Fake Teams

Baltimore Orioles: Dwight Smith Jr (16% owned) with six runs, two home runs, seven RBI’s and a .269 avg over the last seven days. Current speculation is Vladimir Guerrero Jr joins the team on Tuesday Chicago White Sox: Ryan Cordell stepping in for injured David Palka is batting .500 with two runs, two home runs and four RBIs, it’s going to come down to earth but definitely a hot hand. As a team, the Royals have 21 steals tied for league leading, personally I am surprised that Billy Hamilton is not leading the team in steals. AVG with 2 home runs and 11 runs in AAA, I wonder if the Rockies will work to find a spot for him if the team doesn’t have a big bump up in the next 3 weeks.

In both players’ final season (2018) the duo led the team in receiving yards and scoring: Fant with 519 yards and 7 touchdowns, Hockenson with 760 yards and 6 touchdowns and a 4-yard rushing score to boot. Some will knock him for not being able to contribute as a blocker in the same way that Hockenson will but being a unique mismatch option in the receiving game is an incredibly valuable thing—just ask guys like Jimmy Graham and Eric Ebron, the latter happens to be Fant’s most regular comp. Tight ends can take time to develop in the NFL, however, a team picking in the back half of the 1st round (and therefore likely possessing a strong roster) would do well to add Fant as a luxury item that would take their offense to the next level. All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins leads a strong cast in the receiving corps, flanked by receivers Will Fuller and second-year man KeKe Coutee.

His chase rate is down to 23.1%, which is far better than a year ago and far better than the MLB average of 29.2%. I know I’m assuming more injury risk, but I am also assuming better production (more power). His swing rate of 50.6% is right in line with last year’s 50.0% mark, but this year he’s chasing less (28%) and swinging in the zone more. His hard hit rate and walk rate are both at four-year lows.

The NFL schedule release is a manufactured holiday that’s sole purpose is to force the NFL back onto everyone’s timeline and into everyone’s bandwidth, hoping to drag you from the NBA and NHL playoffs and whatever else you’re doing with your nights in the middle of April. Here are the definitive rankings of each NFL team’s schedule release. Not sure how I feel about the Raiders hyping up their 60 years of Oakland history just as the NFL’s tearing the team from the city. What takes this from a fine schedule release film to a good schedule release film is how expertly Matt Nagy delivers his line: “