NL Rookies to Target in 2019 Mixed Redraft Leagues

As the New Year has finally come, and fantasy football is over, at last, fantasy baseball draft season is right around the corner. With that comes mock drafts, draft previews, ADP analysis, and of course, player recommendations. This article will help owners get ready by looking to the National League All-Star team of rookies to […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 3 - Statcast for Hitters

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. […]

AL-Only Deeper League Draft Targets

Objectively, deep-league AL or NL-only fantasy baseball is the best format to play this summer. For one, NL-only leagues are the original formats of fantasy baseball. If readers are not into history, the strategy should also convince them to jump in. With both an expanded and limited player pool, the unique challenges of balancing depth […]

Jose Abreu Settles With White Sox

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu avoided salary arbitration on Friday by agreeing to a one-year, $16 million deal. An injury limited Abreu to just 128 games in 2018, and statistically it was his worst year in his five years in the big leagues. The Cuban hit .265/.325/.473 with a career-low .798 OPS, 22 […]

Jake Bauers - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Jake Bauers exploded onto the fantasy landscape last summer only to fall off late in the season. It ultimately became a disappointing freshman campaign. And yet, Bauers was back in the news this offseason with a trade to Cleveland and a chance to demonstrate again what made him a top fantasy prospect coming into 2018. […]

Yankees Avoid Arbitration With Greg Bird

The New York Yankees avoided salary arbitration with first baseman Greg Bird on Thursday by agreeing to a one-year, $1.2 million deal with him. Bird was expected to become the team's primary first baseman in 2018, but he flopped and lost the job to Luke Voit in the second half. Bird hit an embarrassing .199/.286/.386 […]

Luke Voit - 2019 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

One of my biggest misses over the last few years has been my refusal to move on from Greg Bird at the first base position for the New York Yankees. Year after year I have continued to draft Bird and make excuses why this year will be the year. Part of the reason is that […]

2019 First Basemen - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

We continue our fantasy baseball tiered rankings analysis with the first base position. Even though it is only January, RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Chris Zolli, and I have come up with our initial pre-draft rankings to give you a sense of player values as early as possible. As the offseason progresses, these rankings […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 2 - HR/FB for Hitters

Using BABIP to predict a player's batting average is great. Average is a category in many league formats, and every hit is an opportunity to steal a base or score a run. But most owners find the long ball sexier. Every HR comes with a guaranteed run scored and at least one RBI. Many owners […]

Statcast Review - Noteworthy Hitting Leaders (xSLG)

xSLG isn’t a stat you’ll find on the back of a baseball card or one you’d find on a baseball reference page. However, as far as advanced stats go, xSLG is pretty straightforward. It is the expected slugging percentage of a hitter based on hit probability his batted balls in play, regardless of outcome. So if […]

Mets Acquire J.D. Davis

The New York Mets acquired infielder J.D. Davis and minor league infielder Cody Bohanek from the Houston Astros on Sunday in exchange for minor league outfielder Ross Adolph, infielder Luis Santana and catcher Scott Manea. Davis was a third-round pick in 2014 and hit just .175 with a home run in 103 at-bats in 2018. […]

Using Sabermetrics For Fantasy Baseball Part 1 - BABIP for Hitters

Hello fellow RotoBallers! Sabermetrics have become an integral tool for fantasy baseball draft prep, but a concise resource for understanding the basics can be difficult to find. This series attempts to define and explain all of the metrics fantasy owners may find useful, citing examples of how to use them in the process. Twenty degrees […]

Is it Legit? C.J. Cron's Breakout

We continue with our next edition of "Is It Legit?" to discuss another surprising breakout performer from the 2018 MLB season in order to assess his value heading into 2019. With so many players seemingly becoming fantasy baseball darlings overnight, it can be challenging to sift through the multiple hype trains and determine which players […]

Top 10 Dynasty First Basemen - Fantasy Baseball Prospects

It might seem like I drew the short straw among the prospect analysts here at RotoBaller, but I actually picked this assignment! You won’t see many of these names on top 100 lists. Despite being one of the positions from which teams expect to get the most offensive production, first base gets the least amount […]

Daniel Murphy to the Rockies - Fantasy Implications

Rockies fans watched a 2018 team that disappointed on offense and the front office might have just made the key addition to fix some of those headaches. Second baseman Daniel Murphy will be joining the Rockies on a two-year deal and should offer an exciting upside bat, with a glove that might not play all […]

Joey Gallo Won't Play Third Base In 2019

Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said that outfielder/first baseman Joey Gallo will not play third base next year despite the team trading away infielder Jurickson Profar. Texas prefers Gallo either in the outfielder or at first base. So Gallo will not be adding third base eligibility back to his name next year, unfortunately. The […]

