Champ or Chump - Jake Odorizzi and Eric Hosmer

It took the better part of four months, but baseball's offseason is finally starting! Eric Hosmer signed a massive contract to vacation play baseball in San Diego, while Jake Odorizzi was traded to the Minnesota Twins for a ham sandwich and a few extra baseballs. One of these players is capable of turning a substantial […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - Third Basemen

Take a quick look at the NFBC ADPs of third basemen. What do you notice? Is Manny Machado going too high? Is Joey Gallo the boom-or-bust pick of the year? Is Josh Donaldson the best early-round value pick? Third base might just be the deepest infield position in fantasy this year, so it's important to […]

Nick Mariano's 2018 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 […]

The Rockies Pitching Rotation - A Wise Investment?

For years Coors Field has been seen as a hitter's dream and a pitcher's nightmare — a place where hitters' slugging percentages grow and pitchers' ERAs die. When it comes to fantasy baseball, the general rule of thumb has been to sit your starters when they're in Colorado. But what about the Rockies' rotation? They […]

Champ or Chump - Adrian Beltre and Yu Darvish

One great way to identify sleepers and busts is to take advantage of any biases that may impact the community's perception of a player. For example, older players are frequently bargains on draft day because owners assume that they're going to collapse. Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers seems to fit into this category so […]

Is Ronald Acuna Being Overdrafted?

With the recent glut of top prospect reports emerging from Keith Law to Baseball America, opinions on the future stars of baseball are myriad and loud. We all look longingly at the next generation and dreams of pennants dance in our heads. Of course, each pundit brings their own flavor to the conversation, and each […]

ADP Sleepers and Busts - Catcher

Catcher is generally considered the weakest position in fantasy baseball. That is exactly why getting reliable production from the position is so important. There won’t be many good options on the waiver wire to replace a bad pick. This article looks at some catchers that are undervalued and overvalued based on their NFBC ADP (as […]

Champ or Chump - Ian Desmond and Jonathan Villar

Early draft data from RTSports drafts has been added to FantasyPros, making the latter's composite ADP data a little more reliable. Your host site's ADP data is worth looking into, especially if any absentee owners are auto-selecting based on the site's default rankings. However, FantasyPros' composite ADP is the best way to feel an unbiased […]

Should We Be Wary Of All Mets Starters?

On July 26th, 2012, the New York Mets called up a hard-throwing right-handed starting pitcher by the name of Matt Harvey. Harvey dazzled the Diamondbacks in Arizona that night, striking out 11 over 5 1/3 innings pitched without allowing any runs. This was supposed to mark a turning point in the Mets’ rebuild, the first […]

Fantasy Implications - Yu Darvish to the Cubs

The first domino finally dropped in what has been an abnormally slow off-season for free-agent signings, as Yu Darvish agreed to a six-year, $126 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. The top free agent starting pitcher this offseason, Darvish will join Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood in a potent Cubs rotation. Pitching […]

Champ or Chump - Willie Calhoun and Ronald Acuna

Our friends at FantasyPros have started offering composite Average Draft Position (ADP) data from the earliest 2018 drafts. Currently, data is only available from FanTrax and NFBC, but other popular platforms such as Yahoo!, RTSports, and CBS will be added as it becomes available. ADP is influenced by the host site's default rankings, so composite […]

Champ or Chump - Brandon Moss and Todd Frazier

The theme of this article is cheap power. As more players than ever before start cracking 20 homers, fantasy owners can rely on legitimate power bats remaining available in the latter stages of their draft. Some owners believe that this allows them to wait on power, but the league-wide increase in home runs has also […]

Using xwOBA for Predictive Purposes in Pitchers

When it comes to predictive metrics, MLB's statcast has afforded the baseball community a wealth of data since its league-wide installation in 2015. One of the more intriguing metrics is expected wOBA, or xwOBA. This statistic gives us the expected wOBA for a player based on the hit probability of batted balls, calculated using exit […]

Champ or Chump - Alcides Escobar and Alex Avila

Fantasy owners hope that every selection they make turns into a stud, but this isn't that realistic. In more practical terms, you want as many strong performers as possible while avoiding roster slots with zero (or less) value. Some positions are easier to find "non-zero" production in than others, giving birth to the concept of […]

Champ or Chump - Jesse Hahn and Lewis Brinson

The Kansas City Royals and Oakland A's recently completed a trade that boils down to intriguing arm (Jesse Hahn) for slugging first baseman (Brandon Moss) for our purposes. Hahn is discussed below, while Moss will receive a closer look in a future column. Speaking of trades, much has been made of Miami's inability to get […]

Champ or Chump - Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich

Milwaukee's outfield has improved significantly with the additions of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, but it muddies the waters a little from a fantasy perspective. Domingo Santana should beat out Ryan Braun for the last OF slot, but Eric Thames also offers owners more upside at first base. One report suggests that Braun might play […]

