2020 Keeper Value Rankings - First Base

Many years ago, I noticed the managers in my long-time keeper league were consistently making terrible keeper decisions year after year. I thought I would help them out instead of taking their money every year and find a good set of Keeper League Rankings to share with them. What I found was quite disturbing. There […]

2020 Third Base Rankings - H2H Points Leagues

Points leagues may seem like a slight variation from traditional 5x5 category scoring leagues but you must approach draft day with a different strategy if you wish to truly compete. Rankings themselves are a different beast altogether, as category specialists like Mallex Smith and Dee Gordon (stolen bases), Kyle Schwarber and Franmil Reyes (home runs), […]

Red Sox Unsure If Dustin Pedroia Will Report For First Workout

Boston Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke is unsure if second baseman Dustin Pedroia (knee) will report to spring training before the first full-squad workout on Monday. Pedroia has been held to nine games over the last two seasons due to a left knee injury, and he suffered a significant setback in his rehab late last […]

Darwinzon Hernandez Could Be A Starter

Boston Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said that pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez is a relief pitcher right now, but the coaching staff discussed the idea of him starting again at some point. The 23-year-old left-hander made his MLB debut in 2019 by making one start and 28 relief appearances. He posted a 4.45 ERA and 1.75 […]

Red Sox View Brandon Workman As Their Closer

Boston Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke believes that relief pitcher Brandon Workman will be the team's closer entering the regular season, barring something unforeseen. “I think with what he did last year, he deserves that shot to be the closer,” Roenicke said. Workman became Boston's closer late in the year in 2019, posting a stellar […]

Chris Sale Expected To Report On Friday

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (illness) had a flu bug that turned into pneumonia, but he's expected to report to camp on Friday. It's not the start that Sale wanted, but the good news is his left arm is healthy following a year filled with injury and poor performance in 2019. Despite his […]

Chris Sale Has No Arm Issues Entering Spring Training

Boston Red Sox starter Chris Sale is fully healthy and will enter Spring Training without any arm issues, according to Red Sox general manager Brian O'Halloran. However, Sale will have the start of his Spring Training schedule delayed due to an illness that he is currently dealing with, but the left-hander will resume his normal […]

Kevin Pillar Nearing Deal With Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are closing in on signing outfielder Kevin Pillar to a major league contract, Ken Rosenthal reports. Pillar spent the beginning of the 2019 season with the Blue Jays prior to being traded to the Giants, where the 31-year-old enjoyed career bests of 21 home runs, 88 RBI, 83 runs scored and […]

2020 Dynasty Leagues: Players to Buy (Premium Content)

While redraft owners prepare for draft day, dynasty owners are scouring the trade market. The weeks preceding spring training are optimal to take a chance on young players who have yet to peak or may have question marks surrounding them. Not all buy-low scenarios will pan out as expected, but when playing the long game, […]

2020 NFBC Draft and Hold Strategy - Late-Round Pitching Category Boosters (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Pitching strategies are challenging to master on draft day. Should you draft two elite starters early and then wait to finish out your rotation? Do you load up on hitting early and devour all the pitchers in the middle rounds? When do you grab […]

2020 NFBC Draft and Hold Strategy - Late-Round Hitting Category Boosters (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Draft strategies are challenging to master regardless of the league. Should you focus on elite starting pitchers? Do you load up on hitting early and devour all the pitchers in the middle rounds? When do you grab a catcher in two-draft leagues? There are […]

2020 First Base Rankings - H2H Points Leagues

Often regarded as an inferior fantasy baseball format, points leagues offer a different style of boasting over your friends or coworkers similar to that of fantasy football. These setups are typically head-to-head formats for a one-week stretch where the player with the most points gets a win. Easy right? While it's true that roster construction […]

Sophomore Hitters Who Should Progress in 2020

We’ve been spoiled. In recent years, players such as Peter Alonso, Yordan Alvarez, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Aaron Judge have all entered the MLB ranks while performing at a high level. But it’s not supposed to be that easy for freshmen players. There are many examples of players starting out modestly in their rookie seasons […]

2020 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers – Christin Stewart

Writing about Christin Stewart being a sleeper gives me a feeling of déjà vu, largely because I did the same thing 12 months ago. Stewart didn’t really do much in 2019 to warrant any fantasy relevance, yet here I am letting you know that the Tigers outfielder is once again a sleeper for 2020. Heading […]

2020 Catcher Rankings - H2H Points Leagues

Points leagues may seem like a slight variation from traditional 5x5 category scoring leagues, but you must approach draft day with a different strategy if you wish to truly compete. Rankings themselves are a different beast altogether, as category specialists like Mallex Smith and Dee Gordon (stolen bases), Kyle Schwarber and Franmil Reyes (home runs), […]

