Boston Red Sox: 2017 Team Preview and Fantasy Outlooks

Welcome to our ongoing series of MLB team previews. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. For each team, we will take a look at their hitters, pitchers, prospects and offseason moves. Today we dive into the 2017 Boston Red Sox Team Outlook, and preview their potential […]

Fantasy Implications of Aroldis Chapman's Return To Yankees

When it comes to closers, one of the most recognizable names is Aroldis Chapman. Part of it might have been from the domestic violence incident that saw him miss the early portion of the 2016 season. Most of it though was his playing a huge part in helping the Chicago Cubs break their 108-year World Series […]

2016 in Review: First Base (1B) Breakouts

First base is tough to pick specific breakout players - 99% who finished in the upper echelon have been producing for years. People are yawning when they see, in no particular order, Joey Votto, Jose Abreu, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rizzo, Miguel Cabrera, and Freddie Freeman all among the league leaders. It's a distinct "Been There, […]

2016 in Review: Catcher (C) Breakouts

Some time has passed since Anthony Rizzo caught Kris Bryant's throw to put an end to the 2016 season. Like Rizzo, I put baseball in my back pocket and just mellowed out - the season is a grind for all those involved, including baseball writers. Enough time's elapsed for me to look back. As far […]

Week 25 Waiver Wire: Catchers

Whew. Another fantasy baseball season is almost in the books. 2016 was definitely a weird one for catchers, since many of the big names either struggled to hit like they had in the past or started off red-hot and then fell off a cliff (Francisco Cervelli, I'm looking at YOU). All through this season, we […]

Week 24 Waiver Wire: Catchers

The baseball season is winding down. Scary, isn't it? It felt like I was just writing up Spring Training sleeper picks. Now I'm trying to help you possibly win a championship or at least first place in your roto league. Sadly, I can't come up with as gripping material as the division/ wild card chases […]

Week 23 Waiver Wire: Catchers

Yes, I know that it's playoff time for a lot of you guys out there. You're trying to get an edge that will help you win your championship. I'll get to that. I promise. But first I'm gonna celebrate that Yadier Molina is now at 70% ownership in Fleaflicker. Since he hit the cutoff, he's […]

Week 22 Waiver Wire: Catchers

It's September 2nd, and there are several scenarios in the news involving Tropical Storm/Hurrican Hermine. One of them could have some heavy rains and winds but nothing too bad whereas others could be the Harbinger of Doom for many areas. The same could be said of your fantasy leagues now. Gary Sanchez is a hurricane […]

Week 21 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We're in the last full week of August. Soon the talk will turn to Autumn and pennant races. Halloween gear will be in stores before we know it. Oh, who are we kidding? Stores have already started pushing the giant bags of trick or treating candy, knowing that we'll probably pig out on them well […]

Gary Sanchez (C, NYY) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 49% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Gary Sanchez is fun to watch. He is hitting .391 since his call-up earlier this month, with five homers over his last seven games. If he keeps this up he may force the Yankees to think about trading Brian McCann in the […]

Week 20 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We're now in Week 20 of the season. This also means that most leagues have passed the trade deadline. It's definitely starting to get late early now. So... if you didn't emulate the Texas Rangers and make a bunch of trades trying to solidify a postseason run, then you might be hoping to grab some […]

Week 19 Waiver Wire: Catchers

It's Week 19. New York is getting ready for another heat wave - oh, I'm sorry, that's just the intensity of the anger towards Joe Girardi for reneging on his promise to play Alex Rodriguez during the last week of his career. Anyway, Girardi, a former catcher hasn't wilted under the heat. I wish I […]

Week 18 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We've now flipped the calendar to August. Wait. In this age of smartphones, do we still actually use flip calendars? Anyhow, the trade deadline is in the rearview mirror and the biggest name catcher to be traded was Jonathan Lucroy, who is most definitely not on our list here. This is also a rough month […]

Sandy Leon (CA, BOS) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 27% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Sandy Leon's not challenging Ted Williams anymore, but he's still hitting a robust .388 this season. While he's showing signs of falling to Earth, he's gotten at least a hit in six of his last 10 games. If you need a […]

Derek Norris (CA/1B, SD) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 32% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Derek Norris has slumped in July, seeing his average drop down below .200 again. He's still got the potential to do something, especially if the Padres continue trading off people before the deadline. He could do some damage in a hitter's […]

