Champ or Chump: Jalen Beeks & Miles Mikolas

While fantasy baseball owners would love to roster a rotation consisting entirely of Max Scherzers and Corey Klubers, it's not feasible if you're in a remotely competitive league. Breakouts help, but the true key to maintaining strong performances in the pitching categories is to stream effectively. Basically, that means starting streamers in favorable matchups while... Read More

Champ or Chump: Niko Goodrum & Brandon Nimmo

There's a lot of fantasy analysis out there, and everybody has their own likes and dislikes when it comes to the numbers they look at. Personally, I can't stand Hard%. It was invented as a proxy to measure contact quality, but Statcast gives us specific numbers to measure the same thing much more precisely. It's... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets for June 4

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on... Read More

Champ or Chump: Jorge Soler and Shane Bieber

Even if you're happy with your current position in the standings, it's important to avoid complacency. Any production from an unexpected source (such as Jorge Soler of the Kansas City Royals) is liable to disappear at the drop of a dime, so it wouldn't hurt to start looking into a backup plan. Likewise, even first... Read More

Champ or Chump: Mallex Smith & Mitch Moreland

It's rare for a May transaction to significantly impact the fantasy landscape, but we've had two that did so recently. First, Denard Span and Alex Colome were traded to the Seattle Mariners. Colome's owners are now forced to speculate on who his successor might be in Tampa Bay, while Span's value remains constant as he... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For May 28

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on... Read More

Champ or Chump: Tyler O'Neill and Juan Soto

It seems like we're far enough into the season for the minor leagues to stop pumping out shiny new toys for fantasy owners to play with, yet the hits keep on coming. Nineteen-year old Juan Soto is the latest blue chip prospect to make an MLB debut, and the hype surrounding him is roughly equivalent... Read More

Champ or Chump: Dustin Fowler & Austin Meadows

Fantasy owners have been struggling with stolen bases since rotisserie baseball was invented. The prevailing thought used to be that they would always be available on the wire, encouraging owners to concentrate on power in their drafts and sort speed out later. As the total number of steals began to decline, many owners went the... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For May 21

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on... Read More

Champ or Chump: Matt Adams and Freddy Peralta

By now, you've probably heard that the United States Supreme Court has opened the door to legalized sports betting outside of the state of Nevada. The issue has several complicated angles to consider, but I've long felt that fantasy owners should have a familiarity with how betting on baseball works. Each game's over/under numbers and... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets for May 14

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on... Read More

Champ or Chump: Jeimer Candelario and Fernando Romero

While it's still much too early to give up on your team, your league's standings page is starting to mean something. If you're deficient in HR or well short of the IP pace of your rivals, you should take action before it is too late. One way to do so is a trade, but it's... Read More

Champ or Chump: Tyler Mahle & Caleb Smith

Popular waiver wire arms are once again today's topic of discussion. If you're in need of a new pitcher for your staff (and nearly everyone is), both Tyler Mahle of the Cincinnati Reds and Caleb Smith of the Miami Marlins have probably crossed your mind. Neither has much of a track record though, so you... Read More

Champ or Chump: Tyson Ross and Mike Soroka

Few feelings in fantasy baseball are worse than staring at an ugly team ERA and a waiver wire full of question marks. You think you have to do something, but you don't want to compromise your offense to do it or dig a bigger hole with the wrong streamers. In this situation, you need to... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets for May 7

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis to improve upon your neediest categories, and target players who may be available on... Read More

Champ or Chump: Nick Kingham and Miguel Andujar

Scouting minor league lines is often an inexact science. Occasionally, you'll see a guy who seems likely to succeed right away (Rhys Hoskins last year). Sometimes, a guy's complete lack of minor league production leaves you confident that it will take a few years (Byron Buxton), if it ever clicks. Most guys don't fit into... Read More

