Champ or Chump: Sonny Gray and Jason Hammel
Clubs looking for starting pitching are mostly out of luck in this market. Sonny Gray is the among the biggest names on the trade market, but he posted a 5.69 ERA last year. Jason Hammel is the top remaining free agent, but he is not anyone's idea of an ace. Can either help 2017 fantasy... Read More
Wilson Ramos Signs Two-Year Deal With Rays, Hopes to Make Debut in May
Wilson Ramos agreed to join the Rays on a two-year, $12.5 MM deal — plus incentives — on Dec. 6, according to Joel Sherman. The deal, finalized and announced six days later, is widely considered to be a bargain for the Rays, who have had poor production from the catcher position since the start of... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Starting Pitcher (SP)
It's 'bout that time, eh chaps? The Winter Meetings have come and gone. With it, some of the biggest offseason dominoes have already fallen. The 2017 fantasy baseball draft board is beginning to come into focus. Now it's time to delve into player rankings. We'll continue with our 2017 starting pitcher fantasy baseball rankings for December.... Read More
Tampa Bay Rays Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
The Tampa Bay Rays have been stuck in the same place for each of the past two seasons. They have picked 13th overall in both years and have been unable to make any real progress in moving out of the AL East cellar. They have a very solid young core of players with guys like... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Outfield
Holiday lights adorn the streets, the hot chocolate and eggnog is flowing, and all the while you've hopefully been keeping warm with this steady stream of fantasy baseball rankings courtesy of your favorite RotoBaller writers. Today we'll spread the outfield cheer. As a reminder, this first round of rankings features picks from Bill Dubiel, Brad... Read More
Champ or Chump: Danny Espinosa
Last season saw a significant uptick in league-wide home runs, reducing the value of power-only profiles in the fantasy game. No one has conclusively determined why homers were up, but some people are assuming that it will remain the case for 2017. It might, but I look forward to drafting power at a discount in... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Shortstop
We're coming to the end of another spin around the sun. Christmas is just around the corner. You know what that means: Time for fantasy baseball rankings! Today we'll cover shortstop. As a reminder, this first round of rankings features picks from Bill Dubiel, Brad Johnson, Nick Mariano, and yours truly. If you missed the... Read More
New York Yankees Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
The Yankees must love every part of their transactions involving Aroldis Chapman over the past year. They picked him up for practically nothing from the Reds, giving up only Rookie Davis, Caleb Cotham, Eric Jagielo and Tony Renda (of which, only Rookie Davis has a case to be a Top 10 prospect for the Reds). They... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Third Base (3B)
While many of you are sweating fantasy football's crescendo, the 2017 fantasy baseball world has been creeping up on the horizon. With the Winter Meetings in the rearview mirror, we've got enough to go on to make your holidays truly happy with some fresh RotoBaller staff rankings! Today we'll cover third base. As a reminder,... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Second Base (2B)
We're coming to the end of another spin around the sun. Christmas is just around the corner. You know what that means: Time for fantasy baseball rankings! Today we'll cover second base. As a reminder, this first round of rankings features picks from Bill Dubiel, Brad Johnson, Nick Mariano, and yours truly. If you missed... Read More
Chris Sale Joins a Monster Rotation in Boston
To this point, the Chris Sale blockbuster is the biggest move of the offseason. Sale will join fellow lefty David Price and 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello atop Boston rotation, giving Boston one of the best starting pitching trios in the game. Sale certainly didn’t need much help to be fantasy relevant – he... Read More
Champ or Chump: Cameron Maybin
This time of year, it is easy to think only about the big names who are on the move, the Chris Sales and Andrew McCutchens of the world. Once the season starts up again, however, role players make a larger impact collectively on who plays in October. The same principle applies to the fantasy game.... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: First Base (1B)
It's 'bout that time, eh chaps? The Winter Meetings have come and gone. With it, some of the biggest offseason dominoes have already fallen. The 2017 fantasy baseball draft board is beginning to come into focus. Now it's time to delve into player rankings. We'll continue with our 2017 first base fantasy baseball rankings for... Read More
Boston Red Sox Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
The Red Sox system took a bit of a hit over the Winter Meetings as they dealt away top prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech as well as solid outfield prospect Luis Alexander Basabe and to the White Sox in exchange for Chris Sale (you can read about that trade here). But even with the deal,... Read More
