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		<title>Sweetbob&#8217;s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K &#8211; July 29th</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/07/29/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-july-29th/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jul 2018 22:30:05 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>This is the 17th week of the fantasy baseball season. The trade deadline is just days from now. The trade deadline in your league is a week or two away. If you&#8217;re out of the race in a dynasty league, it&#8217;s time to start playing for next year. Shoot for some can&#8217;t miss prospects if [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/07/29/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-july-29th/">Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K – July 29th</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14611" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="356" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg 573w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill-295x300.jpg 295w" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a>This is the 17th week of the fantasy baseball season.</p>
<p>The trade deadline is just days from now. The trade deadline in your league is a week or two away. If you&#8217;re out of the race in a dynasty league, it&#8217;s time to start playing for next year. Shoot for some can&#8217;t miss prospects if you have to move a stud.</p>
<p>Which hot hitters are we suggesting to pick up this week?</p>
<p>We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe a couple young guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on July 29th, 2018.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be posting a weekly <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/fantasy-baseball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fantasy baseball</a> F/M/K every Sunday this baseball season&#8230;so keep coming back!</p>
<p><span id="more-15147"></span></p>
<p>Before I begin, let&#8217;s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys that I list under &#8220;F*ck&#8221; are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. &#8220;Marry&#8221;, are guys that you need to stick with the whole season, even if they are struggling a bit. &#8220;Kill&#8221;, are guys that need to be dropped for better players in the free agent pool.</p>
<div><i>* In the player description, the &#8220;owned %&#8221; was taken from ESPN.com leagues.</i></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-cardinals.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15148" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-cardinals.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="188" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-cardinals.jpg 456w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-cardinals-300x153.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" /></a></p>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<p><strong>SP Rich Hill &#8211; Los Angeles Dodgers</strong> &#8211; <strong><em>69.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Hill had some rough starts early in the year, but he is pitching his best right now. He has only allowed one run in his last two starts and struck out 17 in those two games. His next start is versus the Brewers, a team he faced two weeks ago. He only allowed one run in six innings of work for the win. Hill is best when he can get swings and misses. He&#8217;s not a very good &#8216;pitch for contact&#8217; pitcher, so he needs his stuff to move. I like him a lot down the stretch.</p>
<p><strong>RP Brad Hand &#8211; Cleveland Indians &#8211; <em>88.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; When Hand was traded to the Indians, many thought he may usurp Cody Allen as the team&#8217;s closer. Allen hasn&#8217;t been very good of late and Hand has only given up one run as an Indian. Hand was called on for the save versus the Pirates. Indians manager Terry Francona said that Hand could get a few opportunities, but he was called on to close that game with Allen rested and ready to go. Francona hasn&#8217;t named Hand as his official closer, but his actions sure seem like Hand is the guy right now.</p>
<p><strong>OF Michael Conforto &#8211; New York Mets &#8211; <em>54.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Conforto has been in every section of my fantasy baseball F/M/K this season. He appears to finally be healthy and has hit four homers and drove in 12 RBI over the last two weeks. He did just jam his thumb, so he could miss a game or two, but it doesn&#8217;t seem to be serious. Conforto isn&#8217;t in any danger of being traded, so he could be a dependable short-term pick-up if you&#8217;re in need.</p>
<p><strong>SS Lourdes Gurriel &#8211; Toronto Blue Jays &#8211; <em>19.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; The younger Gurriel has been on fire in July. He currently has a multi-hit hitting streak that dates back to July 11th. Yes, he has at least two hits or more in ten straight games. He is hitting .409 with four homers and 12 RBI in the month of July. If you&#8217;re needing a SS/2B to fill-in for DL stints by D.J. Lemahieu or Jose Altuve, pick him up for a really nice short-term add.</p>
<p><strong>OF Eloy Jimenez &#8211; Chicago White Sox &#8211; <em>9.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Jimenez was acquired from the Cubs when they traded away ace Jose Quintana last season. He hasn&#8217;t been called up, but he&#8217;s tearing it up in Triple-A. Since the All-Star Break, he is hitting .444 with four homers and nine RBI. He could be called up at any moment, especially if they trade away an outfielder like Avisail Garcia.</p>
<p><strong>1B Yonder Alonso &#8211; Cleveland Indians &#8211; <em>37.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Alonso has been right at the level of streaming option nearly all season. First base is crazy deep, so he isn&#8217;t owned in many standard mixed leagues. He had a crazy week as he hit three homers and went 8 for 20. He&#8217;s playing everyday and he should at least get a look if you&#8217;re in the market for a streaming 1B/3B flex spot.</p>
<p><strong>SP Jack Flaherty &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>63.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Flaherty is one of the many talented starters the Cardinals have at their disposal. He has shot up the ranks and now looks to be the best of the crop. Flaherty has been outstanding at home, but has been average on the road. His next start is at home versus the Rockies and then follows that up with a road game at the Pirates. Both match-ups favor Flaherty and would be a two-start pitcher this week.</p>
<p><strong>3B Matt Chapman &#8211; Oakland A&#8217;s &#8211; <em>49.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; There are quite a few underrated hitters on the A&#8217;s. Over the past two weeks, Chapman has hit three homers, scored 14 runs and drove in seven RBI. He is also hitting .429 during this stretch. Those numbers are better than Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado and Javier Baez. I think it&#8217;s time you give Chapman a long look.</p>
<p><strong>C Mike Zunino &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>20.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I was having a hard to trying to recommend a catcher to pick-up this week. I try to spread out my picks to cover every position. Elias Diaz has been a popular pick the last two weeks, but he&#8217;s losing at-bats. Zunino is healthy again and should be a nice source of power. His batting average will blow, but it&#8217;s worth his power output.</p>
<p><strong>SP Clay Buchholz &#8211; Arizona Diamondbacks &#8211; <em>37.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Buchholz has been an outstanding surprise for the D-backs. He has started nine games and has only allowed more than two runs just once. They are limiting his exposure and aren&#8217;t letting him face many lineups a third time. He currently has a 2.38 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. This is a huge step up from his last couple years in Boston.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>OF Jackie Bradley Jr. &#8211; Boston Red Sox&nbsp;</strong><strong>&#8211; <em>17.4</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It has mostly been a very forgettable season for Bradley. His overall season numbers aren&#8217;t great (.213 AVG./8 HRs/40 RBI), but has strung together a nice stretch of games in late-July. This recommendation is more for deeper leagues, but he is driving in runs and is in the lineup nearly everyday in a high-octane offense.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>SS/3B/OF Yairo Munoz &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>10.2</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; This is another deeper league recommendation, but his position-flexibility is intriguing in standard mixed leagues. He&#8217;s been getting a lot of playing time and will now be the primary replacement for the injured Kolten Wong (knee). He could be worth a week-long roster spot until Wong is activated.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14609" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="159" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg 481w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-300x136.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>OF Marcell Ozuna &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>92.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Ozuna&#8217;s ownership percentage took another hit and has dropped every week since the beginning of July. He hasn&#8217;t been putting up power numbers, but did hit a grand slam this weekend. The Cardinals offense has been pretty good since they fired manager Mike Matheny. Guys like Tommy Pham and Matt Carpenter are hitting well and if people keep getting on base, Ozuna&#8217;s RBI potential will improve.</p>
<p><strong>SP Jon Lester &#8211; Chicago Cubs &#8211; <em>96.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Lester was eaten alive in his first start after the All-Star Break. He gave up eight runs in three innings to the Cardinals. His ERA jumped a half-run in just one start. The Cubs have great run production and Lester will be in line for wins down the stretch. He bounced back and pitched six innings and only allowed one run versus the Diamondbacks. His next start is at Pittsburgh, another nice match-up for Lester.</p>
<p><strong>OF Mitch Haniger &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>94.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Haniger is in the midst of a slump. Going into next week, he is just 1 for 20, but he has been streaky this season. Is this just a short-term lull or did he hit a wall? He has never played in this many games in the Majors, so there is a possibility that he hit a wall&#8230;but I think it&#8217;s just a lull. He&#8217;s been a great fantasy player and think he has worth down the stretch.</p>
<p><strong>C Evan Gattis &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>91.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Gattis is another streaky player, but his highs and lows are quite pronounced. He has had a rough July, but did go 3 for 3 versus the Rangers on Friday. He needed a slumpbuster and that could be the beginning of another hot run. Also, who are you picking up in place of Gattis? There&#8217;s no one out there on the waiver wire as good as Gattis&#8230;and it&#8217;s not even close.</p>
<p><strong>SP Chase Anderson &#8211; Milwaukee Brewers &#8211; <em>54.1% owned</em> &#8211; </strong>Anderson has been great for the Brewers this Summer. He had a few rough starts to begin the year, but he hasn&#8217;t allowed more than two runs in a start since June 17th. The Brewers are buyers at the trade deadline and their offense will get an impact bat or two, which will help Anderson&#8217;s run support. I think he could be a nice source of wins late in the season.</p>
<p><strong>1B/OF Jose Martinez &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>87.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Trade rumors could be the reason his ownership percentage took a hit this week. He&#8217;s also in a slump, but his overall numbers are good. He&#8217;s hitting .295 with 13 homers and 59 RBI. He is rumored to be possibly be headed to an AL team due to his poor defensive metrics. He could be a team&#8217;s primary DH option. Depending on the team, I think it could be a huge plus for him.</p>
<p><strong>RP Sergio Romo &#8211; Tampa Bay Rays &#8211; <em>38.7</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Romo&#8217;s ownership percentage took another hit this week, but he&#8217;s been a nice surprise in fantasy. He has 12 saves on the year and five this month alone. There&#8217;s little chance he will be traded and should keep his job at the Rays closer past the trade deadline&#8230;you can&#8217;t say that for sure with nearly half of the closers out there.</p>
<p><strong>SS/2B Paul DeJong &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>54.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; The Cardinals are taking up a lot of spot on this week&#8217;s list. I&#8217;m not sure who is getting picked up in place of DeJong, but I don&#8217;t see many guys out there on waiver wire that will be a better SS/2B flex option than him. He is starting to see the ball better and his bat speed is connecting on inside pitches a lot better. Keep him in your lineup and don&#8217;t take a risk with someone else.</p>
<p><strong>SS Jorge Polanco &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>7.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Polanco currently has a six-game hitting streak and has only failed to get a hit once since July 13th. His ownership jumped a bit last week and there&#8217;s no need to drop him. In fact, he should probably be added to the F*CK section of this week&#8217;s list. He&#8217;s playing everyday and now that Eduardo Escobar was traded, there&#8217;s no fear of him losing at-bats to anyone.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14610" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="172" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg 454w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018-300x147.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SP Matt Harvey &#8211; Cincinnati Reds &#8211; <em>21.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Harvey was pitching well until he ran into the Pirates late last week. He gave up eight runs in 3.2 innings. He bounced back and only allowed two runs in five innings versus the Phillies. There are rumors that teams are asking about him before the trade deadline. I honestly don&#8217;t want anything to do with him. I don&#8217;t see him pitching well in high-leverage situations or starting games for a contender. I could be wrong, but I don&#8217;t want anything to do with him.</p>
<p><strong>SS Addison Russell &#8211; Chicago Cubs &#8211; <em>32.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Russell is having a nice bounce-back year after struggling in 2017. Chicago called up David Bote, a utility man who currently has a hot bat, and Russell missed two-straight games. Baez can easily play shortstop and Bote plays good defense at second base. I could see Russell taking a seat one or two times a week, as long as Bote stays hot.</p>
<p><strong>3B Josh Donaldson &#8211; Toronto Blue Jays &#8211; <em>81.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; This suggestion is for fantasy owners that are struggling with injuries. You only have one DL spot in standard leagues and sometimes you need to make some tough decisions. Donaldson has been on the DL for weeks and weeks, and he had a recent setback. He doesn&#8217;t have a timetable to return, but is going through a running program. It would put Donaldson&#8217;s earliest possible activated at early-to-mid August. There are 1B/3B guys out there that can help your team now. You can drop Donaldson and be just fine. You can add Matt Chapman, Maikel Franco or Ryon Healy.</p>
<p><strong>RP Cody Allen &#8211; Cleveland Indians &#8211; <em>89.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I mentioned Allen above in the Brad Hand section. I think Allen has lost his closer job to Hand. Allen&#8217;s season numbers are very pedestrian. He has a 4.68 ERA and 1.23 ERA, and with the Indians a shoo-in to make the postseason, they need a more reliable closer. I&#8217;d dump Allen and pickup Kirby Yates, Robert Gsellman or Hector Rondon.</p>
<p><strong>C Kurt Suzuki &#8211; Atlanta Braves &#8211; <em>46.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Suzuki is in a slump and has only six total hits since July 4th. He now only starts about every other game and is losing starts to Tyler Flowers. I&#8217;d rather own Yan Gomes, Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Elias Diaz than Suzuki.</p>
<p><strong>OF Kyle Tucker &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211;&nbsp;<em>19.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Tucker was a trendy pickup when he was called up. The Astros said he would be playing everyday, but they didn&#8217;t expect him to struggle this much. He&#8217;s hitting .143 with no homers and just three RBI. His BABIP is only .188, so there is a little bad luck to blame. I think it&#8217;s time to dump Tucker. I&#8217;d rather have Jake Bauers, Mallex Smith or Michael Conforto.</p>
<p><strong>3B Jake Lamb &#8211; Arizona Diamondbacks &#8211;&nbsp;<em>39.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Arizona traded for Eduardo Escobar and it was a huge blow to Jake Lamb owners. Escobar will mostly play shortstop, but will most likely move over to third base to face lefties. Lamb hasn&#8217;t been very good in fantasy, so this may only affect NL-only leagues. If you own him in an NL-only league, I&#8217;d look to add Charlie Culberson, Johan Camargo or Pablo Sandoval.</p>
<p><strong>SP Lance Lynn &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>16.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I usually don&#8217;t add players with this low of an ownership percentage in this section. I just couldn&#8217;t stop myself from telling people to dump Lynn. He&#8217;s not the same pitcher he was in the past. His control is all over the place is sports a bloated 1.63 WHIP. There are better options out there, even in deep AL-only leagues. If you&#8217;re in an AL-only league and need to replace Lynn, I&#8217;d look to add Mike Fiers, Matthew Boyd or Ryan Borucki.</p>
<p><strong>1B/2B/SS/OF Marwin Gonzalez &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>52.41% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It kills me to put Gonzalez in this section (again) since I love his position-flexibility so much. I&#8217;m going to keep him on this list until his ownership drops below 50%. He&#8217;s just not producing, at all. He is currenly 1 for 12 in his last four games. The Astros are expected to add some pieces before the trade deadline and Gonzalez could see himself buried on the bench. There are better guys out there with more consistent playing time. I&#8217;d rather own Jason Heyward, Joey Wendle or Kole Calhoun.</p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>&nbsp;&amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114"></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a>&nbsp;and contributor at&nbsp;<a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;,&nbsp;<a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">15147</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Sweetbob&#8217;s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K &#8211; July 8th</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/07/08/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-july-8th/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jul 2018 11:25:36 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Adam Eaton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chicago cubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[detroit tigers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FMK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Josh Donaldson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[washington nationals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chicago Cubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Detroit Tigers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gio Gonzalez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul DeJong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sonny Gray]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington Nationals]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=15106</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We are now fourteen weeks into the 2018 fantasy baseball season. We are almost at the All-Star Break and the trade deadline is right around the corner. Teams will be going through some changes and you may need to make a few tough decisions. Roles will change and a reliable fantasy player could find less [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/07/08/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-july-8th/">Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K – July 8th</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14611" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="356" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg 573w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill-295x300.jpg 295w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a>We are now fourteen weeks into the 2018 fantasy baseball season.</p>
