Gregory Polanco Expected To Report Healthy

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco (shoulder) is expected to report to camp healthy, according to director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk. The Pirates will monitor Polanco closely in spring training after another injury plagued season in 2019 in which he played just 42 games. Polanco hit just .242/.301/.425 with six home runs, 17 RBI and […]

Jarrod Dyson Officially A Pirate, Jameson Taillon to 60-Day IL

Free-agent outfielder Jarrod Dyson has cleared his physical and has officially signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. To make room on the 40-man roster for Dyson, the Pirates have moved pitcher Jameson Taillon to the 60-day injured list. The Pirates gain a top-10 active base-stealer in Dyson, which includes an 85% success rate […]

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), […]

Keone Kela Earns Closer Role For Start Of 2020 Season

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Keone Kela has earned the closer role for the start of the 2020 season, as stated by Pirates manager Derek Shelton. Kela doesn't have all that much competition, but for the manager to name him the closer after just one workout has to be great news in terms of how his offseason […]

Jarrod Dyson Has Agreement With Pirates

Free-agent outfielder Jarrod Dyson has reportedly reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The agreement is still pending a physical, but if all goes well, Dyson should be able to join the team for Grapefruit League action very soon. Dyson had 30 stolen bases and batted .230 last year with the Diamondbacks. His base-stealing upside is […]

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 […]

Talking Projections and Data-Based Drafting with Ariel Cohen

The fantasy baseball industry is driven by data and many analysts go so far as to develop their own systems for projecting value. Recently, ATC has become more popular as a baseline for those who are seeking a way to rank players for the upcoming season. I recently had a conversation with the man behind […]

Ke'Bryan Hayes Looking To Make The Jump To The Majors

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes will be looking to get his bat going in order to make the jump to the Majors during the 2020 campaign. As one of the top defensive players in the Minors, Hayes has proven that he can be the Pirates' long-term option at the hot- corner. However, the Pirates […]

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 […]

Late Round Strikeout Sources: Fantasy Baseball 2020 ADP Analysis

Host Anthony Aniano of RotoBaller Radio discuss the 2020 fantasy baseball season and keeps you updated with all the latest news and analysis Be sure to tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM ET, every weekday afternoon from 1-2 PM ET, Saturday nights from 9-11 PM ET […]

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 […]

Going Full Corbin: Pitchers Who Should Throw Their Best Pitch More

Patrick Corbin has made a case for himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. He produced 14 wins in 202.0 innings pitched with a 3.25 ERA and 28.5 K%. Corbin wasn’t always this good though. In 2016, his ERA was a pedestrian 5.15 with a mediocre 18.7 K%. Suddenly, Corbin decided to start […]

2020 Early Bullpen Outlooks - N.L. Central

We've covered all of the American League and the NL East, and next week we'll wrap things up with the National League West. This week, it's the National League Central's turn though. There are plenty of players with fantasy importance in the Central, and that rings true in the bullpens as well. The National League […]

Sneaky Stolen Base Options: Fantasy Baseball ADP Analysis

Host Anthony Aniano of RotoBaller Radio discuss the 2020 fantasy baseball season and keeps you updated with all the latest news and analysis Be sure to tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (channel Sirius 210, XM 87) - every weekday morning between 6-7 AM ET, every weekday afternoon from 1-2 PM ET, Saturday nights from 9-11 PM ET […]

Melky Cabrera Wants To Play Another Couple Years

Free-agent outfielder Melky Cabrera is interested in playing for another couple of years. Cabrera played in 133 games for the Pirates last season and was productive, hitting .280/.313/.399 with seven home runs and 47 RBI in 378 at-bats. The 35-year-old switch-hitter typically hits for a high average with his high-contact profile -- he's a career […]

Derek Holland Signs With Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed pitcher Derek Holland to a minor league deal on Friday, according to an industry source. He'll receive an invite to spring training and can opt out of his deal if he's not on the Opening Day roster. Holland made 51 relief appearances for the Cubs and Giants in 2019, posting an […]

Fall Flashes: Arizona Fall League Top Prospect Risers

Every year, some of the best minor league prospects head to Arizona to take part in the Arizona Fall League. It features six teams of prospects, sent by their organizations to get extra game reps against top-flight competition, sometimes including players at higher levels in the minor league system. Given the high level of competition, […]

Pirates Considering Kevin Pillar, Billy Hamilton, Cameron Maybin

The Pittsburgh Pirates are considering outfielders Kevin Pillar, Billy Hamilton and Cameron Maybin as center field candidates now that they've traded Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks. Of the three, Pillar would likely be the most expensive free agent, but general manager Ben Cherington is familiar with Pillar from their time in Toronto. Pillar, 31, is […]

2020 First Base Rankings - Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Leagues

We're not far from the start of spring training and draft season is almost afoot! In re-draft leagues, a ton of preparation and research goes into building a new squad for 2020. Dynasty owners scoff at this because they already have their core players established. The question then becomes of relative value. Who is still […]

Pirates Sign Robbie Erlin

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed pitcher Robbie Erlin to a minor league deal on Wednesday. Erlin will make $1.5 million if he's on the big league roster, plus another $100,000 in incentives. He'll receive an invite to spring training and can opt out of the deal if he's not on the Opening Day roster. The 29-year-old […]

Top 50 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for 2020 Redraft Leagues

Freshmen players played a huge role in Major League Baseball in 2019 and rookies are poised to once again have a strong presence on your fantasy baseball teams in 2020. Rotoballer is here to help you decide which players are deserving of a roster spot as you open up the season with a list of […]

Pirates Acquire Brennan Malone, Liover Peguero From Arizona

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired pitcher Brennan Malone and shortstop Liover Peguero from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday in exchange for outfielder Starling Marte. Malone was the 33rd overall pick in last year's draft and was Arizona's No. 9 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. The 19-year-old right-hander has made strides with his command, but it'll be at […]

Diamondbacks Acquiring Starling Marte

The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to acquire outfielder Starling Marte from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, according to sources. It's unknown which players the Pirates are receiving in return, so stay tuned for more details on the swap. The rebuilding Bucs have been in the market to trade Marte all offseason, and they have finally […]

Early Mock Draft Analysis: MLB Mixed Leagues

Don't tell us it's not draft season yet! Truth be told, the RotoBaller crew was already planning a mock draft days after the World Series ended. As it turns out, we decided to wait until some free agent moves were made and settled for a slow draft that began shortly after the Winter Meetings. We […]

Top 250 Prospects for 2020 Dynasty Leagues

It’s hard to believe it’s that time again. Major League Baseball’s spring training is just weeks away now, which means it's also fantasy baseball season. This year at RotoBaller, we’re rolling out even more in-depth prospect coverage — starting with a ranking of the Top 250 prospects for dynasty leagues. That’s right. Not 100. Not […]