ADP Champ or Chump - Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara

This week, I am making the trip down to Texas, which has started to be treated like somewhat of a fantasy wasteland by some fantasy owners. However, despite the low expectations for team performance, there are some interesting names to be found in Arlington. The Rangers are in a self-confessed rebuild mode but they have […]

ADP Cost Analysis - Jameson Taillon vs Steven Matz

Value is everyone’s favorite word come draft season in fantasy sports. Here at Rotoballer, we put a big emphasis on comparisons to make sure you have the right information to assemble the best team in your league. In this edition of Early ADP Analysis, we’ll focus on two young starting pitchers who have dealt with […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Nick Senzel and Christian Yelich

As fantasy owners, it can be easy to fall in love with a player's talent and end up overpaying for a guy. Nick Senzel's stat lines suggest that he has all of the talent necessary to make an impact at the MLB level, but the combination of his health issues and a crowded Cincinnati roster […]

ADP Cost Analysis - Andrew McCutchen vs. Jesse Winker

Andrew McCutchen, now 32, is unlikely to ever regain his spectacular prime years from 2012-15, but after a disappointing 2016 campaign, he recovered with solid seasons in 2017 and 18, posting 20+ home runs and double-digit steals both years. He is being drafted 144th overall on average after signing with the Phillies this offseason. Jessie […]

ADP Cost Analysis - Kyle Freeland vs Jose Quintana

Every year there is one pitcher who, despite all underlying peripherals, puts up monster numbers and leaves fantasy owners wondering how to value them come next year. In 2018, that pitcher was Kyle Freeland, who not only put up inexplicable numbers, but did so in Colorado. Freeland's success despite a contact-heavy pitching style makes him […]

Classy Once Again? San Diego Padres Roster Outlook

The biggest move of the offseason (so far) came earlier this week when the Padres signed Manny Machado to a $300-million-dollar mega-deal. Yes, it was predictable, and yes, we’re all sick of the big market San Diego Padres flashing their money around while the poor Cubs scrounge for change between the couch cushions, but I […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Trey Mancini and Ryan Zimmerman

This week we are taking a trip to the DMV. Don't panic, not the Department of Motor Vehicles! We are going to compare two first basemen in very different parts of their career from the Baltimore/Washington area. With the loss of Manny Machado and the expected loss of Bryce Harper, the star power in the region […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Jesus Aguilar and David Dahl

Sometimes, it can be tough to turn away from the waiver wire guys who helped your team the previous year. Jesus Aguilar likely won some leagues with his 35-homer campaign out of nowhere last season. Likewise, David Dahl provided juice in all categories when he saw the field in 2018. Unfortunately, adding somebody for free […]

ADP Cost Analysis - Carlos Correa vs Xander Bogaerts

It’s hard to believe that you can almost consider Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts to be veterans. Both of these players made their major league debuts at age 20, and they have already accomplished so much in the bigs. Now at their respective ages of 24 and 26, they are in the midst of their […]

ADP Cost Analysis - Ozzie Albies vs Jonathan Villar

Second base has become a treasure chest full of talent in 2019. Seeing the position’s deepest player pool in recent memory, each tier of hitters is overflowing with draft day targets. With a mixture of established veterans and a new crop of young talent that is beginning to flourish in the big leagues, the keystone […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Justin Turner and Max Muncy

We're heading to the sunny destination of Los Angeles. The Dodgers are coming off back-to-back World Series defeats and are not short of big names in their ranks. However, the success of their hitters is often overshadowed by their pitching. Last year the Dodgers went all-in and had a massive excess of hitting talent across […]

Michael Pineda - The Dogma of Disappointment Returns

In fantasy baseball, there’s always that player who underperforms during a season and gets plenty of hype going into the following year. We all have the belief that good fortune will come at a low cost. For most of his career, Michael Pineda has been the epitome of this type of player. If you’ve ever […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Kyle Gibson and Miguel Sano

Fantasy owners frequently like drafting players on good teams because of the benefits of playing in a strong lineup. In 2019, the Astros, Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Dodgers clearly fit into this category. We also like drafting upside plays from rebuilding clubs like the Marlins or Royals because of the opportunity they have. A […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Josh Hader and Arodys Vizcaino

Recent seasons have shown how a great relief corps can sometimes be a cheap and effective way to bolster a team. Moreover, the move to convert semi-viable starters to relief pitchers has increased the number of legitimately good relievers rather than hoping to luck into the good Joel Hanrahan (excellent for two years, unusable otherwise). […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Nick Pivetta and Victor Robles

As a general rule, fantasy owners like to play with shiny new toys. Victor Robles has less than 100 MLB PAs to his credit but is frequently taken just outside the top-100 based on his speed. The current 21-year-old (he turns 22 in May) has talent, but this writer sees several red flags that may […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Nicholas Castellanos and Justin Upton