2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Catchers
It's 'bout that time, eh chaps? The Winter Meetings have come and gone. With it, some of the biggest offseason dominoes have already fallen. The 2017 fantasy baseball draft board is beginning to come into focus. Now it's time to delve into player rankings. As is often the case, we'll start with our 2017 catcher fantasy... Read More
Desmond Joins the Rockies Juggernaut
First reported by Ken Rosenthal, former Ranger Ian Desmond signed a five-year, $70 million deal with the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday morning. This deal, while great news for Desmond, carries with it several questions. Where are the Rockies going to play this guy? Moving him back to shortstop is clearly off the table, as that spot... Read More
Dynasty Implications - MLB Prospects in the Adam Eaton Trade
Wow, the Chicago White Sox are completely blowing up their Major League roster. Yesterday it was Chris Sale for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz, today it's Adam Eaton for Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning. Two days ago, Rick Hahn had one of the weakest farm systems in baseball... Read More
Dynasty Implications - MLB Prospects in the Chris Sale Trade
The Boston Red Sox management woke up on Tuesday and decided that they didn't like the Winter Meetings to be all talk and no show. So they decided to make some noise and add starting pitcher Chris Sale from the White Sox and reliever Tyler Thornburg from the Brewers. This deal obviously has some immediate... Read More
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,... Read More
2016 In Review: Starting Pitcher (SP) Busts
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some of the year’s biggest disappointments at starting pitcher. Editor's note: Be sure to also check out our 2017 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. It's already loaded up with tons of great rankings articles and draft analysis. Aside from our tiered staff rankings for every position, we... Read More
Baltimore Orioles Top MLB Prospects for 2017 Dynasty Leagues
Hello RotoBallers! The baseball season may be over, but as all y'all dynasty owners out there know, the offseason for us is arguably one of the most important times of the year. This is when you'll need to study which prospects to target in your draft, who to keep, who to drop, and which ones... Read More
2016 In Review: Outfield (OF) Breakouts
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some more breakout performances in the outfield. Breakout Outfielders in 2016 Jackie Bradley, Boston Red Sox Bradley technically broke out last August, when he hit .354 with five homers across 79 AB. He had been largely considered a Quad-A player — someone who... Read More
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... Read More
2016 in Review: Values at Second Base
Second base is no longer the light hitting position of the past. Eighteen fantasy eligible second basemen hit 20 or more homers this season and four hit 30 or more. The deep field resulted in several late round or undrafted values, and here are three of the best bang-for-your buck second basemen from 2016. Value... Read More
2016 in Review: Values at Shortstop
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some of the best values at shortstop. Value Shortstops in 2016 Aledmys Diaz, St. Louis Cardinals Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz wasn’t expected to be more than a bench bat going into this season, but an injury to Jhonny Peralta gave him an opportunity. Fantasy... Read More
2016 In Review: Outfield (OF) Busts
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some of the most disappointing performances in the outfield. Bust Outfielders in 2016 Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs Heyward has had a fairly weird career. He broke into the majors back in 2010. Just 20 years old with 200 plate appearances above High-A... Read More
2016 In Review: Starting Pitcher (SP) Breakouts
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some of the breakout performances by starting pitchers. Breakout Starting Pitchers in 2016 Kyle Hendricks, Chicago Cubs “Hendricks could be one of the few fantasy bargains to be found in Wrigleyville this year,” is a thing I wrote back in February.... Read More
2016 in Review: Relief Pitcher (RP) Breakouts
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some of the top breakout relievers. Relief Pitcher Breakouts - 2016 Alex Colome, Tampa Bay Rays The Rays entered the season unsure of their closer. Brad Boxberger saved an AL-high 41 games in 2015, but was unavailable for the first two months of... Read More
2016 in Review: Shortstop (SS) Busts
Our review of the 2016 fantasy baseball season continues with a look at some busts at the shortstop position. These players simply couldn't bring enough value to justify their ADP. Shortstop Busts - 2016 Carlos Correa, Houston Astros It’s weird to label Correa a bust in any way, considering he has 42 HR and 27 SB... Read More