Greetings Razzball Friends! I thought we’d switch it up from our usual deep league picks this week, in honor of the approximate actual halfway point (as opposed to the not actual halfway point known as the All Star Break) of the baseball season. This is the time of year that I often find frustrating, because it seems like in leagues I’m doing poorly in, it’s too late to catch up and make a run to a money finish, but in leagues I’m doing well in, there’s too much time for the teams behind me to make up ground and pass me. Regardless of how your team is doing, though, the halfway mark feels like a good time to reflect, so I thought I’d throw out some thoughts about what I currently feel are some of my best and worst draft decisions, which players I’m glad I had confidence in, as well as who I was wrong to avoid. And since we still have half a baseball year left, it will be interesting to see which of these thoughts still hold true come October, and which will have already been turned on their heads again after three more months of games are in the books.
The Ones That Got Away: Gunnar Henderson, Marcell Ozuna, Alec Bohm, Jarren Duran. These are the players that I wasn’t avoiding, but also wasn’t actively targeting, so they just never fell to me at the right time in the right draft or auction. Clearly, so far, those that did target and/or “reach” for them have been handsomely rewarded.
The Guy I Should Have Been Into But Wasn’t: Ezequiel Tovar. I purposely faded Tovar even in deep leagues, which was one of my biggest mistakes of 2024. Knew the talent was there but didn’t trust his plate discipline, didn’t trust the Rockies to handle him properly, and have been regretting it since about three days into the season.
The “I Told You Perts So!” Award: Goes to anyone who drafted Elly De La Cruz at or near his ADP, which almost every fantasy baseball analyst was scoffing at coming into the season. In one of my 15-team leagues, he was taken as the last pick of round one, which appeared laughable at the time. Not so funny to those of us who experienced the…
Year of the First Round Burn. Clearly, Ronald Acuna exemplifies this category, and in retrospect, I just kinda knew it was too good to be true that I managed to score a first overall pick in two leagues this season. I’ll also give Corbin Carroll (who I managed to avoid completely this year at least) a shout out as the most massive disappointment when it comes to (theoretically) healthy players. Julio Rodriguez, who I didn’t manage to avoid, also gets an honorable mention — it appears J-Rod currently checks in just behind Alec Burleson on the up-to-this-point-in-the-year 5×5 player rater I’m looking at. Let’s also salute Spencer Strider, Trea Turner, and the more-recently injured Mookie Betts. Meanwhile, we hope that Kyle Tucker can recover from the originally-“day to day” bone bruise that halted the MVP-level run he was on this year, and that Fernando Tatis’ current quad issue doesn’t sideline him for too long.
The Delayed Youth Movement. I have one share of the beyond-disappointing-so-far Jackson Chourio in a draft and hold league, but overall I avoided rookies with helium this draft season, which for now looks like one of the better decisions I made. Players in this group probably have the best chance at a late return on your investment, and Wyatt Langford has made up for some lost time with a great June, but at this point I don’t think anyone who bought high on Jackson Holliday or Evan Carter is too happy with how things are going so far. And when it comes to some of the second-year guys like Jordan Walker and James Outman (who I regretfully had two shares of), things went from bad to worse in a hurry.
SAGNOF MVP award, Stolen Base Category: David Hamilton. I (thankfully) picked Hamilton up early in an AL-only league just as a fill-in at short, and after a choppy start to his season, he started running wild. I wish I’d added him to more than one mixed league team once I realized that the stolen bases were starting to pile up; as of Thursday morning, he’s tied with Bobby Witt with 21 steals, in fewer than half of Witt’s at bats no less. Ridiculous.
SAGNOF MVP award, Saves Category: Robert Suarez, Trevor Megill. I drafted Suarez in a couple of my early NFBC draft and hold leagues starting way back in October, then got scared off fearing a closer by committee situation when the Padres added Yuki Matsui and the since-DFA’d Woo Suk Go. Obviously, I wish I’d stuck to my initial instincts and kept drafting Suarez whenever and wherever possible. Meanwhile, Trevor Megill (with a quick shout out to the now-injured Yimi Garcia) wins my first-half, free agent pick up version of this award. And I supposed Edwin Diaz, who I actually drafted in one draft and hold league, wins the reverse version of this honor. We all could have seen the early-season issues with effectiveness coming after such a long layoff, but the continued inability to stay healthy and/or pitch well got a bit out of control, and his current suspension literally added insult to injury.
The Going Against the Razzball Grain Award: This one goes to Adley Rutschman and William Contreras. I drafted a few other catchers in a few leagues much higher than I should have, but splurging on one of these two guys early has paid off on the teams where I have one of them rostered. Their consistent production has anchored my offense in the leagues I rostered them, and not even having to think about at least one of my two catcher roster spots has been icing on the cake.
The Time To Admit Grey Was Right This Year Even Though I Was Right The Last Two Years Player Award goes to…. George Springer. Eh, who am I kidding, if he goes on anything remotely resembling a tear in the second half I’ll probably be in again come 2025.
Supposedly Temporary Injury Fill-ins Who Are Still In My Lineups Weeks or Months Later: Jurickson Profar, Ryan O’Hearn, David Fry. Appreciate you all, gentlemen!
Starters I’m Glad I Drafted In One League… But Why Did I Only Draft Them In One League??!! Chris Sale, Seth Lugo, Reynaldo Lopez. Going through each league mentally replacing your three worst starters, some of whom probably weren’t that cheap, with these three guys… ah, what could have been!
Player I’ve Given Endless Chances To, Who Burned Me The Most When I Finally Gave Up on Him: Ranger Suarez. Don’t. Get. Me. Started.
And, ending on a positive note…
Player I Correctly Counted On In A Bunch Of Leagues: Jordan Westburg. I named him my sleeper in this year’s preseason Razzball Staff Picks, and he’s provided a very steady half season of production.
Thanks for reading, happy fantasy baseball-ing, and feel free to give a shout out to the first half heroes of villains of your fantasy teams in the comments!