Dodgers Re-Agree To Acquire Mookie Betts and David Price

The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed upon a trade that will see them acquire outfielder Mookie Betts and starting pitcher David Price from the Boston Red Sox. According to Jeff Passan, outfielder Alex Verdugo and shortstop prospect Jeter Downs are heading back to the Red Sox. Betts is an annual MVP candidate, and he joins […]

Introducing EDV - Expected Draft Values for Fantasy Baseball

Last March at RotoBaller, we kicked off a cool fantasy baseball research project, exploring what we're calling Expected Draft Values. This offseason, we’ve refined the approach and our research, and taken things a step forward. We're sharing this concept with the fantasy baseball world now, and hope it's as helpful to you as it's been […]

2020 RotoBaller Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Reactions

Over the last couple weeks, RotoBaller's roster has grown with several new faces to join our esteemed veteran corps. We figured it would be nice to roll out the welcome wagon with a February fantasy baseball mock draft, putting six "RotoNewbs" with six RotoVets. It was a snake draft hosted on Fantrax, a traditional 5x5 format with […]

Red Sox Still Seeking Top-10 Prospect From Twins

The Boston Red Sox are still seeking a top-10 prospect from the Minnesota Twins in addition to pitcher Brusdar Graterol in the three-team blockbuster deal that would include Mookie Betts and starting pitcher David Price going to the Dodgers. So far, the Twins have balked at this request. Boston's concerns over Graterol's medicals have held […]

Bases Loaded Podcast - Second Base Rankings Risers, Fallers and Sleepers

Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) is joined by Jorge Montanez of RotoBaller (@Roto_Nino). They get into their second base rankings risers, fallers and sleepers. Subscribe to the Bases Loaded podcast, part of RotoBaller Radio's Podcast Network. Like and Subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes and BlogTalkRadio as well! […]

Ron Roenicke In Line To Become Next Red Sox Manager

Boston Red Sox bench coach Ron Roenicke is in line to replace Alex Cora as the team's next manager after a ruling comes down from Major League Baseball regarding their investigation of allegations that the Red Sox cheated in 2018. Roenicke has been the team's bench coach the last two seasons, and he was the […]

Kenta Maeda To Twins - Fantasy Impact

Late Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox triggered a blockbuster, three-team trade that sent star outfielder Mookie Betts to the west coast and brought a couple of top prospects back to Boston. What was lost in the madness was the third team, the Minnesota Twins, making a big addition to their starting […]

Mookie Betts Deal No Longer A Certainty

The Boston Red Sox are trying to reconfigure the part of the Mookie Betts three-team deal with the Twins to get more than pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol. There's still hope that this blockbuster deal gets finalized in some form, but some involved are suggesting that it's no longer a certainty. The hangup is over Graterol's […]

Mookie Betts and David Price to Dodgers - Fantasy Impact

For weeks there have been rumors of a potential Mookie Betts trade. It seemed Betts might be heading to the San Diego Padres, but recently another NL West team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, became involved in the trade discussions. Like most times, when the Dodgers get involved they get what they want. On Tuesday, Mookie […]

Red Sox Getting Alex Verdugo, Brusdar Graterol

The Boston Red Sox are acquiring outfielder Alex Verdugo and pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol in exchange for outfielder Mookie Betts and starting pitcher David Price in a three-team blockbuster trade involving the Dodgers and Twins, according to sources. With Betts now out of Beantown, Verdugo will join Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi in the […]

Dodgers Agree To Acquire Mookie Betts, David Price

The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a deal with the Boston Red Sox that would send All-Star outfielder Mookie Betts and starting pitcher David Price to the Dodgers, according to sources familiar with the deal. The deal is pending medical reviews and could involve a third team. Significant money will be going the way […]

Should We Buy Back Into Blake Snell?

Author note: Blake Snell dealt with an elbow issue ad received a cortisone shot. That lead to his ADP falling, and for good reason, but he returned to the mound since and now with the start of the season delayed, he should be ready for the start of the season.  Early in 2018, I was […]

Mookie Betts Expected To Be Traded

Trade talks involving Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts continue to progress, and it's now expected that he's traded either Monday or Tuesday. There seems to be good momentum for the Dodgers landing the superstar outfielder, but the Padres are still in the mix and were still talking to Boston as of Sunday. If he […]

Analyzing Fly Ball Metrics: 2020 Positive Regression Candidates

A once intermittent and revered event, the home run ball has now engulfed baseball to extraordinary levels, which has theorists convinced that the ball is tampered with or "juiced." For a good reason, as last year we saw four teams shatter the single-season home run record previously held by the 2018 Yankees, with the Minnesota […]

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: Pull%

We have previously determined that fantasy owners generally prefer batters to hit the ball into the air in order to have a chance at a home run. Yet, all fly balls are not equal for this purpose. A player can maximize his power production by pulling the ball in the air. One way to illustrate […]