Twelve fantasy writers in one league and you thought we weren’t going to take this opportunity to hear ourselves talk (type)? Well, then you thought wrong! We’re all loaded with hot taeks! This isn’t the ‘Perts League that Grey hosts, this is just anyone that writes for Razzball and wanted to join the Razzball Commenter Leagues and play against each other. On Sunday, March 6th at 9:00pm EST, we all (well, most) settled in for an early season draft. You can check out all the draft results HERE to follow along. This season’s participants in RCL draft order are:
MattTruss – DFS and RCLs are my game
KirkseySports – Risers and Fallers
JTells – Former DFS Writer turned Corner Infield Ranker
Scar – New Writer this year covering Middle Infield Rankings
The Real Joey Bart – Weekly Streamers
Jeremy Brewer – Top 100 Hitters
Butters – DFS and Points League Guru
NateMarcum – H2H League Writer
Everywhereblair – Top 100 Starting Pitchers
Coolwhip – Deep Thinker and OF Ranker
JKJ – Bullpens are his jam
Steve Paulo – Two Start Pitchers and RazzSlam recaper
Now you know who is in the league, next we’ll hear what they had to say about it. I interviewed each writer with some questions; some personal and some generic and here’s what they had to say:
But, before we get to that, make sure you sign up for your own Razzball Commenter League and compete against all of us fools in the overall standings! We have a league drafting TONIGHT at 10 PM ET <–Click the link and you’re in! Join for free and if you take down the overall, you can win a Razzball gift basket! The top ten overall win an entry into the RazzSlam best ball event next season.
First, I went ahead and plugged everyone’s draft into a spreadsheet with Grey’s projections and Rudy’s point shares and the results are below:
| GREY: | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MattTruss | 1036 | 310 | 1015 | 115 | 0.2768 | 90 | 163 | 3.437 | 1.171 | 1531 |
| Kirksey | 1137 | 341 | 1104 | 120 | 0.2671 | 91 | 64 | 3.467 | 1.126 | 1570 |
| JTells | 1096 | 347 | 1120 | 107 | 0.2607 | 101 | 43 | 3.329 | 1.086 | 1580 |
| Scar | 1114 | 359 | 1134 | 121 | 0.2683 | 91 | 60 | 3.598 | 1.155 | 1506 |
| Bart | 1038 | 332 | 1051 | 65 | 0.2659 | 114 | 0 | 3.347 | 1.112 | 1985 |
| Jbrewer | 1090 | 387 | 1173 | 85 | 0.2548 | 91 | 53 | 3.557 | 1.157 | 1635 |
| Butters | 1162 | 347 | 1076 | 154 | 0.2689 | 92 | 48 | 3.46 | 1.117 | 1618 |
| NateMarcum | 1229 | 330 | 1146 | 146 | 0.2641 | 91 | 82 | 3.447 | 1.097 | 1381 |
| Blair | 981 | 286 | 989 | 120 | 0.2625 | 102 | 115 | 3.273 | 1.089 | 1670 |
| Coolwhip | 1016 | 299 | 1021 | 155 | 0.2697 | 85 | 95 | 3.422 | 1.123 | 1559 |
| JKJ | 1061 | 351 | 1114 | 101 | 0.2645 | 102 | 83 | 3.686 | 1.198 | 1654 |
| Paulo | 1015 | 318 | 1021 | 56 | 0.2595 | 85 | 17 | 3.853 | 1.231 | 1409 |
| GREY: | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | K | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butters | 11 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 81 |
| JTells | 8 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 75 |
| NateMarcum | 12 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 74 |
| Scar | 9 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 72 |
| Kirksey | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 70 |
| Bart | 5 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 69 |
| Blair | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 69 |
| JKJ | 6 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 68 |
| Coolwhip | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 64 |
| Jbrewer | 7 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 61 |
| MattTruss | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 57 |