Albert Pujols Taking Batting Practice

Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols (elbow) started taking batting practice last Monday, and general manager Billy Eppler said that Pujols feels good. Knee and elbow injuries limited Pujols to 117 games last season, and he hit .245/.289/.411 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI. He'll turn 39 next month and is an extreme […]

Daniel Murphy Agrees With Rockies

Free-agent second baseman Daniel Murphy agreed to a deal with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. The deal is expected to be for two years and $24 million. Murphy isn't the best defensive second baseman, so he'll likely be Colorado's main first baseman, which means Ian Desmond should move to the outfield full time. Murphy will […]

Please Let Brandon Belt Get Traded

A report recently came to light that the San Francisco Giants were making first baseman and owner of a genuine super-beard, Brandon Belt, available in trades. Apparently, there are teams interested in the oft-injured slugger, despite the whopping $48 million due to him over the next three years. It’s not terribly surprising that Belt is available, […]

Daniel Descalso Joins Cubs

The Chicago Cubs agreed to an undisclosed deal with free-agent infielder Daniel Descalso on Tuesday. Descalso was a utility player for Arizona the last two years and hit .238/.353/.436 with a career-high 13 home runs and 57 RBI in 138 games last season. He spent most of his time at second base (51 games) and […]

Matt Adams Agrees With Nationals

Free-agent first baseman Matt Adams has agreed to an undisclosed deal with the Washington Nationals on Saturday, according to sources. Adams returns to the Nats after spending his time in 2018 with Washington and St. Louis. He did most of his damage in Washington, hitting .257 with 18 of his 21 home runs in 94 […]

White Sox Don't Intend To Trade Jose Abreu

The Chicago White Sox have no intentions of trading first baseman Jose Abreu despite acquiring first baseman Yonder Alonso from the Indians on Friday. Abreu's season ended prematurely in 2018 due to injury, and he hit .265/.325/.473 with a career-low 22 home runs, 78 RBI and 68 runs scored in a career-low 128 games. It […]

White Sox Acquire Yonder Alonso

The Chicago White Sox acquired first baseman Yonder Alonso from the Cleveland Indians on Friday, according to a source. It's unknown what the White Sox are sending back to the Tribe. Alonso became expendable when the Indians traded for switch-hitting first baseman Carlos Santana and first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers just a day earlier. Santana should […]

Carlos Santana and Edwin Encarnacion Swapped - Fantasy Impact

For Cleveland fans, last year was an odd viewing experience, as for the first time in eight years Carlos Santana was not suiting up for the team. Well, those days are over, as Santana is returning to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario as part of a three-team deal. At the time of writing, Carlos […]

2018 Baseball Winter Meetings - Wednesday/Thursday Recap

MLB Winter Meetings are ending in Las Vegas, Nevada and the headline-grabbing moves have come from relatively unknown places. Players like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, J.T. Realmuto, and Noah Syndergaard were rumored to be traded or signed, yet none of those moves materialized. What did occur over the last two days, though, were some solid […]

Daniel Murphy On Colorado's Radar

Free-agent second basemen Daniel Murphy and Neil Walker and free-agent first baseman Logan Morrison are on the radar of the Colorado Rockies. However, the Rockies wouldn't want more than a short-term deal with any of them so it doesn't alter their plan to give increased playing time to left-handed hitting Ryan McMahon. McMahon played mostly […]

Rockies Have Discussed Justin Smoak

The Colorado Rockies have "discussed" Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak as a possible trade target. Smoak is a switch-hitting power first baseman that would look really attractive to fantasy owners in the thin air at Coors Field. The 32-year-old hit .242/.350/.457 with 25 home runs and 77 RBI in 147 games in 2018 […]

Indians Get Carlos Santana, Jake Bauers

The Cleveland Indians are acquiring first baseman Carlos Santana from the Mariners and first baseman Jake Bauers from the Rays on Thursday in a three-team swap. The Tribe shipped designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion to Seattle and infielder Yandy Diaz to the Rays. The Tribe now has a surplus of DH/first base types, although Bauers could […]

Edwin Encarnacion Heading To Seattle

The Seattle Mariners will acquire designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion and a compensatory Round B selection from the Cleveland Indians on Thursday in exchange for first baseman Carlos Santana in a three-team deal also involving the Rays. E5 can also play some first base, but he'll likely serve mostly as a DH in Seattle. He'll turn 36 […]

Justin Bour Agrees With Angels

The Los Angeles Angels agreed to an undisclosed deal with free-agent first baseman Justin Bour on Wednesday, according to a source. Bour will turn 31 next May and ended his 2018 season as a bench player for the Phillies, seeing just 49 at-bats with them in 29 games. He hit only .227/.347/.412 with 19 home […]