Roster Construction Strategies from the Middle

Drafting a great roster is the vital base for a successful fantasy baseball season. In order to do that, you'll need to find an optimal draft position. All draft spots are not created equal. Finding the right spot for you is your first task. Everyone has their own preference on the best spot to start […]

Franmil Reyes Dealing With Sprained Ankle

Cleveland Indians designated hitter Franmil Reyes said Monday that he suffered a sprained right ankle a few weeks ago, Tom Withers of the Associated Press reports. Reyes didn't indicate whether he expects the injury to affect his status for spring training, though it wouldn't be surprising if Cleveland elected to limit his activity in the […]

Cleveland Hasn't Talked Extension With Shane Bieber

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber said the team hasn't approached him about a long-term contract extension, but he said he's willing to listen and sounded excited about the idea. Cleveland typically starts extension talks in spring training, so the two sides could come together soon on discussions. The 25-year-old right-hander is under team control […]

2021 Shortstop Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues

Once upon a time, shortstop was one of the toughest positions to fill in fantasy baseball, just a small notch above catcher. 10 years ago, we were prioritizing Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Ramirez near the top of drafts just because they filled that elusive shortstop spot. Sure, they were fantastic hitters – when healthy – […]

Top 250 Dynasty Prospects Rankings (Part 3)

Welcome back RotoBallers to Part 3 of my dynasty prospects list, breaking down the 1-50 ranked prospects. You can also read Part 1 and Part 2 from a few days ago, looking at the 51-150 and 151-250 ranked prospects. RotoBaller's Top 250 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Prospects list is back and refreshed for the 2021 season. Baseball has […]

RotoBaller Mock Draft Review - Biggest Reaches and Regrets

As we steamroll into fantasy baseball draft season, the team here at RotoBaller continues to practice what we preach by partaking in mock drafts. It's the best way to test out plans, gather information to have a better idea of what to expect for the real thing and try out new ideas you've been working […]

2021 Second Base Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues

We continue to move past the chaos of 2020 and onto a new baseball season full of promise. For fantasy baseball managers, draft season is already upon us. RotoBaller's rankers, Pierre Camus, Big Pick Nick Mariano, and I have updated our 2021 Mixed League rankings as we now move on to evaluate the keystone position. […]

Are We Overvaluing Innings Pitched Projections?

One of the biggest questions that the 2020 season has caused for 2021 is concerning starting pitcher inning totals. The league leader in regular-season innings last year, as you've probably heard, was Lance Lynn with 84 innings. The average total for pitchers who made 10 or more starts was just 60 innings. In years prior […]

Shane Bieber Reports To Spring Training

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber (illness) reported to spring training Saturday, Tom Withers of the Associated Press reports. Bieber missed the first few days of camp after testing positive for COVID-19, but he has been cleared to return and will join the team for workouts Saturday. The right-hander will now begin building up ahead […]

Using Sabermetrics for Fantasy Baseball: HR/FB

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

Top 250 Dynasty Prospects Rankings (Part 2)

Welcome back RotoBallers to Part 2 of my dynasty prospects list, breaking down the 51-150 ranked prospects. You can also read Part 1 and Part 3 from a few days ago, looking at the 1-50 and 151-250 ranked prospects. RotoBaller's Top 250 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Prospects list is back and refreshed for the 2021 season. Baseball has […]

MLB Spring Training Notebook - February 19th

Welcome to the 2021 edition of RotoBaller's Spring Training Notebook. I began this column a year ago, and made it about four or five articles in when Major League Baseball decided to shut things down, just like everything else around the globe, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, things are at least a little more […]

Playing For Keeps: Making Keeper Decisions for 2021

Spring training is officially underway, and with that comes the start of fantasy baseball draft season. While the majority of people participate in redraft leagues, keeper formats are also popular, and fantasy managers in those leagues are already weighing their decisions on which players to retain and which to toss back into the pool for […]

The Operating Room Ep. 18: 2021 Fantasy Baseball Intro

Kev Mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) is joined by CBS Fantasy's Frank Stampfl (@Roto_Frank) to discuss the 2021 fantasy baseball season. This episode is a primer that covers the questions looming large across the fantasy landscape. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM ET, and […]

Shane Bieber Tests Positive For COVID-19

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber has tested positive for COVID-19, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports. Bieber reportedly experienced mild symptoms following his positive test and is a late arrival to camp as a result. However, the president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti was hopeful that the right-hander will be able to join the […]

Oliver Perez Returns To Cleveland

The Cleveland Indians have made a deal with relief pitcher Oliver Perez on Thursday, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. The 39-year-old lefty has shifted around quite a bit over his 18-year career, but he's finally found a bit of stability in Cleveland. He owns a 2.67 ERA thus far in Cleveland, including a 2.00 mark […]