| Paulo | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
| RUDY: | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MattTruss | 40.8 | 39.3 | 46.4 | 32.2 | 41 | 10.9 | 25 | 17.1 | 16.3 | 14.9 |
| Kirksey | 44.4 | 35.6 | 35.5 | 37.9 | 23.2 | 10.4 | 16 | 12 | 9.9 | 5.4 |
| JTells | 33.1 | 32.5 | 37.2 | 32.2 | 32 | 19 | 5.8 | 24.6 | 30.4 | 23.6 |
| Scar | 36.4 | 38.2 | 34.9 | 33 | 32.2 | 13.3 | 8 | 16.5 | 10.4 | 7.2 |
| Bart | 28.8 | 36.4 | 26.1 | 8.4 | 30.3 | 30.8 | 0 | 38.7 | 37.3 | 34.7 |
| Jbrewer | 24 | 44.2 | 35 | 17.6 | 4.9 | 12 | 9.6 | 23.9 | 17.3 | 4 |
| Butters | 19.4 | 29.5 | 16 | 44.5 | 35.7 | 15 | 7.2 | 15.8 | 16.4 | 21.8 |
| NateMarcum | 34.6 | 30.6 | 24.1 | 42.7 | 39.3 | 20.7 | 22 | 15.3 | 21.3 | 13.9 |
| Blair | 31.8 | 28.7 | 25.7 | 36.2 | 14.7 | 23.3 | 24.5 | 20.2 | 24.7 | 23.4 |
| Coolwhip | 28.1 | 28.5 | 28.4 | 61.8 | 31.4 | 9.2 | 18.8 | 18 | 19.2 | 1.3 |
| JKJ | 40.8 | 50.2 | 53.4 | 30.7 | 26.1 | 25.2 | 17.8 | 19.2 | 16.3 | 17.1 |
| Paulo | 4.4 | 27.2 | 15.6 | -2 | 24.3 | 4.9 | 0.8 | 13.2 | 1.4 | -9.5 |
| RUDY: | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | K | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JKJ | 10 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 83 |
| MattTruss | 11 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 83 |
| JTells | 7 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 80 |
| Bart | 5 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 75 |
| NateMarcum | 8 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 74 |
| Blair | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 73 |
| Scar | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 65 |
| Butters | 2 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 59 |
| Coolwhip | 4 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 59 |
| Kirksey | 12 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 57 |
| Jbrewer | 3 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 57 |
| Paulo | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
Butters is taking the crown in Grey’s world and JKJ and I are battling it out in Rudy-land, with JKJ getting the nod on FanTrax thanks to HR/RBI standings being the third tiebreaker (after most categories leading). JTells is second in Grey’s projections and third in Rudy’s though, that to me is a bigger sign of success. It should be a great battle!
We have once again asked Random Italicized Voice to check in with our managers about their draft.
MattTruss
So, Matt, first pick, I see…what on earth possessed you to draft three shortstops in the top five, leaving you with…Dylan Cease as your ace?
Ya, I was blinded a bit by the shortstops available to me, but, Tatis has that sweet SS/OF eligibility, so 2 SS and 3 OF in the first five picks isn’t too awful, right? I blame Joey Bart’s auto-draft for stealing all the pitchers. Maybe I’ll try to trade him a SS for a starter, because, I’ll be honest, Dylan Cease does not make me excited as my ace. I’m satisfied with the draft though, I love streaming in the RCLs and I think I can give this league a run.
KirkseySports
I looked and I tried to find a glaring issue here and I really can’t, so how about this…What do YOU think is this team’s biggest weakness? Huh? See what I did there?
I did end up liking the balance of this team, but realized in hindsight I made one huge error. Once I had Josh Hader and Craig Kimbrel, there was really no need to go get Blake Treinen. First of all, Both Kimbrel and Treinen are question marks for saves presently. Second, that’s more saves than I need when I have the “ace” closer. Considering the injury question marks for Zac Gallen and Luis Severino, I should have spent that pick on another speculative starter.