<p>We are almost at the All-Star Break and the trade deadline is right around the corner. Teams will be going through some changes and you may need to make a few tough decisions. Roles will change and a reliable fantasy player could find less at-bats.</p>
<p>Which hot pitchers are we suggesting to pick up this week?</p>
<p>We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe a couple young guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on July 8th, 2018.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be posting a weekly <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/fantasy-baseball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fantasy baseball</a> F/M/K every Sunday this baseball season&#8230;so keep coming back!</p>
<p><span id="more-15106"></span></p>
<p>Before I begin, let&#8217;s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys that I list under &#8220;F*ck&#8221; are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. &#8220;Marry&#8221;, are guys that you need to stick with the whole season, even if they are struggling a bit. &#8220;Kill&#8221;, are guys that need to be dropped for better players in the free agent pool.</p>
<div><i>* In the player description, the &#8220;owned %&#8221; was taken from ESPN.com leagues.</i></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-tigers.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-15107" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-tigers.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="188" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-tigers.jpg 456w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-tigers-300x153.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" /></a><br />
</strong></div>
<p><strong>SP Tyler Anderson &#8211; Colorado Rockies &#8211; <em>25.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; The Rockies have had some bad luck with their starting pitching this season. Jon Gray, their #1 starter, <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/07/06/fantasy-owners-shouldnt-lose-hope-in-demoted-rockies-pitcher/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was recently demoted to the minors</a>. The rest of the rotation haven&#8217;t been great and have been one of the worst in baseball. Tyler Anderson has put together back-to-back gems. He went eight scoreless innings in each game at the Dodgers and at home versus the Giants. His next start is Tuesday at home versus Arizona and then on Sunday versus Seattle. Both of those offenses are hot right now, but as long as Anderson limits free passes, he&#8217;s a nice streaming option this coming week.</p>
<p><strong>RP Seranthony Dominguez &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>46.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I didn&#8217;t have high hopes for Dominguez when the Phillies first called him up. He&#8217;s young and inexperienced and didn&#8217;t think he could thrive in high-pressure situations. He has only blew one save since officially taking over the closer role. He has strikeout stuff and the Phillies are starting to win more games. Dominguez should have plenty of chances for saves.</p>
<p><strong>OF Albert Almora Jr. &#8211; Chicago Cubs &#8211; <em>25.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Almora has been batting lead-off since Kris Bryant landed on the disabled list. The Cubs offense has been on fire since the change. Almora is getting on base and the guys behind him have been driving him in. He is batting .346 and drove in 13 RBI in the last 30 days. He&#8217;s available in a ton of leagues and is a solid NL-only add and if he keeps playing everyday, he will become a mixed league option.</p>
<p><strong>SS/2B Paul DeJong &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>49.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; DeJong was a trendy preseason middle-infield pick to have a breakout season. He injured his hand early in the season and was on the DL for a lengthy stay. He was activated on Friday and had a hit in each game since his return. He was great in the second-half last season and I think he could do it again this year. He&#8217;s a talented hitter and should be owned in all leagues.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>OF Avisail Garcia &#8211; Chicago White Sox &#8211; <em>49.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Garcia has been on fire since being activated from the disabled list. Since June 22nd, he has hit eight homers and is being added to teams at a fast rate. The White Sox don&#8217;t have a very good offense, so a lot of his extra-base hits may not drive in runs, but he&#8217;s still a very good outfielder in all leagues. There are plenty of underperforming outfielders owned in mixed leagues. Garcia&#8217;s ownership went from 13% to nearly half of all leagues in just seven days. Garcia was an All-Star last year and it looks like he could have an All-Star level second-half.</p>
<p><strong>OF Kyle Tucker &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; 8<em>.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Tucker is the Astros top prospect and he was called up to the Majors on Saturday. He is expected to play everyday and will take over Jake Marisnick&#8217;s role. This will also cut into Marwin Gonzalez&#8217;s playing time as he will have one less spot to play. Tucker was killing it in Triple-A this season. He was hitting .306 with 14 homers, 66 RBI and 14 stolen bases. His patience at the plate is better than most 21-year-olds. He would help your fantasy team in nearly every category.</p>
<p><strong>SP Zach Eflin &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>62.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Eflin has put together a nice six-start stretch. He has won all six of those starts and hasn&#8217;t allowed more than two runs during those starts. He&#8217;s a two-start pitcher next week (at Mets &amp; at Marlins). He should do very well against both teams. He&#8217;s had a lot of success on the road. Eflin&#8217;s success is due to him just pounding the strike zone. His control is next level as he has only walked six batters during his six-game winning streak. He&#8217;s also keeping the ball down on contact and has swing-and-miss stuff.</p>
<p><strong>3B/OF Jose Bautista &#8211; New York Mets &#8211; <em>9.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Bautista had a cup of coffee with the Braves early this season and did not look very good. He was scooped up by the Mets soon after he was released and is hitting much better. His average isn&#8217;t pretty (.218), but he&#8217;s making hard contact with the ball. His OPS is right in line with the last couple years in Toronto. He has hit four homers since June 22nd and has a base hit in all but four games since that date. Yoenis Cespedes&#8217;s lower body injury isn&#8217;t healing very fast, so as long as he&#8217;s out, Bautista should be in the lineup most of the time.</p>
<p><strong>C Elias Diaz &#8211; Pittsburgh Pirates &#8211; <em>16.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Diaz has started twelve-straight games while Francisco Cervelli (concussion) is out. He&#8217;s been great at the plate is is hitting .316 during this 12-game stretch. Diaz could find himself playing a larger share of games even when Cervelli is activated from the DL. Also, the Pirates is out of the playoff hunt and there are a few teams out there in need of a catcher&#8230;and Cervelli&#8217;s name has come up in trade rumors. Diaz could be a really nice second-half option in the weak catcher position.</p>
<p><strong>SP Jordan Zimmermann &#8211; Detroit Tigers &#8211; <em>18.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;ve avoided ZImmermann like the plague since he signed in Detroit. He&#8217;s been one of the worst signings in all of baseball over the past couple years. Zimmermann has been pitching like his old self over the last few starts. He has allowed a run or less in five out of his last six starts. His next start is Wednesday at Tampa Bay, which is a nice match-up for him. I don&#8217;t know how long this hot streak will last, since we&#8217;ve all been burned by him in the past, but I think he&#8217;s a nice spot starter this week.</p>
<p><strong>SS/3B Johan Camargo &#8211; Atlanta Braves&nbsp;</strong><strong>&#8211; <em>18.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Camargo has been a nice under-the-radar middle infield fantasy player this season. He&#8217;s been consistent and had a hit in all but one game this week. His season numbers are better than you think, as he is hitting .256 with nine homers and 39 RBI. He&#8217;s a switch-hitter and is playing nearly every single game. The Braves offense is one of the best in baseball and Camargo will help you in most fantasy categories (except stolen bases).</p>
<p><strong>RP Joe Jimenez &#8211; Detroit Tigers &#8211; <em>14.4</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Tigers closer Shane Greene is on the DL (shoulder) and Jimenez is taking his role. Greene isn&#8217;t expected to be on the DL for very long, so Jimenez will just be a short-term add. He&#8217;s been pretty good this season, but he&#8217;s walking more batters than one would want. He&#8217;s a nice AL-only add and maybe a mixed league option if you&#8217;re desperate for saves.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14609" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="159" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg 481w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-300x136.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>OF Jon Jay &#8211; Arizona Diamondbacks &#8211; <em>25.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Jay isn&#8217;t going to help you in the power department, but he&#8217;s a great source of runs, batting average and a little speed. He went through a little slump, but is back slapping base hits. Heis on a three-game multi-hit streak and scored three runs in last night&#8217;s game. Jay is a great NL-only outfielder and if you need to boost your team batting average and runs, he&#8217;s a mixed league option as well.</p>
<p><strong>SP Kyle Hendricks &#8211; Chicago Cubs &#8211; <em>83.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Hendricks has been the ugly duckling in the Cubs starting rotation. Since the start of June, he&#8217;s 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.67 WHIP. He&#8217;s been giving up too many long balls. His next two starts are in pitcher-friendly parks against slumping teams. He&#8217;ll be starting two games next week (at Giants &amp; at Padres). This should be great match-ups for him and is a litmus test to see if you want to keep him. I think you need to keep him right now as he could turn it around.</p>
<p><strong>OF Adam Eaton &#8211; Washington Nationals &#8211; <em>72.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Eaton is off to a slow start since being activated from the disabled list lat month. He&#8217;s getting contact on the ball, but there hasn&#8217;t been much hard contact. He&#8217;s also not stealing bases like he did in the past. His past injuries to his ankle is the main reason that isn&#8217;t happening. The Nationals outfield is crowded now thanks to the emergence of rookie Juan Soto. Eaton is taking a seat at least once a week. I still think Eaton should be owned in more leagues. I predict he will get his bat going and will have a great July.</p>
<p><strong>C Salvador Perez &#8211; Kansas City Royals &#8211; <em>87.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Perez was one of the first catchers to be taken in fantasy drafts this preseason. He&#8217;s about as consistent as you can get&#8230;but not this year. He&#8217;s only hitting .213 and has only driven in two RBI in over three weeks. Catcher is such a bad position and there&#8217;s still no way you can rationalize dropping Perez. He&#8217;s dealing with a hand injury that is clearly giving him trouble at the plate, but who would you pick up to replace him? You just have to stick with Perez during his slump. If you have a free spot, I&#8217;d move him to the bench and stream a catcher short-term.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>SP Gio Gonzalez &#8211; Washington Nationals &#8211; <em>87.2% owned</em> &#8211; </strong>Gonzalez hasn&#8217;t been very good this season. His ERA is decent (3.76 ERA), but he isn&#8217;t striking out batters as much as in the past. Over the past three games, he has walked 13 batters in 11 innings. He was much better early in the season, but is in a slump. His track record shows he should snap out of it. Also, the Nationals have been pretty damn good since their team meeting late last week. He could be a nice source of wins if they keep hitting like they did this weekend.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>1B Brandon Belt &#8211; San Francisco Giants &#8211; <em>80.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Belt had a great May, but only hit .239 in the month of June. His overall numbers are still very good as he&#8217;s hitting .296 with 13 homers and 41 RBI. He got off to a roll at the start of the Giants road trip. He&#8217;s a crucial part of the Giants offense and Belt should have career highs across the board by the end of the year. He&#8217;s a great 1B/3B flex play and if someone dropped him in your league, I&#8217;d give him a long look.</p>
<p><strong>RP Bud Norris &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>72.4</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;m not sure why the ownership of Norris has been dropping. He hasn&#8217;t given up a run since June 22nd, but has only had four save opportunities in that time frame. He has a 2.87 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP with 17 saves on the season. There&#8217;s no need to drop him and I don&#8217;t see any other options out there with better long-term position for saves this season.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>SS/3B Eduardo Escobar &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>85.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Escobar is in a slump, but he&#8217;s a streaky player. He&#8217;s been an extra-base hit machine this season. His season numbers are great as he is hitting .270 with 13 homers and 50 RBI. You shouldn&#8217;t drop him as he should get back hot again, like he has done numerous times this season.</p>
<p><strong>SS Ketel Marte &#8211; Arizona Diamondbacks &#8211; <em>24.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Marte was also in a little slump, but has hit a homer in two out of his last three games. He has shown some power this season as he didn&#8217;t have a single homer until June 1st, but has hit eight since that day. He&#8217;s starting nearly everyday and is a solid middle infielder option, especially in NL-only leagues. His ownership percentage dropped during his slump, but there aren&#8217;t many better options out there.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14610" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="172" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg 454w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018-300x147.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SP Sonny Gray &#8211; New York Yankees &#8211; <em>52.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; The Yankees should chalk-up Sonny Gray as a bad acquisition. He has a 5.85 ERA and 1.57 WHIP this season&#8230;and to make things worse, he has a 7.10 ERA at home. If a pitcher can&#8217;t pitch at your home ballpark, he&#8217;s a bad fit for your team. That&#8217;s also one of the issues with playing at a hitter-friendly stadium. Gray couldn&#8217;t even keep it together in his last start at Toronto. He allowed five runs in just two innings of work. He has now allowed 11 runs in just 4.1 innings over his last two starts. Dump Gray and don&#8217;t go back until he strings together a few good starts in a row.</p>
<p><strong>2B/3B Josh Harrison &#8211; Pittsburgh Pirates &#8211; <em>32.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Harrison has been a bad fantasy player since being activated from the disabled list weeks ago. His average dropped to .260 and has hit only four homers and has only driven in two RBI in over two weeks. There are better 2B options out there. I&#8217;d rather pickup Jose Peraza, Rougned Odor or Paul DeJong.</p>
<p><strong>3B Josh Donaldson &#8211; Toronto Blue Jays -84.0<em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; This suggestion is for fantasy owners that are struggling with injuries. You only have one DL spot in standard leagues and sometimes you need to make some tough decisions. Donaldson has been on the DL for weeks and weeks, and he had a recent setback. He will be reevaluated in three weeks. It would put Donaldson&#8217;s earliest possible activated at early-August. There are 1B/3B guys out there that can help your team now. You can drop Donaldson and be just fine. You can add Max Muncy, Jesus Aguilar or Matt Duffy and never miss a beat. It might be time to make a hard decision with Donaldson.</p>
<p><strong>SP Tyson Ross &#8211; San Diego Padres &#8211; <em>49.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Ross was having a career-resurgence this season, but he has hit a wall. He has allowed 15 runs in just seven innings over his last two starts. He wasn&#8217;t even facing better good competition. His ERA shot up over a run in just a week. His next start is at home versus the Dodgers and I want nothing to do with him. I&#8217;d rather add Freddy Peralta, Chase Anderson or Zach Eflin and drop Ross.</p>
<p><strong>C Mike Zunino &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>27.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Zunino was a nice power source in a very light catcher position. He has hit 12 homers, but has been all-or-nothing with a .189 batting average. Zunino injured his ankle this week and looks to be sidelined for a few weeks. He&#8217;s not worth a DL-spot and there are better catchers out there for a short-term band-aid. I&#8217;d rather have Eliaz Diaz or John Hicks right now.</p>
<p><strong>OF Brandon Nimmo &#8211; New York Mets &#8211;&nbsp;<em>47.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Nimmo&#8217;s hot streak has come to an end. He was one of the hottest hitters in baseball for a few weeks. His ownership percentage nearly hit 75% at his peak. He is in a 4 for 33 slump and has only driven in one run since June 21st. It&#8217;s time to cut bait. I&#8217;d rather have Jesse Winker, Jose Bautista or Matt Adams.</p>
<p><strong>1B Mitch Moreland &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211;&nbsp;<em>45.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Moreland was hot after Boston released Hanley Ramirez, but is now on a cold streak. He has also been dealing with a nagging back injury. Moreland has been in a timeshare since the Red Sox acquired Steve Pearce. I think this could be a season-long trend as Pearce is a nice platoon partner for him. There are better first basemen out there I&#8217;d rather own, like Matt Adams, Yuli Gurriel or Justin Smoak.</p>
<p><strong>SP Luke Weaver &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>46.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Weaver has been a fantasy disappointment this season. His season numbers now sit at 5-7, 4.92 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Weaver is arguably the worst pitcher in the Cardinals starting rotation. He struggles against the good teams and does &#8216;just fine&#8217; against teams he should do well against. There are better young starters out there and would rather own Jack Flaherty, Freddy Peralta or Steven Matz.</p>