Trevor Bauer to the Dodgers - Fantasy Impact

The biggest domino in this year's free agent market has finally toppled, as Trevor Bauer is taking his talents to Los Angeles for the next three years with the Dodgers. It'll be a return to familiar territory for the reigning NL Cy Young winner, as he returns not only to where he grew up but […]

Top 250 Dynasty Prospects Rankings (Part 1)

RotoBaller's Top 250 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Prospects list is back and refreshed for the 2021 season. Baseball has undergone a lot of change over the past 12 months due to the pandemic and no area of the game has been more heavily impacted than the minor leagues. Since this time last year, Minor League Baseball has […]

2021 First Base Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues

The chaotic, wild, and confusing 2020 COVID season is now thankfully behind us, am I right fellow Red Sox fans? But now is the hardest part in terms of fantasy implications from the pandemic as we try to decipher how much of 2020's statistics are actually viable data for 2021 projections. Small playing time samples, […]

Cody Allen Hangs Up His Cleats

Free-agent relief pitcher Cody Allen drew some interest on the open market but has decided to retire from Major League Baseball. The 32-year-old compiled 153 career saves, with all but four of them coming for the Cleveland Indians. The right-hander was the ninth-inning man for Cleveland's 2016 World Series team, pitching in four World Series […]

Prospects to Know in 2021 - AL Central

The Super Bowl is over and we are officially on to baseball season! So what better way to celebrate the new baseball year than by talking about prospects? Last week, I took a look at the prospects to know in the NL Central. This week we're switching leagues and taking a look at five prospects […]

Sneaky Starters - Deceptive Pitchers Who Could Be Draft Steals

Earlier this week, I was reading Michael Ajeto's article on PitcherList about Brady Singer. In the article, Michael touted Singer's deception and mentioned a sign of that being Singer's Zone Swing Rate (Z-Swing%) minus his Chase Rate (O-Swing%). The premise of the concept was simple but one that stood out to me immediately. Z-Swing% measures […]

Relief Pitchers Set To Bust In 2021

Projecting relievers is notoriously tricky, and that’s especially true after an irregular 2020 season. As is prone to happen in small samples of performance, otherwise strong relievers sometimes have down seasons that are not entirely in their control. Still, some relievers are more likely to bust than others, and fantasy managers would do well to […]

Outfield Dynasty Rankings for Fantasy Baseball

We've already gone around the infield with a look at first base, second base, third base, and shortstop. Let's head to the outfield now to break down the long list of outfielders that have fantasy relevance in 2021 and beyond. All of the players listed have outfield eligibility, although several will be used at shallower […]

2021 Catcher Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues

The chaotic, wild, and confusing 2020 COVID season is now thankfully behind us, am I right fellow Red Sox fans? But now is the hardest part in terms of fantasy implications from the pandemic as we try to decipher how much of 2020's statistics are actually viable data for 2021 projections. Small playing time samples, […]

2020 Schedule Outliers - NL and AL Central Starting Pitchers

One of the many weird things about the 2020 MLB season was how the schedule was re-done. In case you have forgotten, every team played all 60 of their regular-season games against teams in the same division or corresponding geographical division as them. That resulted in some natural advantages. It seemed pretty obvious at the […]

Drew Smyly (SP, ATL) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Finding strong starting pitching that does not have a hefty price tag can be really tough. A lot of leagues are won by the team that had the most success with their later-round starting pitcher selections. Blake Snell, Shane Bieber, and Dinelson Lamet are three names of the last handful of years that went in […]

Cleveland Signs Billy Hamilton To Minor League Deal

The Cleveland Indians signed free-agent outfielder Billy Hamilton to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training on Thursday, according to a report by Venezuela-based journalist Daniel Alvarez Montes. The 30-year-old played in 36 games with the Cubs and Mets in 2020. Hamilton, along with Ben Gamel, who also signed Thursday, the Tribe […]

Ben Gamel Joining Cleveland

The Cleveland Indians signed free-agent outfielder Ben Gamel to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training on Thursday. Gamel had a slash line of .237/.315/.404 with three home runs and 10 RBI in 40 games for the Brewers in the shortened 2020 season. The 28-year-old has bounced around with the Mariners, Yankees […]

Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Redraft Prospects for 2021 (Part 2)

Spring Training 2021 is almost here, which means it’s time to start thinking about prospects again. A strong pop-up performance from a rookie or two can have a massive impact on a fantasy manager’s season. If we look back to the truncated 2020 season, we can easily locate a healthy dose of players that had […]