Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (9/7/17): MLB DFS Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

The main slate is a short one on Thursday, with only eight games. With elite pitchers like Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber going, the choice tonight will be between rolling with one of them at their high cost and punting a few hitters, or taking a chance with a second tier option such as Aaron […]

Robinson Chirinos (C, TEX) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Two-Catcher Leagues OWNED IN: 14% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Robinson Chirinos had outplayed Jonathan Lucroy for much of the season, but was still finding himself with limited playing time while Lucroy remained in a Rangers uniform. However, after Lucroy was dealt to the Rockies in late July, Chirinos has become the […]

Kole Calhoun (OF, LAA) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 45% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Kole Calhoun isn’t generally regarded as an exciting fantasy option, but he had an outstanding month of August. In that month, Calhoun hit four home runs, scored 20 runs, and driven in 14. The recent additions of Justin Upton and Brandon […]

Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (8/31/17): MLB DFS Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

Thursday's main slate is an ugly one. Two of the most intriguing pitching options in Gio Gonzalez and Zach Davies will square off against one another and Madison Bumgarner will go up against one of the hottest hitting teams in baseball. Meanwhile, bargain hitting options don't jump off the page on the slate either. All […]

Arodys Vizcaino (RP, ATL) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 54% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Arodys Vizcaino has finally wrestled the primary closer role away from Jim Johnson and the results have been as expected. Prior to his last outing on August 26th, Vizcaino had not allowed a run in 10 consecutive appearances. He pitched 9.1 […]

Brad Ziegler (RP, MIA) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 42% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Brad Ziegler certainly doesn’t carry a typical closer’s profile, as he has just 21 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched. He also has a cringe-worthy 4.73 ERA and 1.58 WHIP for the season. That makes it little surprise he is owned in […]

Luis Castillo (SP, CIN) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 39% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Luis Castillo has been a revelation for the Cincinnati Reds, a team in desperate need of viable starting pitchers. He has been a strong fantasy producer, and there is little reason to believe that will change down the stretch of the fantasy […]

Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (8/24/17): MLB DFS Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

Thursday's slate is chalk full of good pitching, including the elite Chris Sale but also including several other interesting options such as Jake Arrieta, Stephen Strasburg, Dallas Keuchel, and Carlos Martinez. This stands in contrast to several game totals projected for over nine runs, many of which are in the early slate. Thus, the dichotomy […]

Matt Belisle (RP, MIN) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 18% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Matt Belisle certainly isn’t going to fall in line with Craig Kimbrel, Kensley Jensen, or other elite closers, but he has been solid since taking over the closer role after Brandon Kintzler was dealt at the trade deadline. Since the trade deadline, […]

Shin-Soo Choo (OF, TEX) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 22% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Shin Soo-Choo has shockingly low ownership despite being a contributor across every fantasy category. Though he is a boring name and at a prime age for regression, Choo could be a key contributor to fantasy teams down the stretch of the fantasy […]

Randal Grichuk (OF, STL) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 29% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Randal Grichuk is perceived as a streaky hitter, and while his production does come in bunches he has shown an ability to contribute regularly. For example, his average has fallen below .240 just one month this season, and his slugging percentage has […]

Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (8/17/17): MLB DFS Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

The good news is that Thursday's slate has a number of strong starting pitchers to pitch from including Luis Severino, Aaron Nola, Jeff Samardzija, and Jon Lester. However, it makes up for the abundance of pitching by lacking desirable options in the mid-tier of player pricing. Given that, tonight is a night where I'll be […]

Nicholas Castellanos (3B, DET) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 36% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Nicholas Castellanos’ counting stats are finally starting to catch up to his advanced metrics, which have suggested he is capable of fantasy relevance for quite some time. For example, Castellanos has a strong 46% hard hit rate for the season, yet  […]

Jose Pirela (2B/OF, SDP) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 10% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Jose Pirela is getting consistent major league at-bats for the first time in his career, and the results have been solid. Through 234 plate appearances, he is posting a .241 ISO with just a 21% strikeout rate. Pirela’s power has been […]

Manuel Margot (OF, SDP) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 28% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Coming up through the minors, Manuel Margot was profiled as a top of the order base stealer. Of late however, he has shown some surprising power that includes a current stretch of four home runs in his past seven games. Given that […]