<p><strong>1B/2B/SS/OF Marwin Gonzalez &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>60.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It kills me to put Gonzalez in this section since I love his position-flexibility so much. He&#8217;s getting plenty of at-bats with Carlos Correa on the shelf, but he&#8217;s just not producing. He only has six hits since June 18th. He&#8217;s not getting contact and his average has dropped to .229. Gonzalez has been a great middle infield flex play the last two years, but he&#8217;s failing this year. I&#8217;d rather have Johan Camargo, Tim Anderson or Addison Russell right now.</p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>&nbsp;&amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114"></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a>&nbsp;and contributor at&nbsp;<a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;,&nbsp;<a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">15106</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Sweetbob&#8217;s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K &#8211; June 17th</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/06/17/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-june-17th/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jun 2018 02:29:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[boston red sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Archer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FMK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[los angeles angels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new york mets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tampa bay rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asdrubal Cabrera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boston Red Sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justin Turner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Angels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miguel Sano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Mets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampa Bay Rays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zach Britton]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=14985</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We are now eleven weeks into the 2018 fantasy baseball season. This week saw some fantasy mainstays hit the disabled list and some standout performances from some promising young pitchers. Which under-the-radar players are we suggesting to pick up this week? We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/06/17/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-june-17th/">Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K – June 17th</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14611" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="356" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg 573w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill-295x300.jpg 295w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a>We are now eleven weeks into the 2018 fantasy baseball season.</p>
<p>This week saw some fantasy mainstays hit the disabled list and some standout performances from some promising young pitchers.</p>
<p>Which under-the-radar players are we suggesting to pick up this week?</p>
<p>We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe a couple young guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on June 17th, 2018.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be posting a weekly <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/fantasy-baseball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fantasy baseball</a> F/M/K every Sunday this baseball season&#8230;so keep coming back!</p>
<p><span id="more-14985"></span></p>
<p>Before I begin, let&#8217;s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys that I list under &#8220;F*ck&#8221; are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. &#8220;Marry&#8221;, are guys that you need to stick with the whole season, even if they are struggling a bit. &#8220;Kill&#8221;, are guys that need to be dropped for better players in the free agent pool.</p>
<div><i>* In the player description, the &#8220;owned %&#8221; was taken from ESPN.com leagues.</i></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14966" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="188" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1.jpg 456w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1-300x153.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SP Steven Wright &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211; <em>49.4% owned</em> &#8211; </strong>Wright has made the most of his shot to start again. He had two starts last week and only allowed one run in 13.2 innings of work. He has now had three starts replacing the injured Drew Pomeranz. He has only allowed one run in 20.2 innings, but is only 1-1 due to poor run support. His ownership percentage has shot up from single digits from just over a week ago. The Red Sox should keep Wright in the rotation until his knuckleball stops dancing as much. He&#8217;s a must-own right now as he will face Seattle again on Friday.</p>
<p><strong>RP Zach Britton &#8211; Baltimore Orioles &#8211; <em>41.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Britton is in a weird spot right now. Baltimore is a god awful team and owning their closer may not get you a ton of fantasy value. On the other hand, they will be sellers at the deadline.&nbsp;He was once one of the best closer in the league. He pitched in three games since being activated from the disabled list for the first time this season. If Britton shows he still &#8216;has it&#8217;, chances are a contender will trade for him. Who knows, he could be added to a team with a struggling closer. In the meantime, he could get a handful of saves for Baltimore while you wait for him to be moved.</p>
<p><strong>OF Randal Grichuk &#8211; Toronto Blue Jays &#8211; <em>4.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Grichuk looked like he was going to be a bust for Toronto, but then he suffered a minor injury to his knee. He spent time <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/blue-jays-randal-grichuk-seeing-steady-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restructuring his swing path</a>. He has gained the pop he had when he was just a prospect. He has hit five homers this month and is 13 for 34 over the last ten games. Teoscar Hernandez is dealing with an injury, so Grichuk has filled in for him admirably. He may only play consistently against lefties, but he did hit two homers in a game today and both were against righties.</p>
<p><strong>SS/3B Matt Duffy &#8211; Tampa Bay Rays &#8211; <em>14.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Duffy has been a sneaky add this season. He&#8217;s batting .318 with four homers and 22 RBI this season. The Rays have a few underrated bats in their lineup and Duffy is definitely underrated this year. He is killing it in June and due to the lack of middle infielder depth, he&#8217;s becoming a must-add in all leagues.</p>
<p><strong>C/1B John Hicks &#8211; Detroit Tigers &#8211; <em>21.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;ve had Hicks in this section a few times this year, but now it looks like he has a permanent role (this season) moving forward. Miguel Carbrera ruptured his biceps and is out for the year. Hicks filled in for him earlier this season when he was nursing an injury and did very well. Something else that adds to his worth is while Cabrera came back, the Tigers put Hicks in more at catcher and earned fantasy-eligibility there. Now that he is playing everyday at first base, fantasy owners can use him at catcher now (which has been a disastrous position this season).</p>
<p><strong>SS/1B/2B/OF Marwin Gonzalez &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>66.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;ve been waiting on Gonzalez to get hot this season. He&#8217;s such a useful fantasy player since he&#8217;s eligible all over the diamond, specifically at both flex spots. He has been on fire his week. He&#8217;s 9 for 17 with a homer and three RBI in his last five games. He has some good match-ups this coming week against the Rays and Royals. It&#8217;s time to add Gonzalez now before he&#8217;s gone.</p>
<p><strong>SS Ketel Marte &#8211; Arizona Diamondbacks &#8211; <em>31.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Marte had a slow start to the season, but has been one of the most productive middle infielders over the last two weeks. He bumped his batting average up to .245 and has scored 31 runs this season. There is where his value will be this season. He was a run scoring machine in early June. I expected him to steal more bases up to this point, but he hasn&#8217;t had the green light. Marte is a nice middle infield flex spot right now.</p>
<p><strong>3B Rafael Devers &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211; <em>73.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Devers had a god awful May. He was dumped in many leagues during his slump. His bat has come to life the last two weeks. He has 15 hits since June 6th and has a hit 11 of his last 12 games. Devers is in a hot offense and he will get pitches to hit. He&#8217;s a young hitter and will have his highs and lows. It looks like he has finally shook off the slump and is seeing the ball well. It&#8217;s time to add Devers if you dropped him (if he&#8217;s available).</p>
<p><strong>C Yan Gomes &#8211; Cleveland Indians &#8211; <em>9.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Gomes is really only playing about three or four games a week, but he&#8217;s right on the borderline of being just productive enough to own. He has made most of his opportunities and has hit over .300 in his last ten games. Catcher is really thin in fantasy, so guys like Gomes become options there. If you&#8217;re struggling at that position or want to put Gary Sanchez on the bench for awhile and need a short-term replacement? Gomes would be a great guy for that.</p>
<p><strong>SP Tyler Skaggs &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; <em>62.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Skaggs has been on a tear in June. In three June starts, he has only allowed one run in 20 innings. He is 3-0 this month with 18 strikeouts. He has been very good at home this season with nearly all his poor starts coming on the road. He now has a 2.81 ERA on the year and 1.23 WHIP. His next start is at home against Toronto, which is a good match-up for the lefty.</p>
<p><strong>SS/OF Jurickson Profar &#8211; Texas Rangers</strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; <em>46.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Profar has been a solid fantasy player over the last six weeks. He got off to a poor start, but has raised his batting average up to .239. He has hit eight homers this season and now has 40 RBI on the year. Having middle infield-eligibility helps him greatly as he is a very nice player to use in your lineup. This is the first time Profar has been able to get consistent at-bats in the Majors. He&#8217;s making the most of it and it showing everyone why he was once named the best prospect in the Majors (over guys like Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa).</p>
<p><strong>SP Mike Montgomery &#8211; Chicago Cubs &#8211; <em>13.9</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Montgomery told reporters this offseason that he preferred to be a starter. He began the year as a reliever with some success, but was able to step into the rotation for the injured Yu Darvish, with a lot of recent production. He has made four starts and has only allowed three runs in 23.2 innings. He has been pounding the strike zone and has only given a total of three free passes in those starts. His next start is at home against the Dodgers, which is a tough match-up on paper. As long as he keeps throwing strikes, he should do well at home. Montgomery is a nice spot starter this week.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14609" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="159" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg 481w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-300x136.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SS/2B/3B Asdrubal Cabrera &#8211; New York Mets &#8211; <em>86.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Cabrera is in a bad slump. He&#8217;s just 4 for 43 over the last fifteen games. The track record is still there with him and this should just be a slump. I don&#8217;t expect him to be in it for much longer as the Mets will have a series at Colorado to start to week. If anyone needs the thin air of the Rockies right now, it&#8217;s Cabrera. After that series, they are back home.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>SP Carlos Martinez &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>97.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Martinez is the ace of the Cardinals rotation, but has fell in a little slump. His ownership dropped by a percent this week (which is a big deal for someone who should be 100% owner). His next start is at Milwaukee, a team that is dominated in back-to-back starts in early-April. The Brewers are hitting better than they were then, but they are still a free-swinging team. Martinez should fool them enough to come out with a decent fantasy performance.</p>
<p><strong>OF Brandon Nimmo &#8211; New York Mets &#8211; <em>51.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Nimmon jumped into fantasy relevance a couple weeks ago when he was an extra-base hit machine. He cooled off a bit last week, but he&#8217;s back hitting well. He hit two homers last week and has back-to-back multiple-hit games. The Mets have a lot of issues on offense, but Nimmo has been one of the bright spots for their team. If you own Nimmo, there&#8217;s no need to drop him now. He&#8217;s getting in the lineup everyday and producing as well as expected.</p>
<p><strong>C Wilson Ramos &#8211; Tampa Bay Rays &#8211; <em>76.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Ramos has been a consistent fantasy catcher this year. I&#8217;m not sure why his ownership dropped a bit this week, unless it was to pickup John Hicks, Evan Gattis or Yadier Molina. There aren&#8217;t many other conceivable free agent options I would want over Ramos. The list is small and as a side note, Kevan Smith is getting close to being in that group. I&#8217;d hang onto Ramos as he&#8217;s in the lineup most days&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>SP Chris Archer &#8211; Tampa Bay Rays &#8211; <em>89.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Archer&#8217;s ownership percentage took more of a hit after another week on the DL with an abdomen injury. He had some soreness after throwing a bullpen session, but the soreness has now went away. His return date is a bit murky, but he could get a rehab outing in the next week or two. You should hold onto him and let him occupy your DL spot. The Rays will be sellers at the deadline and Archer will be coveted by contenders. He could end up in a better situation on a good team.</p>
<p><strong>1B Jesus Aguilar &#8211; Milwaukee Brewers &#8211; <em>58.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Now that Eric Thames is back (and hitting dingers), Aguilar&#8217;s playing situation took a hit, but he&#8217;s still making the most out of his playing time. He has hit three homers in his last six starts. He looks to be playing in two out of every three games. Thames actually played outfield today and got Aguilar in the lineup at first. Both guys hit homers in the game. As long as Aguilar is hitting, I think the Brewers will be creative with ways to get both Thames and Aguilar in games. He may not play every single game, like he was when Thames was on the DL, but he still have relevance in fantasy basetball.</p>
<p><strong>RP Shane Greene &#8211; Detroit Tigers &#8211; <em>60.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;m not sure why Greene isn&#8217;t owned in more leagues. Yes, he&#8217;s on a losing team, but losing teams do end up winning games by a three-run margin. Greene actually closed four games in four days-in-a-row this week. His ownership has bounced up and down, but had never been owned in much more than just half of leagues. I&#8217;d rather own Greene than any closer on the Astros or Phillies.</p>
<p><strong>3B Justin Turner &#8211; Los Angeles Dodgers &#8211; <em>89.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Turner suffered a wrist injury in Spring Training and he has landed on the DL twice because of it. His batting average is a huge perk of owning Turner, but you can&#8217;t be a consistent hitter with an injured wrist. Things are looking better for Turner as he has a four-game hitting streak. He is also starting to generate some power from his wrists. You should stick with him as things can only go up for Turner from this point foward.</p>
<p><strong>2B Cesar Hernandez &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>70.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Hernandez isn&#8217;t as productive as he was early this season, but he&#8217;s still a guy who should be owned in nearly every league. He already has double-digit steals and should end the year with 100+ runs and 20-ish homers. Where else are you going to get those numbers on the waiver wire? Hold onto him, there are many middle infielder available that will equal Hernandez&#8217;s production.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14610" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="172" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg 454w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018-300x147.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SP Daniel Mengden &#8211; Oakland A&#8217;s &#8211; <em>46.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It was only a couple weeks ago when I suggested picking up Mengden. He was throwing strikes and keeping the ball down. He has since lost control and is giving away three or four walks per start. He failed to go five innings in two of his last three starts. He could still be worth something in fantasy at times this season, but it would take a lopsided match-up. He has a start at Chicago White Sox this week and he could be a streaming option then&#8230;but he&#8217;s not a full-time rosterable starter in mixed leagues.</p>
<p><strong>2B Yoan Moncada &#8211; Chicago White Sox &#8211; <em>59.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;ve been patient with Moncada this year. He started off great, but ended up on the disabled list for a couple weeks. I&#8217;ve been waiting on him to get back going, but he has been mediocre. He needs to get on base more and cut down his strikeouts. Until he shows he can do that, he&#8217;s nothing more than an AL-only fantasy option.</p>
<p><strong>3B/DH Miguel Sano &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>53.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; <a href="https://www.winonadailynews.com/the-cases-of-miguel-sano-and-randy-rosario-show-that/article_89272551-d439-53f3-9362-eedd1a3b71b4.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Twins shocked the baseball world</a> when they demoted Sano to High-A to fix his issues at the plate and on the field. It&#8217;s unknown how long he will be down there. My guess is that he will be there for a few weeks since you don&#8217;t make a move this bold unless it&#8217;s for a significant period of time. He can&#8217;t occupy your DL-spot and you cannot afford for him to take up a roster spot for weeks. It&#8217;s time to cut him and hope for him to still be there when they bring him back. You should target Miguel Andujar, Ryan Healy or Eduardo Escobar to replace Sano on your team.</p>
<p><strong>RP Alex Colome &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>47.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Colome was traded to Seattle in May and was not expected to get many save chances as Seattle&#8217;s closer Edwin Diaz is entrenched in his role. Colome has been the setup man for Diaz and has done pretty well in that role. He hasn&#8217;t done well enough to be held onto in nearly half of leagues. His overall numbers aren&#8217;t fantasy worthy as he hasn&#8217;t even registered a strikeout in his last four appearances. If you&#8217;re looking to add a setup reliever that will help you in fantasy, I&#8217;d add Justin Miller, Jose Castillo or Seranthony Dominguez. Those guys pickup wins and strike out more batters.</p>
<p><strong>C Brian McCann &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>17.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; McCann was activated from the disabled list early this month, but has only played sporadically since his return. Max Stassi had success while McCann was nursing a sore right knee. McCann hasn&#8217;t been very good this season and he could drop down the depth chart if Stassi keeps hitting lefties well. There&#8217;s no need to keep McCann on your fantasy team, he could be done.</p>
<p><strong>OF Gregory Polanco &#8211; Pittsburgh Pirates &#8211;&nbsp;<em>68.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Polanco is not doing himself any favors by struggling when he does finally get consistent at-bats. Austin Meadows continues to take at-bats away from him, but Polanco can&#8217;t even take advantage of Meadows&#8217; recent slump. Polanco hasn&#8217;t been the same since returning from the disabled list. You should have tried to trade him when I first suggested getting right of Polanco a month ago. You can&#8217;t get much for him now, so you should just drop him. I&#8217;d rather have Ian Desmond, Joc Pederson or Jurickson Profar over Polanco.</p>
<p><strong>1B/OF Matt Adams &#8211; Washington Nationals &#8211;&nbsp;<em>51.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Adams was a godsend when the Nationals were dealt numerous injuries. He hit for power in the middle-of-the-order and no doubt helped them win a few games. Adams&#8217;s fantasy stock took a hit when they signed free agent Mark Reynolds. He has been in a platoon with him ever since. He has been able to stay in the lineup most days since the Nationals were still dealing with injuries in their outfield. The Nationals activated OF Adam Eaton last weekend, which took away the opportunity to get extra at-bats when Mark Reynolds is at first base. Adams also hurt his hand and is considered day-to-day as we speak. There are better fantasy options out there getting regular at-bats. I&#8217;d drop Adams and look to add John Hicks, Yuli Gurriel or Ryon Healy.</p>