2018 Home Run Risers and Fallers - What We Learned

Drafting sluggers is absolutely imperative in fantasy baseball. With homers on the rise, fantasy owners must be sure to prioritize the long ball this season. It seemed like every other fantasy-viable batter hit over 25 HR last year, didn’t it? At the same time, however, sluggers like Mark Trumbo (23 HR), Miguel Cabrera (16 HR), […]

Champ or Chump - Felipe Rivero and Colin Moran

The Milwaukee Brewers bought all of the available outfielders, so let's continue to discuss the Gerrit Cole deal. This column previously concluded that Cole may disappoint owners in Houston, while Joe Musgrove has considerable upside. Both of the articles linked above noted that Pittsburgh's infield defense is superior to Houston's, thanks in part to the […]

Champ or Chump - Joe Musgrove and Randal Grichuk

Baseball's offseason continues to trickle in moves as opposed to flooding us with them, but the latest batch seem interesting from a fantasy perspective. Joe Musgrove's 4.77 ERA last year may be a big reason prognosticators don't love Pittsburgh's side of the Gerrit Cole trade, but he may have the talent to replace Cole himself. […]

2018 Saves Risers and Fallers - What We Learned

For the fourth straight season we have a new No. 1 at the top of the closer leaderboard. Alex Colome concluded the 2017 regular season with 47 saves, six more than the second-place finisher, Kenley Jansen. No one has repeated as the top save-earner since Jim Johnson (2012-2013). As for consistency, Jansen slammed the door shut 41 times […]

2018 Strikeout Risers and Fallers - What We Learned

For the second straight season, we witnessed the highest strikeout totals in MLB history. There was an average of 8.25 strikeouts per MLB game in 2017, up from 8.03 strikeouts per game in 2016. Strikeouts have increased in baseball every year since 2005, and there is no indication that this trend will reverse any time […]

Using xwOBA as a Predictive Tool for Hitters

With spring training on the horizon, fantasy baseball draft season is in sight, as well. That means it’s time to pore over rankings, go through countless mock drafts, and do plenty of research trying to find that diamond in the rough other owners are undervaluing. Luckily, more statistics are available than ever before to determine […]

Champ or Chump - Curtis Granderson and Andrew McCutchen

Five-tool players are among the most sought after commodities in all of fantasy baseball. This is a great thing if they are performing the way you expected them to, but most owners give ex-five tool guys a much longer leash than anyone else on their roster. They end up dropping points in the standings as […]

Champ or Chump - Brad Hand and Gerrit Cole

Pitching is the name of the game in both real life and fantasy baseball. Rostering the wrong arms can put any team into a hole it's difficult to dig out from under, but overpaying for the right ones can leave your team exposed on the offensive side. What's a fantasy owner to do? The best […]

Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Buy or Sell - Pitchers

The dust has finally settled on 2017 and many of us are fully immersed in winter, which means it’s the perfect time to re-evaluate our dynasty squads. Last season featured plenty of breakouts and many head-scratching performances, so where to go from here? The old adage of buying low and selling high is just as […]

2018 Stolen Base Risers and Fallers - What We Learned

He did it again! For the third time in four seasons, Dee Gordon held the top spot of the steals leaderboard. He concluded the 2017 season with 60 swipes. Gordon is averaging 53 SB over the past four years. That includes the 2016 season where Gordon missed 80 games due to a suspension. The Seattle Mariners had […]

2018 Batting Average Risers and Fallers - What We Learned

The great thing about batting average is that it’s a great starting metric for building a strong fantasy team. It’s one of those rare stats that, when correctly targeted and prioritized, sets the foundation for a season of nearly guaranteed success. In fantasy football, it’s a good idea to acquire players who get red zone […]

Champ or Chump - Freddy Galvis and Jay Bruce

Baseball's hot stove is finally starting to heat up a bit, with names like Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole headed to new addresses in 2018. It's late in coming, but now is the time some fantasy owners begin overlooking the smaller moves to concentrate on the biggest names. Don't make that mistake. This doesn't mean that […]

Fantasy Implications - Carlos Santana to Phillies

After spending the first eight years of his career in Cleveland, Carlos Santana is finally getting a change in scenery as he joins the Philadelphia Phillies. The signing comes as somewhat of a surprise, as the Phillies finished with the third-worst record in MLB in 2017 and are clearly in a rebuilding mode. Santana will take […]

Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Buy or Sell - Hitters

The dust has finally settled on 2017 and many of us are fully immersed in winter, which means it’s the perfect time to re-evaluate our dynasty squads. Last season featured plenty of breakouts and many head-scratching performances, so where to go from here? The old adage of buying low and selling high is just as […]