Champ or Chump: Me!

With just a week to go this season, most fantasy seasons have come to an end. Managers in weekly formats have set their final lineup, and predicting how teams will distribute playing time based on their ever-changing needs ahead of time is an exercise in futility. The entire premise of this column relies on using... Read More

Champ or Chump: Elias Diaz

If you're reading this, your fantasy baseball roster is probably still playing for something. Congratulations! If a positive result hasn't been locked in yet, remember that your league's caps for games played and/or innings pitched should be seen as targets. At the end of the day, the fantasy manager who hits those caps enjoys a... Read More

Champ or Chump: Ranger Suarez

Last week, we discussed how dropping seemingly undroppable players could make sense for fantasy managers in battles that are going to the wire. While that's true, it also means that you could find somebody on waivers who you might not expect to be there. For instance, Ranger Suarez of the Philadelphia Phillies has a 1.38... Read More

Champ or Chump: Frank Schwindel

Now that the calendar has officially flipped to September, it's time to get weird if it helps you in the standings. If your league is coming down to saves and holds, roster SP-eligible relievers such as Diego Castillo and Ryne Stanek instead of starting pitchers. If you're ready to move on from a big name... Read More

Champ or Chump: Edward Cabrera

With September call-ups limited to just a handful of players instead of every rebuilding club's entire 40-man roster, fantasy managers may not get as many new names on their waiver wires as they've grown accustomed to. That said, there are still some interesting names coming up. The Miami Marlins got a jump on the competition... Read More

Champ or Chump: Amed Rosario

With football monopolizing the general media's sports coverage, many fantasy baseball managers begin checking out and thinking more about QBs and RBs than QS and RBI. If you're in the middle of the pack, now could be a good time to make some prudent additions and begin rising up the standings. It's crunch time, folks!... Read More

Champ or Chump: Josiah Gray

Last week, this column took a detailed look at Tylor Megill's performance to date and concluded with a pessimistic take on the sustainability of his current numbers. If your roster needs pitching and Megill isn't the answer, you may be wondering who is. This author would answer Josiah Gray. Gray was always regarded as a... Read More

Champ or Chump: Tylor Megill

Isn't it amazing what one player can do? Led by Jacob deGrom, the New York Mets appeared poised to waltz into the playoffs after outlasting a mediocre division. With deGrom out for an extended period, the Phillies have surged past them while the Braves currently enjoy a half-game advantage over them. The Mets ace was... Read More

Champ or Chump: Tanner Houck

Did any team have a more puzzling trading deadline than the Boston Red Sox? Okay, the Seattle Mariners trading their All-Star closer to the team they're chasing for a package largely comprised of future value was a bit strange. Still, the Red Sox need a pitcher and an injured power hitter without a position is... Read More

Champ or Chump: Patrick Sandoval

Patrick Sandoval exploded onto the national scene when he nearly no-hit the Minnesota Twins, but his name has been whispered in fantasy circles as a potential sleeper for quite a while. He posted a 4.02 xFIP in 39 1/3 IP in 2019 and 4.00 xFIP in 36 2/3 IP in 2020, but actual ERAs of... Read More

Champ or Chump: Jarren Duran

The MLB trade deadline is quickly approaching, and contenders are incentivized to get a look at top prospects to see if they have internal solutions for their problems or will have to look outside of their organization for help. The Boston Red Sox have summoned Jarren Duran from Triple-A to see if he could give... Read More

Champ or Chump: Vidal Brujan

With the All-Star Break upon us, it's the perfect time to look at your league's standings page and figure out how best to approach the second half. If you aren't on pace to reach your innings and/or games played limits, you should definitely look to maximize your games played moving forward. If you could gain... Read More

Champ or Chump: Trevor Story

With the announcement that Trevor Story would participate in the 2021 Home Run Derby, fantasy managers were given an opportunity to consider the strange season he's having. The combination of nine homers and 14 SB delivers plenty of fantasy value, but his .254/.327/.443 triple-slash line is far short of expectations for a guy who hit... Read More

Champ or Chump: Sammy Long

With news breaking that Wander Franco would make his much-anticipated big league debut tonight, we're reminded what fantasy managers look for in a rookie. We want advanced physical tools, including power and speed for hitters and sexy velocity and spin rate numbers for pitchers. We look for strong MiLB performances as well. We want guys... Read More

Champ or Chump: Alec Bohm

A lot of huge names are underperforming in 2021, including DJ LeMahieu, Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, Freddie Freeman, and Trevor Story. Alec Bohm isn't the same type of household name those guys are, so the fact that he's only slashing .224/.266/.309 on the season with four homers and three steals after a breakout debut in... Read More

