2016 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Relief Pitching (January)

Welcome back RotoBallers to the end of our second round of 2016 fantasy baseball rankings. We'll take a look at relief pitching in this final segment, from closers to holders. Saves are always a volatile category for fantasy owners, with the selection after the first few tiers leaving much to be desired in either performance or […]

How Will Steven Matz Perform in 2016?

Steven Matz burst onto the scene in Flushing in 2015. In his MLB debut, Matz displayed the fastball/curveball combo that made him such a highly anticipated prospect. Not only that, but Matz also showed he's rather adept at swinging the bat. Unfortunately, pitcher generated offense doesn't help fantasy owners. Nonetheless, Matz has enough upside just […]

Craig Kimbrel Bringing Heat to Red Sox Bullpen

The Red Sox and Yankees made it a really interesting off-season with their bullpen additions. Boston acquired Craig Kimbrel from San Diego to be their closer... and New York got Aroldis Chapman from Cincinnati. Coincidence? Maybe. Sure, Boston got Kimbrel because Koji Uehara got hurt last year and he's also 40. But they also got […]

Starling Marte HRs To Dip In 2016?

Coming off a 2015 campaign that produced a career-high 19 HRs, Starling Marte will find it difficult to match that output in 2016. Marte’s HR per fly ball (HR/FB) rate in 2015 was 18.6%, meaning for every 100 fly balls he hit, 18 left the yard. This efficiency was a significant increase from Marte’s 12.2% […]

Arodys Vizcaino: Cheap Closer Comes With Skills

While no one actively roots for injury, when Jason Grilli went torn with a torn Achilles as he shot off to cover first base it meant that there was a void to be filled in the Braves’ ninth inning. This was initially filled by Jim Johnson, whose trade value was built up enough to then […]

Julio Teheran Is A Risky Buy in 2016

Julio Teheran took a few sizeable steps back in 2015 after an impressive first two full years in the majors for the Braves. Many people could see that the regression police was hot on Teheran’s trail after last year. It’s one thing to have your surface stats catch up to your peripherals, but his peripherals […]

Nick Markakis: A Deep League OF Option In 2016

Nick Markakis’ 2015 was his first season not in an Orioles jersey, and his first year for the Braves saw him barely able to hit a home run. In every season of his career Markakis had hit double digit home runs, and last year for Atlanta he hit a grand total of three. He had […]

Ender Inciarte Is Set To Leadoff For The Braves In 2016

An exciting addition for the Braves, Ender Inciarte comes over from the Diamondbacks after he hit six homers and stole 21 bases while hitting .303 in 561 plate appearances in 2015. Inciarte put the ball in play more last year, bringing his strikeout rate down from a healthy 11.9% to an improved 10.3% while also […]

Erick Aybar: Cheap MI Option in 2016

Erick Aybar has really settled into a role, seemingly unflinching in his quest to hit a few home runs every year alongside 15 steals and a .270s average. Of course he now comes to the Braves instead of playing for the Angels, so his counting stats may take a step back, but for now he […]

Are The Gloves Finally Off For Patrick Corbin in 2016?

Don't deny it, you all loved Patrick Corbin in 2013. The southpaw flashed a mid-90's heater along with a nasty slider that led to more swings and misses than a Little League team facing a suspiciously mature looking 11 year old pitcher. Okay I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the point. He was impressive. […]

Adonis Garcia: Sneaky CI Power Bat For 2016?

If you scoured the web for 2016 Braves’ projections and saw Adonis Garcia slotted in at third base and batting fifth behind Freeman, your reaction may have been one of shock and dismay. From a “real life” baseball perspective, plenty might agree with you as his glove at third is subpar. What is keeping him […]

Hector Olivera Looks To Grow In 2016

The Braves traded for Hector Olivera from the Dodgers at the deadline last year, and after Olivera recovered from a wrist injury he was called up for the month of September in Atlanta. In a minuscule 24 game, 87 plate appearance sample, he hit two homers with 11 RBIs with a .253 average. While it […]

Carlos Beltran: Bench Value in Deeper Leagues

If it wasn’t for his horrific start to 2015, batting .162, while tallying 21 strikeouts and only 11 hits, Carlos Beltran would have posted a season average of a lot closer to .300. Beltran is inching up there in age, but after hitting 19 home runs and driving in 67 runs at 38 years old, […]

Mike Trout Remains Candidate for Top Pick

Mike Trout lost headlines as the result of Bryce Harper's unbelievable season, but put together a fantastic campaign in his own right. The 24-year-old quieted concerns regarding his escalating strikeouts, lowering his whiff rate by three percent en route to a career-best 41 home runs. Prospective fantasy owners would likely take that number and run, […]

Jace Peterson: A Buried 2016 Deep League MI Option

Jace Peterson is slated to be the Braves’ second baseman again in 2016, but he doesn’t look to have much relevance outside of deep leagues that require a MI slot. He goes on streaks, but he’ll never be a guy who hits double digit homers and it doesn’t seem like his speed has translated to […]