Bradley Zimmer (OF, CLE) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 27% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Bradley Zimmer has come back to earth in August after what appeared to be a breakout performance in July. However, given the injuries the Indians have been forced to fight through and the team’s remaining schedule, Zimmer is worth adding thanks the […]

Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (8/10/17): MLB DFS Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

Unlike most Thurday's the vast majority of today's slate will be night games. Given that, rather than prep for an all day slate of games, I set my sights on the main slate only. There are plenty of platoon advantages to take advantage of so it's time to get sharp. In this article, I will […]

Freddy Galvis (SS, PHI) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 17% of Yahoo Leagues ANALYSIS: Freddy Galvis is posting a remarkably similar stat-line this season to his breakout 2016 campaign. While he will likely fall short of a 20-20 season, he has been a valuable contributor in home runs and stolen bases at a position that has […]

Nick Williams (OF, PHI) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 17% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Nick Williams was always able to post gaudy counting stats at each level of the minor leagues. The concern about his transition to the big leagues when he was called up in late June stemmed from his plate discipline, as he […]

Josh Bell (1B/OF, PIT) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 46% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: After a less than  impressive start to the season, Josh Bell has put together an impressive stretch of 185 at-bats spanning the months of June and July. Though not known for his power while working through the minor leagues, Bell posted […]

Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (8/3/17): MLB Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

The Thursday slate is more plentiful than usual with 13 games on the slate. With only three day games, the main slate will also have more options than a typical Thursday, making it a more interesting slate to to dive into. Intriguing pitching options will dicatate the main slate with Alex Wood looking to rebound, […]

Corey Spangenberg (2B/3B/OF, SD) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 16% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: After battling injury for much of 2016, Corey Spangenberg has come back healthy in 2017 and is quietly having a nice season for fantasy purposes. That performance is headlined by eight home runs to go along with six stolen bases and […]

Steve Pearce (2B/3B/OF, TOR) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 5% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Steve Pearce’s season-long numbers don’t look gaudy at first glance, but when he has been on the field he has been very productive. He will likely be a hot name for the waiver wire this week as he slugged two game winning […]

Jerad Eickhoff (SP, PHI) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 37% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: After a tough two month stretch, Jerad Eickhoff has rebounded in his four starts since returning from the DL with a back strain. In that stretch he has surrendered just eight earned runs in 22 innings pitched to go along with […]

Mike Clevinger (SP, CLE) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 59% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Prior to a rough outing on Tuesday July 25th, Clevinger had posted four consecutive games in which he completed six innings without allowing more than one earned run. He also racks up plenty of strikeouts as he has posted a very […]

Daily Fantasy Baseball Lineup Picks (7/27/17): MLB DFS Advice for FanDuel and DraftKings

As usual, the Thursday slate is split between an afternoon and main slate. With only eight total games for the day, the afternoon slate is a bit smaller than usual with just three games. With a small slate, it's important to find every advantage to stay in the green. In this article, I will be […]

Whit Merrifield (2B/OF, KC) – Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 33% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Whit Merrifield remains under-owned and underappreciated despite the distinct possibility that he ends the season as a 15 home run and 30 stolen base contributor. Merrifield has run wild on the basepaths in July as he has stolen eight bases in the […]

Sean Doolittle (RP, WAS) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 35% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: When Sean Doolittle was traded from the A’s to the Nationals along with teammate Ryan Madson immediately after the All-Star Break, it was assumed that Madson would assume the role as closer. However, Doolittle has closed each of the two save opportunities […]

Why Zero-RB Still Won't Work in 2017

When embarking on my reasoning for this piece, I was having difficulty explaining exactly why zero running back won’t work this season. For some inspiration and hope to clear writer’s block, I read Shawn Siegle’s initial articles explaining the theory of zero running back and listened to the recent Numberfire podcast on which Siegle was […]

Josh Bell (1B/OF, PIT) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 37% of Yahoo! Leagues   ANALYSIS: Josh Bell began the season with a troubling profile as he was striking out frequently, which greatly hindered his batting average. While he showed some power, it wasn’t enough to make him fantasy relevant at first base. However, since June began, Bell […]