<p><strong>SS/2B/3B Zack Cozart &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; 33.7<em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Cozart has been one of the mainstays in this section. I just don&#8217;t get why so many people have Cozart on their fantasy team. His ownership finally just dropped below 50% for the first time this season. I wish him the best of health, but you should dump him in favor of guys like Ian Kinsler, Ketel Marte or even Charlie Culberson. Cozart was put on the disabled list this weekend, so it will give fantasy owners even more incentive to drop him. He&#8217;s been overrated all year and his ownership should drop down to AL-only league level.</p>
<p><strong>1B Greg Bird &#8211; New York Yankees &#8211; <em>37.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Big things were expected when Bird was finally healthy this season. He smacked a pair of homers soon after being activated from the DL, but has been average since. It has gotten to the point where veteran Neil Walker is taking at-bats away from the young first baseman. I&#8217;m sure you added him in hopes of getting in early on Bird, but we have now seen enough from him. You should drop Bird and look to add Brandon Belt, Ian Desmond or Dominic Smith.</p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>&nbsp;&amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114"></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a>&nbsp;and contributor at&nbsp;<a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;,&nbsp;<a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">14985</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Sweetbob&#8217;s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K &#8211; June 10th</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/06/10/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-june-10th/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jun 2018 00:48:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Adam Eaton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Archer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FMK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[los angeles angels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[los angeles dodgers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philadelphia phillies]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Evan Gattis]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>We are now ten weeks into the 2018 fantasy baseball season. This week saw some fantasy studs come off the disabled list&#8230;and we also saw some consistent fantasy contributors land on the dreaded DL. Which hot hitters are we suggesting to pick up this week? We look at some players who started out hot, some [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/06/10/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-june-10th/">Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K – June 10th</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14611" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="356" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg 573w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill-295x300.jpg 295w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a>We are now ten weeks into the 2018 fantasy baseball season.</p>
<p>This week saw some fantasy studs come off the disabled list&#8230;and we also saw some consistent fantasy contributors land on the dreaded DL.</p>
<p>Which hot hitters are we suggesting to pick up this week?</p>
<p>We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe a couple young guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on June 10th, 2018.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be posting a weekly <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/fantasy-baseball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fantasy baseball</a> F/M/K every Sunday this baseball season&#8230;so keep coming back!</p>
<p><span id="more-14964"></span></p>
<p>Before I begin, let&#8217;s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys that I list under &#8220;F*ck&#8221; are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. &#8220;Marry&#8221;, are guys that you need to stick with the whole season, even if they are struggling a bit. &#8220;Kill&#8221;, are guys that need to be dropped for better players in the free agent pool.</p>
<div><i>* In the player description, the &#8220;owned %&#8221; was taken from ESPN.com leagues.</i></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14966" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="188" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1.jpg 456w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-angels1-300x153.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SP Steven Wright &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211; <em>12.3% owned</em> &#8211; </strong>Wright made his first start of the season and pitched seven scoreless innings at home against Detroit. He has another nice match-up in his next start, which is at Baltimore. Wright was once an All-Star level starter and when his <a href="https://www.mlb.com/cut4/steven-wright-struck-out-jose-iglesias-on-a-knuckleball-that-appeared-to-defy-gravity/c-279960342" target="_blank" rel="noopener">knuckleball is bouncing</a>, he&#8217;s one of Boston&#8217;s best starting options. He&#8217;s taking Drew Pomeranz&#8217;s spot in the rotation and could get one or two more starts. Pomeranz hasn&#8217;t been very good, so there&#8217;s a chance the Red Sox could drag their feet on bringing him back. At the very least, Wright will be a nice streaming starting pitching option on Monday.</p>
<p><strong>RP Blake Parker &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; <em>32.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; After Kenyan Middleton went down with a major injury, the Angels really never came out publicly and named an official closer. Parker has converted his last four save chances and appears to be the guy for the Angels. Parker should get plenty of chances to close out games since the Angels are competitive in the AL West. There are plenty of good teams in their division, so many of the Angels wins should be close. I&#8217;d rather own Parker than Ryan Tepera or Joakim Soria.</p>
<p><strong>OF Scott Schebler &#8211; Cincinati Reds &#8211; <em>18.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; The Reds don&#8217;t have many fantasy studs on their team this season. Adam Duvall, Billy Hamilton and Schebler (until late-May) were all having disappointing seasons this year. Duvall&#8217;s batting average has becoming a huge liability and Hamilton isn&#8217;t on base enough to make a difference stealing bases. Thanks to a hot bat, Schebler has raised his season batting average to .288 and had an OPS of 1.076 the last two weeks. If Duvall or Hamilton get on base more, it would boost Schebler&#8217;s fantasy stock as well. I think he&#8217;s moving from an NL-only player to being in the mix in standard mixed leagues.</p>
<p><strong>SS Brandon Crawford &#8211; San Francisco Giants &#8211; <em>66.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; This is the fourth week in a row that I&#8217;ve listed Crawford in this section. He has one of the hottest bats in the middle 2B/SS roster spot. Crawford&#8217;s batting average continues to climb as he is hitting .326 with seven homers and 28 RBI.&nbsp; He is playing everyday and rarely takes a seat (an occasional rest when an elite southpaw starts). You should pick him up in all leagues while he&#8217;s hot. The Giants are getting healthy and their offense could start to catch fire. He is turning into a long-term guy as the middle infield is then at the middle infield flex spot.</p>
<p><strong>1B/3B Max Muncy &#8211; Los Angeles Dodgers &#8211; <em>24.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Muncy has been getting regular at-bats with Justin Turner dealing with a wrist injury. Over the last two weeks, he has hit six homers, drove in 11 RBI and hit .326. Before Cody Bellinger&#8217;s recent power surge, Muncy was beginning to take starts away from him. When Turner returns from injury, Muncy should still get regular at-bats due to Bellinger&#8217;s position-flexibility. Muncy can move from third to first and Bellinger would gets some starts in the outfield to help get Muncy&#8217;s bat in the lineup. I&#8217;m not sure how long Muncy will be fantasy-relevant, but ride him while he&#8217;s hot.</p>
<p><strong>OF Adam Eaton &#8211; Washington Nationals &#8211; <em>72.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Eaton made his return from the 60-day DL on Saturday. He will be in the outfield every day with Bryce Harper and Juan Soto taking the other two spots. Michael Taylor appears to be slotted into reserve outfielder role. Eaton was an early-round selection in all fantasy drafts, but his ownership dropped down to near 50% during his lengthy stay on the disabled list. Eaton should be a fantasy difference maker since he can help you in every category. If he&#8217;s available in your league, swoop in and get him while you can.</p>
<p><strong>2B Ian Kinsler &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; <em>43.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Kinsler was a mainstay in our fantasy &#8216;KILL&#8217; section early this season. He was awful and wasn&#8217;t helping you in any fantasy category. He has turned things around and has his six homers in the last two weeks. He has jumped back into the leadoff role as well, which has greatly increased his runs production. He&#8217;s someone you should target to fill-in a need at 2B/SS short-term. I&#8217;m not sure how long this hot streak will last, but I&#8217;d add him in all mixed leagues for the time being.</p>
<p><strong>3B/OF Derek Dietrich &#8211; Miami Marlins &#8211; <em>17.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Dietrich has been killing right-handed pitching. He is hitting .484 in his last eight starts. He is a great spot start at 1B/3B in NL-only leagues and you could make a case to start him in mixed leagues against a poor-performing righty. This isn&#8217;t a long-term play, but I think he&#8217;s worth a long look since he has put together five multi-hit games since May 31st.</p>
<p><strong>C Evan Gattis &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>67.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I&#8217;ve mentioned Gattis many times in my weekly F/M/K article. I have placed him in this section for only the second time this year. He was hitting poorly and striking out like a mad man early this season. I said that he was VERY streaky and I would drop him until he catches fire. Well, I hope you were able to add him sometime in the last two weeks. He has hit nine homers in his last 22 games. He really needed to catch fire since he was being replaced at DH way too much early this season. How long will this hot streak last? He is red hot right now and he does have some nice upcoming match-ups, including the soft-pitching Royals.</p>
<p><strong>SP Marco Gonzales &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>30.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I mentioned Gonzales here last week and he got a win at Tampa Bay on Friday. Gonzales has been solid for the Mariners in 13 starts this year. He&#8217;s 7-3 with a 3.28 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 74 innings. He has only allowed three runs in his last five starts (4-0 over 33 innings). He&#8217;s still a young pitcher, so he will have some ups and downs, but he&#8217;s placing the ball where he wants right now. His next start will be Wednesday at home versus the Angels. He didn&#8217;t have a good showing the last time he faced the Angels, but as long as he keeps the ball down, he should be worth being rostered.</p>
<p><strong>SS Dansby Swanson &#8211; Atlanta Braves</strong><strong>&nbsp;&#8211; <em>34.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Swanson raised his batting average to .271 and has hit three homers since the beginning of June. He&#8217;s been getting starts batting No. 2 in the lineup and has been getting on base. The Braves have an improved offense and as long as Swanson keeps making contact, he will score and drive in RBI. He&#8217;s barely owned in just a third of leagues, so it&#8217;s time to add him to your bench in standard mixed leagues.</p>
<p><strong>SP Sonny Gray &#8211; New York Yankees &#8211; <em>60.9</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; After a rough start to his career in the Bronx, Gray has settled down and is looking like his old self. In three of his last four starts, he has allowed a run or less. He has been having more success on the road, but he has been keeping the ball inside Yankee Stadium better. His next start is at home against the Nationals, which on paper is a rough start. I believe as long as he keeps pounding the strike zone, he will do well against Washington. The Nationals don&#8217;t strike out a ton against righties, but they haven&#8217;t faced many top-tier righties this season.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14609" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="159" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg 481w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-300x136.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>OF Kevin Pillar &#8211; Toronto Blue Jays &#8211; <em>63.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Pillar may not be stealing many bases right now, but he has a hot bat. He was dropped in nearly eight percent of leagues this week. He has had three-straight multi-hit games and knocked three balls over the fence since Tuesday. He was in a bad drought in May, but he snapped out of it. Pillar is holding off Randal Grichuk since his bat is keeping him on the bench. The speed may not be there right now, but he does have nine steals on the year. The entire league isn&#8217;t running as much as last year due to risk management, but Pillar will steal double-digit more bases this season. Be patient and hold onto him right now.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>SP Nick Pivetta &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>54.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Pivetta&#8217;s ownership percentage took a hit this week after back-to-back mediocre road starts versus the Giants and Cubs. He struggles on the road, but his home numbers are outstanding. He has a 2.20 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 41 innings. His next two starts are forecast to be at home. Even though the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Bank_Park" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Phillies ballpark</a> is homer-friendly he has only given up two dingers there this season. I wouldn&#8217;t cut bait with him right now as he could have two good starts in the coming days.</p>
<p><strong>3B Rafael Devers &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211; <em>73.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Devers was outstanding early this season, but he has struggled greatly over the last two weeks. His cumulative stats haven&#8217;t been great as he has only scored one run since May 30th and just snappped a long RBI futility streak today. There are signs that he is snapping out of his slump as he has a five-game hitting streak heading into Monday. The Red Sox have a good offense and Devers is still very young. He&#8217;s going to have these cold streaks. He is a talented hitter and he&#8217;s too good to struggle for much longer.</p>
<p><strong>C Mike Zunino &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>41.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Zunino has only failed to get hits in just two games since May 30th. He is seeing the ball well and hit two more homers this week. He raised his batting average above the Mendoza line and is in the lineup nearly every day. Most catchers are stuck in a platoon, but Zunino gets more at-bats than all but a few catchers. He now has ten homers through 43 games this season. I don&#8217;t understand why his ownership percentage continues to plummet. At the very least, he should be owned in over half of eligible leagues.</p>
<p><strong>SP Chris Archer &#8211; Tampa Bay Rays &#8211; <em>91.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Archer&#8217;s ownership percentage took a hit while he&#8217;s been on the DL with an abdomen injury. He is back to pitching and could throw batting practice early this week. There&#8217;s also a chance he could come off the DL on June 14 and pitch at Yankee Stadium. He could be in line for a nice strikeout total in that game if he starts. Archer was looking like his old self right before his injury. He has only allowed two runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts. He has always been a nice source of strikeouts, but it looks like he&#8217;s not trying to force K&#8217;s as much this year, and it&#8217;s improved the rest of his fantasy numbers.</p>
<p><strong>1B/OF Ryan Braun &#8211; Milwaukee Brewers &#8211; <em>73.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Braun was a potential drop candidate just two weeks ago, but he was on fire this week. In his last three games at Philly, he had six hits, six runs, two homers and seven RBI. Some people may have prematurely dropped him when they activated Adam Eaton or picked up a trendy outfielder on a hot streak. The days of top-tier, elite fantasy production from Braun are over as he is roughly the third-best fantasy outfielder on his own team. Braun will still show flashes of his skills and he currently has a hot bat. His position-flexibility has helped his fantasy stock as well. I don&#8217;t quite understand the recent ownership drop.</p>
<p><strong>RP Wade Davis &#8211; Colorado Rockies &#8211; <em>95.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Davis may not have been very good this week, but he still leads the league with 20 saves. He blew a save on Thursday, but it was his third day-in-a-row that he pitched. The other outing he had in which he gave up runs was last Sunday in a non-save situation. Davis would need to blow a few more saves before I would even think about dropping him.</p>
<p><strong>3B/DH Miguel Sano &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>76.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Sano was on the disabled list for most of the season and he hasn&#8217;t been very good since activated. He does have seven homers on the year, but his .212 batting average has deterred some fantasy owners. He has also sat a few times in favor of Eduardo Escobar and Logan Morrison. It could be routine rest, but I doubt he would sit two games already this month if he was hitting like his career average. He occupied your DL spot for awhile and it&#8217;s too early to cut him right now. I have faith he will get hot soon since he had a series at Detroit this week.</p>
<p><strong>2B Yoan Moncada &#8211; Chicago White Sox &#8211; <em>63.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Moncada was one of the hottest young hitters before landing on the DL in early-May. He has been mediocre since being activated. He&#8217;s a talented player and should eventually help you in all categories as he also has seven steals on the season. He&#8217;s cold right now and is striking out in nearly half of his at-bats this month. I would give him another week to turn it around. He has a homestand to fix his contact issues.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14610" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="172" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg 454w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018-300x147.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>SP Alex Wood &#8211; Los Angeles Dodgers &#8211; <em>79.7% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Wood failed to go five innings in back-to-back starts. He hasn&#8217;t went more than six innings since his first start of the year. I don&#8217;t feel like he&#8217;s worth a permanent roster spot right now. I want my rostered starters to get quality starts and Wood isn&#8217;t even going long enough into games to be eligible. I&#8217;d drop him and free up a streaming spot or thinking about adding Marco Gonzales or Mike Leake to your team.</p>
<p><strong>2B Jonathan Schoop &#8211; Baltimore Orioles &#8211; <em>80.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I was all-in on Schoop this offseason. I thought he was going to continue to be the player he was last season. He landed on the DL early this year and has been a shell of himself since being activated. He did manage to snap a hitless streak with a homer today, but it&#8217;s a tad too late for me. It was his first RBI since May 25th. The Orioles offense is really bad and it&#8217;s contagious. Baltimore isn&#8217;t in win mode and players are phoning it in. I&#8217;d drop and Schoop and pick up Ian Kinsler, Yairo Munoz or Dansy Swanson.</p>
