that’s the allergy, they don’t even know it’s a sickness. it’s reverse hypochondira, rather than being scared of being sick when you aren’t, blind to being sick when you clearly are.
Haha, yup
Haha
Mets working hard at that narrative
@Grey: i do love that MLB front offices are now in general run by so many smart people who know what a player’s future value actually is that none of these guys trying to get paid big on past performance are getting what they want (jd mart, arrieta, lynn, darvish, hosmer thinking he can/should get 8 years, mostsuckass etc).
2 or more years ago their agents could leverage it like this: “hey we know you think our guy is worth X value, we are asking for at least 1.3X value, and if YOU don’t sign my guy somebody else WILL” and then many teams would pay the extra 30% or more value scared that somebody else would do it if they didn’t. but if all/most of the teams get smart enough that won’t work at all. it’s also possible this is just an outlier and not that many teams are really smart, but going forward this last statement will be less and less true.
Yeah, overall teams do seem to be moving in the right direction, scary how long it took them to even catch up tho
@Grey: yeppers, it’s like semmelweis with these guys.
Ha
I have a new favorite pre-comments / side bar ad: “15 Famous People Who May Not Have Existed”
LOL
HAHA Is Obama one?
@Grey: @Grey: I never click those! Cover was Charlie Hunnam though (from Sons of Anarchy), which I thought was a funny choice.
Would you rather have $8 Severino in a 10 team AL only standard 5×5 roto keeper league ($5 annual price inflation) or $21 K. Bryant in a 10 team NL only standard 5×5 roto keeper league ($5 annual price inflation).
Bryant
10 team h2h obo/walks league. What side would you take, Altuve or Machado and D. Murphy?
@JR: sorry, OBO
@JR: holy freaking autocorrect. OBP!
Machado
Great work, Razzball. A little keeper advice needed. I’m in a 12-team 5×5 auction keeper league (4 OF and 3 UTIL). Can keep as many players as you want at their previously drafted price +$5 first year, +$10 second year, and so on adding another five each year. So essentially, all $1 players from the previous year are $6 players.
Trying to decide whether to keep these $1 guys as $6 keepers:
– Brinson
– Faria
– Glasnow
– Lamet
– Honeywell
Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks! You can prolly just redraft them
Thanks as always! You couldn’t find a way to squeeze in Paxton?
I don’t see where on CBS Gattis is ranked 19th overall, considering you put it in your vid you’d think it’d be easy to find…
Either I’ve had one too many craft pilsners or I missed a discussion about this in the replies, but why was Franco shown in the video when the segment was about Odubel?
Video editors made a snafu, Maikel could suck too tho
Just finished a 10-team roto snake draft and need to pinch the rumbly in my tumbly. While everyone else went left to the Molly Pitchers, I followed Grey’s advice and went right to the batting cage. No joke – here are my picks: Altuve, T. Turner, Bryant, Lindor, Freeman, Rendon, Bregman, Marte, Yelich, C. Taylor, and Contreras. Plus Mancini, Olson, Peraza, Marwin, G., and Willie Calhoun. And a bunch of closers. But starting pitchers? I ain’t got no starting pitchers. I don’t need no stinkin’ starting pitchers! Not until March 29. Thanks for the memories…and the advice. :-)
For putting so much time into rankings/playing/writing/posting its crazy that most people on here still participate in snake drafts and H2h it seems-
Baffling because overall it seems theres quite a bit of intelligence in here- Always found that weird about this site but appreciate the early (good) material presented
Thanks!
Duran Duran sang it best: The Union of the Snake Draft is on the Climb. :-)
Haha
In a homespun 11-team, Roto keeper league trying to decide the best package.
I’m keeping Bregman…and can pair him with either Jose Abreu, or Aaron Nola + Puig.
Abreu
14 tm h2h
Can keep 5
Judge
Bellinger
Benintendi
Donaldson
Altuve
Springer
Ray
Degrom
Have 4 decided but can’t decide 5th.
Your thoughts without knowing mine may help.
I’ll be over here waiting?
@@Boogaloo Shrimp: thanks
Not deGrom, Donaldson or Ray
@<a @Grey: href=”#comment-2751394″>Grey:
My thoughts as well.
Im in a 14 team league, and we get 2 keepers from last year’s team. I’m deciding between Strasburg, Buxton, Greinke and Encarnacion. Which 2 would you keep?
Great job and thanks for all the input !
Keeper – Question
12 teams – H2H Yahoo
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, UTIL (and one more possible UTIL this year, but not confirmed yet)
10 SP, 3 RP, 1 P
1 Bench, 2 DL
Categories:
R, HR, RBI, SB, BB, E, AVG
W, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP, QS
8 Keepers + 2 rookies among the following:
Correa (SS), Bellinger (1B, LF), Abreu (1B), Buxton (CF), Bregman (3B, SS), Devers (3B), Moncada (2B), Acuna (CF)
Ray (SP), Nola (SP), Paxton (SP), McCullers (SP), L. Weaver (SP), A. Reyes (SP), Honeywell (SP), W. Buehler (SP).
Thanks !
Correa (SS), Bellinger (1B, LF), Abreu (1B), Buxton (CF), Bregman (3B, SS), Devers (3B), Rya, Nola, Acuna, Honeywell
Awesome stuff…just subscribed to the newsletter
Keeper Question?
ESPN ROTO 10 Teams
Scoring: Hitting – R, HR, RBI, SB, OPS
Pitching: K, QS, SV, ERA, WHIP
Can pick 2 keepers
Harper – Round 1
Blackmon – Round 1
Votto – Round 1
Will Myers – Round 21
Rendon – Round 9
E. Nunez – Round 13
Keuchel – Round 14
Verlander – Round 16
Khris Davis – Round 9
Hendricks – Round 22
Byron Buxton – Round 14
Which 2 would you roll with?
Thanks! Myers, Harper