Yasmani Grandal (CA, LAD) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 31% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Yasmani Grandal has been very disappointing average-wise, but if you have one need in your two-catcher league, it's power. He's got that. When he makes contact, the ball will fly over the fences more often than not. To boot, he's even […]

Week 17 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We're in Week 17 now - the last week of July. It's amazing - seems just like yesterday that we were all excited about baseball starting up again. Now we're trying not to melt during this heat bubble that's engulfed much of the nation. Air conditioning has been our friend. Baseball has also been a […]

Week 16 Waiver Wire: Catchers

The All-Star break is over and it's been hard to get back into the swing of things. Well, many of the catchers have been able to use that excuse for a large portion of the season. We're back looking for gold in all this patch of dirt. Anyway, we're in the second half of the season and […]

Week 14 Waiver Wire: Catchers

It's Week 14 of the season and it's also the final full week before the All-Star Break. I think the All-Star catcher of the waiver wire would be J.T. Realmuto. He went from being an after-thought to crossing our cutoff line not once, but twice. Keep it up, J.T.! We're proud of you here at RotoBaller. […]

Kurt Suzuki (CA, MIN) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 11% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Kurt Suzuki has quietly been hitting the cover off the ball lately. Over his past 15 games, the Twins’ backstop has a .415 average, and he's got a .279 average on this season. That's much better than many of the other […]

Week 13 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We're in Week 13 of the season. Yes, there are people out there who are superstitious and think that 13 is an unlucky number. Surveying this group of catchers, it does seem like Jason Vorhees carved out a bloody swath. The victims include people like Francisco Cervelli, who has been bouncing on and off the […]

Week 12 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We're in Week 12 of the season. A dozen. Wow. It's actually appropriate that we're at this number since only 12 catchers are at 70% or higher ownership in Fleaflicker. Then the dropoff is steep... with the next one at 46%. Yikes. The thing is, aside from people like Jonathan Lucroy, Salvador Perez, and Wilson […]

Week 11 Waiver Wire: Catchers

This season continues to be a grim one for those who need good catchers on their team. Sure, Buster Posey just had a good series against the Brewers and is showing signs of actually being Buster Posey, but it literally took until the middle of June for any catcher to break double digits in home […]

Week 10 Waiver Wire: Catchers

We're now 10 weeks into the season and the state of catching still leaves a lot to be desired. As of this writing, there still has not been a catcher to crack the 10-homer mark and the top mark of 32 RBIs was 23 behind the Major League leader. One of the main reasons I […]

Week 9 Waiver Wire: Catchers

It's officially June, which hopefully means some bats will start heating up soon. Right now it's pretty rough out there in catcher land. There's only one regular catcher with an average well above .300 - Wilson Ramos. Sure, there are a couple out there that are close, but it's still a rough situation for those who […]

Cameron Rupp (C, PHI) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Deep NL-Only Leagues, Two-Catcher Leagues OWNED IN: 4% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Cameron Rupp could help a LOT of lineups as a second catcher. He's hitting .282 with 29 hits, and while his two homers show a lack of power, he's hitting better than a lot of catchers right now, many of whom are established […]

Francisco Cervelli (C, PIT) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Deep Mixed Leagues, NL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 34% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Francisco Cervelli’s batting average and ownership numbers keep going down a bit (he was at .267 before Wednesday's game), but he should have no problem turning things around. With the lower quality of catching stats, you should be taking a bit more of […]

Matt Wieters (C, BAL) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Deep Mixed Leagues, AL-Only Leagues OWNED IN: 30% Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Matt Wieters has been lurking under the surface, and now he's looking like he's ready to strike. His batting average has been on the rise— it was .288 heading into Wednesday's action. Better grab him now before everyone else starts to realize that […]

Week 8 Waiver Wire: Catcher

It's kind of appropriate that it feels like summer as I write this today. The temperature's in the red and so are the ownership levels of catchers on Fleaflicker. Week Eight is not great. It's like a bad day on the stock market - there's red all over as people seem to be cutting catchers. […]

Week 7 Waiver Wire: Catchers

In the next week or so, we're going to hit the quarter mark of the season ("What... We're already 1/4 finished? Noooo!"). There is still time for some catchers to turn it around, but that's dwindling away. The waiver wire pickings are still very strong, though. I'm still wondering why some of them are hanging […]