<p><strong>3B Maikel Franco &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>36.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Franco appears to have lost his starting job at third base. He has sat for four games-in-a-row with J.P. Crawford starting in his place. Crawford is a better defender, but Franco is a much better hitter. Franco needs regular at-bats and if he&#8217;s not getting them, it&#8217;s time to drop the former top prospect. It&#8217;s time to think about adding Miguel Andujar, Jeimer Candelario or Derek Dietrich to replace Franco.</p>
<p><strong>RP Ken Giles &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>76.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Over the last two seasons, the Astros have been creative in the ways they use their relievers. Ken Giles has been a constant as he has been a traditional closer for the Astros. That recently changed due to some poor outings. It has gotten to the point that Hector Rondon is now vulturing saves away from him. Giles has now been bypassed in two straight save opportunities. Houston knows their bullpen is talented enough to mix some roles around without missing a step. I don&#8217;t like the prospects of Giles getting many save opportunities going forward. I&#8217;d rather own Blake Parker or Fernando Rodney than Giles.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>C Brian McCann &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>20.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; McCann was activated from the disabled list this weekend, but has only played in one game since his return. Max Stassi had success while McCann was nursing a sore right knee. McCann hasn&#8217;t been very good this season and he could drop down the depth chart if Stassi keeps hitting lefties well. There&#8217;s no need to keep McCann on your fantasy team.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>OF Gregory Polanco &#8211; Pittsburgh Pirates &#8211;&nbsp;<em>74.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Austin Meadows is taking a bite out of Polanco&#8217;s playing time. He&#8217;s not doing himself any favors by struggling when he does get some at-bats. He hasn&#8217;t been the same since returning from the disabled list. He took a seat for three games last week. He&#8217;s the fourth outfielder right now. It might be a little premature to outright drop Polanco, since you could probably shop him around for a couple days. I don&#8217;t see his playing time improving much while Meadows has a hot bat.</p>
<p><strong>1B/OF Matt Adams &#8211; Washington Nationals &#8211;&nbsp;<em>58.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Adams was a godsend when the Nationals were dealt numerous injuries. He hit for power in the middle-of-the-order and no doubt helped them win a few games. Adams&#8217;s fantasy stock took a hit when they signed free agent Mark Reynolds. He has been in a platoon with him ever since. He has been able to stay in the lineup most days since the Nationals were still dealing with injuries in their outfield. The Nationals activated OF Adam Eaton this weekend, which will take away the opportunity to get extra at-bats when Mark Reynolds is at first base. There are better fantasy options out there getting regular at-bats. I&#8217;d drop Adams and look to add Max Muncy, Matt Olson or Jesus Aguilar.</p>
<p><strong>SS/2B/3B Zack Cozart &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; 43.3<em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Cozart has been one of the mainstays in this section. I just don&#8217;t get why so many people have Cozart on their fantasy team. His ownership finally just dropped below 50% for the first time this season. I wish him the best of health, but you should dump him in favor of guys like Ian Kinsler, Ketel Marte or even Charlie Culberson. Cozart isn&#8217;t doing anything to help you in fantasy and either one of those guys would be a huge improvement.</p>
<p><strong>OF Odubel Herrera &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>86.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Herrera is a streaky player, but his latest cold is beyond freezing. I believe he is at-risk of losing some at-bats to Aaron Altherr and, now that he&#8217;s off the DL, Rhys Hoskins. There are better outfielders out there that you won&#8217;t experience these huge slumps. Sometimes you just need a little consistency, especially in head-to-head leagues. Herrera&#8217;s streakiness is more suited for roto leagues. I&#8217;d dump him in favor of Carlos Gonzalez, Juan Soto or Franmil Reyes.</p>
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<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a>&nbsp;and contributor at&nbsp;<a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;,&nbsp;<a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">14964</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Sweetbob&#8217;s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K &#8211; May 6th</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/05/06/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-may-6th/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 May 2018 13:28:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Adam Eaton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boston red sox]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Jose Bautista]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[los angeles angels]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>We are now five weeks into the 2018 baseball season. It&#8217;s time to think about dropping some under-performing players, even if you drafted them in the middle rounds. At the same time, there are guys that you need to show a little more patience. It&#8217;s a tricky spot as you don&#8217;t want to drop a [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/05/06/sweetbobs-fantasy-baseball-f-m-k-may-6th/">Sweetbob’s Fantasy Baseball F/M/K – May 6th</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14611" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="356" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill.jpg 573w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018SweetbobBaseballFMarryKill-295x300.jpg 295w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a>We are now five weeks into the 2018 baseball season.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s time to think about dropping some under-performing players, even if you drafted them in the middle rounds. At the same time, there are guys that you need to show a little more patience. It&#8217;s a tricky spot as you don&#8217;t want to drop a guy in a slump who goes onto have an All-Star year.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>We look at some players who started out hot, some who are struggling and maybe some guys who should be targeted in your free agent pool on May 6th, 2018.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be posting a weekly <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/fantasy-baseball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fantasy baseball</a> F/M/K every Sunday this baseball season&#8230;so keep coming back!</p>
<p><span id="more-14872"></span></p>
<p>Before I begin, let&#8217;s go over the F/M/K terminology. The guys that I list under &#8220;F*ck&#8221; are guys that are currently hot and you need to pick them up. &#8220;Marry&#8221;, are guys that you need to stick with the whole season, even if they are struggling a bit. &#8220;Kill&#8221;, are guys that need to be dropped for better players in the free agent pool.</p>
<div><i>* In the player description, the &#8220;owned %&#8221; was taken from ESPN.com leagues.</i></div>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14608" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="194" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg 433w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fudge-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-300x166.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>OF Jorge Soler &#8211; Kansas City Royals &#8211; <em>28.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Soler is finally starting to pay dividends for the Royals. He is walking at a career-high pace, so he is seeing better pitches to hit. He has hit safely in nine out of his last ten games. He currently has a .297 avg, four homers and 12 RBI on the year. He is playing every day and it&#8217;s time to pick up the former elite prospect. I have a feeling his bat will stay this hot through the Summer.</p>
<p><strong>1B Matt Adams &#8211; Washington Nationals</strong><strong> &#8211; <em>12.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; The Nationals have dealt with injuries all season and Adams is finding consistent at-bats. He was awesome in fill-in duties last season for the Braves and he is showing his power with the Nationals. He has a .284 avg, seven homers and 17 RBI. Zimmerman is dealing with some tightness in his side, so Adams should be the replacement at first base if it continues to bother him. He&#8217;s an automatic NL-only league play and is a nice short-term replacement 1B/3B if you&#8217;re dealing with injuries or day off.</p>
<p><strong>SP Miles Mikolas &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>55.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Mikolas has been great since after his first two mediocre starts at the beginning of the season. He has only given up four runs in his last 28 innings over four starts. He is coming off a performance against the Cubs where he threw seven scoreless innings on the way to a win. He is currently 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 31 strikeouts. His next start is at San Diego, which should be a must-start in every league.</p>
<p><strong>C Wilson Ramos &#8211; Tampa Bay Rays &#8211; <em>63.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Catcher is super thin and if you don&#8217;t have the top six or seven catchers, you&#8217;re stuck streaming hot catchers. The current hot catcher is Wilson Ramos. He plays about four out of every six games. He currently has an eleven-game hitting streak. He brought his batting average up to .307 with four homers and 16 RBI. The Rays have a few fantasy-relevant guys on the team and Ramos is in that group.</p>
<p><strong>1B/3B Ryon Healy &#8211; Seattle Mariners &#8211; <em>20.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Healy got off to a &#8216;bowling shoe ugly&#8217; start. His average was below .100 until about two weeks ago. He has hit safely in seven out of his last nine games and has hit four homers during that stretch. His has brought his average up to .241 and this should be more of the norm for Healy. He&#8217;s a very good hitter and should have a solid average by the end of the year. He will also hit 20+ homers, so he&#8217;s worth an add to your bench in standard leagues and a start in deeper leagues.</p>
<p><strong>OF Jose Bautista &#8211; Atlanta Braves &#8211; <em>13.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Bautista was just called up to the main roster after a short time in the minors. He should be an everyday player, but not in the outfield, but at third base. He should have eligibility there by mid-May. He is coming off a very bad season and had to sign a minor league deal last offseason. I think there&#8217;s still some life left in his bat. The 37-year-old may have a couple seasons left in him as his power is still there.</p>
<p><strong>SP Jarlin Garcia &#8211; Miami Marlins &#8211; <em>48.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Garcia just keeps on having great performances. He currently has a 1.09 ERA with a 0.85 WHIP over six starts, but is only 1-0 thanks to being on a bad offensive team. He is a two-start pitcher next week against the Cubs and Braves. He already pitched six scoreless innings against the Cubs and only allowed one hit early this season. I think he&#8217;s a no-brainer start for all leagues. It stinks that he may struggle to get to double-digit wins, but his ERA and WHIP should keep him fantasy relevant.</p>
<p><strong>SS/3B Eduardo Escobar &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>50.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Escobar should be the guy you target to replace Corey Seager. I listed him in this section last week and his ownership percentage jumped by over 35% in the last seven days. He&#8217;s currently hitting .314 with six homers and 18 RBI. He doubled his power numbers this week and he his hitting safely in about every game he starts. He has position-eligibility at a few places, which makes him even more valuable. Escobar needs to be added in all leagues.</p>
<p><strong>1B/DH Logan Morrison &#8211; Minnesota Twins &#8211; <em>15.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Morrison is another guy that got off to a horrible start to the season. He had an average well under .100 until the last week and a half. He has raised his average to .179 and has hit two homers in his last three games. Thanks to injuries to Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, the Twins need at-bats from their bench. Morrison lost his starting job early in the year and is now in the lineup everyday. I think he&#8217;s due to have a big week.</p>
<p><strong>SP CC Sabathia &#8211; New York Yankees &#8211; <em>40.6% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It&#8217;s sometimes very hard to have a lot of confidence in aging starters off to a hot start. Your memory is long and remember all the bad starts over the years. Sabathia is having a career year so far for the Yankees. He&#8217;s not striking out a ton of guys, but he is currently 2-0 with a 1.39 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP over his first six starts. He&#8217;s not going deep into games, so he&#8217;s not getting overexposed by facing hitters for a third time. He is just out there throwing strikes and pitching to contact and still have some heat to make a few batters miss a game.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>3B Maikel Franco &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>34.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Franco was an annoying player to have on your fantasy team the first two weeks of the season. The Phillies were sitting him too much. He has since only sat once in the last ten games. He is hot and is currently hitting .271 with five homers and 25 RBI. Franco had a very good rookie season in 2015, but really hasn&#8217;t put together a good fantasy season since, but the guy can do it. I think you need to ride him while he&#8217;s hot and see if he can do it for a few months straight.</p>
<p><strong>SP Walker Buehler &#8211; Los Angeles Dodgers &#8211; <em>40.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Buehler was only supposed to be a spot starter to fill-in for an injury, but he has pitched his way into the starting rotation. Over three starts, he is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He isn&#8217;t going very deep in games, but he has been great so far pitching five or six innings. He could be stretched out to seven innings, but I doubt you&#8217;ll see him go any deeper than that this season. They don&#8217;t want to tire out the young righty. They will need to cap his innings as he didn&#8217;t exceed 100 innings last year.</p>
<p><strong>OF Delino DeShields &#8211; Texas Rangers &#8211; <em>37.1</em></strong><strong><em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; DeShields found himself on the disabled list early this season, but has been back for the last two weeks or so. He will be a very good source of steals and runs this season. He is currently hitting .306 with two homers, ten runs and four stolen bases. He is in the middle of a nine-game hitting streak. He should be added in all leagues as he should end the season with 30+ steals.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14609" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="159" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball.jpg 481w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Marry-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-300x136.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>2B/3B/OF Eduardo Nunez &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211; <em>86.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Nunez hasn&#8217;t been very consistent this season. He is only hitting .228, but has managed to get safely in seven of his last ten games. I have faith he will fix his issues as his BABIP is lower than his career average. He has position flexibility and should be owned in all leagues. He has been losing ownership percentage points slowly the last two weeks. You should keep him now and maybe cut him if he hasn&#8217;t improved in a couple weeks.</p>
<p><strong>2B Paul DeJong &#8211; St. Louis Cardinals &#8211; <em>85.4% owned</em></strong> &#8211; DeJong was one of my sleeper picks to have a breakout year this season. He got off to a hot start, but has fallen into a slump. He is hitless in his last four games (0 for 11), but his overall numbers aren&#8217;t bad. He is hitting .248 with seven homers and 14 RBI. People keep slowly dropping DeJong and his ownership percentage keeps dropping little by little. I wouldn&#8217;t go looking for gold my adding a &#8216;flavor of the week&#8217; young middle infielder&#8230;keep DeJong. His end-of-the-season numbers will be good.</p>
<p><strong>1B Justin Bour &#8211; Miami Marlins &#8211; <em>49.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Bour was an early-season target for many fantasy players. He started the season right on track, but a back injury has limited him over the last week. Impatient fantasy players have been dropping Bour at a fast pace. Don&#8217;t be so impatient as he has hit two homers this week and his track record shows he will have a very good season. He has already hit six homers this year and I think he could easily hit 30 by the end of the season.</p>
<p><strong>OF Adam Eaton &#8211; Washington Nationals &#8211; <em>85.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Eaton has been on the disabled list for nearly a month with a bone bruise on his ankle. The word last week was that he should have already been back, but he is still in a walking boot. I guess he is dealing with some soreness. His ownership percentage keeps falling the longer he is on the DL. Eaton will be a top-25 fantasy outfielder when he&#8217;s healthy, so a fantasy team really has to have been bitten by the injury bug for me to even think about dropping Eaton. He&#8217;s been sitting in my DL spot on a couple teams and he will stay there until he&#8217;s healthy. I know DL spots are at a premium, but there are very few other guys I&#8217;d put in there over Eaton.</p>
<p><strong>SP Drew Pomeranz &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211; <em>33.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Pomeranz started the year on the disabled list and only has three starts under his belt. Boston is still in the process of stretching him out as he has only pitched in 14.2 innings over three starts. He is expected to soon get into the seventh inning or more, maybe in his next start. He currently has a 6.14 ERA with a 1.70 WHIP, but it is such a small sample size. Pomeranz will be a good starter for the Red Sox this year and be a guy you should target every week as a spot starter and eventually roster full-time.</p>
<p><strong>2B Jonathan Schoop &#8211; Baltimore Orioles &#8211; 85.3<em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Schoop has been on the disabled list for a couple weeks and he just started his rehab assignment last week. He is expected to be activated on Tuesday in time for a series against the Royals. Schoop is a top-ten second baseman and it&#8217;s surprising so many people are leaving him out there to be sniped on the waiver wire. Schoop will be a very productive middle infielder and will make it worth the time sitting in your DL spot.</p>
<p><strong>RP Brad Hand &#8211; San Diego Padres &#8211; <em>90.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Hand currently has eight saves and has only allowed runs in just one single appearance. He has been near-automatic and has been striking guys out at a nice rate. I&#8217;m not sure who all these fantasy owners are dropping Hand for, but it&#8217;s a mistake. I&#8217;d hold onto Hand as there are zero guys waiting in the wings in case he struggles. He is a nice source of saves.</p>
<p><strong>SP Garrett Richards &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; <em>82.3% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Richards has the skills to be a full-time rostered pitcher in all leagues. He&#8217;s 4-1 with a 3.91 ERA with 45 strikeouts over seven starts. He has really only had two bad outings that skewed his overall numbers. He is averaging double-digit strikeouts per nine and is coming off a scoreless performance at Seattle. His ownership dipped after his last start at home against the Yankees, but should bounce back after the performance at Seattle. He&#8217;s worth holding onto as I think he will be a top-25 fantasy starting pitcher.</p>