Champ or Chump: Teoscar Hernandez and Gleyber Torres

There are still plenty of intriguing waiver wire options from the minor leagues to examine, so we're going prospecting again. Scouting produces a realistic sense of a given player's overall potential, but fantasy owners in redraft leagues are usually more concerned with the ability to make an immediate impact. This means that vanilla prospect lists... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Picks For April 30

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. It may only be April, but it's never too early to start streaming. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis... Read More

Champ or Chump: Franchy Cordero and Walker Buehler

The arbitrary service time manipulations have come to an end, providing fantasy owners with plenty of highly regarded prospects to choose from on the waiver wire. The biggest name to get the call is undoubtedly Ronald Acuna Jr., but buyer beware. I wrote him up here, concluding that he's too raw to help fantasy owners... Read More

Champ or Chump: Dansby Swanson and Kurt Suzuki

Baseball Savant has added an "Expected Stats" tab to its Statcast Leaderboard, making it easier than ever before to look up a given player's xBA (Expected Batting Average), xSLG (Expected Slugging Percentage), and xwOBA (Expected Weighted On-Base Average). These metrics use launch angle and exit velocity to predict how a given player should be doing... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For April 23

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. It may only be April, but it's never too early to start streaming. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis... Read More

Champ or Chump - Nick Pivetta and Joey Lucchesi

Personally, I've always been a little leery of pitching breakouts at first. If an offensive acquisition goes sideways, they can't do any worse than zeroes in HR, RBI, runs scored, and stolen bases. By contrast, pitchers can provide negative value in ERA and WHIP to accompany zeroes in W, S, and Ks. If your league... Read More

Streaming Wars - Waiver Wire Targets For April 16

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your one-stop shop for streaming the waiver wire all season long. This article, now in its second year, runs seven days a week. It may only be April, but it's never too early to start streaming. For those who are newcomers to this feature - use this column on a daily basis... Read More

Champ or Chump - Jose Martinez and Matt Chapman

Playing the wire is often the primary fantasy baseball activity in April, as you quickly try to sort through your draft day bargains and the guys you no longer require. Your first waiver claims should be treated in the same manner. Some of them will contribute to your roster all season long, while others are... Read More

Champ or Chump - Jakob Junis and Scott Kingery

The beauty of an analytical approach to the game is that it's constantly evolving. When I first started writing this column, I avoided minor leaguers completely because there was no worthwhile data. Metrics like BABIP and FIP became available, allowing me to take a cursory look at a few. Last year, batted ball distribution made... Read More

Champ or Chump - Christian Villanueva and Matt Davidson

A slow week might not even get noticed in August, but right now it is all of the data you have to work with. That forces you into a balancing act, as you need to determine if a hot guy on waivers is worth giving up somebody you believed in on draft day. As always,... Read More

Champ or Chump - Derek Dietrich and Josh Harrison

One of the biggest differences between daily and weekly fantasy formats is that sinking feeling you get when one of your studs has a day off. It happens to everyone in weekly formats, but your rivals are getting a game advantage over you in daily settings. You can't carry a backup on your bench for... Read More

Champ or Chump - Sean Newcomb and Sean Manaea

Baseball games that count are once again upon us! Now that baseball is back and you're looking over your fantasy squads, you're probably a little light on pitching. If your format has an innings cap, it'll probably be harder to reach than you realize. If it doesn't, volume becomes the best way to accumulate more... Read More

Champ or Chump - Luis Castillo and Miguel Sano

Most fantasy owners have already drafted their squads by this point in March, but there are a handful of leagues that wait until after the season has started to populate their rosters. It seems bizarre, but we're not judging. This column will continue with its current format (citing ADP data) until a few weeks into... Read More

Champ or Chump - Trevor Story and Mookie Betts

"Sometimes, a little bit of knowledge is worse than having none at all." Most fantasy owners are now savvy enough to perform basic BABIP regressions, but blindly regressing everything to the league average or even a given player's career work is a great way to set yourself up for disappointment. For example, Trevor Story is... Read More