| |
|
| Friday, March 19, 2021 |
| I would say Happy Friday but I'm pretty bummed out. Back on Valentine's Day, we did a "Players We Love" podcast and my selection was Carlos Carrasco. What's not to love? The guy beat leukemia in 2019 and then came back last season with a 2.91 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for his Mets debut as Carrasco will miss the next 6-8 weeks with a hamstring tear. The injuries are just piling on as Carrasco was also dealing with elbow inflammation before this popped up. I've dropped him all the way down to SP49 in my rankings with the expectation that we won't see him until May and perhaps even June. |
| Speaking of rankings, players are on the move! You never want to react too much to spring training, but when there are tangible changes, you should take notice. For somebody like Vladimir Guerrero in particular, we have been patiently waiting for a rise in launch angle. It might be happening. Find out who else is rising and falling in our most recent rankings below! |
| And of course, you can subscribe to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify. |
| Also, the Fantasy Baseball Today Draft Guide is LIVE! It's a one-stop-shop to help anyone dominate their drafts that includes sleepers, breakouts, busts, rankings, analysis, tiers and more. The best part about it? It's free! |
| |
| Rankings risers |
| |
| Scott White has moved Austin Meadows up to OF18 in his rankings following a strong spring. Meadows is currently 5-for-20 with four home runs and a stolen base. I'm the high guy on Meadows up at OF17. I draw the line at Randy Arozarena. I just can't move Meadows ahead of him. Chris Towers has moved Vladimir Guerrero up to 1B6 in his rankings. Guerrero is supposedly in the best shape of his life and has gone 9-for-17 in spring training. According to Ryan Bloomfield, Guerrero is lifting the ball more than ever, which is exactly what we want to see. It appears everybody has fallen head over heals for Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara. In his most recent start against the Mets, he pitched five shutout innings with nine strikeouts, including 16 whiffs on 64 pitches. He's inside all of our top-40 starting pitchers. Chris is really aggressive on Ketel Marte, currently ranking him inside his top 50 overall players. Marte suffered a wrist injury last season, which Chris believes caused the dip in production. So far throughout spring, Marte is making a bunch of hard contact like he did in his breakout 2019 season. C.J. Cron has entered corner infield territory with Scott moving him up to 1B22. Cron is 10-for-31 with two home runs during spring training and seems to have locked up the Rockies' starting first base job. |
| |
| SportsLine's optimal bracket beat almost 90% of CBS Sports Bracket Challenge players over the past two years. This year, it is calling for more upsets. A few of notes in the South Region: |
| No. 14 Colgate takes down No. 3 Arkansas in the first round. No. 10 Virginia Tech beats No. 7 Florida. No. 9 Wisconsin pulls the slight upset over No. 8 North Carolina. |
| After simulating the tournament 10,000 times, the model's bracket also has identified one region where the No. 2 seed wins and the Nos. 10 and 13 seeds pull off stunners in the first round. Plus, you should join the Fantasy Baseball Today bracket challenge group to put your skills to the test for a chance to win a spot in the FFT listeners' league for the 2021 season. |
| Rankings fallers |
| |
| Apparently Kevin Gausman is saving his best pitch, the splitter, for the regular season. Chris highlights how Gausman has done this in the past and has suffered very slow starts as a result. I'm backing off as well. We talked about the struggles for Craig Kimbrel yesterday and it's enough for Scott to drop him outside his top 15 relief pitchers. He wants to ensure that he is not tempted to draft Kimbrel on draft day following Kimbrel's mechanical shortcomings. This one hurts, literally. Dominic Smith is dealing with a wrist injury and we already had concerns about his playing time. Personally, I think Smith is an awesome hitter. Since the start of the 2019 season (139 games), Smith is batting .299 with a .937. The problem is he's dreadful in the outfield. Usually these things work themselves out but even I'm worried about this situation. |
| |
| Latest news and notes |
In Cody Bellinger's second spring game, he went 2-for-4 Thursday with three hard-hit balls, according to Statcast. One of those included a home run.
Dinelson Lamet threw two innings in a simulated game Thursday It's still unclear whether or not he will be ready for Opening Day.
Noah Syndergaard, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, threw a bullpen session Thursday and was apparently hitting 96 MPH even though he wasn't throwing at 100%.
Stephen Strasburg will throw a four-inning simulated game Friday. He had no issues in a bullpen session Wednesday. He went for $22 in our 12-team Roto salary cap draft this week.
This isn't really a news item but more of an update. After leading the National League in strikeouts last season, I wanted to watch Keston Hiura closely this season. Through 11 games, he is 4-for-26 with 11 strikeouts to just one walk. He's currently a fade for me. |
| The best of what you might've missed |
| Do not draft this weekend before reading Scott's Sleepers 3.0! Find out why he's buying in on guys like Corey Kluber and Ty France. |
Here's what to look out for today
|
| If you play in a H2H categories league, we have mock draft results for you. Right after you finish reading Scott's Sleepers 3.0, be sure to check out his Breakouts and Busts, too. |
| |
| | | | | March Madness Live | | THE BRACKET IS LIVE! | It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for – NCAA March Madness returns! Watch all of the clutch shots, bracket busters, Cinderellas and more on CBS, TBS, TNT, truTV and the March Madness Live App, March 18th - April 5th!
Learn More
| | Get into the madness now by starting a bracket pool to compete against friends or fill out your bracket for your chance to win a brand new Nissan Rogue and a trip to the 2022 Final Four®.
Play Now
|
|
| |
| |