This offense looks like it has a nice blend of power, speed, and upside. And the batting average and power floors of Freddie Freeman and Juan Soto should be able to cover for players like Jerred Kelenic and Michael Conforto if they crash and burn again.
I imagine I will be looking for middle infield help this year, particularly at 2B. I am not a huge fan of DJ LeMahieu, but took him at the end of a tier of acceptable 2B. Brandon Crawford is clearly headed for a huge regression.
JTells
I looked and I tried to find a glaring issue here and I really can’t, so how about this…What do YOU think is this team’s biggest weakness? Huh? See what I did there?
Well, to start with I wasn’t planning on going pitching heavy early but the pitchers just kept falling to me at places I couldn’t pass them up. Scherzer, Woodruff, Musgrove and Rogers seem like the best starting 4 out there but we will see. Since I went so heavy early on Starters I knew a position or two were going to suffer talent wise and it looks like it turned out to be OF and Closers. Bellinger as a potential no. 1 OF could turn out just fine or absolutely terrible so I’m hoping for the best with the other OF’s playing up to what I expect them to do this season. Taylor Baddoo A. Garcia and Ozuna all seem to have a clear path for playing time which I wanted to make sure I got counting stats since I really don’t have any superstars in the OF. As for the closers I just hope the Phillies don’t sign Kimbrel and give Knebel the first shot at the job and also picked Kittridge Fulmer and Whitlock who should all garner a handful of saves each to keep me in the middle of the pack hopefully. All in all I think I had a darn good draft and being my first season with the writer crew I should be able to hang with the upper tier of teams this season. It was super fun and I’ll be scouring the waiver wire to find depth at OF.
Scar
Acuna, Wander, and Buxton, it’s the all upside team! Are you very excited while also keeping a bottle of antacid close by?
I was happy with the 4th overall pick meaning I would be able to take one of Tatis, Soto, Turner & Acuña. With Opening Day being canceled and with the start of the MLB season in question, Acuña jumped up my rankings. I’m betting Acuña quickly returns to form and I’m excited to see what Franco can do in his first full season (the Rays aren’t paying him that huge contract to play the matchups). The immediate success of Tatis, Soto and Acuña have certainly set expectations high!
In a deep roto league with minimal adds or FAAB, I would normally be a little more conservative with my team and grab some more “safe guys.” Given this RCL format where you’re allowed to stream and make hundreds of moves, I figured I’d shoot for the moon with some extra upside and bank on some savvy waiver wire pickups during the season to make a run in this competitive league.
I feel like I have a strong baseline for most of the roto categories but I’ll be on the hunt for the next pitching breakout or newly-named closer while hoping my backend pitching (Patrick Sandoval, Corey Kluber, and Drew Rasmussen) doesn’t sink me in ERA and WHIP. Overall I’m excited for this team but I’ll be sure to stock up on the antacid!
P.S. – This is the year Buxton breaks out (you’ve heard that one before)?
The Real Joey Bart
The dreaded FanTrax auto-draft, look at all those arms! How does one recover from this?
I, unfortunately, missed the draft because of my birthday dinner but I was actually pretty happy with the results. I believe Muncy and Rodgers were huge steals where they went and I’m satisfied with all the pitching I landed. The only issue is that I didn’t get any closers, so I’m going to have to scalp every potential closer on the waiver wire throughout the season. I’m disappointed to have missed the draft but I can work with this!
Jeremy Brewer
Are you at all worried that Mitch Haniger is your best outfielder and/or that both projections above rank you last in batting average?
Outfield is deep this year and there are deals to be had down the draft so I really focused on the infield and locking down a few top-tier starters. I could not be happier with a staff headlined by Walker Buehler and Shane Bieber. If I have to settle for a 40 homer and 100 RBI bat in an improving Mariners lineup to lead the outfield group, I will be fine. Bold prediction here but Jo Adell is going to be this year’s Tyler O’Neill!