Champ or Chump: Cedric Mullins

Cedric Mullins is probably one of the biggest fantasy surprises of the year. The 26-year-old was virtually unheard of heading into 2021, though he logged MLB PAs in each season since 2018. Toiling in Baltimore can make it easy to get overlooked, especially if you're posting mediocre numbers with worse peripherals. Mullins gave up switch-hitting... Read More

Champ or Chump: Jarred Kelenic

Jarred Kelenic was one of the hottest prospect names coming into the 2021 fantasy baseball draft season. A since-fired executive blatantly admitted that the 21-year-old was ready for the Show last season but that the team didn't call him up for service time reasons, leading some managers to feel that the Mariners would carry him... Read More

Champ or Chump: Adolis Garcia

Fantasy managers generally look for certain qualities when evaluating prospects. We like younger players who post dominant numbers on the farm. We like prospects with raw tools that make scouts salivate, leading to appearances on top prospect lists. We like players who we had heard of before the season started. Adolis Garcia checks none of... Read More

Champ or Chump: Huascar Ynoa

Is your fantasy team looking for more pitching? Nearly every manager is, making it difficult to find breakout arms on the waiver wire since everybody is looking for the same thing. This situation can also make it far too easy to put more faith in a breakout performance than warranted, potentially leaving you with an... Read More

Champ or Chump: Dominic Smith

Evaluating 2020 fantasy seasons has been very difficult. Each player's season line looks like a full campaign on a player's FanGraphs page or the back of their baseball card, but in truth, it's only slightly more than one-third of a full season. There had to be some legitimate breakouts that we shouldn't discount, but how... Read More

Champ or Chump: Luis Castillo

Nothing is worse for a fantasy manager than when an early-round pick puts up disastrous numbers. You can't start the guy because he's brutalizing your ratios, yet you can't drop him because you've invested too many resources to give him up for free. What if he turns it around in his next appearance and you... Read More

Champ or Chump: Buster Posey

Some things about fantasy baseball change every season, while others are consistent from year to year. For example, breakout relievers exist every year but their names are different from season to season. You never want to use your first-round pick on a dud, but early-round duds have different reasons each year. If you played fantasy... Read More

Champ or Chump: Zach McKinstry

It seems like the young MLB season isn't producing as many random breakout stars as it usually does. Tyler Naquin had one huge game, but he isn't even playing every day. Akil Baddoo is a nice story for Detroit, but his OBP is below .300 and he's in a platoon. Where is Keven Maas when... Read More

Champ or Chump: Jonathan India

The NL Central was among the most wide-open divisions in all of baseball coming into the season. The Milwaukee Brewers were the favorites if you believe the projected standings at FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus, but oddsmakers tended to favor the St. Louis Cardinals after their splashy addition of Nolan Arenado. The Cubs still had their... Read More

Champ or Chump: Tyler O'Neill

With Opening Day officially in the books (for most teams anyway), the 2021 campaign is off and running. The secret to being a successful fantasy manager is to combine a strong draft with superlative in-season roster management. Early in the year, your focus should be on identifying potential 2021 breakouts that your rivals may not... Read More

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Statcast xStats

Statcast is a valuable tool for fantasy analysis, and it can be easy to look at a stat called "Expected Batting Average" and blindly use it as your projection moving forward. Of course, proper use of these metrics is a little bit more nuanced than that. First, a disclaimer: This article is about the "Expected... Read More

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Pitcher Statcast

Statcast metrics such as Barrels and Brls/BBE are great ways to evaluate a batter's performance, so it is only natural to assume that the metrics would be predictive for pitchers as well. As much as batters want to hit a Barrel every time, pitchers want to avoid them at all costs. Yet there is evidence... Read More

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Spin Rate

Spin rate has become one of the most recognizable Statcast metrics, with supporters of a given pitcher highlighting his spin rates to make their case. It has also become controversial as of late due to allegations of pitchers using foreign substances to increase their spin. Unfortunately, the baseball world has done a lousy job conveying... Read More

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Statcast Exit Velocity

If you've watched a baseball broadcast in the so-called Statcast Era, you have undoubtedly noticed the broadcasters commenting on a batted ball's exit velocity, or EV. Many have taken to using stats like Hard% and Soft% to forecast how a player should be performing, expecting larger Hard% rates to produce larger BABIP and HR/FB figures.... Read More

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Barrels

We've previously looked at how exit velocity (or EV) is only one piece of the fantasy analysis puzzle. Baseball broadcasts will commonly cite Launch Angle (LA) to complement their EV figures, but it is given in terms of degrees. Am I evaluating a baseball player or trying to find the hypotenuse of an isosceles triangle?... Read More