<p><strong>1B/OF Ian Desmond &#8211; Colorado Rockies &#8211; <em>70.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Desmond is a tricky player to figure out. He&#8217;s actually hitting better away from the thin air of Colorado. I&#8217;ve been waiting for him to &#8216;go off&#8217; since he signed with Colorado a year ago. Injuries killed a large portion of last season and he&#8217;s not seeing the ball well this year. That being said, he can still be an asset on your team. Yes, he&#8217;s only hitting .177, but he has double digit runs and RBI and will probably finish the year with double digit steals and homers. I would hold onto him for another week. I want to see if Dahl sticks with the Major League squad, he could start taking away at-bats from Desmond&#8230;then it might be time to drop him.</p>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-14610" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="172" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018.jpg 454w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kill-FMK-Sweetbobs-Fantasy-Baseball-2018-300x147.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>2B/SS Scott Kingery &#8211; Philadelphia Phillies &#8211; <em>39.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It kills me to suggest this as he was one of my preseason sleepers. Kingery has been ice cold lately and it could be time for him to get some more seasoning down in Triple-A. He has all the upside in the world, but it might be a year too early for him. He had a great Spring and forced the Phillies hand to keep him on the Major League roster, but he&#8217;s just not being productive. I think it&#8217;s time to dump Kingery and pickup someone like Tim Anderson or Jason Kipnis.</p>
<p><strong>SP Danny Duffy &#8211; Kansas City Royals &#8211; <em>46.1% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Duffy has fallen back down to Earth after a decent start. He&#8217;s just isn&#8217;t missing bats as he has allow double-digit hits in two of his last three starts. He has also allowed 15 earned runs over his last three starts. He&#8217;s a two-start pitcher next week, but I want nothing to do with him. Batters are seeing his pitches too well and driving in runs.</p>
<p><strong>3B Matt Chapman &#8211; Oakland A&#8217;s &#8211; <em>83.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It&#8217;s time to jump off the Chapman bandwagon. He was great in April, but is 1 for 18 in May. He only has two RBI in the last two weeks. I&#8217;d rather pickup Eduardo Esobar, Evan Longoria or Ryon Healy than Chapman right now.</p>
<p><strong>2B/SS/3B Zack Cozart &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; <em>56.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; I was very down on Cozart this offseason. I didn&#8217;t see him recreating the elevated production he had last season. He was a replacement-level player for a couple years before last season. He started off this year with solid numbers, but has been on the bench a few too many times to be owned by 56% of teams. Now that Ian Kinsler and Luis Valbuena are both healthy, Cozart became a super utility player. He is also dealing with a back issue and is missing games. I&#8217;d rather own Eugenio Suarez or Maikel Franco this week.</p>
<p><strong>C Brian McCann &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>49.0% owned</em></strong> &#8211; As I said before, catcher is thin as hell. It&#8217;s crazy that I&#8217;m recommending two catcher drops in this section, but there are better ones out there. McCann is far from the days when he was a fantasy stud. He has been hitless in five of his last eight games and has shown very little power. I&#8217;d rather pickup Wilson Ramos, Francisco Cervelli or James McCann.</p>
<p><strong>SP David Price &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211;&nbsp;<em>90.9% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Price looked like his old self in his first two starts by pitching a combined 14 scoreless innings. He has since given up at least four runs in four of his next five starts. He&#8217;s even allowing some bad teams to put up some crooked numbers against him. I don&#8217;t like him right now and teams are spraying hits all over the diamond. I&#8217;d rather drop him and pick up guys to stream like Caleb Smith, CC Sabathia or Miles Mikolas.</p>
<p><strong>OF Jackie Bradley Jr. &#8211; Boston Red Sox &#8211;&nbsp;<em>31.8% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Bradley was drafted in almost every league to start the year, but he has steadily been dropped. He is striking out too much and has not been getting his bat on much. He is 2 for his last 32 at-bats, but thanks to his superb defense, he is still getting plenty of at-bats. I want nothing to do with him. You should target Nick Markakis, Eddie Rosario or Jorge Soler.</p>
<p><strong>C/DH Evan Gattis &#8211; Houston Astros &#8211; <em>57.2% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Gattis is one of the streakiest hitters in baseball. He can go a month hitting lower than .200, but then can heat up and hit a dozen homers the following month. The issue I have with Gattis right now is that he isn&#8217;t making contact, at all. His last hit was way back on April 27th. Also, Houston has been rotating the DH-spot around the lineup giving everyone at least one day off from the field every nine games. Catcher is thin as hell, but Gattis is not adding anything to your team. There are better options out there.</p>
<p><strong>2B Ian Kisler &#8211; Los Angeles Angels &#8211; 54.0<em>% owned</em></strong> &#8211; Kinsler has been one of the worst middle infielders over the last two weeks. He&#8217;s not doing anything positive for any fantasy category. He&#8217;s owned in over half of leagues and I&#8217;m sure guys are still hoping he turns back the clock and becomes fantasy relevant again&#8230;but I don&#8217;t see that happening. He has only driven in two runs, he&#8217;s batting .210 and only has one homer. I&#8217;d rather add Jose Peraza, Cesar Hernandez or Starling Castro.</p>
<p><strong>OF Michael Conforto &#8211; New York Mets &#8211; <em>76.5% owned</em></strong> &#8211; It&#8217;s time to wipe your hands clean of Conforto. You probably drafted him somewhat early in the middle rounds and you waited a couple weeks to activate him off the disabled list. You were hoping he would be great right out of the gates, but he has been bad. He is 0 for 12 in his last three games. He is hitting .187 with only one homer and six RBI. He is starting to lose at-bats to Brandon Nimmo. It stings to drop a young guy with potential, but I&#8217;d rather have Michael Brantley, Franchy Cordero or Teoscar Hernandez.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">14872</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>2018 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/03/09/2018-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Mar 2018 13:26:41 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[2018 MLB Team Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Bregman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Correa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Springer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jose Altuve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[justin verlander]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2018 MLB Team Preview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dallas Keuchel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Gattis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gerrit Cole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justin Verlander]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=13366</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Houston Astros did everything right last season and won the World Series. They were arguably the best team from beginning to end. Houston didn&#8217;t stand pat hoping the current squad was good enough to win another championship. They went out and traded for another arm (starter Gerrit Cole) to bolster what was already one [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2018/03/09/2018-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/">2018 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-George-Springer.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-13367" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-George-Springer.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="453" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-George-Springer.jpg 515w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-George-Springer-221x300.jpg 221w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /></a>The <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/houston-astros/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Houston Astros</a> did everything right last season and won the World Series. They were arguably the best team from beginning to end.</p>
<p>Houston didn&#8217;t stand pat hoping the current squad was good enough to win another championship. They went out and traded for another arm (starter Gerrit Cole) to bolster what was already one of the best rotations in the Majors.</p>
<p>The AL West is always a competitive race. Nearly every team in the division made big moves this offseason. It will be hard for Houston to repeat last year&#8217;s success against an improved Angels and Mariners rosters.</p>
<p>Can the Astros repeat and win back-to-back rings?</p>
<p>Here is the 2018 MLB season preview for the Houston Astros.</p>
<p><span id="more-13366"></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>2017 Win/Loss Record</strong></em></span>:&nbsp;101-61</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Additions</strong></em></span>: SP Gerrit Cole, RP Hector Rondon, RP Joe Smith, RP Buddy Boshers &amp; C Tim Federowicz,&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Losses</strong></em></span>: DH Carlos Beltran, RP Luke Gregerson, SP Francisco Liriano, RP Tyler Clippard, SP Joe Musgrove, RP Michael Feliz, SP Mike Fiers, OF Cameron Maybin, C Juan Centeno,&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Interleague Schedule</strong></em></span>: NL&nbsp;West</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starters</strong></em></span>:&nbsp;Brian McCann, Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Marwin Gonzalez, George Springer, Josh Reddick &amp; AJ Reed</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starting Rotation</strong></em></span>: Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Gerrit Cole, Lance McCullers Jr. &amp; Charlie Morton</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Closer</span>:</strong>&nbsp;Ken Giles</p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Fantasy Sleeper</strong></span>:&nbsp;</em><b>C/DH Evan Gattis</b>&nbsp;&#8211; Carlos Beltran retired and the Astros will use Gattis as the primary designated hitter this season. This should bump up his at-bats by a huge amount. Last year, due to the crowded Astros lineup, he only ended up with 300 at-bats. He&#8217;s really streaky, but his end-of-the-year numbers always end up pretty good when given at-bats. He should be drafted in all leagues.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Prospects To Keep Your Eye On</strong></em></span>:&nbsp;<strong>OF Kyle Tucker</strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The Astros dealt quite a few prospects over the last two seasons to improve their big league roster. They held onto Tucker with hopes that he could slide into the Major League roster as early as this season. Last year, he hit 25 homers in-betwen High-A and Double-A. If there is an injury in the outfield or they decide to move Marwin Gonzalez to another position, Tucker would be someone to step in right away. He&#8217;s an excellent defender and could play any spot in the outfield.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Team Analysis</strong></em></span>: The Astros were finally able to cash-in on their years of futility by winning the World Series. They stockpiled a lot of talent, traded a few away for All-Star talent, and also developed some draft picks into All-Stars themselves.</p>
<p>Houston added Justin Verlander late last season and acquired SP Gerrit Cole from the Pirates this offseason. Their five-man rotation is stacked and among the best in the Majors. The bullpen will be overlooked at times due to the big named starters. Closer Ken Giles along with Chris Devenski are a nice one-two punch to end games. Devenski was used in an Andrew Miller-like role for Houston last year and had one of the best K/9 rates in baseball.</p>
<p>The Astros got career years from guys like Josh Reddick and Marwin Gonzalez. It would be hard for either guy to keep up those offensive numbers. Even if their production takes a hit, the rest of the lineup is still great enough to win the AL West. Are they good enough to win 100+ games in 2018? Yes, but they could have a World Series hangover to start the year. Their 97.5 win over/under number is a difficult number to hit. A team would need to avoid major injuries. I usually always bet against a total that high and I think they will barely miss it this season. I predict they will win the AL West, and now have enough postseason experience, they could start to coast at the tail-end of the season.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2018 Wins Over/Under Betting Line</strong></span>: 97.5&nbsp;(<i>Prediction:&nbsp;<strong>UNDER</strong></i><i>)</i></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2018 Projected Win/Loss Record</strong></span>: 96-66 (1st AL West)</p>
<p><b><i><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/2018-MLB-Team-Previews/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE to read the rest of our 2018 MLB Team Previews</a></i></b></p>
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<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114"></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a>&nbsp;and contributor at&nbsp;<a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;,&nbsp;<a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">13366</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>2017 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2017/03/07/2017-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Mar 2017 13:28:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[2017 MLB Team Previews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Beltran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Correa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Springer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jose Altuve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2017 MLB Team Preview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alex Bregman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brian McCann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dallas Keuchel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Gattis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=11472</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Almost everyone expected the Astros to make the postseason last year, but their starting pitching collapsed. Dallas Keuchel followed up his Cy Young award season in 2015 with a season that saw him lose more games than he won. The advanced metrics showed he was a little unlucky and was better than his ERA and [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2017/03/07/2017-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/">2017 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-Brian-McCann-funny.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-11485"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-11485" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-Brian-McCann-funny.jpg" alt="2017-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-Brian-McCann-funny" width="333" height="413" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-Brian-McCann-funny.jpg 528w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-MLB-Season-Team-Preview-Houston-Astros-Brian-McCann-funny-242x300.jpg 242w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /></a>Almost everyone expected the Astros to make the postseason last year, but their starting pitching collapsed. Dallas Keuchel followed up his Cy Young award season in 2015 with a season that saw him lose more games than he won. The advanced metrics showed he was a little unlucky and was better than his ERA and win-loss record would suggest.</p>
<p>Houston decided to invest in some veteran talent this offseason. They signed guys with playoff experience like Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann. Will those signings payoff are they just getting in the way of a younger guy needing at-bats?</p>
<p>Could Carlos Correa or George Springer turn into potential MVP candidates?</p>
<p>Here is the 2017 MLB season preview for the Houston Astros.</p>
<p><span id="more-11472"></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>2016 Win/Loss Record</strong></em></span>: 84-78</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Additions</strong></em></span>: C Brian McCann, OF Norichika Aoki, OF Josh Reddick, OF Carlos Beltran, SP Charlie Morton, SP C.J. Riefenhauser &amp; SS Reid Brignac</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Losses</strong></em></span>: OF Colby Rasmus, 3B Luis Valbuena, RP Pat Neshek, SP Doug Fister &amp; C Jason Castro,</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Interleague Schedule</strong></em></span>: NL East</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starters</strong></em></span>: Brian McCann, Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Norichika Aoki, George Springer, Josh Reddick &amp; Carlos Beltran</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starting Rotation</strong></em></span>: Dallas Keuchel, Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers, Lance McCullers &amp; Charlie Morton</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Closer</span>:</strong> Ken Giles</p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Fantasy Sleeper</strong></span>: </em><b>3B Yulieski Gurriel</b> &#8211; <a href="http://www.khou.com/sports/yuli-gurriel-rested-ready-for-1st-full-astros-season/386857257" target="_blank">Gurriel was a stud in Cuba</a> and hit well over .300 for many seasons down there. The 32-year-old may take a month or so to get hot, but I think he could be a big difference maker for the Astros. Houston has a lot of guys who strike out a lot. Gurriel struck out in less than 10% of his at-bats in Cuba. That number will jump up some in the Majors, but I don&#8217;t expect it to jump by much. Gurriel should help you in average and he does have some double-digit homer pop in his bat.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Prospects To Keep Your Eye On</strong></em></span>: <strong>SP Francis Martes</strong> &#8211; Martes is turning into a real gem for the Astros. They got him in a trade with the Marlins for Jarred Cosart in 2014. His fastball is nasty and has hit 100 mph. He tends to initially struggle when promoted, but makes adjustments and improves. He&#8217;s only 21 years old and he will start the year in Triple-A. He could develop into a front-of-the-rotation starter.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Team Analysis</strong></em></span>: I was all-in on the Astros before last season, but they struggled early. The front of their rotation wasn&#8217;t doing well and they were losing the games started by the same starters who carried them in 2015. They will need more consistency from Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh this season.</p>
<p>The Astros were a young team that peaked a little too early in 2015. Expectations were too high going into last season. They still had a good season, but many didn&#8217;t expect them to miss the postseason, especially after Jose Altuve&#8217;s MVP-worthy season and for the fact that George Springer and Carlos Correa both stayed healthy all season.</p>
<p>The Astros signed some veterans to help lead some of the young talent. I like the signing of Nori Aoki and Josh Reddick. I think both will work well and they get on base at a nice rate. I do worry about the signings of Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran. They could limit the at-bats of Evan Gattis. Gattis didn&#8217;t start the season very well last year, but he was a monster after the All Star break.</p>
<p>The AL West is going to be a hard division for any team to win. The Astros, Rangers and Mariners are the favorites, but the A&#8217;s and Angels aren&#8217;t easy wins. I have the Astros coming up a few games short of winning the division, but they will once again be in the Wild Card race.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2017 Wins Over/Under Betting Line</strong></span>: 90.5 (<i>Prediction: <strong>UNDER</strong></i><i>)</i></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2017 Projected Win/Loss Record</strong></span>: 86-76 (2nd AL West)</p>