Now about that batting average, I might be in denial but those projections need some tweaking. I did miss out on some targets in the first few rounds that were meant to hold up that average and allow me to scoop up guys with some flaws like Robbie Grossman and Adam Duvall. I settled for a handful of guys who have been there before (Jose Abreu, Jose Ramirez and Trevor Story), but have had a down year or so in the batting average category. A little luck and I am right in the thick of it here!
Butters
It looks like you had fun with this draft, Bobby Witt, Seiya Suzuki, Spencer Torkelson, and Vidal Brujan, that’s hot. What’s your plan if these guys are in the minors for the first 2-3 weeks of the season and Seiya is adjusting?
I had a blast with this draft and I love the upside of this team. My primary plan is to hope that all of them start in the show and hit the ground running. The reality is that I will likely need to adjust my bench. If the worst case scenario happens (Witt, Tork, and Brujan start in the minors) I’ll just have to endure Seiya’s growing pains since this format has a short bench. I’m confident that the rest of my roster can keep my team afloat while these guys get up to speed. And once they do… it’s go time! Should be a fun season if the union and league can come together. Spoiler Alert: THEY DID!
NateMarcum
You stole Ohtani from Coolwhip’s death grip, let’s talk about if you targeted him and how much fun he is in this format! Or, just talk about your draft and stuff.
I think to say I “stole” him would be an understatement. I strategically failed to mention any desire or affinity for Ohtani to instill any concern into CoolWhips’ mind. It was at that moment, a la a cheetah stalking the gazelle, that I scooped up the Golden Child of Oshu.
Since the RCL format allows for daily moves, I easily moved Ohtani into my Top 6 in 5×5 roto. Without having to choose either SP or UT for the week eliminates missing out on some offense that otherwise would go uncounted.
My draft as a whole definitely took a left at Albuquerque when Ohtani was still available. I wasn’t expecting to go SP/SP with my first two picks, but when Gerrit Cole was staring me in the face at pick 17, I had to jump. The 3rd round pick of Liam Hendriks brought about the expected responses, considering my relationship to Relief Pitchers. While I gracefully accept the “Figures”, and “Didn’t see that coming?”, the fact of only having 3 bench spots means I didn’t have the luxury of taking a handful of speculative closers. Lock up the top RP and build my offense in those later rounds.
All in all, I feel that I have a solid baseline of solid contact skills to offset the concerns with Stanton and Gallo. Sprinkle in the stolen base values throughout the draft and I have a strong foundation that with some in-season management, could easily win the whole f*’n thing.
Everywhereblair
You had mentioned in the draft room using this draft to take guys you like in real life, so how much are you swooning over this squad?
I was really, really close to getting Ohtani, and that would have made my day. I’ve written before that traditional leagues are starting to bore me, and anybody that’s played in an RCL with me knows that I abandon them around May. The problem, I realized, was that I stopped playing for fun and was trying hard to win. So, I decided that this year, I was going to have fun in my RCLs again. Corbin Burnes is a new dad and super-easy to cheer for. Who doesn’t like Mike Trout? An Olson/Chapman pair? Yes please! Randy Arozarena could be the next superstar if MLB actually tried playing. I grabbed some hometown favorites with Joe Ryan and Mitch Garver at the end of the draft. Sure, it may not look stunning on paper, but I think the team has a good chance to win, and it’s got players that I’ll actually want to follow this year.
Coolwhip
Look at all that speed! What’s your plan for not losing pace in HR/RBIs?
So the draft didn’t quite go as planned LOL… sometime after making my 4th pick, Eloy. I was, though, flying blind (sans war room) in this one by design to free my mind. The goal was to build a team by punting pitching in a 12er after securing my “ace” since this is daily waivers. And following an interruption, I was pushed into it more than I wanted haha.