After the third tier of outfielders, fantasy owners have a few options before they find themselves left with only OF3-type candidates. Former teammates, Nicholas Castellanos and Justin Upton are the 24th and 25th outfielders going in drafts. They’re separated by 10 picks in ADP, at 87 and 97 respectively. Upton has the advantage in history […]

ADP Champ or Chump - J.T. Realmuto and Wilson Ramos

This week I am turning my attention to the position that gives most fantasy owners the biggest concerns, the catcher position. Every year there is at least one catcher who rises to the top of the position and ends up being drafted clearly ahead of the others. This season that catcher is J.T. Realmuto, who is […]

Madison Bumgarner - No Longer Among the Fantasy Elite?

The San Fransisco Giants have benefitted from the spoils that come with having, arguably, the best pitcher of this decade. Since Madison Bumgarner’s rookie season in 2010, the Giants were a dominant team for the majority of his first seven seasons. Backed by Bumgarner's clutch postseason play, the Giants won three World Series in 2010,’12, […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Kevin Kiermaier and Collin McHugh

"Sleeper" is a popular byword this time of year, but many fantasy owners don't really use it correctly. A "sleeper" is not an obscure name you call out in your auction that leaves your leaguemates scratching their heads, but any player with a good chance to provide more value than what you paid to acquire […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Eduardo Escobar and Paul DeJong

In the past two years, baseball has seen an explosion in the number of shortstops with legitimate home run power. Everyone from Francisco Lindor to Tim Anderson seems capable of belting 20 dingers on an annual basis. Most of those players are being drafted in the first 10 rounds or so, but both of our […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Danny Jansen and Ozzie Albies

With fewer data points to go off of, younger players have always been more challenging to project than their more veteran counterparts. Unfortunately, the game is getting younger. Fantasy owners need to roster at least a few young studs if they hope to compete. Danny Jansen may not have impressed in his brief MLB debut […]

ADP Champ or Chump - Tommy Pham and Avisail Garcia

My main mantra when it comes to fantasy baseball is "value, value, value." I will often try and set myself up in the first two or three rounds in such a way that I have the flexibility to take advantage of value later in the draft. One of the best ways I have found to […]

Nick Mariano's 2019 Early-Round Overvalued List (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Fantasy baseball drafts (and their articles) are almost all about finding the next superstar and unearthing talent late, but we can't forget that surrendering value by over-drafting can be just as crucial. In order to evaluate overvalued players here, we're going to utilize Average […]

Javier Baez - Don’t Overpay for Last Season's Stats

A common mistake by fantasy managers on draft day is taking a player based on his previous year's statistics and thinking it will be repeated the following season. A player’s draft day price can become heavily inflated after one breakout year. It's easy to fall victim to the belief that a one-year sample size is now […]

2018 Pitching Fallers - ERA

In my last piece, we took a look at some of the pitchers who made significant improvements to their ERA in 2018. Now it's time to take a look at the guys who went in the other direction, and see if it's time to panic on them. This list features two starters who were being […]

Busts and Disappointments - 2018 Year-in-Review

Love ‘em or hate ‘em (and you probably hate ‘em), busts are a huge part of fantasy baseball. While it’s fun to gush over all the new breakout stars of 2018, we also need to reflect on the players that made us want to pull our hair out last season. Highly-drafted busts can be season […]

Chris Archer: Fantasy Baseball Year-in-Review

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Chris Archer came into the 2018 season with the Tampa Bay Rays as a known commodity of a strikeout pitcher. Archer, who had pitched at least 200 innings in each season from 2015-2017, topped 200 strikeouts in each of those seasons as well. He was lacking in wins, 12 in 2015 […]

Dylan Bundy: Fantasy Baseball Year-in-Review

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Dylan Bundy was the fourth pick of the 2011 Draft, making the big leagues the very next season. Although he only threw 1 2/3 innings at the end of the season, the righty had ripped through the minors with a 2.08 ERA in 2012, posting a sub-1.00 WHIP and striking out […]

Stolen Base Fallers - 2018 Season Review

The 2018 MLB season was one in which stolen base numbers were down across the board, from 2,527 total steals in 2017 to 2,474 this year. Even the league's most prolific thieves were affected, as the highest individual stolen base total in 2017 was 60, while 45 was tops in all of baseball this year. […]

Power Risers/Fallers for Week 26: Buy or Sell?

Welcome to Week 26 of the 2018 MLB season and a new week of our investigation into the steepest power trenders in baseball, whether those trends are positive or negative. It has blown by insanely fast, but believe it or not, the final week of the 2018 MLB regular season has officially arrived. Most fantasy […]