In the next few weeks I will be transitioning over to the football side of things here at Razzball. Those of you that play fantasy football and do not already get your football advice from Razzball, you should certainly consider doing so. And those of you that do not play fantasy football, well, do you also sit down when you pee? At a minimum, sign up for an RCL and get your feet wet. The water’s delightful, come on in. And finally, if you do play and you do read football.razzball, then you might be familiar with my “Who Are These Guys” posts where I scrap together a starting lineup using players from the waiver wire that would beat pretty much any other lineup. Well, today I give you the baseball edition.
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Catcher: Sandy Leon
Last week Sandy led all catchers in fantasy points with 23 points. He had nine hits, including a home run, and four walks in 20 plate appearances. Sandy is owned in about 31 percent of ESPN leagues, but that’s probably because people don’t even know who he is. Heck his profile picture on both ESPN and CBS still show him in a Nationals uniform. Even as the Red Sox primary catcher, he is still a guy I wouldn’t own in less than 16-team or two-catcher leagues.
First Base: Logan Forsythe
Anyone who had the Forsythe to pick up Logan was rewarded with three home runs and five RBIs last week. With 30 points he was fourth most productive first baseman and just one point behind Edwin Encarnacion. His best week was back in week 3, but his last two weeks have been good. Owned in 64 percent of leagues, I’m not jumping to grab him. However, I would like to point out that he has only five less points than Chris Davis despite have 93 fewer plate appearance. Moral of that story is that Forsythe has been the better player in points leagues and only has nine less home runs.
Second Base: Howie Kendrick
While I could have gone with Forsythe again, but I didn’t want to be redundant. Besides, you can’t put a player at more than one position. Kendrick finished the week with 28 points, which was only one less than Jose Altuve. If a player is scoring points on par with Altuve then they are having a good week. Yet, once again, I have no desire to have this guy on my roster. Maybe that’s why he’s only 34 percent owned.
Third Base: Martin Prado
I honestly think this might be the first time I’ve heard this name all season. It’s certainly the first time I’ve mentioned him. Two home runs and six runs batted in led him to a 26-point week. On the season he has 298 points, which is 18 more points than Anthony Rendon. I find it interesting that Rendon is 87 percent owned while Prado sits at 51 percent. There are some stubborn Rendon owners there. Stubborn and stupid.
Shortstop: Freddy Galvis
Freddy Galvis? Seriously? The only shortstops that scored more points last week were Jose Ramirez and Carlos Correa. Galvis hit two homers and drove in six runs. Manny Machado hit one and drove in two. Advantage Galvis. That’s tennis speak for Galvis was better. Appropriately Freddy is owned in only three percent of leagues.
Outfield: Billy Hamilton
Billy is probably a bit of a stretch for this spot. He is currently 77 percent owned, but coming into last week he was at about 69. Hamilton leads the league with 51 stolen bases, and one would think that would have his ownership in the nineties. However, Billy didn’t really come alive until week 16. In the last 14 days he has stolen 16 bases. That’s more than a base per day!
If I were forced to pick two additional outfielders I would select Joc Pederson and Aaron Hicks. Pederson slugged two home runs, drove in seven and had a .429 batting average. Hicks had three homers and six runs batted in.
Starting Pitcher: Tyler Duffy
He might not be Danny, but he had a nice week. Two wins in two starts. He’s batting a thousand! And 14 strikeouts in 13 innings.
Who are these guys? These are the guys that won week 19 for you!
In an unrelated note, I have a question for you all. Let’s say you are in a league where the next year’s draft order is determined by the reverse order of previous season’s finish, with the last place team getting the first pick and the champion getting the last pick. Now let’s say there is a team that is one game out of last place and there are two weeks to go in the season. Do you have an issue with said team “tanking” in order to try and get that first pick? And by “tanking” I mean that they just don’t set their optimal lineup. There are no players on the disabled list, questionable players or empty spots in their lineup. Instead of starting Danny Duffy, they decide to start Carlos Rodon. And instead of playing a few other much better players, they throw in some lesser options. What are your thoughts?