My son came into room and wanted me to read him dinosaur book before bed, and then after that my daughter was whining about wanting to wear her tutu to bed, cue the waterworks. And then I noticed that JoeyBart was still not in the room and auto-drafting all the pitchers that came to him, so I said “F it” and just started scooping up the steal threats starting with Mondesi. Steals are becoming the new premium stat that are hard to find on waivers without tanking other stats, so I thought why not corner the market since there’s always hot hitters hitting bombs/rbis on waivers… plus someone will come to me later looking for steals. I was a bit later on pitching than I intended to be so I took a lot of gambles on upside that might work out or I can just punt into streaming. We’ll see how it goes!
JKJ
You win Rudy’s projection battle, was that a plan heading into the draft? Has the War Room been imprinted behind your eyelids from all the early slow drafts?
Indeed, Rudy’s War Room is my very favorite draft tool. I pretty much have it memorized, but I still used it for this draft just as a visual aid.
I abandoned my normal approach – not because I don’t plan to take this league seriously – but because I like to have some more fun in daily leagues. You’ve got a lot more wiggle room with how to build your squad since you can take some risks and use the waiver (or trades) to plug in some holes. And I had no fear since I was tracking everything with War Room to make sure I didn’t give myself too many deficits (kinda punting AVG on this team tho). I took JTR since I’m always bashing the dude and kinda wanted to just…give him a chance? He’s the kind of pick I really never make in a standard league, but I can at least stomach someone picking him in a 2C format. This ain’t a 2C format, but again, just wanted to have some fun (and he does hold a little extra value now that the NL DH is a thing). I also snagged a couple SP earlier than I might normally since Bart’s autodrafted team was taking them all lmaooooo. Fantrax’s default scoring inflates SP so they were all at the top of the draft room. With the closer landscape the way it is, I took Pressly for like the millionth time already and then grabbed both Barlows to hopefully keep my saves looking nice all season long. I drafted Anthony Bender as a speculative source but have already dropped him for Jeff McNeil, who should provide some sneaky late value this year. Surprised he didn’t get drafted, tbh. I’m banking on War Room darlings like Jordan Montgomery and Jon Gray to meet or beat their projections. If they do, I’ll be in fine shape. Hoping Christian Yelich returns to form, too, taking him as my OF3. Upside is obvs and I’ve been too scared to take a share yet, so figured what the hell. I’m not super super in love with what I ended up with. It’s hard drafting with a bunch of like-minded nerds who know who everyone else likes. Overall, I think my bats are just fine and I should be able to stream enough pitching to be competitive if some of my later picks (Heaney/Carrasco/Kikuchi/Matz) don’t pan out.
Steve Paulo
This draft seemed too EZ for you. Do you think winning the league will be just as EZ as this EZ draft?
I went in with a plan, and I executed it perfectly. OK… not perfectly, but, like, really goodly. Obviously, I was disappointed to draw the 12th pick because it meant I would miss out on Jose Ramirez, the reigning king of Players Whose Last Names End In “EZ”. And, these aren’t the heady days of Pedro Martinez or Javier Vazquez leading the way in Pitchers Whose Last Names End In “EZ”, so I knew the pitching pickings would be particularly delgado.
Other than a blunder at 4.36, when I took Javy Baez instead of Eloy Jimenez, thus losing Eloy later that round to Whip, I got all the players I was targeting. In fact, I’d put my outfield of Yordan Alvarez, Teoscar Hernandez, Kiké Hernandez, JD Martinez, and Jesus Sanchez up against any other quintet in this league. (Though, could you imagine that group with Eloy?!)
As I was researching this plan, I found that the ranks of Catchers Whose Last Names End In “EZ” is particularly deep, but since this is a 1C format, that didn’t really help me. Know where the shallow spot really is? First base. I got Rowdy Tellez, who is the only real option in the pool, unless Juan Yepez makes a surprise appearance in the bigs this year. Yeah, I drafted him too.
All in all, my goal for EZ Like Sunday Night Baseball this season is to not finish dead last. I’ve got one more set of handcuffs to deal with though: no waiver pickups or trade arrivals who don’t fit the naming meme. I mean scheme. You know what I mean.