Freddie Freeman: Top 10 First Baseman in 2016

Freddie Freeman’s first three years in the league (2011-2013) saw him seemingly establish a safe 20 home run floor, with 2013 looking like a huge growth year as he also posted a .319 average to go with 23 bombs and a career high 109 RBIs. Now that average isn’t likely to come again (he had […]

2016 Top Five Shortstop Keeper Values

These rankings are derived from my 15 step formula. The Keeper Valuation Formula uses the players’ age, draft round, number of teams in the league, current stats, projected stats, games played percentage, positional value, and some secret squirrel statistical math. The product is a true Keeper Value for each player. Consider the derived Values the same […]

Luis Severino to Build Off of Impressive Rookie Season

In August of last year, Luis Severino stormed onto the scene, into a short-handed New York pitching rotation, and into the good graces of Yankees fans. Amidst a team of several aging stars nearing their expiration date, Severino spells future. And his 2015 performances proved so. Although pitching into the seventh inning only once in […]

Michael Pineda: Inconsistent Brilliance in 2016

It would be nice if every Yankees pitcher didn’t have some type of concern attached to their name. Michael Pineda is certainly one of them, as he’s been plagued by injuries year after year. Big Mike pitched well in April and May of 2015, posting a 6-2 record and a 3.37 ERA, and although struggled […]

Hector Santiago Looks to Rebound After Inconsistent Season

It was a tale of two seasons for Hector Santiago in 2015. After allowing just 28 earned runs in 108.1 innings prior to the All-Star break, the 28-year-old went on to post an unsightly 5.47 ERA in the second half. Those watching Santiago's stock can find encouragement in the fact that his strikeout rate (21%) […]

Will Kris Bryant Live Up To The Hype Again?

Kris Bryant had some debut season in the Windy City. First, the Cubs stirred up controversy by keeping him in the minors for the first 12 days of the season so they could retain him an extra year. Then he had a tremendous rookie season, smashing 26 HR to go with 99 RBI, while slashing […]

NBA Daily Lineup Injury News and Updates for 1/29/16

RotoBaller has assembled NBA injury updates and advice on various injury situations throughout the NBA to prepare for your daily lineups on January 29, 2016. Understanding the injury landscape, and who plans to benefit instead, is critical for setting your fantasy basketball lineups daily. Here we will focus on the important questions: Who is injured? […]

DeAndre Jordan (C, LAC) - DraftKings Smart and Safe Play on 1/29/16

DeAndre Jordan (vs LAL, $7,500) Jordan has been rebounding at an elite level recently, as he’s averaging 13.8 points, and 14.5 rebounds per game over the last 10 days. Tonight, Jordan gets a great matchup against the Lakers, who rank dead last in the NBA against centers this season. Jordan won’t have any troubles rebounding tonight, and […]

Kevin Durant (SF, OKC) - DraftKings Big Money Play on 1/29/16

Kevin Durant (vs HOU, $10,100) If you don’t want to pay up for Russell Westbrook tonight, Kevin Durant makes a great secondary option for the Thunder. His price isn’t quite as high, but he has been playing nearly as well as Westy over the last 10 days. Over that span, KD is averaging 29.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, […]

Zach Lavine (PG, MIN) - DraftKings Value Play on 1/29/16

Zach LaVine (at UTA, $4,900) LaVine has been playing big minutes because of the injury to Kevin Martin, and Martin will likely sit out again tonight. In his last two games, LaVine is averaging 28.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.0 steal per game. He has flashed tremendous upside in those two games, as he easily exceeded […]

Archie Goodwin (SG, PHO) - DraftKings Value Play on 1/29/16

Archie Goodwin (at NY, $5,600) Goodwin is finally at a price where he isn’t a must start tonight, but he still makes a great option. Over the last 10 days, Goodwin is averaging 18.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. Brandon Knight is going to be out again tonight, which means Goodwin is locked into […]

Mitch Moreland Could Bring Power and RBI at Cheap Price

Mitch Moreland was something of an underrated contributor in the power department last season, slugging 23 home runs and notching a .204 ISO while totaling 85 RBI over 132 games. While his high strikeout rate (21.7%) and low walk rate (6.2%) can make him look like a one-note player, he isn't a complete liability when […]

Cole Hamels Should Translate Well to American League

Cole Hamels put an exclamation point on his time in Philadelphia by throwing a no-hitter in his final start before being traded to the Texas Rangers at the end of July. While no similar theatrics followed the 32-year-old to Arlington, he was largely able to hold on to his consistency, notching an ERA just 0.02 […]

Rougned Odor Will Need to Sustain Power to Justify Price Tag

Rougned Odor was sent back to Triple-A after opening the 2015 season with just 13 hits in his first 27 games, but set Round Rock ablaze over 108 at-bats with a .352/.426/.639 slash line, prompting his recall to the big club in June. Odor continued his impressive display of power in the major leagues, finishing […]

Clayton Kershaw Unanimously #1, Obviously.

It doesn’t get much better than Clayton Kershaw. In 2015 he posted 232.2 IP, 2.13 ERA, 301 SO, and my personal favorite--a 1.99 FIP (which points to his level of dominance and disregards possible defensive issues). Kershaw is the best there is, arguably the best there was, and possibly the best there ever will be; […]