<p><b><i><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/2017-MLB-Team-Previews/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE to read the rest of our 2017 MLB Team Previews</a></i></b></p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">11472</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Three Players Elected Into Baseball Hall of Fame</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2017/01/19/three-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2017 05:58:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[texas rangers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hall of Fame]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Montreal Expos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PEDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas Rangers]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=11297</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Baseball Writers&#8217; Association of America revealed the results of their Hall of Fame vote this afternoon. Three former MLB players earned induction into this year&#8217;s Hall of Fame class. Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez received more than the 75% threshold to earn induction. Bagwell and Raines have been on the ballot for [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2017/01/19/three-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame/">Three Players Elected Into Baseball Hall of Fame</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Tim-Raines-Rock-2017-Baseball-Hall-of-Fame-Montreal-Expos.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-11298"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-11298" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Tim-Raines-Rock-2017-Baseball-Hall-of-Fame-Montreal-Expos.jpg" alt="Tim Raines Rock 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame Montreal Expos" width="333" height="387" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Tim-Raines-Rock-2017-Baseball-Hall-of-Fame-Montreal-Expos.jpg 622w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Tim-Raines-Rock-2017-Baseball-Hall-of-Fame-Montreal-Expos-258x300.jpg 258w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /></a>The Baseball Writers&#8217; Association of America revealed the results of their Hall of Fame vote this afternoon. Three former MLB players earned induction into this year&#8217;s Hall of Fame class.</p>
<p>Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez received more than the 75% threshold to earn induction. Bagwell and Raines have been on the ballot for quite awhile, but Pudge earned his election on his first time on the ballot.</p>
<p>There were plenty of players that fell short of the 75% threshold and one player surprised most people by falling short of receiving 5% of the vote to stay on the ballot.</p>
<p><span id="more-11297"></span>Jeff Bagwell earned his election into Cooperstown on his seventh try. He spent his entire MLB career with the Houston Astros. He was a Rookie of the Year in 1991 and then went on to win the MVP in 1994. He was part of the &#8216;Killer B&#8217;s&#8217; with Craig Biggio and a rotating cast of Derek Bell and Lance Berkman rounding out the third player. The reason it took this long to induct Bagwell was due to rumors of PED use during his career. He never failed a test or ever implicated in any major PED bust, but <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/jose-canseco-rants-twitter-jeff-bagwell-hall-article-1.2949746" target="_blank">due to his jacked physique and power numbers</a>, people assumed he was on something.</p>
<p>Tim Raines earned his spot in the Hall of Fame in his 10th and final year. Even though he hasn&#8217;t played in almost 15 years, his numbers just kept getting better. It&#8217;s due to the increased popularity in analytics. His ability to get on base, achieve a high success rate stealing bases and have a career WAR of 68.4, all helped his case. His induction is long overdue.</p>
<p>Pudge Rodriguez gets the distinction as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He spent 20 season in the Majors and ranks high in many categories by a catcher. His glove and arm earned him praise early in his career. At the plate, he was first just great contact hitter with a career average of .296. His power numbers increased later in his career and so did his muscles. He was never implicated in the Mitchell Report or Biogenesis, but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/sports/baseball/ivan-rodriguez-hall-of-fame-steroids.html" target="_blank">Jose Canseco did admit that he personally injected him with steroids and HGH</a> in his book &#8220;Juiced&#8221;.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s talk about the players who didn&#8217;t get in this year. Here&#8217;s a list of players that earned a spot on next year&#8217;s ballot, but didn&#8217;t get in this year.</p>
<ul>
<li>Trevor Hoffman &#8211; 74.00%</li>
<li>Vladimir Guerrero &#8211; 71.70%</li>
<li>Edgar Martinez &#8211; 58.60%</li>
<li>Roger Clemens &#8211; 54.10%</li>
<li>Barry Bonds &#8211; 53.80%</li>
<li>Mike Mussina &#8211; 51.80%</li>
<li>Curt Schilling &#8211; 45.00%</li>
<li>Lee Smith* &#8211; 34.20%</li>
<li>Manny Ramirez &#8211; 23.80%</li>
<li>Larry Walker &#8211; 21.90%</li>
<li>Fred McGriff &#8211; 21.70%</li>
<li>Jeff Kent &#8211; 16.70%</li>
<li>Gary Sheffield &#8211; 13.30%</li>
<li>Billy Wagner &#8211; 10.20%</li>
<li>Sammy Sosa &#8211; 8.60%</li>
</ul>
<p>(* final year of eligibility)</p>
<p>Clemens and Bonds increased their percentage by over 10% this year, so they keep edging closer to induction even though they have been strongly-tied to PEDs.</p>
<p>There will be one glaring omission from next year&#8217;s ballot, Jorge Posada. <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/baseball-hall-of-fame-results-jorge-posada-joins-best-one-and-done-players-list/" target="_blank">He received less than 5% of the vote</a>, which was a huge surprise. Voters are only able to vote for maximum of 10 players, so due to the backlog of &#8216;steroid era&#8217; players, it hurt his shot at staying on the ballot.</p>
<p>Jim Thome, Chipper Jones and Omar Vizquel are the notable names among first-time candidates next year. You could make strong arguments for all three to be inducted next year. It will be an interesting to see if Bonds or Clemens also earn a spot.</p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a></em></p>
<p><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&amp;linkname=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&amp;linkname=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&amp;linkname=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&amp;linkname=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_copy_link" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/copy_link?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&amp;linkname=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" title="Copy Link" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_pinterest" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/pinterest?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&amp;linkname=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" title="Pinterest" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fthree-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame%2F&#038;title=Three%20Players%20Elected%20Into%20Baseball%20Hall%20of%20Fame" data-a2a-url="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2017/01/19/three-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame/" data-a2a-title="Three Players Elected Into Baseball Hall of Fame"></a></p>The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2017/01/19/three-players-elected-into-baseball-hall-of-fame/">Three Players Elected Into Baseball Hall of Fame</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">11297</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>2016 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2016/03/11/2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2016 11:35:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[2016 MLB Team Preview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Correa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Springer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jose Altuve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Gomez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dallas Keuchel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Gattis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=10504</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Houston has spent most of the last decade picking at the top of the MLB amateur draft. They made no apologies for taking this strategy. Houston was finally heralded for their decision when the Astros made their first postseason appearance since 2005. The Astros are in a similar situation as the Chicago Cubs. They both [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2016/03/11/2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/">2016 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Ken-Giles-Houston-Astros-2016-mlb-season-preview-americas-white-boy.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-10536"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-10536" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Ken-Giles-Houston-Astros-2016-mlb-season-preview-americas-white-boy.jpg" alt="Ken Giles Houston Astros 2016 mlb season preview america's white boy" width="333" height="446" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Ken-Giles-Houston-Astros-2016-mlb-season-preview-americas-white-boy.jpg 416w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Ken-Giles-Houston-Astros-2016-mlb-season-preview-americas-white-boy-224x300.jpg 224w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /></a>Houston has spent most of the last decade picking at the top of the MLB amateur draft. They made no apologies for taking this strategy. Houston was finally heralded for their decision when the Astros made their first postseason appearance since 2005.</p>
<p>The Astros are in a similar situation as the Chicago Cubs. They both have a roster full of young talent and still have strong farm systems. They have the extra benefit of trading some youth for established talent or they could always just sit on them and keep developing. It&#8217;s a decision both teams will struggle with as they contend.</p>
<p>Could Carlos Correa or George Springer turn into potential MVP candidates?</p>
<p>Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Houston Astros.</p>
<p><span id="more-10504"></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>2015 Win/Loss Record</strong></em></span>: 86-76</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Additions</strong></em></span>: RP Ken Giles, SP Doug Fister, RP Neal Cotts, SP Wandy Rodriguez &amp; 2B Danny Worth</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Losses</strong></em></span>: 1B Chris Carter, 3B Jed Lowrie, SP Scott Kazmir, SP Brett Oberholtzer, RP Chad Qualls, SP Vince Velasquez, RP Joe Thatcher, RP Oliver Perez, C Hank Conger, SS Jonathan Villar &amp; OF Robbie Grossman</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Interleague Schedule</strong></em></span>: NL Central</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starters</strong></em></span>: Jason Castro, Jon Singleton, Jose Altuve, Luis Valbuena, Carlos Correa, Colby Rasmus, Carlos Gomez, George Springer &amp; Evan Gattis</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starting Rotation</strong></em></span>: Dallas Keuchel, Collin McHugh, Lance McCullers, Doug Fister &amp; Scott Feldman</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Closer</span>:</strong> Ken Giles</p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Fantasy Sleeper</strong></span>: </em><b>1B A.J. Reed</b> &#8211; Reed has to win the first base job, but he doesn&#8217;t have much competition. Jon Singleton has had every opportunity to win the job in the past, but he has never held onto it. Reed is only 22 years old, but he hit .340 and knocked 34 homers in-between High-A and Double-A last season. It would be a huge jump to the Majors, but if he plays well in Spring Training, he could be a nice sleeper.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Prospects To Keep Your Eye On</strong></em></span>: <strong>3B Colin Moran</strong> &#8211; Luis Valbuena hit for power last season for the Astros, but his batting average was abysmal. Moran has his for average in back-to-back seasons at Double-A and has a little pop. He has yet to cracked double-digit homers in Double-A, but he has hit a lot of extra-base hits. He could be a nice replacement for Valbuena if he struggles at the plate again.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Team Analysis</strong></em></span>: Astros fans didn&#8217;t expect this team to reach the playoffs last season. They started the season on fire and proved to be no fluke. They even added Carlos Gomez later in the year. Did they overachieve last year?</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve seen young teams have a big year and then fall back down to Earth the next year. I don&#8217;t see that happening in Houston. The organization took their sweet time rebuilding the team and picked high in the draft for many years. Their farm system is still pretty stacked even though most of their roster is home-grown.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m curious to see what a full year of a Correa/Springer/Gomez/Altuve lineup. Their speed will prove to be annoying to defenses. I expect Gomez to bounce back from an average season last year. He is protected in this lineup, so he should see some good pitches.</p>
<p>Houston might have the 2nd or 3rd best bullpen this year. <a href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/phillies-trade-ken-giles-astros.html" target="_blank">I liked the Ken Giles acquisition</a>, but they could have paid a little too much in the long-term. They need a strong bullpen since the back-end of their rotation isn&#8217;t very strong. I would love to see them acquire another front-of-the-line starter before the trade deadline. They will battle Texas and Los Angeles for the AL West crown.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2016 Wins Over/Under Betting Line</strong></span>: 88 (<i>Prediction: <strong>OVER</strong></i><i>)</i></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2016 Projected Win/Loss Record</strong></span>: 90-72 (1st AL West)</p>
<p><b><i><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/2016-MLB-Team-Preview/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE to read the rest of our 2016 MLB Team Previews</a></i></b></p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
<p><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&amp;linkname=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&amp;linkname=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&amp;linkname=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&amp;linkname=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_copy_link" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/copy_link?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&amp;linkname=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" title="Copy Link" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_pinterest" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/pinterest?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&amp;linkname=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" title="Pinterest" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Famericaswhiteboy.com%2F2016%2F03%2F11%2F2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros%2F&#038;title=2016%20MLB%20Season%20Preview%3A%20Houston%20Astros" data-a2a-url="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2016/03/11/2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/" data-a2a-title="2016 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros"></a></p>The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2016/03/11/2016-mlb-season-preview-houston-astros/">2016 MLB Season Preview: Houston Astros</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">10504</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>How Did We Do?: 2015 MLB Team Win Over/Under</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/10/14/how-did-we-do-2015-mlb-team-win-overunder/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2015 01:20:35 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[chicago cubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gambling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jake Arrieta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new york mets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chicago Cubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gambling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Mets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[over/under]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=10123</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s time to pop the champagne, guys! Before the season began, we wrote a team preview for each MLB team. We broke down all the new players, former players, possible fantasy sleepers and (most importantly) picked an over/under win total. We&#8217;ve always done really well with our MLB Over/Unders in the past and we kicked [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/10/14/how-did-we-do-2015-mlb-team-win-overunder/">How Did We Do?: 2015 MLB Team Win Over/Under</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/funny-chicago-cubs-wild-card-celebration-2015-jake-arrieta.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-10124" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/funny-chicago-cubs-wild-card-celebration-2015-jake-arrieta.jpg" alt="funny-chicago-cubs-wild-card-celebration-2015-jake-arrieta" width="333" height="477" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/funny-chicago-cubs-wild-card-celebration-2015-jake-arrieta.jpg 480w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/funny-chicago-cubs-wild-card-celebration-2015-jake-arrieta-209x300.jpg 209w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px" /></a>It&#8217;s time to pop the champagne, guys!</p>
<p>Before the season began, we wrote a team preview for each MLB team. We broke down all the new players, former players, possible fantasy sleepers and (most importantly) picked an over/under win total.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve always done really well with our MLB Over/Unders in the past and we kicked ass in 2015.</p>
<p>We went 18-11-1 on the year. We hit on all the sleepers, but missed horribly on the Houston Astros (we thought they were still a year away). Vegas definitely cleaned house on the Angels and Nationals. I don&#8217;t know many who picked their under win totals.</p>
<p>We list all the teams and what their over/under win totals were at the beginning of the 2015 MLB season. See which ones we hit and missed on this year.</p>
<p><span id="more-10123"></span><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/01/2015-mlb-team-preview-arizona-diamondbacks" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Arizona Diamondbacks</span></a> &#8211; 72.5- <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/01/2015-mlb-team-preview-atlanta-braves/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Atlanta Braves</span></a>&#8211; 74.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/01/2015-mlb-team-preview-baltimore-orioles" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Baltimore Orioles</span></a> &#8211; 82.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/02/2015-mlb-team-preview-boston-red-sox/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Boston Red Sox</span></a> &#8211; 85.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/02/2015-mlb-team-preview-chicago-cubs/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Chicago Cubs</span></a> &#8211; 83 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/02/2015-mlb-team-preview-chicago-white-sox" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Chicago White Sox</span></a> &#8211; 82 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/03/2015-mlb-team-preview-cincinnati-reds/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Cincinnati Reds</span></a> &#8211; 78.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/03/2015-mlb-team-preview-cleveland-indians/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Cleveland Indians</span></a> &#8211; 85 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/03/2015-mlb-team-preview-colorado-rockies/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Colorado Rockies</span></a> &#8211; 71.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/04/2015-mlb-team-preview-detroit-tigers/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Detroit Tigers</span></a> &#8211; 85 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/04/2015-mlb-team-preview-houston-astros/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Houston Astros</span></a> &#8211; 76 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/04/2015-mlb-team-preview-kansas-city-royals/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Kansas City Royals</span></a> &#8211; 79.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/05/2015-mlb-team-preview-los-angeles-angels/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Los Angeles Angels</span></a> &#8211; 88.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/05/2015-mlb-team-preview-los-angeles-dodgers/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Los Angeles Dodgers</span></a> &#8211; 92.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/05/2015-mlb-team-preview-miami-marlins/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Miami Marlins</span></a> &#8211; 62.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/06/2015-mlb-team-preview-milwaukee-brewers/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Milwaukee Brewers</span></a> &#8211; 78.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/06/2015-mlb-team-preview-minnesota-twins/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Minnesota Twins</span></a> &#8211; 71.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/06/2015-mlb-team-preview-new-york-mets/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Mets</span></a> &#8211; 82.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/07/2015-mlb-team-preview-new-york-yankees/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Yankees</span></a> &#8211; 82 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/07/2015-mlb-team-preview-oakland-athletics/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Oakland A&#8217;s</span></a> &#8211; 81.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/07/2015-mlb-team-preview-philadelphia-phillies" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Philadelphia Phillies</span></a> &#8211; 68.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/08/2015-mlb-team-preview-pittsburgh-pirates" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pittsburgh Pirates</span></a> &#8211; 85.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/08/2015-mlb-team-preview-san-diego-padres/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">San Diego Padres</span></a> &#8211; 84.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/09/2015-mlb-team-preview-san-francisco-giants/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">San Francisco Giants</span></a> &#8211; 84 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>PUSH</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/09/2015-mlb-team-preview-seattle-mariners/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Seattle Mariners</span></a> &#8211; 87 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/09/2015-mlb-team-preview-st-louis-cardinals/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">St. Louis Cardinals</span></a> &#8211; 88.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/09/2015-mlb-team-preview-tampa-bay-rays/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tampa Bay Rays</span></a> &#8211; 79.5 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>LOSER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/12/2015-mlb-team-preview-texas-rangers/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Texas Rangers</span></a> &#8211; 79 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/12/2015-mlb-team-preview-toronto-blue-jays/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Toronto Blue Jays</span></a> &#8211; 83.5 &#8211; <em>OVER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong><br />
<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/23/2015-mlb-team-preview-washington-nationals/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Washington Nationals</span></a> &#8211; 94 &#8211; <em>UNDER</em> &#8211; <strong>WINNER</strong></p>
<p><b><i><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/2015-MLB-Team-Preview/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE to read the rest of our 2015 MLB Team Previews</a></i></b></p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">10123</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Astros Promote Top Prospect Carlos Correa</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/06/08/astros-promote-top-prospect-carlos-correa/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2015 00:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Carlos Correa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Springer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lance McCullers Jr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mark Appel]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=9644</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Houston Astros made a bold move today by promoting top prospect shortstop Carlos Correa. The 20-year was selected #1 overall in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft. He was drafted ahead of current MLB players Addison Russell, Joey Gallo and teammate Lance McCullers Jr. Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow once said they were prepared to [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/06/08/astros-promote-top-prospect-carlos-correa/">Astros Promote Top Prospect Carlos Correa</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Carlos-Correa-Houston-Astros-MLB-2015-debut.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-9645 alignright" alt="Carlos Correa Houston Astros MLB 2015 debut" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Carlos-Correa-Houston-Astros-MLB-2015-debut.jpg" width="323" height="428" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Carlos-Correa-Houston-Astros-MLB-2015-debut.jpg 454w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Carlos-Correa-Houston-Astros-MLB-2015-debut-227x300.jpg 227w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px" /></a>The Houston Astros made a bold move today by <a href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/06/astros-promote-carlos-correa.html" target="_blank">promoting top prospect shortstop Carlos Correa</a>. The 20-year was selected #1 overall in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft. He was drafted ahead of current MLB players Addison Russell, Joey Gallo and teammate Lance McCullers Jr.</p>
<p>Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow once said they were prepared to take their time in developing Correa, but that plan is difficult to do when your team is currently in the first place and your top prospect is killing it in the minors.</p>
<p>Correa is a big 6&#8217;4 shortstop that is expected to develop decent power. He has already hit ten homers in 246 minor league at-bats this season.</p>
<p><span id="more-9644"></span>Are the Astros legit contenders in the American League? It&#8217;s a bit too early to say. They are one of the youngest teams in the Majors and promoting Correa makes them even younger. Houston is currently in the first place in the AL West with a record of 34-24. They could surprise us all by staying in the race all season&#8230;we have seen crazier things.</p>
<p>Houston has been drafting near the top of the MLB Amateur Draft for the last four or five seasons. They have amassed a farm system that rivals the best in baseball. They have promoted George Springer, Vince Velasquez and Lance McCullers Jr. the last two years and still have pitchers Mark Appel and Michael Feliz developing in the minors.</p>
<p>Houston will be a legit contender soon and could very well be good for a long time.</p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em></em><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">9644</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>MLB: Underdogs Against Spread Having Great Start</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/06/02/mlb-underdogs-against-spread-having-great-start/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2015 06:07:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[gambling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Springer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minnesota twins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new york mets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[point spreads]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports betting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports gambling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[against the spread]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minnesota Twins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York Mets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[over/under]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=9605</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Major League Baseball season is roughly two months old and underdogs have been on roll against the spread so far. Underdogs (home and road) have won in 63% of games this year. It&#8217;s not unusual for underdogs to get off to a hot start, but I could see the streak continue well into July. [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/06/02/mlb-underdogs-against-spread-having-great-start/">MLB: Underdogs Against Spread Having Great Start</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/George-Springer-road-dogs-mlb-2015-houston-astros.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-9608 alignright" alt="George Springer road dogs mlb 2015 houston astros" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/George-Springer-road-dogs-mlb-2015-houston-astros.jpg" width="341" height="486" srcset="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/George-Springer-road-dogs-mlb-2015-houston-astros.jpg 379w, https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/George-Springer-road-dogs-mlb-2015-houston-astros-210x300.jpg 210w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px" /></a>The Major League Baseball season is roughly two months old and underdogs have been on roll against the spread so far.</p>
<p>Underdogs (home and road) have won in 63% of games this year. It&#8217;s not unusual for underdogs to get off to a hot start, but I could see the streak continue well into July.</p>
<p>Minnesota, Houston and the New York Mets all currently have at least a share of their respective divisions. All three teams weren&#8217;t expected to contend for their divisions this year (although I predicted a <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/06/2015-mlb-team-preview-new-york-mets/#sthash.zEUVvPnZ.dpbs" target="_blank">possible Wild-Card spot for the Mets</a>), so they have all helped the underdog winning percentage.</p>
<p>Will these teams hit a wall when they begin to be consistently favored against the spread?</p>
<p><span id="more-9605"></span>Before we look at Houston, Minnesota and New York, let&#8217;s first look at a few teams that haven&#8217;t lived up to the preseason hype.</p>
<p>At the start of the season, teams like Toronto, Boston, San Diego and the Chicago White Sox were all expected to be division contenders. They currently sit at a combined record of 93-112 so far.</p>
<p>Toronto was supposed to have the best offense in the Majors&#8230;and they do, but they have also given up the most runs in the Majors. Also, Chicago&#8217;s acquisition of Jeff Samardzija hasn&#8217;t paid off, Boston&#8217;s bats haven&#8217;t gotten going yet and San Diego might have buyer&#8217;s remorse after trading for Matt Kemp. I expect them all to finish the season stronger than they started. This will should eventually help out the end-of-season underdog win percentage, since they aren&#8217;t being favored in too many games right now.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s now look at the surprise teams so far this season.</p>
<p>&#8211; Houston has a boom or bust offense, but their strong starting pitching has been why they are currently atop the AL West. Their hitters may lead the league in strikeouts (they are currently second behind the Chicago Cubs), but with guys like Evan Gattis, Chris Carter and George Springer, their slugging percentage will be near the top of the Majors. If Dallas Keuchel continues to dominate as the ace of the staff, he will get Cy Young consideration. I also expect Houston to start calling up some of their blue-chip prospects like Carlos Correa soon.</p>
<p>&#8211; I knew <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/06/2015-mlb-team-preview-minnesota-twins/#sthash.Ugbm4Aik.dpbs" target="_blank">Minnesota would be better</a> than their preseason over/under win total of 71.5, but didn&#8217;t expect such a hot start. They are taking care of business at home (19-7) and sometimes that&#8217;s a team needs to do to win a division. Also, the 39-year-old Torii Hunter is playing like he&#8217;s 28 years old. I don&#8217;t expect Minnesota to keep playing this great all year. Their starting rotation has been getting rocked, but their bullpen has been bailing them out. Phil Hughes and Ricky Nolasco has pitched below replacement level so far.</p>
<p>&#8211; The New York Mets was my sleeper pick to do some damage in the National League. I predicted this before <a href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/zack-wheeler-has-torn-elbow-ligament-tommy-john-likely.html" target="_blank">Zack Wheeler was lost for the season</a>. I knew they had some minor league arms that could eventually fill his spot in the rotation, but Noah Syndergaard has been better than advertised (his ERA currently sits at 1.82). They are currently using a six-man starting rotation, which is perfect for this staff. You don&#8217;t want the 42-year-old Bartolo Colon to breakdown by year&#8217;s end and Matt Harvey is coming off Tommy John surgery. I would rarely recommend this strategy, but the Mets are doing what best fits their goals.</p>
<p>I expect the end-of-the-year underdog winning percentage to stay high all year. I would keep hitting them hard through the All-Star Break. Teams out of contention will begin to deal players and then it would be wise to possibly flip your betting strategy.</p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em> <em></em><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>
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		<title>2015 MLB Team Preview: Houston Astros</title>
		<link>https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/04/2015-mlb-team-preview-houston-astros/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bobby Roberts]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2015 19:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[2015 MLB Team Preview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carlos Correa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Springer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston Astros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jose Altuve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evan Gattis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jed Lowrie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonathan Villar]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://americaswhiteboy.com/?p=9066</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Houston has spent the last few seasons at the bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category. They&#8217;ve just been marking time while their prospects made their way through their farm system. George Springer was one of this regime&#8217;s first blue chip prospects to be called up. He produced as advertised before getting injured. [&#8230;]</p>
The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/04/2015-mlb-team-preview-houston-astros/">2015 MLB Team Preview: Houston Astros</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Houston-Astros-2015-MLB-team-preview-funny-shirtless-weird-odd.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-9245 alignright" alt="Houston Astros 2015 MLB team preview funny shirtless weird odd" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Houston-Astros-2015-MLB-team-preview-funny-shirtless-weird-odd.jpg" width="298" height="423" /></a>Houston has spent the last few seasons at the bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category. They&#8217;ve just been marking time while their prospects made their way through their farm system. George Springer was one of this regime&#8217;s first blue chip prospects to be called up. He produced as advertised before getting injured.</p>
<p>The Astros have a long way to go to compete with the talented teams in the AL West. They could further prove that being patient and slowly building your team through the draft is the way to win in today&#8217;s game.</p>
<p>Could we see either Carlos Correa or Colin Moran in Houston this season?</p>
<p>Here is the 2015 MLB season preview for the Houston Astros.</p>
<p><span id="more-9066"></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>2014 Win/Loss Record</strong></em></span>: 70-92</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Additions</strong></em></span>: C Evan Gattis, SS Jed Lowrie, 3B Luis Valbuena, OF Colby Rasmus, RP Luke Gregerson, RP Will Harris, RP Pat Neshek, C Hank Conger, SP Dan Straily, SP Roberto Hernandez &amp; RP Joe Thatcher</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Key Losses</strong></em></span>: OF Dexter Fowler, C Carlos Corporan, RP Josh Zeid, 1B Marc Krauss, RP Anthony Bass, RP Mike Foltynewicz, RP Paul Clemens &amp; SP Nick Tropeano</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Interleague Schedule</strong></em></span>: NL West</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starters</strong></em></span>: Jason Castro, Chris Carter, Jose Altuve, Luis Valbuena, Jed Lowrie, Jake Marisnick, Colby Rasmus, George Springer &amp; Evan Gattis</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Projected Starting Rotation</strong></em></span>: Scott Feldman, Dallas Keuchel, Collin McHugh, Brett Oberholtzer &amp; Dan Straily</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Closer</span>:</strong> Chad Qualls</p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Fantasy Sleeper</strong></span>: </em><b>OF Colby Rasmus</b> &#8211; Rasmus is what we call a &#8216;post-hype&#8217; sleeper. He was once a highly-touted mega prospect in St. Louis, but hasn&#8217;t been able to produce at a high level in the Majors. He has nice power, but his average has always killed him. He was drowning in Toronto and needed a change of scenery. He doesn&#8217;t have any pressure on him in Houston. I believe he will do better than expected this season.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Prospects To Keep Your Eye On</strong></em></span>: <strong>3B Colin Moran</strong> &#8211; Moran ended the 2014 season in Double-A, but if he does well this season in Triple-A, there&#8217;s a slight chance he could end up in the Majors by the end of the year. Luis Valbuena is merely just a placeholder for Moran. He&#8217;s a player to keep an eye on for 2016.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Team Analysis</strong></em></span>: I&#8217;ve been hating on Houston the last few seasons. They&#8217;ve been stocking their farm system with high draft picks while their Major league roster was atrocious. Some of those draft picks have been getting called up with success. George Springer took the Majors by storm before injuring his quad. I expect a big season from the youngster.</p>
<p>Houston didn&#8217;t stand pat this offseason. They acquired Jed Lowrie, Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus to stock their team with veterans. I doubt Houston wants to promote all their blue chip talent on a bad team. They put together their most competitive team since general manager Jeff Luhnow took the job.</p>
<p>Houston won&#8217;t be contenders this season, but they won&#8217;t be such a big pushover in the AL West. They will continue to keep pushing their prospects through the system in hopes of being competitive by 2016 or 2017. They could end up being a beast in a few years.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2015 Wins Over/Under Betting Line</strong></span>: 76 (<i>Prediction: <strong>UNDER</strong></i><i>)</i></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2015 Projected Win/Loss Record</strong></span>: 75-87 (5th AL West)</p>
<p><b><i><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/category/2015-MLB-Team-Preview/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE to read the rest of our 2015 MLB Team Previews</a></i></b></p>
<h2>Follow us on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a> &amp; &#8216;LIKE&#8217; us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AmericasWhiteBoy" target="_blank">Facebook</a>!</h2>
<p><a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft" alt="sweetbob-author-pic" src="https://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sweetbob-author-pic.jpg" width="114" height="114" /></a><em>About the Author&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em></em><em>Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of &#8216;<a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com" target="_blank">America&#8217;s White Boy&#8217;</a> and contributor at <a href="http://projectshanks.com" target="_blank">Project Shanks</a>. His writing has been featured on ESPN&#8217;s &#8216;SportsNation&#8217;, <a href="http://extramustard.si.com/category/hot-clicks/" target="_blank">Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Hot Clicks</a>, <a href="http://guyspeed.com/" target="_blank">Guyspeed</a>, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/sweetbob" target="_blank">@Sweetbob</a>.</em></p>The post <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com/2015/03/04/2015-mlb-team-preview-houston-astros/">2015 MLB Team Preview: Houston Astros</a> first appeared on <a href="https://americaswhiteboy.com">America's White Boy</a>.]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
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